Mar 21 2018
The Battle for the Soul of Lean | Michael Ballé | The Lean Post
Michael Ballé: “I’ve been a student of lean for 25 years, and the more that I learn the more I believe that […] lean is a profoundly disruptive way of working. From the time that this new approach was popularized decades ago, there have been two completely different ways to look at the same tools, materials, and stories. Some of us saw Toyota as a disrupter, a small bankrupt company that became the dominant automaker in a saturated market ruled by U.S. corporate giants, by doing something radically different. Others, however, were fascinated by Toyota’s ‘operational excellence’ as a means of safe, incremental improvements—they would cherry-pick tools […] to leverage productivity gains without ever challenging either the strategy or the attitudes of top management.”
Sourced from The Lean Post
Michel Baudin‘s comments: I have been a student of TPS for 38 years, and see it as the best way we know today to make cars and auto parts. And, yes, it has been successfully adapted to other manufacturing industries and even to some service businesses. Lean is a marketing label coined 30 years ago that, in the best cases, has been used to describe TPS or adaptations of TPS in situations where explicit references to Toyota would be problematic, for example at Toyota competitors or in hospitals, where the last thing you want to do is convey the impression that you treat patients like cars. In the worst cases, consultants have slapped this label on approaches unrelated to TPS, just to leverage Toyota’s credibility.
“My fully-loaded 2012 Audi A6 had an intermittent frustrating problem since the day I bought it. No diagnostic codes indicated a problem. Escalation to German engineering had me ready to move back to Lexus. Their response was ‘it must not really be happening. Our codes would indicate if it were.’ That obnoxious response was based on the assumption they had thought of every cause of failure in developing the diagnostic codes. FMEA is not 100% and never will be. Do you have customer data that you’re not actively using to improve your product Four years after I first reported the issue, Audi issued an urgent safety recall for the problem that I had been experiencing. Why the delay?”
Jul 31 2021
Follett in 1924: Use Operators’ Knowledge
Almost 100 years ago, Mary Parker Follett wrote: “And our aim in the […] organization of industry should be […] so to organize the plant that the workmen’s experience can be added to that of the expert; we must see just where their experience will be a plus matter, and we must plan to have the workmen learn more and more of the industry as a whole.”
Source: Follett, M. P. (2013 reprint). Creative Experience. United States: Martino Fine Books. (p. 20)
Michel Baudin‘s comments: Today, we would say “manufacturing” rather than “industry,” and “operator” rather than “workmen.” This is the earliest text I have seen that recommends engaging shop floor operators in improvement activities and training them to understand the broader picture.
Taylor wanted to control operators so that they couldn’t collude to curtail output. The Gilbreths wanted to make their work easier. Follett wants to tap into their knowledge and combine it with the experts’ in order to achieve better outcomes. And she also believes in their ability to learn.
In these few words, she showed more respect for the humanity of the operators than I recall seeing from her immediate precursors and contemporaries.
#maryparkerfollett, #respectforhumanity, #traceyrichardson
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By Michel Baudin • Press clippings • 5 • Tags: Respect for Humanity, Respect for People