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Lean thinking, lean manufacturing, Toyota Production System management and manufacturing thinking. See our lean management portal, inlcuding lean articles (articles by Jim Womack) and online resource.
Terms: continuous flow - kaizen, jidoka, JIT, muda, mistake proofing, takt time, more
Recommended posts: Respect for People - Lean Thinking and Management - The Lion of Lean - Visible Data - Bad Management Results in Layoffs
At the core of the company’s success is the Toyota Production System, which took shape in the years after the Second World War, when Japan was literally rebuilding itself, and capital and equipment were hard to come by. A Toyota engineer named Taiichi Ohno turned necessity into virtue, coming up with a system to get as much as possible out of every part, every machine, and every worker. The principles were simple, even obvious - do away with waste, have parts arrive precisely when workers need them, fix problems as soon as they arise. And they weren’t even entirely new - Ohno himself cited Henry Ford and American supermarkets as inspirations. But what Toyota has done, better than any other manufacturing company, is turn principle into practice. In some cases, it has done so with inventions, like the andon cord, which any worker can pull to stop the assembly line if he notices a problem, or kanban, a card system that allows workers to signal when new parts are needed.
Very true, except one thing. Toyota’s innovation is not limited to process and execution. Toyota’s long term vision results in very dramatic innovation (that granted is not getting the press today - check back in 20 years, I think you will be reading about it then). For some examples see: Toyota’s Partner Robot, Toyota as Homebuilder, Toyota Engineers a New Plant: the Living Kind and The Birth of Prius.
A company truly driven by a focus on continual improvement, respect for all employees and reasonable executive compensation might be a company serious about adopting Deming and Toyota management principles. It is hard for me to imagine such a situation that doesn’t truly seek, as the primary aim of the organization, to benefit many stakeholders (workers, owners, suppliers, customers…) not just executives (or just executives, board and owners…).
Related: Toyota Management Develops the New Camry - Better and Different - Deming and Toyota - Toyota Keeps Improving - More Positive Press for Toyota Management - Good Execution is Important
What’s driving Toyota Canada’s success? - CIO reveals all
* Cutting down the customer problem resolution from weeks to an average of three days through this initiative alone;
* Early detection of customer dissatisfaction in services
* Reducing detection of product defects (from months to days).
The Toyota Canada CIO talks about the tremendous business benefits from this seamless freeflow of information. “When a defect is detected at the dealership, the next day it would up to our engineering department.” The speed at which information traverses is of immense value – especially when new vehicles are launched. Tien cited an example.
“We recently launched a new Toyota Corolla [model]. If there were a problem with a door knob of the vehicle, the plant would know about it and a fix would be put in place.”
An article well worth reading. Related: Toyota IT Overview - Lessons from Toyota’s IT Strategy - Good Customer Service Example at Toyota - Software Supporting Processes Not the Other Way Around
Another former Toyota USA leader is talking a leading role at another company. Gary Convis from Toyota retired last year.
Related: articles by Gary Convis - Toyota Management Speech by Gary Convis - Toyota Management Develops the New Camry - Quality Conversation with Gary Convis - Jim Press, Toyota N. American President, Moves to Chrysler
Dana Holding Corporation Names Gary L. Convis Chief Executive Officer
Dana Holding Corporation (NYSE: DAN) emerged from bankruptcy recently and today announced that it has named Gary L. Convis, 65, to the post of Chief Executive Officer. Convis was appointed to Dana’s new Board of Directors in January 2008 after retiring from Toyota Motor Corporation, where he had spent more than 20 years culminating in his role as Chairman of Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky.
“We are delighted to welcome Gary as Chief Executive Officer,” said Dana Executive Chairman John Devine, who had served as the company’s acting CEO since January. “Gary is widely respected as one of the leading experts in lean manufacturing and management systems, including the Toyota Production System. Along with his strong leadership and global industry experience, we believe he is an ideal choice as our new Chief Executive.”
“I am honored by the Board’s confidence in me to lead Dana,” Convis said. “I’m also eager to join with our people in establishing world-class manufacturing systems and returning this great company to the leadership ranks of the global automotive supply industry.”
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A Case for Agile: Benefits for a Programmer’s Career by Theodore Nguyen-Cao
Most importantly, I still feel I’m growing as a developer. I honestly believe the best thing a developer can do in their career is to always be learning. Everything else will follow.
I am also a strong proponent of agile software development. Information Technology projects have a poor success rate. The best method, I have found, to provide better software solutions is agile development (and I find a grounding in management improvement techniques is useful - customer focus, process improvement, systems thinking, understanding variation, data driven management…). My experience is with custom application development (rather than developing Commercial Off The Shelf software - COTS) for which I think agile is a great fit.
Related: Joy in Work for Programmers - Agile Software Development Presentation - Metrics and Software Development - Management Science for Software Engineering - Programmers at Work - Joel Management
Pausing for reath at fresh & easy (Tesco’s USA stores)
There have been some rumors in the blogosphere and regular press that the stores are not living up to expectations. Tesco denies this but it is hard to tell if this is typical public relations where disappointments are seen as something to deceive the public about, or the truth. Pausing to access and adjust makes all the sense in the world.
In fact it would seem to me to be the preferred method before 50 are in place. However I can see there might be reasons to expand rapidly too. I think if it were up to me I would try to PDSA with fewer stores first, and then expand but I don’t really know the business so…
It is a bit scary that the Fresh and Easy blog references Tony Robbins on continual improvement rather than Deming or Ohno or Womack or someone part of the lean thinking community.
Related: Lean Provision at Tesco - Tesco in the USA - What Innovation Means to Tesco - Lean Retailing - 10 Stocks for 10 Years Update
Illustration of how 2-Bin Systems work, by Bill Hanover.
Related: Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) video by Bill Hanover - Messiness is Bad - Drum-Buffer-Rope Example - lean manufacturing resources
Lean manufacturing saving jobs
“This is not about a reduction in the workforce, it is about reducing waste in the system,” Cook said. “There is a lot to be gained . . . and it is really just common sense.” The lean manufacturing session got its start in November at a mayor’s roundtable on advanced manufacturing. When the issue of cutting waste arose, Cook volunteered to lead a session and the London Economic Development Corp. organized it.
“This information is not proprietary. If these people take it back to their plants and expand on it, we all gain,” Cook said.
A number of great points, including:
the best management ideas are not proprietary - Management Improvement - Management Advice Failures - Open Source Management Ideas
Related: Manufacturing Jobs - Lean Thinking Misconception - Lean Manufacturing Resources
ValuMetrix Services provides some really nice lean six sigma case studies. Simple short but still with enough detail to actually provide some sense of what is going on.
While on the topic of online case studies let me plug the Curious Cat management improvement library. I think it is one of the more valuable resources for management improvement offered on the Curious Cat sites. Library shelves: health care articles, lean manufacturing articles, six sigma articles, newly added articles…
via: Daily Kaizen
Related: Curious Cat Management Search - Management Consulting, what does the web site show? - Lean Management Case Study
Jules Verne predicted cars would run on air. The Air Car is making that a reality. The car would be powered by compressed air. Certainly seem like an interesting idea. Air car ready for production:
The car is said to have a driving range of 125 miles so by my calculation it would cost about 1.6 cents per mile. A car that gets 31 mpg would use 4 gallons to go 124 miles. At $3 a gallon for gas, the cost is $12 for fuel or about 9.7 cents per mile. I didn’t notice anything about maintenance costs. I don’t see any reason why the Air Car would cost more to maintain than a normal car. Five-seat concept car runs on air
Now does that sound like the Toyota Production System to you? It should. If I were an executive at Toyota I would sure examine this to see if it really is as promising as it looks. And if it is Toyota sure has plenty of cash and the management practice to make a very compelling case for allowing Toyota to produce this globally. The engineers desires closely match what Toyota has learned. Both seek to eliminate the waste of transportation (friction).
Related: Click Fraud = Friction for Google - Manufacturing Takes off in India - Electric Automobiles
At Toyota, a Global Giant Reaches for Agility
The videos show everything from the correct way to hold a screw to the best way to hold an air gun so that a worker’s hand will not tire in a few hours. This month, workers from Toyota’s plant in Thailand took part in training required for jobs in their plant’s paint shop. Listening as an interpreter translated from Japanese into Thai, the workers were shown how to bend their knees and spray a water gun across a clear panel of Plexiglas.
Yet another article on the management of Toyota. And here is another: Toyota heir slowly following in family footsteps. And another: Toyota explores more efficient methods to build cars.
Related: 12 Stocks for 10 Years Feb 2008 Update - No Excessive Senior Executive Pay at Toyota - New Articles on Toyota Management - Toyota’s Effort to Stay Toyota - More Positive Press for Toyota Management - Toyota in the US Economy
This is a good post on the systemic drivers of complex processes, take the time to read the whole post. I have a bias is against off the shelf software as it often ends up forcing the process to be designed around the software. And with the amazing power and relative ease of web based applications creating solutions that are specifically designed to the organization are often relatively easy. And yet, as indicated in this article there is often a strong bias in the other direction for buying off the shelf software because it is cheaper and/or faster.
Of course, the decision in each case must be weighed to determine the benefits and cost of the various alternatives. Just remember, if you decide you want simple and flexible, to have your decisions reflect that. I enjoy a telling quote from a software vendor on Toyota’s IT expectations: “it demands that the software or technology be flexible and adapt, often by customizing the code, to its business processes, and not the other way around.” They are right.
Related: Agile Software Development - Complicating Simplicity - Joy in Software Development
Recommended Reading From an Employee-Owned Company
In the 18 months since Mr. Quarrey picked up “Ideas Are Free,” he’s gotten back into business books – largely because of his enthusiastic employees. Web Industries, a Hartford, Conn., manufacturer, is a 100% employee-owned company. “It’s a very weird experience to be in your factory and have people comparing business books they’ve read,” he says.
There are excellent books available that would help you improve your organization. I have mentioned some of my favorite management books before but here some are again: The Leader’s Handbook by Peter Scholtes, Toyota Talent by Jeffrey Liker and David Meier, Six Sigma Beyond the Factory Floor by Ron Snee and Roger Hoerl, Lean Solutions by James Womack and Daniel Jones and The New Economics for Industry, Government, and Education by W. Edwards Deming.
My main suggestion is to read excellent books regardless of when they were written. The Human Side of Enterprise by Douglas McGregor, Fourth Generation Management by Brian Joiner, and many others might not be new but they offer more than almost any new books you will find. There is nothing wrong with excellent new books, just don’t think that because a book is 10 or even 30 years old your organization has already adopted most of the good ideas. In my experience, if more than 20% of the books you read for management ideas in the last few years are less than 5 years old you are making a mistake and would benefit a great deal from reading books written earlier.
Related: Curious Cat management article library - Curious Cat Management Improvement books - Workplace Management review - Ackoff’s New Book, Management f-Laws
Do Lean Companies Create Fewer Jobs?
No, they create more. If you assume the lean company grows sales at the same rate as some poorly management company then it may well be that the lean company creates fewer jobs. However that is not a valid assumption. Deming provided the reason in his presentations to Japan in the 1950’s with his chain reaction. From page 3 of Out of the Crisis
For an example of this process at work see GM, Ford and Toyota. Toyota defines lean (Toyota’s management system is what was called lean manufacturing by Jim Womack and Dan Jones). Toyota continues to add employees while Ford and GM have been shedding jobs.
It is true, for lean (and un-lean) companies alike, productivity is improving (it just improves more at lean companies) which means that fewer people are needed to produce the same amount as we have in the past. We have posted previously about the mistaken belief that jobs are moving overseas.
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Great article on The Checklist - If something so simple can transform intensive care, what else can it do? by Atul Gawande
Related: Why Isn’t Work Standard? - Visual Work Instructions - posts on quality tools - European Blackout not Human Error-Not
Mary Poppendieck on The Role of Leadership in Software Development, very nice 90 minute webcast:
via, Leadership is not Obsolete for Self-Organizing Teams!
Once again Mary provides a great resource. This is a great overview. Lean Software Development by Mary Poppendieck and Tom Poppendieck is an excellent book on these topics.
Related: articles and webcasts by Mary Poppendieck - posts on software development - more management webcasts
Procedurally Enforcing Workflow by Michael Salamon:
You can’t force people to follow directions they deem arbitrary.
I bet if that gate spit out $100 bills people would use it.
Why matters. You can’t just expect people to act in a way that seems arbitrary. As I stated in Poka-Yoke Assembly, Do you Read Instructions Carefully Before Assembly? Nope, I don’t. I expect I can make a quick judgment if I really need to or I basically get it and can put things together well enough. I expect the supplier to make very obvious anything critical. It is not ok to expect people to think the way you want them to. You have to understand how people will react and create solutions based on that.
We have discussed similar ideas: Why Isn’t Work Standard? - Visual Work Instructions - Visual Instructions Example - European Blackout: Human Error-Not - Find the Root Cause Instead of the Person to Blame
A similar example I learned long ago. Many schools try to force students not to walk on the lawn and create ugly paths through the grass. A smart alternative. Wait for the students to wear a path. Then pave that. If you are frustrated because people won’t follow your rules your rules are probably bad. Fix the rules (or procedures…). Don’t expect telling people in a loud voice (or stern memo or…) that they must follow your rules.
Toyota’s All-Out Drive To Stay Toyota
Related: lean manufacturing portal - Toyota management posts - Toyota IT Overview - New Toyota CEO’s Views
Jim Womack provides great insights in a recent interview, Thought Leaders — Lean On Me:
Other posts discussing some of these ideas, and more: Management Improvement - From Lean Tools to Lean Management - Articles by James Womack - Transforming With Lean - Deming’s thoughts on Management by John Hunter - Danaher Expands Lean Thinking One Acquisition at a Time - posts mentioning Womack - No More Lean Excuses - Better and Different - Management Training Program
Editorial: Engineering Innovation, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Or Werner Zobel, a Modine Manufacturing engineer working in Germany who hatched the idea for a new cooling system that the Racine-based company believes could be revolutionary. The system uses ultra-thin layers of aluminum to dissipate heat, a breakthrough that has potential for car and truck radiators and air conditioning condensers.
Intellectual candlepower will fire the regional economy, the Milwaukee 7 regional economic development group believes. Its strategic plan relies on innovation-driven manufacturers that are heavy with engineers. But across the region, those companies say they can’t recruit enough engineers, and they worry that shortages will worsen as baby boomers retire. Complicating the picture is a shortage of visas for foreign-born engineers and increased competition from rapidly developing economies in China and India for those students even when they complete their studies in the United States.
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Marquette University and the Milwaukee School of Engineering are racing to fill the pipeline. Marquette and UWM are promising expansive new buildings and increased enrollment of both undergraduate and graduate students.
The USA continues to be by far the largest manufacturing in the world. And one important reason is the contributions provided by science and engineering (fed by strong science and engineering schools). In addition to other smart economic policies (The World Bank’s annual report on the easiest countries to do business in ranks the USA 3rd - after Singapore and New Zealand). Wisconsin manufacturing continues to get good discussion on various lean blogs for good reason(More Wisconsin Lean, Wisconsin Continues to Lead in Lean Government, History repeats itself). The success Wisconsin is enjoying is not due to one single factor but the efforts of many actors including companies, universities, government, the press… and groups like the Wisconsin Manufacturing Extension Partnership and the Madison Quality Improvement Network (I have managed MAQIN’s web site since it was created - John Hunter).
Related: Best Research University Rankings - 2007 - S&P 500 CEOs - Again Engineering Graduates Lead - Invest in New Management Methods by William G. Hunter, Commentary to the Milwaukee Journal, 1986
Shingo Sweepstakes: The grand prize is a 2 day visit of your organization by Norman Bodek, 2 Free admissions to the 20th Annual Shingo Prize, 5 copies of Dr. Shigeo Shingo’s latest book and more.
Related: Zero Defects - Constant Change and Growth - 2007 Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing - Lean Podcast with Bodek - Toyota Production System History
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