November 18, 2015 Industry Forum Blog Although the title is a well known saying and a popular song lyric, it is an excellent analogy for all of us who strive to improve our businesses, by deploying lean techniques. I read two articles this week that mentioned the importance of certain lean techniques. However they stood out for very different reasons. The first, “How manufacturing employers are getting lean”, revealed that in a survey of 25000 manufacturers and distributors in the US, the use of various lean tools is on the rise. In particular 5S is now used by more than 71% of the respondents, compared to 66% in 2014. Initially I thought this was an encouraging trend. However as I read further, it concerned me that 5S seemed to be considered as a stand alone improvement programme, with Kanban, Takt Time Analysis and Value Stream Mapping named as alternatives. The second article, “Solving the Productivity Puzzle”, highlighted the views of the Manufacturing Advisory Group on what the UK needs to do to raise national productivity. On the subject of calculating product costs they point out that: “The lean capability of learning to see waste is the foundation of driving productivity up.” The key words that stand out to me are waste and foundation. 5S and 7 Waste are two of the tools that we use to create a foundation for improvement and prevent our “castle sinking into the quicksand”. Getting the foundation right for improving your business I learned that at the heart of the business philosophies of companies like Toyota, Nissan and Honda, lies a foundation block of improvement tools. These are 5S, 7 Waste, Visual Management and Standardised Work. They are called the foundation tools because they are used to stabilise the performance of the workplace. Correctly deployed they enable you to repeatedly achieve customer satisfaction, in terms of quality, cost and delivery (QCD), and at the same time make a profit. When you are in a stable position you have a known performance level and you will have got rid of many of the daily problems that consumed your time. In other words these tools stabilize the quicksand and provide the time and a solid base upon which you can carry out true improvement. True improvement in this context is the ongoing: elimination of waste elimination of variation reduction of cost These actions will improve the competitive position of your business – build your castle! Successful deployment of tools like kanban and Value Stream Mapping, and techniques used to achieve working to takt time, rely on having stable performance to start with. They don’t work if you can’t repeatedly perform at the same level. The secret to stability Use all four of the foundation tools together. Used individually, each tool will result in some cost reductions and performance improvement. And the continual identification and elimination of waste is at the heart of continuous improvement. However waste has a way of creeping back, standards slip and the gains are slowly eroded. I found that the key is to use 5S, Visual Management and Standardised Work together to lock into place the improved processes and prevent waste creeping back in. Top tip: If it is proving very difficult to achieve that stability try some structured Problem Solving. If you want to see some examples of these tools in action look at the Lean Awareness and Process Improvement Activity MasterClass case studies or contact Industry Forum.
