Archive for the 'kaizen' Category

Our inclination is to ease into new situations. We take baby steps thinking that it is the safe way to engage in something new. Two of my sons just went sky diving. There's no reasonable way to ease out of the plane…particularly when you are jumping tandem. There's no reasonable way to ease into cold water. How do I know? I've tried it. I suspect many of you have tried it too!

"…incremental change promotes a parochial outlook and attitude"

Lean practices are as shocking as cold water. There's no sense easing into lean. It only extends the pain. We know that lean thinking is superior to conventional wisdom. What most people don't know is how to engage in the new lean practices. Jump in! Read the rest of this entry ¶

This is not a book review. That will come later. I'm only sharing the news that there is a new Shigeo Shingo book: kaizen and the Art of Creative Thinking. Norman Bodek gave me the chance to review an early version of the book. I'm quite impressed. I've wondered for quite some time if there is a systematic behind Toyota's success other than PDCA. We now all know the answer. Shingo developed an approach that helps everyone to be more creative. And that approach is readily learned.

Read the rest of this entry ¶

People can't seem to leave Ohno's Seven Wastes alone. Norman Bodek, godfather of lean, made the latest addition. He calls it "Saying No." Norman chose to share this in an article for Industry Week in The Ninth Waste — Saying, "No". Norman is in his best story-telling form.

Mystery solved: the godfather of lean gave us the eighth waste.

Norman claims that managers are generally resistant to change. That it is in their resisting change that they say, "No," to suggestions for improvement from employees. It may only take a few "No's" to shut down employees from making proposals for improvement. Read the article.

Read the rest of this entry ¶

Thanks go out to Joe Ely for spreading the word on the Quick-n-Easy-kaizen community. A few people have been sharing their QnEKs. The experience so far has been good. And we're working like crazy to make the experience better. Thanks Kim! There's no guide to using the site. My aim is that it will be quick-n-easy. We'll see.

Please stop by to see what we're doing. Share your latest small improvement; leave a comment on QnEKs others have share; and leave us a comment on your experience. And by all means, visit again in a few days. I've got big plans for the month of August. You won't want to miss out!

The QnEK Horse Has Left the Barn

Quick and Easy kaizen is said to be the direct inheritor of kaizen teian — a program of continuous improvement at the initiative of the workforce. kaizen teian functions as a suggestion system. The usual approach is to have workers propose their improvements to their direct supervisor. The Japan Human Relations Association (JHRA) took it one step further. In the spirit of respecting the well-trained worker JHRA created an approach where workers report the improvements they adopted without getting approval. They call this Quick and Easy kaizen. Bunji Tozawa and Norman Bodek introduced this approach in their book The Idea Generator: Quick and Easy kaizen (QnEK).

I've been introducing QnEK to clients. It hasn't been an easy introduction. The thought that people would just change what they want to change scares some managers. I understand that. In many companies there is skepticism that workers will make a change for the better. In the situation where people are thrown into jobs — to sink or swim — they might not make changes that are better. Also, in situations where there is no standard work, everyday change might destabilize an already unstable situation.

Read the rest of this entry ¶

There is such an urge to get our projects right. Not approximately right. Right, as "Do it right the first time." Projects are not like that, especially design projects. Norman Bodek has been speaking about two principal ways we learn: copying the successful actions of others and making mistakes. If making mistakes is part of learning, then we better be making many of them to produce successful projects. BW SmallBiz agrees: Fail Fast, Fail Cheap, June/July 2007, by Doug Hall.

Read the rest of this entry ¶

Is Toyota paranoid? They are according to BW. Staying Paranoid at Toyota, BW July 2, 2007 claims Toyota has become paranoid. They point to the following quote by Katsuaki Watanabe, Toyota President:

"The scariest symptom of 'big-company disease' is that complacency will breed."

Read the rest of this entry ¶

Sign-up for IGLC-15. The organizers of this year's IGLC have included a second industry day where they are conducting two ½-day workshops. The first workshop will led by Norman Bodek, Godfather of the lean movement. The second will be led by the TWI Institute. This is new for the IGLC community to include workshops with their program. And they're starting off with big guns.

Read the rest of this entry ¶

We've all heard about kaizen. It's a practice for individuals, teams, and across process. People seem to take to it quite well in the factory and process environments. That's not the case in the project setting. At the TWI Summit, I was introduced to the Job Methods (JM) improvement approach. JM teaches how to see waste. JI in combination with JM teaches people the skills of improving.

Read the rest of this entry ¶

It's that time of year again. The International Group for Lean Construction is holding its conference. This time it's in the US. East Lansing, MI. It won't be held in the states again for another 4 or 5 years. It's quite a full program. Check it out at 2007 Lean Construction Summit.

The program is in three parts:

• Lean Construction Workshop (July 16-17, 2007)
  In addition to an intro to lean construction, the TWI Institute will present the approach Toyota uses to train their employees. That will be followed by Norman Bodek, the godfather of lean, conducting a workshop on Quick 'n Easy kaizen.
• IGLC-15 (July 18-20, 2007)
  Authors will present their peer-reviewed papers on research and advanced practice of lean construction.
• Lean Construction Postgraduate Conference (July 21-22, 2007)
  This session is a big bonus. The grey beards will stay around to work with students.

I'll be there to spend time with some of the best thinkers in the industry. Please join me.

Time to get writing again. I've been gone for way to long. All good things happening. Just busy with work. I've been re-reading a great book on Toyota's approach to improvement and innovation. I'll let you guess the book title from the anagram below. Here's a few hints: I've written about it before; referenced another writer's review; and pointed you to a special document that introduces the book.

	SATIN ELL ONE GOUT
	TOGA NEON USE TILL
	NATION LET USE LOG
	TAIL GOOSE LET NUN
	ANTI LOSE TUNE LOG
	GOAT NINE SELL OUT
	TAINT EEL LOG ONUS

Leave a comment with your guess. You'll catch more of my writing this week.

Let me start by saying I'm not taking a shot at doctors. In fact, I'm writing about IHI because I think we need to deliberately set out to learn from people outside our industry. Thanks to doctors like Dr. Berwick we are making great strides in the delivery of safe medical services. I'd like to reference tonight's CBS broadcast of IHI's initiatives. Unfortunately, the CBS website is way behind the times. Not only can't I find the broadcast video, but the site doesn't display correctly in either Internet Explorer or Firefox. Still, I hope you caught Katie Couric's interview. Dr. Berwick and IHI lifted my spirits; I'm sure it will lift your spirits too. Read the rest of this entry ¶

Don Berwick is on a mission to eliminate deaths from medical mistakes in hospitals. His 100k Lives campaign at the Institute of Healthcare Improvement is making great headway. And along the way many people are noticing., including Katie Couric. On Tuesday evening CBS News will showcase Dr. Berwick and his lean approach to healthcare improvement. Here's the CBS announcement:

"The Institute of Medicine recently estimated that nearly 100,000 people die every year due to medical mistakes. Couric profiles Don Berwick, a Harvard-trained pediatrician and public health expert, who is trying to make American healthcare safer. Read the rest of this entry ¶

LPSThe Last Planner System® is a lean approach to planning and delivering projects. It is based on a hierarchy of planning: should, can, will, and did. LPS is not a computer system. It is a set of protocols corresponding with the four above items: pull planning, look-ahead planning, task planning, and daily coordination. The Last Planner System is a registered trademark of the Lean Construction Institute. Last Planner SystemThe Last Planner System® is a lean approach to planning and delivering projects. It is based on a hierarchy of planning: should, can, will, and did. LPS is not a computer system. It is a set of protocols corresponding with the four above items: pull planning, look-ahead planning, task planning, and daily coordination. The Last Planner System is a registered trademark of the Lean Construction Institute.

Ralph Bernstein writing at Lean Insider for Productivity Press posted his proposal for 10 Lean Resolutions for the New Year. I've not been able to keep more than two resolutions. So, here are my two favorites from his list of ten (but do visit Bob's list.):

1. (For managers:) I will step back and not try to substitute my judgment for the team’s.
2. I will try to learn about lean from other industries, not just my own.

Step out from your usual project setting to learn from others.I like the challenge in these two resolutions, particularly for the highly successful manager. The successful manager knows what contributed to success. Just do more of the same and one will be more successful. Right? Maybe not!

The lean approach celebrates the wisdom of the team. Read the rest of this entry ¶

Ford might come to mind. Not only have they paid people to leave, so many have left that they now have to make new hires. Training will cost. Quality may suffer. But Ford is not the auto maker I'm writing about. It's Toyota.

No Satisfaction at Toyota is a story about Toyota's relentless attack on complacency. Charles Fishman writes,

"Improvements aren't "projects" or "initiatives." They are the work, (the employees') work, every day, every week. That's one of the subtle but distinctive characteristics of a Toyota factory. The supervisors and managers aren't "bosses" in any traditional American sense. Their job is to find ways to do the work better: more efficiently, more effectively."

In short, the work of everyone is kaizen. And then some…

Read the rest of this entry ¶

Iget a kick out of the sparring that goes on between lean, Six Sigma, TQM, and Theory of Constraints (TOC). One of my colleagues puts it well, "TOC helps us focus on what needs improvement; Six Sigma helps us identify and control the source of waste; and lean helps us keep attention on always delivering more value to customers, employees, and consequently, owners.

For those of you interested in the Battle of Improvement Systems take a close look at the "ASQ Six Sigma black belt body of knowledge" take on Six Sigma vs. TQM. I really appreciate the contributions from the Six Sigma community; I just haven't figured out how to apply it to projects. Have you? For now, Ive placed my bet on project kaizen.

Projects are wonderful settings for learning and innovation. The challenges of a project along with the diversity of people on the project team lend to breakthrough opportunities for individuals, the team, and the client. Unfortunately, too many projects are taxing for the participants. With a dose of determination that can change.

kaizen is the habit of easing our life.

The kaizen approach can make a big difference for you and your project team. kaizen is about making small improvements (changes) to make ones work easier, to improve quality, and to bring more value for the customer, the team, and the firm. The big challenge is getting in the kaizen habit.

I've started reading a book by Susan and Larry Terkel, Small Change. I've only read the first 40 pages, but I've scanned the whole book. I like the whole-life approach the authors take. They cover everything from a healthy lifestyle to a successful work life. Many people don't consider this to be kaizen. For me, kaizen is the habit of easing our life. It's time we all got in the habit. I'll write again about the book.