Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark Flanders
Lean manufacturing is good stuff, but often badly applied. As Michael said, above, empowering employees is the weak spot. Here is my view on why that is:
Managers in the US tend to embrace the parts they understand the best...which is to say obsessive cleaning, increased monitoring and the jargon of lean. The ideas are fit into a northern European work ethic and a top-down, do-as-you're-told mentality. The idea of breaking down territories, open communication, engaged teams suggesting ideas for continuous improvement and the spirit of real teamwork is lost on them. What we're left with is clunky old fashioned time and motion studies laid on top of the same American corporate philosophy.
Also, lean's waste elimination can be counter-productive in hard times. I savaged a skid of paper last year that the lean guys were getting rid of. They tossed thousands of $ worth of paper because it wasn't lean. Now we could use that paper. Lean can also become a cult of true believers, and engender favoritism by selective training. I'm curious, David, about your thoughts.
|
Mark,
I completely agree with your view that lean can be "badly applied." An old adage says, "What is more dangerous than an untrained soldier with an unloaded weapon? An untrained soldier with a loaded weapon." Lean tools and techniques, such as 5S, quick changeover, and JIT, can be extremely beneficial, but they all require a considerable amount of judgment to be used effectively. In fact, lean tools and techniques were never designed to be used in a dogmatic way. All (or most) of them began at Toyota as pragmatic solutions to specific problems. Unfortunately, it's easier to memorize and quote the rules than it is to understand the reasons for the rules.
It's also important to remember that lean needs a certain kind of organizational culture in order to succeed. Years ago, Taiichi Ohno at Toyota said that "respect for people" is a critical element of lean. We now know that "respect for people" really means having a culture in which everyone in the organization is encouraged and expected to be continuously involved in problem solving and process improvement. That's about as far away from a "command and control" culture as you can get.
I would disagree that waste elimination can be counterproductive in difficult business conditions. If anything, difficult times make waste elimination even more critical.
Unfortunately, lean does tend to create "true believers" who honestly think that there is a "lean" solution to every business problem. I don't know that this "engenders favoritism by selective training," but I do agree that the cult-like quality of lean can create problems. To me, the greatest problem is that the "true believers" can't or won't accept that lean methods aren't always sufficient to deal with every conceivable business issue, problem or challenge.
David Dodd
Point Balance, LLC
