By far the most popular thread on Linked In's Lean Six Sigma group is the " What's your favorite motivational quote?" discussion. In honour of returning to work from a summer long weekend in need of motivation, here are some of my picks to keep you going. Enjoy.
In matters of style, swim with the current; In matters of principle, stand like a rock" Thomas Jefferson
"If you are not making waves, you are not making headway..."
"Everything works out in the end. If it hasn't worked out, it's not the end."
Daddy, I am hungry...
"Open your mind before you open your wallet"
"Why make a project difficult, when with a little thought and effort, you could make it impossible."
Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential. – Winston Churchill
A good plan executed violently today is always better than a perfect plan tomorrow. General George S Patton, US Armored Corps Commander WWII
In God we trust, all others bring data...
A Crisis is a terrible thing to waste!
"Change before you have to." - Jack Welch
Lead, follow, or get the hell out of the way.
"Not failure, but low aim is the crime." Henry David Thoreau
I never once failed at making a light bulb. I just found out 99 ways not to make one. - EDISON
Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in coveralls and looks like work. - Edison
The significant problems we face today can not be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them. -- Albert Einstein
The beatings will continue until morale improves.- Anonymous
"If not us who, if not now when? " Robert F. Kennedy's favorite quote
You can get everything you want in this life if you'll just help enough other people get what they want! - Zig Ziglar
"When you're going through hell, keep going!" Winston Churchill
"Pressure makes diamonds" - G. Patton.
"Today better than yesterday, tomorrow better than today".
Ive missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. Ive lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times Ive been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. Ive failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. - Michael Jordan.
"Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go."
"Be the change you want to see in the world.” Mahatma Gandhi
"A bad system will beat a good person every time." ~W. Edwards Deming
"If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you always got." -Michael Drues
"The most unprofitable item ever manufactured is an excuse." John Mason
Pull your big girl panties up and move on!
You cannot plough a field by turning it over in your mind.
“Excellence is the unlimited ability to improve the quality of what you have to offer.”
Fortune favours the brave
After the appointment of General Grant President Lincoln was asked; how do you know the right thing to do? He replied; "When met with a problem I always ask myself what is the right thing to do and then I do it.” - Abraham Lincoln
Noone can make you unhappy without your consent.
Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier -- Colin Powell
"The ultimate inspiration is the deadline." - Nolan Bushnell
Good is the enemy of Great. If you are willing to settle for good, you will never be great!
"Diligence is the mother of good luck". Benjamin Franklin
"The only people who really want change is wet babies!" - Tanya Cole Harris
Stay tuned for more select quotes for the next long weekend. Hope you all enjoy a great summer!
Greg
My Recommended Reads
Friday, July 30, 2010
Monday, July 26, 2010
Poorly Made in China by Paul Midler
In his new book Poorly Made in China: An Insider's Account of the Tactics Behind China's Production Game author Paul Midler gives many first-hand hair-raising examples to justify the in-your-face premise of this book. Paul's understanding of the languages and cultures of China and the USA, coupled with his experience as an agent on behalf of importers, make this a very credible expose. But before we get into detail please view the short video of a method of fishing from China that he used as an analogy in the book for the relationship between the buyer from America and the supplier from China. See if you can figure who is the bird in his analogy....
The cormorant's throat is choked by the fisherman so it can only swallow enough very small fish to live. Everything else is taken from its mouth by the fisherman.
It's a stunning analogy. Most of the book is spent describing how this is played out in China: factory owners consistently and methodically under-deliver on product quality to increase their own margins (quality fade). They gain the upper hand over the buyers by raising prices after committing to low (bait) priced PO's. The greed of the importers led them into the trap. They have nowhere in the world to get the product in time and at a low enough cost and not lose their shirts. So they go along with it. Product quality is whittled away and profits are gained by the supplier where there were none in the initial order price. In the end the buyer gets just enough to get by, like the cormorant. By the time you are finished this book you will have a good understanding of how greed and hubris on the buyers side, and guile, culture, and political differences on the suppliers side have made for practices that are thoroughly unacceptable by western standards. Yet they go on seemingly unabated. You get real perspective on the "talent" of the factory owners when you read how the mob from Jersey is scammed in a recycling deal!
There are many tactics described in the book. Here are a few examples. "Quality fade" is how the suppliers make a profit after taking low cost orders. Cheaper materials are substituted until the buyer complains and then the buyer has no recourse or even any leverage on the supplier to improve. Also Counterfeiting is tolerated by buyers as a cost of doing business there. The lack of product health and safety standards and the impenetrable supply chain and financial workings of the suppliers leave some importers unwilling to even test product quality because they are afraid of what they might find. Knowing they have no recourse importers gamble that customers won't notice. The reader is left with the definite idea that change is not coming anytime soon.
Interestingly the dearth of design talent in China has been ignored by their leaders in favour of copying and counterfeiting. It is original designs that are most coveted by factory owners because they can be copied and sold to the rest of the world at much higher margins than to the first world markets. Europe and North America are in total only about 50% of the market for China's manufactured goods. US and Canadian companies deliver original designs in exchange for a too-good-to-be-true low price. In the end the shoddy goods from China are cheapest in America for this reason.
I think in the end the price paid for "cheap" items of China is too high for the risk we take as a society. Lowering our ethical "bar" to make this trade, and approving of exploitation of the foreign workers in unhealthy conditions (that would be quite illegal here), is selling our competitive advantage far too cheaply. Erosion of product safety standards is very alarming and the theft of intellectual property (our future) is really not worth the price paid. Unfortunately this ship has sailed, politically speaking, and the author makes the point that the US missed its chance to significantly influence China after it was bestowed with Most Favored Nation trading status.
Conscience and Integrity
I found it to be a very engaging read told in an enjoyable personal style that clearly positioned the author at the uncomfortable interface of the two business cultures. Midler shares an understanding that few would have, let alone share with the world. I commend the author for his conscience and integrity when it is apparent that there are many westerners quietly reaping profits from this disturbing status quo. Weighing in at only 240 pages it is quick and informative must-read for anyone in manufacturing, but I think it would interest many people and there is nothing technical about it.
Bust my bubble
A few years ago I viewed China's economic miracle akin to the transformation of post war Japan. I felt that eventually the quality of goods and value added will increase on the imports through good old industrious behaviour. Naively, I foresaw North America getting a run for its money and we'd use our Lean smarts and intellectual property to stay ahead of the developing world. This book busted my bubble. Obvious cultural differences highlighted in the book make it clear that China will be China and not another Japan. China will not overwhelm us with their quality like the Japanese:, and the reasons why are well documented in this book.
What to do?
First thing for me: I am going to weigh purchases carefully with respect to country of origin and err on the side of caution. As a consumer I will reconsider price versus risk knowing what I learned in the book. We all vote with our wallets everyday, and my votes will be changing that is for sure.
It galls me that we are not being "beaten fair and square". Far from it, and that makes me doubly excited to help manufacturers use Lean methods to gain savings here at home without succumbing to the "grass is greener" in China mentality. I fully expect we will continue to lose jobs in uncompetitive markets forever, but we can't allow them to be taken away by unsavoury and unethical "tactics". If there is consistent bad faith by suppliers even product certification marks are not the protection you would like them to be. So what can we do?
Things are not altogether bleak. I understand that in Canada we will have new and improved product safety legislation that will help, but in the end there will not be enough safety testing done on imports and we will still be reactive to lead paint and other purposeful harms done to us to save a few cents in China.
The good news is that delivery time and cost reductions are there for the taking in every North American operation. Those savings (hard won though they may be) along with the Lean advantage of keeping production facilities close to the end user, can definitely counteract "easy" savings hoped for by moving production to China. If you don't think so, tell me how you do sending back that container of substandard goods, or fighting a safety recall... in anycase I recommend you read the book.
Greg's recommended reads
The cormorant's throat is choked by the fisherman so it can only swallow enough very small fish to live. Everything else is taken from its mouth by the fisherman.
It's a stunning analogy. Most of the book is spent describing how this is played out in China: factory owners consistently and methodically under-deliver on product quality to increase their own margins (quality fade). They gain the upper hand over the buyers by raising prices after committing to low (bait) priced PO's. The greed of the importers led them into the trap. They have nowhere in the world to get the product in time and at a low enough cost and not lose their shirts. So they go along with it. Product quality is whittled away and profits are gained by the supplier where there were none in the initial order price. In the end the buyer gets just enough to get by, like the cormorant. By the time you are finished this book you will have a good understanding of how greed and hubris on the buyers side, and guile, culture, and political differences on the suppliers side have made for practices that are thoroughly unacceptable by western standards. Yet they go on seemingly unabated. You get real perspective on the "talent" of the factory owners when you read how the mob from Jersey is scammed in a recycling deal!
There are many tactics described in the book. Here are a few examples. "Quality fade" is how the suppliers make a profit after taking low cost orders. Cheaper materials are substituted until the buyer complains and then the buyer has no recourse or even any leverage on the supplier to improve. Also Counterfeiting is tolerated by buyers as a cost of doing business there. The lack of product health and safety standards and the impenetrable supply chain and financial workings of the suppliers leave some importers unwilling to even test product quality because they are afraid of what they might find. Knowing they have no recourse importers gamble that customers won't notice. The reader is left with the definite idea that change is not coming anytime soon.
Interestingly the dearth of design talent in China has been ignored by their leaders in favour of copying and counterfeiting. It is original designs that are most coveted by factory owners because they can be copied and sold to the rest of the world at much higher margins than to the first world markets. Europe and North America are in total only about 50% of the market for China's manufactured goods. US and Canadian companies deliver original designs in exchange for a too-good-to-be-true low price. In the end the shoddy goods from China are cheapest in America for this reason.
I think in the end the price paid for "cheap" items of China is too high for the risk we take as a society. Lowering our ethical "bar" to make this trade, and approving of exploitation of the foreign workers in unhealthy conditions (that would be quite illegal here), is selling our competitive advantage far too cheaply. Erosion of product safety standards is very alarming and the theft of intellectual property (our future) is really not worth the price paid. Unfortunately this ship has sailed, politically speaking, and the author makes the point that the US missed its chance to significantly influence China after it was bestowed with Most Favored Nation trading status.
Conscience and Integrity
I found it to be a very engaging read told in an enjoyable personal style that clearly positioned the author at the uncomfortable interface of the two business cultures. Midler shares an understanding that few would have, let alone share with the world. I commend the author for his conscience and integrity when it is apparent that there are many westerners quietly reaping profits from this disturbing status quo. Weighing in at only 240 pages it is quick and informative must-read for anyone in manufacturing, but I think it would interest many people and there is nothing technical about it.
Bust my bubble
A few years ago I viewed China's economic miracle akin to the transformation of post war Japan. I felt that eventually the quality of goods and value added will increase on the imports through good old industrious behaviour. Naively, I foresaw North America getting a run for its money and we'd use our Lean smarts and intellectual property to stay ahead of the developing world. This book busted my bubble. Obvious cultural differences highlighted in the book make it clear that China will be China and not another Japan. China will not overwhelm us with their quality like the Japanese:, and the reasons why are well documented in this book.
What to do?
First thing for me: I am going to weigh purchases carefully with respect to country of origin and err on the side of caution. As a consumer I will reconsider price versus risk knowing what I learned in the book. We all vote with our wallets everyday, and my votes will be changing that is for sure.
It galls me that we are not being "beaten fair and square". Far from it, and that makes me doubly excited to help manufacturers use Lean methods to gain savings here at home without succumbing to the "grass is greener" in China mentality. I fully expect we will continue to lose jobs in uncompetitive markets forever, but we can't allow them to be taken away by unsavoury and unethical "tactics". If there is consistent bad faith by suppliers even product certification marks are not the protection you would like them to be. So what can we do?
Things are not altogether bleak. I understand that in Canada we will have new and improved product safety legislation that will help, but in the end there will not be enough safety testing done on imports and we will still be reactive to lead paint and other purposeful harms done to us to save a few cents in China.
The good news is that delivery time and cost reductions are there for the taking in every North American operation. Those savings (hard won though they may be) along with the Lean advantage of keeping production facilities close to the end user, can definitely counteract "easy" savings hoped for by moving production to China. If you don't think so, tell me how you do sending back that container of substandard goods, or fighting a safety recall... in anycase I recommend you read the book.
Greg's recommended reads
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Lean: radical change or continuous improvement?
Some smart businesses in today's tough economic reality want fast cost reduction (that means radical change)but they also want to reap the benefits of Lean teamwork and continuous improvement going forward. It can be done, and has been done, but only with much careful commitment by management. To understand how it is so we must look at the difference between radical change and continuous improvement and how they live together as a part of the Lean Enterprise.
Lean uses both continuous improvement/Kaizen (CI) and Kaikaku (radical change or more politely, process re-engineering) one after the other unendingly. The order in which a company adopts each of these tools from the start can dictate the initial pace of change, and the level of support management requires along the lean journey. The two tools (Kaizen/Kaikaku) are complementary and when Kaikaku is used after successful implementation of continuous improvement, radical change will not be very hard (or risky) to manage at all, because the employees are ready for it. They will probably even welcome it. Kaizen involves employees part time at all levels and focuses on incremental improvement of specific work processes. It is slower but overall a gentler start to the Lean culture change. Kaikaku, on the other hand involves much more intense, hands on involvement by managers in the change of org structure and job design. Team members will be required full time over a condensed period to properly implement Kaikaku.
Radical change through technology, and/or the sudden imposition of new working methods maximizes the sense of urgency and is more demanding and stressful on the management and workers, hence resistance to change is also strongest. Therefore a change management strategy is necessary because Kaikaku literally "upsets the apple cart" and rebuilds it as a fruit stand or supermarket. Clearly business process owners cannot leave the development of value stream maps and implementation of future state vision to the workers on the floor. Avoidable misunderstandings and rumors can be very damaging to the company improvement strategy . Also workers will not have the skillset needed at the start of the journey either. Managers that have the support and authority to make radical changes must be involved at the earliest point of the lean journey. This leadership group must take the future state vision, think through its implementation, and make any hard decisions up front.
Success on the continuing lean journey depends on the involvement of the workers in Kaizen. The workers' involvement is quickly lost when the Lean journey is interrupted by job loss, or shadowed with uncertainty. When Kaikaku is necessary at the start of a Lean Journey management must be up front about job losses. Get the changes done quickly in an orderly planned manner. Have a communication strategy. If possible use innovative tactics like carrying full time Lean teams composed of displaced workers until your new lean enterprise can reabsorb them into productive roles once again. By demonstrating their integrity, vision and preparedness management will gain employee trust and keep the lean journey on track even through tough times.
Radical change and continuous improvement can go together in the Lean Enterprise when management leadership is strong and well supported.
My recommended reads
Lean uses both continuous improvement/Kaizen (CI) and Kaikaku (radical change or more politely, process re-engineering) one after the other unendingly. The order in which a company adopts each of these tools from the start can dictate the initial pace of change, and the level of support management requires along the lean journey. The two tools (Kaizen/Kaikaku) are complementary and when Kaikaku is used after successful implementation of continuous improvement, radical change will not be very hard (or risky) to manage at all, because the employees are ready for it. They will probably even welcome it. Kaizen involves employees part time at all levels and focuses on incremental improvement of specific work processes. It is slower but overall a gentler start to the Lean culture change. Kaikaku, on the other hand involves much more intense, hands on involvement by managers in the change of org structure and job design. Team members will be required full time over a condensed period to properly implement Kaikaku.
Radical change through technology, and/or the sudden imposition of new working methods maximizes the sense of urgency and is more demanding and stressful on the management and workers, hence resistance to change is also strongest. Therefore a change management strategy is necessary because Kaikaku literally "upsets the apple cart" and rebuilds it as a fruit stand or supermarket. Clearly business process owners cannot leave the development of value stream maps and implementation of future state vision to the workers on the floor. Avoidable misunderstandings and rumors can be very damaging to the company improvement strategy . Also workers will not have the skillset needed at the start of the journey either. Managers that have the support and authority to make radical changes must be involved at the earliest point of the lean journey. This leadership group must take the future state vision, think through its implementation, and make any hard decisions up front.
Success on the continuing lean journey depends on the involvement of the workers in Kaizen. The workers' involvement is quickly lost when the Lean journey is interrupted by job loss, or shadowed with uncertainty. When Kaikaku is necessary at the start of a Lean Journey management must be up front about job losses. Get the changes done quickly in an orderly planned manner. Have a communication strategy. If possible use innovative tactics like carrying full time Lean teams composed of displaced workers until your new lean enterprise can reabsorb them into productive roles once again. By demonstrating their integrity, vision and preparedness management will gain employee trust and keep the lean journey on track even through tough times.
Radical change and continuous improvement can go together in the Lean Enterprise when management leadership is strong and well supported.
My recommended reads
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Value Stream Mapping, it isn't just for manufacturing anymore
Way back when, Anita Bryant used to tell us regularly on TV "Orange juice, it isn't just for breakfast anymore". Back in the day paraphrasing this line became an all purpose exhortation to change our perceptions and do something differently. Nothing so dramatic as a paradigm shift was required here ( If you don't know Anita Bryant you can google her and see for yourself how the world has changed for the better since her day: she failed as a social activist, but as a promoter of widespread change in OJ consumption habits she did pretty well.). Think back in your own life. What did you do in the past that you would not want to do now? Actions that today have been made unpopular/obsolete/illegal by business, social, or technological advance? Got some in mind? It is not too hard to do. I find it very interesting to track the positive changes around us - it confirms we are growing for the better.
Today I want to talk about expanding the use of Value Stream Mapping (VSM) from its roots in dear old manufacturing, to a basic tool for all kinds of businesses. This little perception change is as easy as drinking OJ at dinner. VSM is well explained in the ultra-practical book Learning to See by Mike Rother and John Shook. It is the definitive text on VSM for manufacturers. However with only a little imagination the reader can substititute a few words and change it to a transformative tool for their particular business. Change the words: product to service, plant floor to workplace, customer to client or patient et voila! You now have the best basic tool there is to help get your own Lean implementation underway.
What is VSM?
A value stream is the collection of all the steps that occur to satisfy the customer. This can be taken from a very high level (the single office, factory, or enterprise) or even extended to the molecular level of contributing raw materials! VSM includes real (observed) data about the actual product/service family being mapped. There are 2 stages of a VSM; first the Current State map (CSM) is made and validated and second, a Future State map (FSM) is generated by the application of Lean methods that provide a reachable goal of a leaner operation. Once the first future state is achieved, a new one can be envisoned, thereby creating a virtuous cycle of improvement.
VSM is a key tool for the Lean Leader
The lack of a Value Stream Map (or ineffective articulation and communication of an existing VSM) has been the seed of failure and frustration, and the cause of unsatifactory progress, in many Lean implementations. This is so because the VSM process provides a focal point for a company's vision of the future that is absolutely needed to align the forces for change and drive progress through the depth and breadth of an organization. It is senior management's responsibility to guide, provide vision, and even direct (yes I said it, direct is not necessarily a dirty word.) the company's Lean efforts. VSM is their tool first and foremost to do that. Producing a VSM with real data, involving the right people, and then implementing an FSM (future state map) has been demonstrated to be much more effective than the too common tactic of training the frontline workers in "lean 101" and letting them loose on the place.
The FSM becomes the basis for planning corporate goals more accurately. Capital expenditures can be priortized by the vision of the FSM. It is the basis for a balanced scorecard, new KPI (Key Performance Indicators), revised work organization and even policy changes (e.g. remuneration methods). It is refreshing for the organization to become realigned to provide the best value to the customer without regard to entrenched interests or functional silos.
Try to imagine doing something different. Imagine how satisfied your customer would be with half the current lead time for your service. Imagine your people determined to solve the issues that plague your company and keep you up at night. Time to get started. Its about as easy as having OJ at dinner, and much more rewarding.
Greg's recommended reads
Today I want to talk about expanding the use of Value Stream Mapping (VSM) from its roots in dear old manufacturing, to a basic tool for all kinds of businesses. This little perception change is as easy as drinking OJ at dinner. VSM is well explained in the ultra-practical book Learning to See by Mike Rother and John Shook. It is the definitive text on VSM for manufacturers. However with only a little imagination the reader can substititute a few words and change it to a transformative tool for their particular business. Change the words: product to service, plant floor to workplace, customer to client or patient et voila! You now have the best basic tool there is to help get your own Lean implementation underway.
What is VSM?
A value stream is the collection of all the steps that occur to satisfy the customer. This can be taken from a very high level (the single office, factory, or enterprise) or even extended to the molecular level of contributing raw materials! VSM includes real (observed) data about the actual product/service family being mapped. There are 2 stages of a VSM; first the Current State map (CSM) is made and validated and second, a Future State map (FSM) is generated by the application of Lean methods that provide a reachable goal of a leaner operation. Once the first future state is achieved, a new one can be envisoned, thereby creating a virtuous cycle of improvement.
VSM is a key tool for the Lean Leader
The lack of a Value Stream Map (or ineffective articulation and communication of an existing VSM) has been the seed of failure and frustration, and the cause of unsatifactory progress, in many Lean implementations. This is so because the VSM process provides a focal point for a company's vision of the future that is absolutely needed to align the forces for change and drive progress through the depth and breadth of an organization. It is senior management's responsibility to guide, provide vision, and even direct (yes I said it, direct is not necessarily a dirty word.) the company's Lean efforts. VSM is their tool first and foremost to do that. Producing a VSM with real data, involving the right people, and then implementing an FSM (future state map) has been demonstrated to be much more effective than the too common tactic of training the frontline workers in "lean 101" and letting them loose on the place.
The FSM becomes the basis for planning corporate goals more accurately. Capital expenditures can be priortized by the vision of the FSM. It is the basis for a balanced scorecard, new KPI (Key Performance Indicators), revised work organization and even policy changes (e.g. remuneration methods). It is refreshing for the organization to become realigned to provide the best value to the customer without regard to entrenched interests or functional silos.
Try to imagine doing something different. Imagine how satisfied your customer would be with half the current lead time for your service. Imagine your people determined to solve the issues that plague your company and keep you up at night. Time to get started. Its about as easy as having OJ at dinner, and much more rewarding.
Greg's recommended reads
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Lean a la Carte, bad for Canada?
I am acutely aware of a current trend of companies using Lean a la carte ( picking and choosing parts of the methodology without adopting and supporting the corresponding cultural change). This picky approach could relegate Lean to the scrap heap of Canada's marginally successful "flavours of the day" in the business of business improvement. If Lean were not a proven way to become world beaters I would not be concerned, go ahead, let it die. But it is proven, and has no apparent successor, so I am concerned that Canada's chance to close a shameful gap in productivity with the rest of the world will be forever lost if we don't take the challenge of Lean seriously.
There are books written on culture change in the workplace so I will not go into details, but support means: proper training, resources (mentoring and leadership), time to do the Lean work, no fear of improving themselves out of a job, empowerment, demonstrated management integrity and commitment to the change. Some organizations embark on the Lean journey by trying to adapt it to their existing culture. That job could be downright easy if the existing culture is already one of empowerment and accountability, driven from top to bottom by delivering value to the customer. But that is almost never the case (Definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different result). Not surprisingly, the type of organization that has a better record succcess making the transformation quickly is one that has a lot of "urgency" in play. Urgency almost always means that the company has been put in a bad position and change must happen or the company and the employees will suffer. Strong motivation. If there is no urgency, the rocking of the boat necessary for culture change to take root will be much less tolerated. Without strong leadership, lack of tolerance from the existing culture can limit or snuff out real gains from lean methods. In all cases, urgent or not, strong vision and leadership must be exercised to achieve transformation.
Many organizations are talking the language of Lean these days. Employers now call for the excercise of Lean skills in manufacturing, operations and other sectors . Health care, government, supply chain, logistics/distribution, manufacturing, and services are twigging to it, and they are all fertile ground for lean transformation. So attempts are being made. That is good. But I have seen and heard of numerous organizations that pay lip service to lean without demonstrating the commitment and leadership required to make transformational change. It is one thing to tell your engineer or operations leaders to "use Lean" and quite another to operate a lean enterprise. Of course results have been achieved without becoming a dyed-in-the-wool Lean culture, but for most lean implementations, the seeds of failure are sown at the outset by tepid management commitment. People learn their boss's attention span for applying new methods and (led by resisters) they usually try and wait out any new program and plan to revert to old habits. The Lean transformation is not easy but it is effective, satisfying, and it's the de facto price of admission to the "World Class" club.
Canadian business can use Lean to close the productivity gap that speaks so poorly of our economy's long term prospects. Shedding jobs to the far reaches of the earth every time there is cost pressure, and banking on our base resources to prop us up is not a great strategy to keep Canada competitive. Our corporate taxes are now the some of the lowest in the world. That work is well done. Increasing labour productivity is the next frontier for our country to ensure continued growth. We have the tools.
Greg's Recommended Reading - Bookstore
There are books written on culture change in the workplace so I will not go into details, but support means: proper training, resources (mentoring and leadership), time to do the Lean work, no fear of improving themselves out of a job, empowerment, demonstrated management integrity and commitment to the change. Some organizations embark on the Lean journey by trying to adapt it to their existing culture. That job could be downright easy if the existing culture is already one of empowerment and accountability, driven from top to bottom by delivering value to the customer. But that is almost never the case (Definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different result). Not surprisingly, the type of organization that has a better record succcess making the transformation quickly is one that has a lot of "urgency" in play. Urgency almost always means that the company has been put in a bad position and change must happen or the company and the employees will suffer. Strong motivation. If there is no urgency, the rocking of the boat necessary for culture change to take root will be much less tolerated. Without strong leadership, lack of tolerance from the existing culture can limit or snuff out real gains from lean methods. In all cases, urgent or not, strong vision and leadership must be exercised to achieve transformation.
Many organizations are talking the language of Lean these days. Employers now call for the excercise of Lean skills in manufacturing, operations and other sectors . Health care, government, supply chain, logistics/distribution, manufacturing, and services are twigging to it, and they are all fertile ground for lean transformation. So attempts are being made. That is good. But I have seen and heard of numerous organizations that pay lip service to lean without demonstrating the commitment and leadership required to make transformational change. It is one thing to tell your engineer or operations leaders to "use Lean" and quite another to operate a lean enterprise. Of course results have been achieved without becoming a dyed-in-the-wool Lean culture, but for most lean implementations, the seeds of failure are sown at the outset by tepid management commitment. People learn their boss's attention span for applying new methods and (led by resisters) they usually try and wait out any new program and plan to revert to old habits. The Lean transformation is not easy but it is effective, satisfying, and it's the de facto price of admission to the "World Class" club.
Canadian business can use Lean to close the productivity gap that speaks so poorly of our economy's long term prospects. Shedding jobs to the far reaches of the earth every time there is cost pressure, and banking on our base resources to prop us up is not a great strategy to keep Canada competitive. Our corporate taxes are now the some of the lowest in the world. That work is well done. Increasing labour productivity is the next frontier for our country to ensure continued growth. We have the tools.
Greg's Recommended Reading - Bookstore
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