Is Your Sales Force Ready to Sell More?
I know you are thinking "what is he talking about? the sales force was not the problem, it was our low productivity, long delivery times, late deliveries, poor quality and high costs that caused our problems. Sales has done a bang up job covering us with our customers, they've worked really hard.. Lean has fixed all that." Well you are right but that was then and this is now. Your new Lean enterprise is undergoing significant transformation that won't end with production, and if you are good it will not end at all. All major departments must work together to fully take advantage of Lean, otherwise the next bottleneck you encounter could be a major issue.
You've Done It. Now What?
So, congratulations, you have success implementing Lean in your production operations and you are starting to reap the benefits. Well you now have a different opportunity to tackle. Theory- of- constraints as well as Lean teaches us there is always a bottleneck in a process and once you de-bottleneck at one place the bottleneck just moves! That's why it's called continuous improvement. There is always something to do better.
Strategic Vision Needed
It is important to keep sales leadership and other stakeholders apprised, and involved, in the gains being achieved in production. The easy way to do this is at the start of the journey. If the company started their Lean journey with a high level value stream map then it is more likely that this need was identified early, and the enterprise is working as a unit. The VSM is the manager's tool to ensure that the FLOW of the lean transformation is not disrupted, and all the necessary projects get developed in every department, not just production. This is not always the case, though, and I have seen more than one situation where increased production went unsold because the sales force and processes were not adapted and ready to take on more market share. In one particularly tough situation production layoffs resulted because sales did not rise even though the production team worked hard to increase productivity and reduce costs! Ironically at the same time the production people were laid off the sales force was being increased. Ouch. The overall improvement effort faltered, exacerbating an already dysfunctional "us vs. them" situation between sales and production. Morale took a serious hit and years later the lesson is still not learned.
By launching lean as an enterprise-wide effort you can immediately begin to challenge the status quo in all areas, not just production. It is up to management to look forward, and ensure the benefits of Lean flow through the whole organization.
Here a few resources that could get you thinking about how to lean-out your sales processes:
http://www.articlesbase.com/six-sigma-articles/creating-a-lean-sales-process-1708665.html
http://www.slideshare.net/haraldhenn/lean-management-in-sales-service-and-marketing
http://www.salesperformance.com/
Monday, November 8, 2010
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Canadian Manufacturing Labour Productivity: Be Afraid
Productivity is measured as GDP produced per hour worked. The government says:
Between 1999 and 2008 labour productivity in the Manufacturing sector increased 0.2% per year on average. In comparison, labour productivity for the Canadian Economy increased 2.4% per year.
That growth rate spread is widening as the recession has hit the manufacturing sector so hard that it's productivity is experiencing negative growth.
Economic growth predictions have been scaled back across the OECD from the optimistic outlook of earlier in the year. Canada's dollar is now predicted to continue to rise significantly in the next year. This harsh confluence of circumstances will pinch Canada's manufacturing base like never before. The relative strength of the dollar will ensure job losses to the US and beyond.
Now is the time to invest in some of those powerful canuck bucks in world class new equipment, and make the paradigm shift to Lean. The manufacturing productivity gap is a national crisis, and needs to be treated as such.
Is making things a thing of the past? I say that making things is critical to our economic and physical security.
Many intelligent Canadians believe we are an economy of technical knowledge and services, and the flood of jobs offshore is just a natural consequence of how smart we are, and we in the west will naturally continue to retain our rightful place on top of the heap. (Check out my last post where Andy Grove, founder of Intel describes how this is a false hope.) If you take a look at world wide economic growth rates, emerging economies are outgrowing the west and will continue to do so. Productivity means competitiveness, and right now Canada is being left behind. We need to do something better with our manpower besides dig in the ground for non-renewable resources to sell.
The stimulus budget spending has got us this far. Now leadership needs to take a long view of Canadian competitiveness and aggressively pursue improved productivity in the manufacturing sector.
Between 1999 and 2008 labour productivity in the Manufacturing sector increased 0.2% per year on average. In comparison, labour productivity for the Canadian Economy increased 2.4% per year.
That growth rate spread is widening as the recession has hit the manufacturing sector so hard that it's productivity is experiencing negative growth.
Economic growth predictions have been scaled back across the OECD from the optimistic outlook of earlier in the year. Canada's dollar is now predicted to continue to rise significantly in the next year. This harsh confluence of circumstances will pinch Canada's manufacturing base like never before. The relative strength of the dollar will ensure job losses to the US and beyond.
Now is the time to invest in some of those powerful canuck bucks in world class new equipment, and make the paradigm shift to Lean. The manufacturing productivity gap is a national crisis, and needs to be treated as such.
Is making things a thing of the past? I say that making things is critical to our economic and physical security.
Many intelligent Canadians believe we are an economy of technical knowledge and services, and the flood of jobs offshore is just a natural consequence of how smart we are, and we in the west will naturally continue to retain our rightful place on top of the heap. (Check out my last post where Andy Grove, founder of Intel describes how this is a false hope.) If you take a look at world wide economic growth rates, emerging economies are outgrowing the west and will continue to do so. Productivity means competitiveness, and right now Canada is being left behind. We need to do something better with our manpower besides dig in the ground for non-renewable resources to sell.
The stimulus budget spending has got us this far. Now leadership needs to take a long view of Canadian competitiveness and aggressively pursue improved productivity in the manufacturing sector.
Save Tech Jobs only with Change
Earlier this year Andy Grove, co-founder of Intel, wrote a very interesting opinion article for Bloomberg "How to make an American Job before it is too late: Andy Grove". It is a must read that puts perspective on how allowing tech manufacturing move off shore is a tactic that will be the continued undoing of job creation in America. I find Andy's perspective compelling. What do you think?
Lean Leaders Help Teams Deal WIth Distractions
"I can't get any work done with all these distractions!" All bosses hear it. Especially in creative functions like design, engineering, R&D. I imagine lawyers, writers, nurses and many other professions could also (along with the rest of us) use reasonable periods of time where they can put 100% of their concentration into their work. In these days where "multitasking" is a "skill", leaders must combat the whittling away of their employee's productivity.
I was reminded of my experience as a leader of a custom engineering/manufacturing company. Designers would complain of having no time to get into their detailed design work. Distractions and interruptions from the floor, suppliers, bosses, meetings, would fragment their time. We found that an hour a day (or less) was a common amount to be spent on a project! Since many of these were design and development projects you can imagine that productivity was not as good as we wanted. We arrived at a good solution by establishing daily "quiet hours". For a period each day the engineering department did not answer phones, emails, attend meetings or entertain other interruptions. They were declared "offline" to the rest of the organization. It turned out to be very effective and was widely respected all coworkers. Psychologically it was important that as a leader I recognized the need for the "quiet time", and by doing so I empowered the people to take charge of their working time themselves.
Google search "Managing Interruptions" and you will get a laundry list of good tips you can pick from. In the end effectively managing interruptions is something that the employee has to take on for themselves as part of their daily interactions. Learning to say "no" to interruptions is a learned communications skill for most of us. Often it is an assertiveness issue as well. It is the job of the boss to recognize what habits the worker needs to change and give them the support they need to make the changes. Empowerment can can be defined as "permission and support from the boss to practice new behaviours in the workplace".
The "One Minute Manager meets the Monkey" is a quick read that gets to the heart of the matter for those ultra-committed souls that habitually take on too much.
Ultimately the boss has to guard his people and their time so they are most productive. Controlling the frequency and length of meetings and easing the difficulty of bureacratic processes are a couple of big ones. Set a good balanced example yourself: get results and have a good life. Send the right message Boss!
Points to ponder....
“After you plant a seed in the ground, you don’t dig it up every week to see how it is doing.”
In his 1975 HBR classic “The Manager’s Job,” Henry Mintzberg wrote: “Someone, only half in jest, once defined the manager as that person who sees visitors so that everyone else can get his work done.”
“Guard against the director’s first great vice—rabbiting on, making the same point again and again, getting laughs from your inimitable (and interminable) anecdotes.”
Say to your employees: “My job is to open the umbrella when the crap rains down from above. Your job is to keep me from having to open it too often.”
"I have left orders to be awakened at any time in case of national emergency, even if I'm in a cabinet meeting." -Ronald Reagan, 40th president of US (1911 - 2004)
"There is never enough time, unless you're serving it."- Malcolm Forbes
"Noise is the most impertinent of all forms of interruption. It is not only an interruption, but is also a disruption of thought." Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher (1788 - 1860)
Recommended Reads
I was reminded of my experience as a leader of a custom engineering/manufacturing company. Designers would complain of having no time to get into their detailed design work. Distractions and interruptions from the floor, suppliers, bosses, meetings, would fragment their time. We found that an hour a day (or less) was a common amount to be spent on a project! Since many of these were design and development projects you can imagine that productivity was not as good as we wanted. We arrived at a good solution by establishing daily "quiet hours". For a period each day the engineering department did not answer phones, emails, attend meetings or entertain other interruptions. They were declared "offline" to the rest of the organization. It turned out to be very effective and was widely respected all coworkers. Psychologically it was important that as a leader I recognized the need for the "quiet time", and by doing so I empowered the people to take charge of their working time themselves.
Google search "Managing Interruptions" and you will get a laundry list of good tips you can pick from. In the end effectively managing interruptions is something that the employee has to take on for themselves as part of their daily interactions. Learning to say "no" to interruptions is a learned communications skill for most of us. Often it is an assertiveness issue as well. It is the job of the boss to recognize what habits the worker needs to change and give them the support they need to make the changes. Empowerment can can be defined as "permission and support from the boss to practice new behaviours in the workplace".
The "One Minute Manager meets the Monkey" is a quick read that gets to the heart of the matter for those ultra-committed souls that habitually take on too much.
Ultimately the boss has to guard his people and their time so they are most productive. Controlling the frequency and length of meetings and easing the difficulty of bureacratic processes are a couple of big ones. Set a good balanced example yourself: get results and have a good life. Send the right message Boss!
Points to ponder....
“After you plant a seed in the ground, you don’t dig it up every week to see how it is doing.”
In his 1975 HBR classic “The Manager’s Job,” Henry Mintzberg wrote: “Someone, only half in jest, once defined the manager as that person who sees visitors so that everyone else can get his work done.”
“Guard against the director’s first great vice—rabbiting on, making the same point again and again, getting laughs from your inimitable (and interminable) anecdotes.”
Say to your employees: “My job is to open the umbrella when the crap rains down from above. Your job is to keep me from having to open it too often.”
"I have left orders to be awakened at any time in case of national emergency, even if I'm in a cabinet meeting." -Ronald Reagan, 40th president of US (1911 - 2004)
"There is never enough time, unless you're serving it."- Malcolm Forbes
"Noise is the most impertinent of all forms of interruption. It is not only an interruption, but is also a disruption of thought." Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher (1788 - 1860)
Recommended Reads
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Canada's Stability and Oil wealth driving dollar to US$1.15?
The stability of Canada will become a safe haven for currency investors as capital flows out of the US. We are headed to $1.15 in 12 months according to economist Patricia Croft. This would represent an unprecedented high against the greenback. Whether it gets that high or not hardly matters, as the trend and fundamentals seem to be in place for the dollar taking a quick trip in the upward direction. Declining and low interest rates and looser monetary policies in the US and the industrial world, will flow investors to the C$. No surprise after our banking system came through the crash of 2008 with (relatively) flying colours. Also not surprising as energy prices and supply have made the C$ a petro-currency: no longer driven by the fundamental forces of labour productivity and value-added exports.
A high dollar is good right? Yes it is if the population is employed at something that earns more of them. A high dollar is well known to cheapen imports and push manufacturing, and even services, to off -shore competitors. If our population's productivity and ingenuity did not 'earn' the dollar's increase, and our prosperity exists only because of the world's insatiable demand for non-renewable energy and resources, then we better buckle up for higher unemployment and more McJobs.
Producers in Canada need to adjust faster than ever. In the next 12 months we could see the dollar increase at about 3 times the rate of the magnificent climb we witnessed in the last 8 years. Like never before the time is now.
Greg's Recommended Reading
A high dollar is good right? Yes it is if the population is employed at something that earns more of them. A high dollar is well known to cheapen imports and push manufacturing, and even services, to off -shore competitors. If our population's productivity and ingenuity did not 'earn' the dollar's increase, and our prosperity exists only because of the world's insatiable demand for non-renewable energy and resources, then we better buckle up for higher unemployment and more McJobs.
Producers in Canada need to adjust faster than ever. In the next 12 months we could see the dollar increase at about 3 times the rate of the magnificent climb we witnessed in the last 8 years. Like never before the time is now.
Greg's Recommended Reading
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Medication labelling needs error-proofing NOW
Bureaucratic solutions too-little too late to save lives
Today I read an article in the NP that needs a lean response. Tom Blackwell's article puts light on a serious problem in health care: confusion over similar looking labels has led to mistakes causing death. The tragic deaths of 2 people in Calgary who while undergoing dialysis were given deadly potassium chloride instead of harmless sodium chloride solution; a mistake traced to the extreme similarity of the packaging and labelling. The article quotes pharmacy professor Neil MacKinnon: "If you ask any kind of front line nurse or pharmacist they would say 'Gee, this isn't rocket science, why can't they make labelling clearer- put things in different size fonts and colors?' It's a big problem we've known about for a long time but there doesn't seem like a lot of impetus for change."
The government and industry are working on a standard bar code system for use with scanners - a highly expensive solution that will take "years" to implement. Health Canada is also being asked to vet labels and packaging that may lead to mistakes. They are committing $2 million to a system for REPORTING incidents and developing preventive measures! I am sure the reporting system will comfort the next family that loses a loved one.
This example screams for simple and immediate implementation of lean methods. It is not rocket science. Although the bureaucracy is doing its "best", action on this problem need not be delayed. Error proofing is a basic concept of lean. You simply devise ways to completely prevent common and likely errors. A lean manufacturer would immediately address this issue and market the improved safety. Luckily the Institute for Safe Medicine Practices in Atlanta has begun positive work with drug suppliers but it is clearly not moving as fast as is needed. Interestingly they have a system standard of TALLMAN letters for labels that emphasize the differences between similar medicines right on their label. Why is this not industry standard?
Interested lean leaders would simply ask the front line workers to identify the most likely confused medications. Thereby creating an immediate database of improvements to tackle, heading off mistakes in the short term. I bet there are many simple (and cheap) error proofing ideas on the minds of health care workers waiting to be engaged. Lean is about making improvements right now using the expertise of the front line workers. It is ironic that the bureaucracy has such a hold on "improvement" that even simple changes that save lives can't be made quickly. Isn't saving lives quickly is what health care is all about? I would start with those on the front line, not waste time installing long term costly "solutions" or developing a reporting system that costs more than the solutions to most of this issue would. It is sad that lean in health care at the national level in Canada is not visible at all.
Today I read an article in the NP that needs a lean response. Tom Blackwell's article puts light on a serious problem in health care: confusion over similar looking labels has led to mistakes causing death. The tragic deaths of 2 people in Calgary who while undergoing dialysis were given deadly potassium chloride instead of harmless sodium chloride solution; a mistake traced to the extreme similarity of the packaging and labelling. The article quotes pharmacy professor Neil MacKinnon: "If you ask any kind of front line nurse or pharmacist they would say 'Gee, this isn't rocket science, why can't they make labelling clearer- put things in different size fonts and colors?' It's a big problem we've known about for a long time but there doesn't seem like a lot of impetus for change."
The government and industry are working on a standard bar code system for use with scanners - a highly expensive solution that will take "years" to implement. Health Canada is also being asked to vet labels and packaging that may lead to mistakes. They are committing $2 million to a system for REPORTING incidents and developing preventive measures! I am sure the reporting system will comfort the next family that loses a loved one.
This example screams for simple and immediate implementation of lean methods. It is not rocket science. Although the bureaucracy is doing its "best", action on this problem need not be delayed. Error proofing is a basic concept of lean. You simply devise ways to completely prevent common and likely errors. A lean manufacturer would immediately address this issue and market the improved safety. Luckily the Institute for Safe Medicine Practices in Atlanta has begun positive work with drug suppliers but it is clearly not moving as fast as is needed. Interestingly they have a system standard of TALLMAN letters for labels that emphasize the differences between similar medicines right on their label. Why is this not industry standard?
Interested lean leaders would simply ask the front line workers to identify the most likely confused medications. Thereby creating an immediate database of improvements to tackle, heading off mistakes in the short term. I bet there are many simple (and cheap) error proofing ideas on the minds of health care workers waiting to be engaged. Lean is about making improvements right now using the expertise of the front line workers. It is ironic that the bureaucracy has such a hold on "improvement" that even simple changes that save lives can't be made quickly. Isn't saving lives quickly is what health care is all about? I would start with those on the front line, not waste time installing long term costly "solutions" or developing a reporting system that costs more than the solutions to most of this issue would. It is sad that lean in health care at the national level in Canada is not visible at all.
Friday, September 17, 2010
Low Cost Labour Not Enough for Chinese Manufacturers
An item in the Financial Post by David Barboza caught my eye today. China's "industrial miracle" is learning quickly to reshape itself as cheap labour dwindles. The predicted future strengthening of the yuan, and wage inflation facing manufacturers in the large industrial zones have them looking to go "to the next stage of development" by upgrading facilities and service. Some factories are moving inland where wages are 30% cheaper. Some are going offshore to other countries like Bangladesh and Vietnam where labour remains cheap. A Chinese scholar hopes "that China's comparative advantage as a low-wage producer does disappear - the sooner the better". It is realized that some factory investments can't easily be moved and new tactics are required to add value.
Predictably Chinese manufacturers are learning to serve their customers better to overcome some of the drawbacks of being far away. TAL Group is now managing the supply chain for its products at JC Penney, one of its biggest T shirt buyers. "We know what's in the warehouse, what's on the boat. We help reduce inventory". This sophisticated partnering approach is in stark contrast to the business environment during the first big expansion last decade. From now on look for happier customers partnering with their Chinese suppliers.
The Leaning-out of the supply chain and manufacturing facilities in North America has never been more urgently needed.
Predictably Chinese manufacturers are learning to serve their customers better to overcome some of the drawbacks of being far away. TAL Group is now managing the supply chain for its products at JC Penney, one of its biggest T shirt buyers. "We know what's in the warehouse, what's on the boat. We help reduce inventory". This sophisticated partnering approach is in stark contrast to the business environment during the first big expansion last decade. From now on look for happier customers partnering with their Chinese suppliers.
The Leaning-out of the supply chain and manufacturing facilities in North America has never been more urgently needed.
Elephants, Awards and Lean Health Care
Here are two of my favourite elephant stories that seem apropos to lean transformation of health care:
1) How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time of course!
2) A king has the blind men of the capital brought to the palace, where an elephant is brought in and they are asked to describe it.
"When the blind men had each felt a part of the elephant, the king went to each of them and said to each: 'Well, blind man, have you seen the elephant? Tell me, what sort of thing is an elephant?"
The men cannot agree with one another and come to blows over the question of what it is like and their dispute delights the king.
The cost of our health care is predicted to completely outstrip our ability to fund it within our lifetimes. Hear that boomers? If any sector in our economy needs to embrace lean quickly and effectively right now, it is our Canadian Health care system. We are in trouble. Recently, right across the country, major initiatives to streamline provincial health care data systems have been tainted by scandals. The public faith is eroded daily by every failure, scandal and personal tale of suffering. I will not turn this into a political debate (you're welcome) but the politicians are our leaders and they must not keep passing the buck by simply cutting services and rationing health care. Can the "blind men"/stakeholders in our health care system do anything to change the downward course of the behemoth that is our medical system? The debate is nothing to fear compared to what is at risk. The time is now to get together, understand what they really have on their hands, and then get eating!
Universal health care was a populist initiative that set us apart from the rest of North America. Canadians are rightly proud of their system, and also rightly wary of US style health care. Perhaps to a fault. Universal health care access is right up there with hockey as a Canadian cultural icon. Federal elections have been swayed by the mere suggestion of "two tiered health care". I know we have excellent arguments about why universal health care is better for society, but why can't our public system rival the best privately run operations? Why should the Canadian public accept less value-for-money as a condition for a universal system? I have spoken to a number of health care workers and virtually all are unsatisfied with the system somehow (some to the point of despair). I am told things are dysfunctional and the future is bleak. I understand there is much to discuss and my point here is that it is clearly time for us to act differently and face our elephant.
Advocating the American style solution is "not on" in Canada. That is a political reality. But, (putting aside cultural biases) if the US system is so bad why were so many US citizens opposed to health care reform? In that recent and divisive debate down south, our Canadian system was demonized for having a lower standard of care and huge waiting times that cause unnecessary suffering and death. Hmmm...let me ask you Canadians in your heart-of-hearts; are our wait times for treatment and level of care all that you would like them to be? I know the US debate was ill informed and hysterical/comical when referencing our Canadian system, but I believe the anti-reform forces in the US had a point underpinning their arguments. The opponents did not want any system that reduced standards of available care. Nor did they want care rationed or limited. They wanted high standards of health care. That desire for quality is one of the best attributes of the consumer and it forms a key motivator for a transformation to Lean. It is extremely important to understand that the Canadian public is doubly empowered compared to Americans because we own the system as well as being its customers. We are in the better position to demand both quality and efficiency in our health care.
A great example of Lean in health care is at Virginia Mason Medical. Virginia Mason has transformed itself such that it now offers training and consulting to other hospitals using their own "production system". They went and took the best of lean from manufacturing and applied techniques like kaikaku (rapid change) successfully to health care. Why haven't our institutions gotten that far on the lean journey?
I understand there are efforts to go lean in most health jurisdictions in Canada. A good place to measure the state of Lean Health care in Canada is at the 3rd Annual Lean in Health Care conference being held this month in Vancouver. This conference represents a good bite from the elephant. Private health care support services are among those presenting lean success stories to the conference and that is a very good sign. All these good efforts must be leveraged and we must raise our collective expectations in order to aggressively pursue excellence in health care quality.
In the US there is a Baldridge Award for excellence in health care quality that we in Canada would be wise to shamelessly emulate. The recognition of excellence on a national basis is long overdue. (There is an emerging award CHEQA Canadian Healthcare Excellence in Quality Award that is taking steps in the right direction, but it doesn't have the profile or the criteria to compete with the impact of a Baldridge Award). If we had a prestigious national award of excellence I believe we could better inspire the stakeholders to take on root cause solutions, and to fan the sparks of innovation.
Awards create focus and focus usually creates discussion. Let's get the "blind men" talking seriously. In this case the "blind men" on the health care elephant are: the Public, Government, Doctors, Nurses, Management, Support Industries, and Politicians. Of all the "blind men", the Canadian public have the most potential influence on the pace of improvement. If we could just allow the politicians to fully debate the challenges faced by our system there is a chance we could steer away from the bleakest vision of our health care future. Let's not fry the next intrepid politician that wants to jump start the debate!
Healthcare leadership in governments must be pressed to promote recognition of innovation and quality. Everyone should know who in the country delivers the best care. The public needs to open their ears to the debate, and get used to the fact that change must happen or the great Canadian social accomplishment of the last century will wither away in our lifetimes.
1) How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time of course!
2) A king has the blind men of the capital brought to the palace, where an elephant is brought in and they are asked to describe it.
"When the blind men had each felt a part of the elephant, the king went to each of them and said to each: 'Well, blind man, have you seen the elephant? Tell me, what sort of thing is an elephant?"
The men cannot agree with one another and come to blows over the question of what it is like and their dispute delights the king.
The cost of our health care is predicted to completely outstrip our ability to fund it within our lifetimes. Hear that boomers? If any sector in our economy needs to embrace lean quickly and effectively right now, it is our Canadian Health care system. We are in trouble. Recently, right across the country, major initiatives to streamline provincial health care data systems have been tainted by scandals. The public faith is eroded daily by every failure, scandal and personal tale of suffering. I will not turn this into a political debate (you're welcome) but the politicians are our leaders and they must not keep passing the buck by simply cutting services and rationing health care. Can the "blind men"/stakeholders in our health care system do anything to change the downward course of the behemoth that is our medical system? The debate is nothing to fear compared to what is at risk. The time is now to get together, understand what they really have on their hands, and then get eating!
Universal health care was a populist initiative that set us apart from the rest of North America. Canadians are rightly proud of their system, and also rightly wary of US style health care. Perhaps to a fault. Universal health care access is right up there with hockey as a Canadian cultural icon. Federal elections have been swayed by the mere suggestion of "two tiered health care". I know we have excellent arguments about why universal health care is better for society, but why can't our public system rival the best privately run operations? Why should the Canadian public accept less value-for-money as a condition for a universal system? I have spoken to a number of health care workers and virtually all are unsatisfied with the system somehow (some to the point of despair). I am told things are dysfunctional and the future is bleak. I understand there is much to discuss and my point here is that it is clearly time for us to act differently and face our elephant.
Advocating the American style solution is "not on" in Canada. That is a political reality. But, (putting aside cultural biases) if the US system is so bad why were so many US citizens opposed to health care reform? In that recent and divisive debate down south, our Canadian system was demonized for having a lower standard of care and huge waiting times that cause unnecessary suffering and death. Hmmm...let me ask you Canadians in your heart-of-hearts; are our wait times for treatment and level of care all that you would like them to be? I know the US debate was ill informed and hysterical/comical when referencing our Canadian system, but I believe the anti-reform forces in the US had a point underpinning their arguments. The opponents did not want any system that reduced standards of available care. Nor did they want care rationed or limited. They wanted high standards of health care. That desire for quality is one of the best attributes of the consumer and it forms a key motivator for a transformation to Lean. It is extremely important to understand that the Canadian public is doubly empowered compared to Americans because we own the system as well as being its customers. We are in the better position to demand both quality and efficiency in our health care.
A great example of Lean in health care is at Virginia Mason Medical. Virginia Mason has transformed itself such that it now offers training and consulting to other hospitals using their own "production system". They went and took the best of lean from manufacturing and applied techniques like kaikaku (rapid change) successfully to health care. Why haven't our institutions gotten that far on the lean journey?
I understand there are efforts to go lean in most health jurisdictions in Canada. A good place to measure the state of Lean Health care in Canada is at the 3rd Annual Lean in Health Care conference being held this month in Vancouver. This conference represents a good bite from the elephant. Private health care support services are among those presenting lean success stories to the conference and that is a very good sign. All these good efforts must be leveraged and we must raise our collective expectations in order to aggressively pursue excellence in health care quality.
In the US there is a Baldridge Award for excellence in health care quality that we in Canada would be wise to shamelessly emulate. The recognition of excellence on a national basis is long overdue. (There is an emerging award CHEQA Canadian Healthcare Excellence in Quality Award that is taking steps in the right direction, but it doesn't have the profile or the criteria to compete with the impact of a Baldridge Award). If we had a prestigious national award of excellence I believe we could better inspire the stakeholders to take on root cause solutions, and to fan the sparks of innovation.
Awards create focus and focus usually creates discussion. Let's get the "blind men" talking seriously. In this case the "blind men" on the health care elephant are: the Public, Government, Doctors, Nurses, Management, Support Industries, and Politicians. Of all the "blind men", the Canadian public have the most potential influence on the pace of improvement. If we could just allow the politicians to fully debate the challenges faced by our system there is a chance we could steer away from the bleakest vision of our health care future. Let's not fry the next intrepid politician that wants to jump start the debate!
Healthcare leadership in governments must be pressed to promote recognition of innovation and quality. Everyone should know who in the country delivers the best care. The public needs to open their ears to the debate, and get used to the fact that change must happen or the great Canadian social accomplishment of the last century will wither away in our lifetimes.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Back to it! More Motivational Messages
Summer is gone, and we are all pretty much back to the grind full force. I think the time is right for another dose of motivational quotes. Hope you get inspired. Now go out there and Git'er Dun!
"Nothing is foolproof to the sufficiently tenacious fool!"
Stop itching and start pitching!
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. - Albert Einstein
Move like you are going somewhere.
None of us is as smart as all of us. - Japanese Proverb
Pain is a fact of life...Misery is optional
"Failure is not an option"
1) Carve your own path, 2) you are your own lottery & 3) luck is the intersection of preparedness and opportunity.
"You see things and you say 'Why'. But I dream things that never were and I say 'Why not'."
Before you say you can't, say I'll try
There are no runners up in a battle
The best way to get people to build a ship is not to teach them carpentry, assign them tasks and give them schedule to follow but to make them long for the infinite immensity of the sea
" IF YOU CAN'T DO IT I WILL FIND SOMEONE WHO CAN"
Work is love made visible. And if you can't work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of the people who work with joy.
All that is necessary for evil to prevail is that good men do nothing.
"LET'S DO AMAZING"
“We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.”
—Charles R. Swindoll (b.1934), writer, clergyman
There are no traffic jams along the extra mile - Roger Staubach
"The only difference between a stepping stone and a stumbling block is how high you raise your feet"
“You miss 100% of the shots you never take.” - Wayne Gretzky
Adversity has the ability to elicit talents which, in more prosperous times would have lain dormant. -Horace, 45BC
It has long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.
Feelings are much like waves, we can't stop them from coming but we can choose which one to surf. ~Jonatan Mårtensson
If your actions inspire others to dream, to learn, to do more and to be better, then you're a leader. - Jack Welch.
"Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted . . . " Randy Pausch
"Minds are like parachutes, not much good unless they are open"
"It is NOW or NEVER"
"There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all" - Peter F Drucker
Vision without execution is delusion - Thomas Edison
"If a man doesn't know what port he is steering for, no wind is favorable to him”. (Seneca)
"You get what you give." - Tom Baker
Fail to plan .... plan to fail.
"That's all I can stand, I can't stands no more" - Popeye the Sailorman
"There is no passion to be found playing small - in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living." -Nelson Mandela
If you haven't failed yet today, you're underestimating your potential!
He who hesitates is lost.
It is amazing what becomes possible , when you have seen it done before.
Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort.”
It is amazing how much you can get done when you are always doing. - Thomas Jefferson
I never learned anything from someone who agreed with me
The greatest mistake you can make in life is to continually be afraid you will make one.
Do or Do Not. There is no try. - Yoda
You can transform your world in an instant by the way you choose to see it. You can change problems into opportunities, anxiety into enthusiasm, and despair into determination.
Try not to become a man of success but rather to become a man of value. (Albert Einstein)
"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity." - Seneca
No friction no shine
"It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory." W. Edward Deming
Whatever Captures Your Focus, Controls Your Life.
Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up - Thomas Alva Edison
Anticipate & Accelerate!
Sometimes it is easier to beg forgiveness than to ask for permission.
Think like a man of action...act like a man of thought.
"There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else."
"I discovered plans to be useless and planning invaluable" -- Dwight D Eisenhower
"Do not confuse motion and progress. A rocking horse keeps moving, but does not make any progress." - Alfred Montapert
"To lead a symphony, you must sometimes turn your back to the crowd."
Culture eats strategy for breakfast - Jack Walsh
It's never the important person who is in a rush to get somewhere.
"Everything you want in life is waiting for you outside of your comfort zone" - Antony Fernando
" The function of LEADERSHIP is to produce more leaders not more FOLLOWERS " - Ralph Nader
"If people jumped at opportunities as fast as they do to conclusions they would be better off"
Rejoice in other people's triumphs.
An emergency on your part constitutes an opportunity on mine
What would you attempt if you knew you would not fail?
Recommended Reads
"Nothing is foolproof to the sufficiently tenacious fool!"
Stop itching and start pitching!
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. - Albert Einstein
Move like you are going somewhere.
None of us is as smart as all of us. - Japanese Proverb
Pain is a fact of life...Misery is optional
"Failure is not an option"
1) Carve your own path, 2) you are your own lottery & 3) luck is the intersection of preparedness and opportunity.
"You see things and you say 'Why'. But I dream things that never were and I say 'Why not'."
Before you say you can't, say I'll try
There are no runners up in a battle
The best way to get people to build a ship is not to teach them carpentry, assign them tasks and give them schedule to follow but to make them long for the infinite immensity of the sea
" IF YOU CAN'T DO IT I WILL FIND SOMEONE WHO CAN"
Work is love made visible. And if you can't work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of the people who work with joy.
All that is necessary for evil to prevail is that good men do nothing.
"LET'S DO AMAZING"
“We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.”
—Charles R. Swindoll (b.1934), writer, clergyman
There are no traffic jams along the extra mile - Roger Staubach
"The only difference between a stepping stone and a stumbling block is how high you raise your feet"
“You miss 100% of the shots you never take.” - Wayne Gretzky
Adversity has the ability to elicit talents which, in more prosperous times would have lain dormant. -Horace, 45BC
It has long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.
Feelings are much like waves, we can't stop them from coming but we can choose which one to surf. ~Jonatan Mårtensson
If your actions inspire others to dream, to learn, to do more and to be better, then you're a leader. - Jack Welch.
"Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted . . . " Randy Pausch
"Minds are like parachutes, not much good unless they are open"
"It is NOW or NEVER"
"There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all" - Peter F Drucker
Vision without execution is delusion - Thomas Edison
"If a man doesn't know what port he is steering for, no wind is favorable to him”. (Seneca)
"You get what you give." - Tom Baker
Fail to plan .... plan to fail.
"That's all I can stand, I can't stands no more" - Popeye the Sailorman
"There is no passion to be found playing small - in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living." -Nelson Mandela
If you haven't failed yet today, you're underestimating your potential!
He who hesitates is lost.
It is amazing what becomes possible , when you have seen it done before.
Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort.”
It is amazing how much you can get done when you are always doing. - Thomas Jefferson
I never learned anything from someone who agreed with me
The greatest mistake you can make in life is to continually be afraid you will make one.
Do or Do Not. There is no try. - Yoda
You can transform your world in an instant by the way you choose to see it. You can change problems into opportunities, anxiety into enthusiasm, and despair into determination.
Try not to become a man of success but rather to become a man of value. (Albert Einstein)
"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity." - Seneca
No friction no shine
"It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory." W. Edward Deming
Whatever Captures Your Focus, Controls Your Life.
Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up - Thomas Alva Edison
Anticipate & Accelerate!
Sometimes it is easier to beg forgiveness than to ask for permission.
Think like a man of action...act like a man of thought.
"There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else."
"I discovered plans to be useless and planning invaluable" -- Dwight D Eisenhower
"Do not confuse motion and progress. A rocking horse keeps moving, but does not make any progress." - Alfred Montapert
"To lead a symphony, you must sometimes turn your back to the crowd."
Culture eats strategy for breakfast - Jack Walsh
It's never the important person who is in a rush to get somewhere.
"Everything you want in life is waiting for you outside of your comfort zone" - Antony Fernando
" The function of LEADERSHIP is to produce more leaders not more FOLLOWERS " - Ralph Nader
"If people jumped at opportunities as fast as they do to conclusions they would be better off"
Rejoice in other people's triumphs.
An emergency on your part constitutes an opportunity on mine
What would you attempt if you knew you would not fail?
Recommended Reads
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Make Green Initiatives Lean Initiatives: Another tale of waste.
Today's Financial Post had an interesting article about a success story of using "Prepaid corporate incentives". There is a large photo of smiling man who's business is going greener by giving visa prepaid gift cards as incentives to customers.
K Dental was looking to reduce its carbon footprint , says Tom Pizio manager for sales and business development at the Toronto-based dental equipment supplier. "We realized clients were buying just a few items at a time. In some cases we were sending 10 to 15 shipments a month to one customer."
"Now about 50% of our customers have reduced the number of shipments to support our Eco project" On average, he says, K Dental sends out 100 gift cards per month.
Well at first glance it may seem to be a nice green initiative, but I will tell you why my spidey senses started tingling on this one. In the world of Lean, every business is better off giving the customer what they want, when they want it. That is the meaning of "Customer Pull" or Just-in-time. The lean business must produce smaller batches more frequently ( gaining substantial profits in doing so!). On the other hand, giving incentives and discounts to push larger and larger batches on customers is wasteful, in fact it is the very definition of a "Push"system. The K Dental approach is adding cost by managing waste instead of reducing cost by eliminating waste. In this case the customer is effectively paid to take more product at a time to "gain" the carbon footprint of the reduced deliveries. If this company took a Lean approach to reducing their carbon footprint this initiative would be the absolute last thing they would do.
Use Lean to reduce carbon
If a company put lean techniques to work on a carbon footprint reduction initiative, then they would be sure that the most cost effective measures were taken. There would be data collected so that the cost and impact of carbon reduction initiatives could be compared, and the lowest cost/highest impact projects would be targeted for priority execution. If analysis (a simple Pareto chart) is done, they would undoubtedly find that it is more rewarding in carbon reduction (and dollars) to change themselves, not to pay customers to change for them instead.
Using Lean methodology to meet the customer pull is the fundamental way to extract maximum value out of the supply chain. Simply, by taking a lean approach to their business (including their suppliers) the carbon foot print would be reduced because of massively reduced waste in their own functions. By involving suppliers, where they naturally have leverage, carbon reduction is easier. By the time they have thoroughly cleaned up (and leaned up) their own act, they could approach customers about win-win partnering on efficient carbon reduction. Think about it: if the customer truly wanted large bulk deliveries, you would not have to pay them to take it.
In the end a lean supply chain keeps more carbon in the ground, and out of the air, because the absolute minimum inventory of products is manufactured and transported. Nothing is made and trucked around, with no buyer, waiting to be discounted. That is both Green and Lean.
K Dental was looking to reduce its carbon footprint , says Tom Pizio manager for sales and business development at the Toronto-based dental equipment supplier. "We realized clients were buying just a few items at a time. In some cases we were sending 10 to 15 shipments a month to one customer."
"Now about 50% of our customers have reduced the number of shipments to support our Eco project" On average, he says, K Dental sends out 100 gift cards per month.
Well at first glance it may seem to be a nice green initiative, but I will tell you why my spidey senses started tingling on this one. In the world of Lean, every business is better off giving the customer what they want, when they want it. That is the meaning of "Customer Pull" or Just-in-time. The lean business must produce smaller batches more frequently ( gaining substantial profits in doing so!). On the other hand, giving incentives and discounts to push larger and larger batches on customers is wasteful, in fact it is the very definition of a "Push"system. The K Dental approach is adding cost by managing waste instead of reducing cost by eliminating waste. In this case the customer is effectively paid to take more product at a time to "gain" the carbon footprint of the reduced deliveries. If this company took a Lean approach to reducing their carbon footprint this initiative would be the absolute last thing they would do.
Use Lean to reduce carbon
If a company put lean techniques to work on a carbon footprint reduction initiative, then they would be sure that the most cost effective measures were taken. There would be data collected so that the cost and impact of carbon reduction initiatives could be compared, and the lowest cost/highest impact projects would be targeted for priority execution. If analysis (a simple Pareto chart) is done, they would undoubtedly find that it is more rewarding in carbon reduction (and dollars) to change themselves, not to pay customers to change for them instead.
Using Lean methodology to meet the customer pull is the fundamental way to extract maximum value out of the supply chain. Simply, by taking a lean approach to their business (including their suppliers) the carbon foot print would be reduced because of massively reduced waste in their own functions. By involving suppliers, where they naturally have leverage, carbon reduction is easier. By the time they have thoroughly cleaned up (and leaned up) their own act, they could approach customers about win-win partnering on efficient carbon reduction. Think about it: if the customer truly wanted large bulk deliveries, you would not have to pay them to take it.
In the end a lean supply chain keeps more carbon in the ground, and out of the air, because the absolute minimum inventory of products is manufactured and transported. Nothing is made and trucked around, with no buyer, waiting to be discounted. That is both Green and Lean.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Two Tales of Waste and a Good Question
Lean identifies 7 basic types of waste:
Overproduction
Delays
Transport
Process Waste
Inventories
Motion
Defective Products
Here are 2 stories I heard recently heard about waste. Both people felt their business' processes were too slow. Each of the statements below highlight particular wastes and call for the use of the universal question "why?".
"My company could really use Lean because we do alot of paper work by hand and it often gets sent back for small mistakes - we need a computer! People don't want to change from the old ways, they think it helps them keep their job."
"Our production control computer went down for a day and our productivity went up 25%, because we could just go ahead and move product without waiting!"
The people who said these things to me are capable and intelligent and good at what they do. They are interested and willing to be part of the solution but the culture of their workplaces does not allow this to happen. Unfortunately they work in places that do not make the best use of employees' talents ( the 8th waste in Lean is the waste of human potential).
In the first instance the assumption that a computer is needed may be true BUT it sounds like a better system is needed too. The existing methods clearly are too bureaucratic and time consuming, exemplifying the waste of Delay. Automating a bad system is not the answer to a bad system. The process owner needs to use lean thinking and ask "why?" Something like "why does it take too long to remove items from inventory?" or "why do 25% of requisitions get rejected?". Wastes like this are often ignored by people because they are so darn common that we learn to work around them, and learn think of them as part of the furniture. Well if you are getting comments like this one - you'd better start rearranging that furniture!
Now the second comment is correct in an obvious way. In many cases there is no doubt that more product can be moved if there are no constraints on the producer. BUT overproduction is a waste (producing more than is needed by the customer). Lean thinking also tell us that inventories are a waste. Although it may be very satisfying to know your production team can bury the next process (your customer) it is not very effective in adding value. Why is there overproduction at certain steps of your process? Is it your reward structure that makes one team pile up huge inventories? Is it the old style of doing long production batches and creating "economy of scale"? Being Lean means giving the customer what they want when they want it. This is not done by holding costly inventories, but by having more capable and flexible processes. Balancing the flow of product to meet the customer demand (pull) is a key lean tactic or countermeasure.
If your organization has "gatekeepers" that slow down your business, or processes that run far ahead of their customer's pull, then you need to ask "why?" Evaluate the 8 wastes in your processes and get Lean! Train and empower your teams to implement root cause solutions in their own areas of responsibility. Continuous improvement is as simple as identifying a waste and asking "why?". Get started. Your competitor has.
Greg
find some interesting reading here
http://astore.amazon.com/leabusforallastore-20/
Overproduction
Delays
Transport
Process Waste
Inventories
Motion
Defective Products
Here are 2 stories I heard recently heard about waste. Both people felt their business' processes were too slow. Each of the statements below highlight particular wastes and call for the use of the universal question "why?".
"My company could really use Lean because we do alot of paper work by hand and it often gets sent back for small mistakes - we need a computer! People don't want to change from the old ways, they think it helps them keep their job."
"Our production control computer went down for a day and our productivity went up 25%, because we could just go ahead and move product without waiting!"
The people who said these things to me are capable and intelligent and good at what they do. They are interested and willing to be part of the solution but the culture of their workplaces does not allow this to happen. Unfortunately they work in places that do not make the best use of employees' talents ( the 8th waste in Lean is the waste of human potential).
In the first instance the assumption that a computer is needed may be true BUT it sounds like a better system is needed too. The existing methods clearly are too bureaucratic and time consuming, exemplifying the waste of Delay. Automating a bad system is not the answer to a bad system. The process owner needs to use lean thinking and ask "why?" Something like "why does it take too long to remove items from inventory?" or "why do 25% of requisitions get rejected?". Wastes like this are often ignored by people because they are so darn common that we learn to work around them, and learn think of them as part of the furniture. Well if you are getting comments like this one - you'd better start rearranging that furniture!
Now the second comment is correct in an obvious way. In many cases there is no doubt that more product can be moved if there are no constraints on the producer. BUT overproduction is a waste (producing more than is needed by the customer). Lean thinking also tell us that inventories are a waste. Although it may be very satisfying to know your production team can bury the next process (your customer) it is not very effective in adding value. Why is there overproduction at certain steps of your process? Is it your reward structure that makes one team pile up huge inventories? Is it the old style of doing long production batches and creating "economy of scale"? Being Lean means giving the customer what they want when they want it. This is not done by holding costly inventories, but by having more capable and flexible processes. Balancing the flow of product to meet the customer demand (pull) is a key lean tactic or countermeasure.
If your organization has "gatekeepers" that slow down your business, or processes that run far ahead of their customer's pull, then you need to ask "why?" Evaluate the 8 wastes in your processes and get Lean! Train and empower your teams to implement root cause solutions in their own areas of responsibility. Continuous improvement is as simple as identifying a waste and asking "why?". Get started. Your competitor has.
Greg
find some interesting reading here
http://astore.amazon.com/leabusforallastore-20/
Friday, July 30, 2010
Motivational Quotes for after the Long Weekend
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
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
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
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Is Green Leadership Lean Leadership?
Green Leadership....what is it? At Pecha Kucha Night 12 at the Queen E I learned about Green Leadership. Green leadership seems compatible with Lean leadership and that got me thinking. As well I learned of the potential earth shaking impact of the generation of green conscious consumer-workers now coming into their own. I got really excited to interject into the conversation.
Jaime Kowal demonstrated her vision and leadership in her great presentation at Pechakucha Vancouver Night 12:
Jaime defined Leadership (I will call this Green Leadership):
"Leaders lead by telling stories that give others permission to lead, not follow", and she expands the concept "Clarity and alignment are necessary before you can possibly expect commitment. Only then can you expect people to make the right decisions in support of the collective dream."
Kevin Millsip of the VSB put out a similar view of new green leadership in his presentation. I was very interested in his view of the future leaders that are being shaped and grown in our schools today. His provocative assertion that kids today "understand the connection between the environment and the economy" was very intriguing.
"The lone wolf model of leadership... we have to jettison that model... it doesn't give us the change we need" Kevin also challenged the older generation in the audience to work together with the U-turn Generation, not just pass the torch and abrogate the responsibility for the "mess we made." I learned that Generation U has the mandate of achieving "Eco-Equity" much the same as previous generations have moved civil rights, and womens' rights forward.
What is the difference between lean and green leadership?
Jaime's definition of leadership is one of empowerment, engagement, alignment and commitment to the team's success. Kevin strikes at the heart of the matter: the lone wolf style (top down, big man) is dead, get rid of it. In my book the Green leadership style endorsed by Jaime and Kevin are absolutely core traits of Lean leadership. There is no difference.
What about the fuzzy "collective dream" and goals of "Eco-Equity"? My imagination stretches enough to consider a corporation a "collective dream" of all its employees shareholder and even customers. Goals of Eco-Equity, social responsibility, etc. represent change on a much larger scale than any single corporation could attempt. Such lofty goals require vision and commitment arguably greater than that of a Lean business leader. Tellingly, the few minor differences between lean and green leadership is in the language around soft skills.
Leaders as story tellers! I have never read that in a Lean text yet. However, effective communication of "vision" is a leadership skill a Lean champion must have. This is done in many ways and storytelling I am sure is a good one. I think the innate understanding of the soft skills by leaders in the green/social context is one that corporate leaders can learn from. If Kevin is correct, Gen U will be expecting social progress along with employment. They will want leadership that creates clarity and alignment before they give their their commitment. Need I remind the reader how the " work-to-live" ethic has replaced our old "live-to-work" ethos, and how much adaptation that entailed for business leadership? Well, if we thought that was a challenge then lookout, here comes Gen U.
Demand for Culture Change
Gen U will demand more Green actions of its corporations; more lean leadership from its employers. Text books tell us all the things that a Lean Leader must do with dry precision. Practically speaking, the old school management attitudes that inhibit success of lean implementation also impede the development of good lean leaders. In the near future it seems that workplace culture change will be forced upon the corporation by a new generation. Homegrown leaders will be in the best position to manage change effectively. This is good news for those companies developing lean leadership succession right now.
Strong Leadership always wanted
Green business (particularly the small and entrepreneurial) seems to require the leader to be a "believer" much the same as with Lean. Look around at Green activists and you see nothing but hugely committed individuals trying to to grab onto the ocean liner of the western culture and make it turn. Commitment, dedication and taking action for change are prerequisite for even mentioning "green" as part of your goals. Lean champions and leaders have this type of strong commitment and vision too.
Small Green business needs Lean
Lean methods of waste reduction and production and distribution would be a great help for new Green businesses to compete successfully. SMEs with limited resources, need to accelerate growth by beating conventional competitors on time to market, quality and cost competitiveness. Lean improvements of the value created for the customer will continue to change the world for the Greener, and leaner. The sweet part is that Lean is totally compatible with the Green leadership style and culture. And getting true leadership culture change is the largest part of the Lean journey, an insurmountable, for many companies. Green Leadership culture is a guaranteed head start to success with Lean.
Winners and Losers
The future losers will be businesses that are neither lean nor green. Everyday we see laughable attempts at greeenwashing: corporations may not stop drilling/mining/polluting etc and incremental progress is better than none, but I don't see Gen U falling for greenwashing. They will demand more than that. Future winners will be both Green and Lean.
Jaime Kowal demonstrated her vision and leadership in her great presentation at Pechakucha Vancouver Night 12:
Jaime defined Leadership (I will call this Green Leadership):
"Leaders lead by telling stories that give others permission to lead, not follow", and she expands the concept "Clarity and alignment are necessary before you can possibly expect commitment. Only then can you expect people to make the right decisions in support of the collective dream."
Kevin Millsip of the VSB put out a similar view of new green leadership in his presentation. I was very interested in his view of the future leaders that are being shaped and grown in our schools today. His provocative assertion that kids today "understand the connection between the environment and the economy" was very intriguing.
"The lone wolf model of leadership... we have to jettison that model... it doesn't give us the change we need" Kevin also challenged the older generation in the audience to work together with the U-turn Generation, not just pass the torch and abrogate the responsibility for the "mess we made." I learned that Generation U has the mandate of achieving "Eco-Equity" much the same as previous generations have moved civil rights, and womens' rights forward.
What is the difference between lean and green leadership?
Jaime's definition of leadership is one of empowerment, engagement, alignment and commitment to the team's success. Kevin strikes at the heart of the matter: the lone wolf style (top down, big man) is dead, get rid of it. In my book the Green leadership style endorsed by Jaime and Kevin are absolutely core traits of Lean leadership. There is no difference.
What about the fuzzy "collective dream" and goals of "Eco-Equity"? My imagination stretches enough to consider a corporation a "collective dream" of all its employees shareholder and even customers. Goals of Eco-Equity, social responsibility, etc. represent change on a much larger scale than any single corporation could attempt. Such lofty goals require vision and commitment arguably greater than that of a Lean business leader. Tellingly, the few minor differences between lean and green leadership is in the language around soft skills.
Leaders as story tellers! I have never read that in a Lean text yet. However, effective communication of "vision" is a leadership skill a Lean champion must have. This is done in many ways and storytelling I am sure is a good one. I think the innate understanding of the soft skills by leaders in the green/social context is one that corporate leaders can learn from. If Kevin is correct, Gen U will be expecting social progress along with employment. They will want leadership that creates clarity and alignment before they give their their commitment. Need I remind the reader how the " work-to-live" ethic has replaced our old "live-to-work" ethos, and how much adaptation that entailed for business leadership? Well, if we thought that was a challenge then lookout, here comes Gen U.
Demand for Culture Change
Gen U will demand more Green actions of its corporations; more lean leadership from its employers. Text books tell us all the things that a Lean Leader must do with dry precision. Practically speaking, the old school management attitudes that inhibit success of lean implementation also impede the development of good lean leaders. In the near future it seems that workplace culture change will be forced upon the corporation by a new generation. Homegrown leaders will be in the best position to manage change effectively. This is good news for those companies developing lean leadership succession right now.
Strong Leadership always wanted
Green business (particularly the small and entrepreneurial) seems to require the leader to be a "believer" much the same as with Lean. Look around at Green activists and you see nothing but hugely committed individuals trying to to grab onto the ocean liner of the western culture and make it turn. Commitment, dedication and taking action for change are prerequisite for even mentioning "green" as part of your goals. Lean champions and leaders have this type of strong commitment and vision too.
Small Green business needs Lean
Lean methods of waste reduction and production and distribution would be a great help for new Green businesses to compete successfully. SMEs with limited resources, need to accelerate growth by beating conventional competitors on time to market, quality and cost competitiveness. Lean improvements of the value created for the customer will continue to change the world for the Greener, and leaner. The sweet part is that Lean is totally compatible with the Green leadership style and culture. And getting true leadership culture change is the largest part of the Lean journey, an insurmountable, for many companies. Green Leadership culture is a guaranteed head start to success with Lean.
Winners and Losers
The future losers will be businesses that are neither lean nor green. Everyday we see laughable attempts at greeenwashing: corporations may not stop drilling/mining/polluting etc and incremental progress is better than none, but I don't see Gen U falling for greenwashing. They will demand more than that. Future winners will be both Green and Lean.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Lean & Green Pecha Kucha Scene at the Queen
Wednesday night at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Vancouver I was treated by my wife (visual artist Connie Sabo http://www.eastsideculturecrawl.com/artists/sabo-connie ) to attend PechaKucha night # 12 "Walk the Talk, Green Your City" ( http://www.pechakuchanightvancouver.com/ ). Until that night I had no idea that PechaKucha is a world wide phenomenon that has really caught on in Vancouver (pechakucha is Japanese slang for chitchat and it apparently has no wrong pronunciation so 'it's all good, bro'). There were 2000 plus bright young (younger than me), shiny people there in earnest to witness the 3 hour "chat". I like to "Walk the talk", so I went forth with an open eye to linking the Lean with the Green and overall I was not disappointed. Basically it goes this way: there are quick slide presentations by politicians, planners, designers, researchers, educators, entrepreneurs, activists and artists interspersed with a few bon mots by the hosts. A number of presenters took the warm and fuzzy stance that Vancouver's being one of the world's most Liveable cities is not enough, and that Vancouver must become the most Lovable city. Nice. A bit too subjective and not as data-driven as I'd like, but nice all the same. That sentiment represented the overall tone of the evening's presentations.
This event was sponsored by the city and UBC so the Mayor was front and centre, and city staff and council were well represented. The pledges of good cooperation and complete alignment in Green Programs between the City and UBC seems to be a good start to the 2020 initiative. Significant investment in Green buildings was seen to be in action at UBC. UBC even has long range Green goals set out to 2050!
Post Olympic Investment?
It was notable that Mayor Gregor claimed that $60 million in new investment had landed in Vancouver since the Olympics. Not bad.
Vancouver Goes Green
Mayor Gregor launched the http://www.talkgreentous.ca/ website where the goal is engage the city in a conversation on making Vancouver the world's 'Greenest City' by 2020. The plan is to focus on 10 "specific" goals. The No.1 goal, my personal favorite, is to double the number of Green jobs by 2020 by becoming a mecca for Green business. What a green job is exactly, and how many is double, was not defined, but I hope that info is available somewhere. Government support can set the table for such a great achievement but it is entrepreneurs with great ideas and innovative business models that will put the tofu on the plate for the greenest city in the world.
And what is leaner than tofu? Not much. So to my way of thinking, the common love of waste reduction between the lean and the green is a match made in heaven! How this matchmaking occurs in reality seems to be what part of the "conversation" may be about. At intermission the conversation part was started with a text- in survey of the audience that revealed that more than half believe that the public will have the "biggest impact on Vancouver's Green Future". It was clearly a DIY crowd. And I was very pleased to see that particular sentiment tip the scale. It made me a bit more optimistic to see these results because it is really up to the public to demand the change and be willing to pay for it. By this measure it seems to me we are closer to that now than ever. http://developers.mobilemuse.ca/components/mobvote/mv.question.php?username=jhebert&authenticate=0b5db855d00acd305c62e95fdf876de4
Lean Leadership vs Green Leadership
I was thrilled (yes!) that the leadership style advocated by some of the presenters looks very Lean. Jaime Kowal, gifted photographer, laid it out strikingly on one of her slides. Clearly these Green folks are people that are aligned with the goals and the leadership style of Lean. I found myself excited by the possiblities that fertile ground presents. Kevin Millsip, sustainablity coordinator for the VSB claimed that Generation U ( for U-turn) is coming through the schools now and they understand the relationship between the economy and the environment and will turn our ship around. If so that's definitely continuous improvement! No offense Gen Y.
DIY
Jaime Kowal is launching a website http://www.greenthecityvancouver.com/ that is going to have a monthly Green assignment! These fun-sounding assignments are designed to engage people in the "conversation" and I am looking forward to seeing them.
I found it most impressive to see entrepreneurs launching businesses that "Walk the Talk" and others incorporating green ideas into their businesses for profit. I was astonished at the number of not-for-profits that are springing up to demonstrate some of the concepts as well. Check out what this guy is up to http://hivevancouver.wikispaces.com/Eesmyal+Santos-Brault
Next Steps
The humorous MC got a ton of applause for his half-joke that the next event will be at GM Place. I will be there next time to see if it happens and to enjoy some more fresh lean and green ideas.
This event was sponsored by the city and UBC so the Mayor was front and centre, and city staff and council were well represented. The pledges of good cooperation and complete alignment in Green Programs between the City and UBC seems to be a good start to the 2020 initiative. Significant investment in Green buildings was seen to be in action at UBC. UBC even has long range Green goals set out to 2050!
Post Olympic Investment?
It was notable that Mayor Gregor claimed that $60 million in new investment had landed in Vancouver since the Olympics. Not bad.
Vancouver Goes Green
Mayor Gregor launched the http://www.talkgreentous.ca/ website where the goal is engage the city in a conversation on making Vancouver the world's 'Greenest City' by 2020. The plan is to focus on 10 "specific" goals. The No.1 goal, my personal favorite, is to double the number of Green jobs by 2020 by becoming a mecca for Green business. What a green job is exactly, and how many is double, was not defined, but I hope that info is available somewhere. Government support can set the table for such a great achievement but it is entrepreneurs with great ideas and innovative business models that will put the tofu on the plate for the greenest city in the world.
And what is leaner than tofu? Not much. So to my way of thinking, the common love of waste reduction between the lean and the green is a match made in heaven! How this matchmaking occurs in reality seems to be what part of the "conversation" may be about. At intermission the conversation part was started with a text- in survey of the audience that revealed that more than half believe that the public will have the "biggest impact on Vancouver's Green Future". It was clearly a DIY crowd. And I was very pleased to see that particular sentiment tip the scale. It made me a bit more optimistic to see these results because it is really up to the public to demand the change and be willing to pay for it. By this measure it seems to me we are closer to that now than ever. http://developers.mobilemuse.ca/components/mobvote/mv.question.php?username=jhebert&authenticate=0b5db855d00acd305c62e95fdf876de4
Lean Leadership vs Green Leadership
I was thrilled (yes!) that the leadership style advocated by some of the presenters looks very Lean. Jaime Kowal, gifted photographer, laid it out strikingly on one of her slides. Clearly these Green folks are people that are aligned with the goals and the leadership style of Lean. I found myself excited by the possiblities that fertile ground presents. Kevin Millsip, sustainablity coordinator for the VSB claimed that Generation U ( for U-turn) is coming through the schools now and they understand the relationship between the economy and the environment and will turn our ship around. If so that's definitely continuous improvement! No offense Gen Y.
DIY
Jaime Kowal is launching a website http://www.greenthecityvancouver.com/ that is going to have a monthly Green assignment! These fun-sounding assignments are designed to engage people in the "conversation" and I am looking forward to seeing them.
I found it most impressive to see entrepreneurs launching businesses that "Walk the Talk" and others incorporating green ideas into their businesses for profit. I was astonished at the number of not-for-profits that are springing up to demonstrate some of the concepts as well. Check out what this guy is up to http://hivevancouver.wikispaces.com/Eesmyal+Santos-Brault
Next Steps
The humorous MC got a ton of applause for his half-joke that the next event will be at GM Place. I will be there next time to see if it happens and to enjoy some more fresh lean and green ideas.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Welcome. Now what is this all about?
Lean Business for all...hmmm....now what is this about? Well, just like it sounds, I am an avid believer that "Lean" can be used to improve any and all businesses. Especially yours. What do you need as a business leader to embark on the Lean journey? All you need is an open mind, and fortitude enough to do something different.
There are all sorts of resources available for your particular Lean journey no matter what your product or service may be. I will spend a fair amount of time talking about them along the way. From experience I can say that only a few things are needed to get Lean rolling in your business:
- recognition that change is needed.
- commitment to improvement.
Getting those two factors in place is what this blog is about as much as anything else. I love the old Chinese(?) proverb " A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step" it nicely captures my feeling about Lean and business. This blog is here to help along the (endless) road to lean "perfection" by creating discussions about: common issues, solutions, news, government policy, productivity, healthcare, use of Lean tools, books, educational materials and anything else that strikes me as worthy. My hope is to engage and encourage as many as possible to join the journey to better profits, more customer satisfaction and a more satisfying workplace. Are you ready for the first step?
There are all sorts of resources available for your particular Lean journey no matter what your product or service may be. I will spend a fair amount of time talking about them along the way. From experience I can say that only a few things are needed to get Lean rolling in your business:
- recognition that change is needed.
- commitment to improvement.
Getting those two factors in place is what this blog is about as much as anything else. I love the old Chinese(?) proverb " A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step" it nicely captures my feeling about Lean and business. This blog is here to help along the (endless) road to lean "perfection" by creating discussions about: common issues, solutions, news, government policy, productivity, healthcare, use of Lean tools, books, educational materials and anything else that strikes me as worthy. My hope is to engage and encourage as many as possible to join the journey to better profits, more customer satisfaction and a more satisfying workplace. Are you ready for the first step?
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