The 30-Inch View

Are your improvement initiatives all talk and no action?

Carmine Coyote at Slow Leadership recently highlighted  a blog post by Freek Vermeulen, an Associate Professor of Strategic Management at the London Business School, which pointed out that in reference to management strategies of the past 10-15 years (TQM, Six Sigma, Job Enlargement, etc.)...

"there's little or no hard evidence that they add anything to company performance" and "none of these techniques seemed to have produced any positive benefit on corporate results, despite containing what sometimes looked like little more than basic common sense".

To anyone that has worked for or with large organizations in the last decade, this should not be a surprise. The "flavor of the month" fails for one of two reasons:

1. the initiative is slow to show results
2. the initiative is not driven into the culture from the top down

Let me address the slowness factor first. In many situations, these management strategies involve initiation, definition, and completion of projects that may take weeks, months or even years to close. This long lead time, from initiation of the project to the point where tangible improvements are achieved is not cost effective nor does it contribute to a culture of improvement (were you ever sitting in your office and the landscaping crew starting working outside your window? In the beginning its distracting, but eventually it just fades into the background. Compare this to the continual drumbeat of the latest corporate initiative). Front line employees and senior management want the same thing, improvements and improvements now. Simply put, if you did something for weeks or years and you didn't see any results, would your heart be in it?

In terms of creating a culture, we all know what's important to your boss is important to you...the only way these types of initiatives work is when everyone has performance objectives associated with the plan from the top of the organization down to the foot soldiers, and what's more, they all understand their roles. This will not only drive completion of the tasks necessary for the strategy to be successful, but it is also the best way to create a culture in an organization where one currently does not exist.

A quote from Vermuelen's post really flushes out a key issue:

"Finally the piece-de-resistance: The influence of the adoption of popular management techniques on a CEO's compensation package (salary and bonus)...Yep, you guessed it, and the effects were very strong. If a CEO's firm adopted one of the popular management techniques, his compensation went up."

What Vermuelen found was that the mere appearance of one of these popular programs was enough to give the CEO credibility with investors and the Board of Directors that would merit higher pay. No results, just the effort. Is it any wonder why these programs fail?

Lastly, Carmine Coyote noted, "what all fashionable management fads and techniques seem to have in common is that they promise a quick fix based on a simple recipe"

Unfortunately, too often, the recipe looks a lot better than it actually tastes. All powerpoint, no results.

Employee Engagement is Critical for Change

A recent article on change management in Industry Week (Lean Persuasion) and a subsequent post at Be Excellent (Introducing Change into your Organization) discuss Lean Expert Jamie Flinchbaugh's suggestions on how to introduce Lean, or other initiatives, to your organization.

The base supposition that employees are resistant to change may be flawed. Actually, most people are naturally resistant to change when the change is made to them, not by them. A key element for successful change is to include people in the process.

Our experience with changing processes (i.e. Lean), altering the workplace and work practices, or changing attitudes and behaviors, has shown that success is primarily dependent upon employee engagement. When people have been included as part of the process that identifies the need for change and are involved in selecting and implementing the necessary actions, they are supportive and many times passionate about change. In turn, they are the best change agents for others.

Planning, communication and ensuring staff are all important. Employee engagement is critical.

5S is not Ergonomics

I am surprised at the increasing number of presentations, discussions, and blog posts using 5S and ergonomics synonymously. As Lean programs begin to realize that good ergonomic design can reduce waste of motion, many people are making a leap assuming they are one in the same. The two are very distinct.

Occupational ergonomics (as defined by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health) is "the science of fitting workplace conditions and job demands to the capabilities of the working population. Ergonomics is an approach or solution to deal with a number of problems - among them are work-related musculoskeltal disorders." Simply put: it is designing the job and tools to fit the people doing the work. The science part of fitting is based on using known limits and methods (anthropometry, cognitive limits, static strength, reaction time, etc.) to best design work, tools, job design and flow to fit the capabilities of people.

5S is a method for organizing a workplace to optimize flow. It's sometimes referred to as a housekeeping methodology; however this characterization can be misleading because organizing a workplace goes beyond housekeeping (see Seiton/Straighten). The key target areas for improvement are workplace morale and efficiency. The assertion of 5S is, by assigning everything a location, time is not wasted by looking for things, and it is quickly obvious when something is missing from its designated location.

The 5S's (in the original Japanese terms and English equivalents) are:

• Seiri/Sorting: Going through all tools, parts, and materials in the plant and work area and keeping only essential items. Everything else is stored or discarded.
• Seiton/Straighten or Set in Order: Focuses on efficiency. When translated to "Straighten or Set in Order", it sounds more like sorting or sweeping, but the intent is to arrange the tools, equipment and parts in a manner that promotes work flow and maximize efficiency.
• Seiso/Sweeping: Systematic cleaning to keep the workplace clean as well as neat. Daily activity at the end of each shift, the work area is cleaned up and everything is restored to its place, making it easy to know what goes where and to know when everything is where it should be are essential here. The key point is a part of daily work - not an occasional activity initiated when things get too messy.
• Seiketsu/Standardizing. Standardized work practices or operating in a consistent and standardized fashion. Everyone knows exactly what his or her responsibilities are to keep above 3S's.
• Shtisuke/Sustaining: Refers to maintaining and reviewing standards. Once the previous 4 S's have been established they become the new way to operate.

5S advocates believe the benefits of this methodology come from deciding what should be kept, where it should be kept, and how it should be stored. This decision making process usually comes from a dialog about standardization which builds a clear understanding, between employees, of how work should be done. It also instills ownership of the process in each employee.

5S is a valuable tool for those responsible for improving workplace conditions and this tool becomes even more effective when ergonomic principles are employed BUT it is only one tool and should not be relied upon to solve all ergonomic issues.

Just as you can't sterilize a hospital room with a broom, the work environment isn't free from ergonmic risk after 5S.

Efficient+Effective+Effort=Success

  A post at Slow Leadership caught my attention the other day:

“Why you should think seriously about being less efficient.”  Hmmm.

Though it may seem contradictory to what we know and understand in the world of lean and ergonomics, it makes total sense.  Being efficient is all about minimizing waste, increasing productivity, and decreasing costs (think: “How can I do this with less?”).  Being effective, however, is about finding the right solution and thinking outside of the box (think: “How can we do this better?”)  Now it should go without saying that you need both to be successful; but it’s about how you utilize your resources that counts.

As usual,the 80/20 rule can be applied to various functions within a company:

• Hourly employees, line managers/supervisors, line engineers, etc.:
  • 80% of the time this group should be encouraged to look for continuous improvement and efficiency gains; this can be done through team-based kaizen events.
  • 20% of the time this group should be encouraged to seek out new methods, tools, and processes; this can be done through involving them in clean-sheet design reviews.
• Plant management, leadership team, company executives, etc.:
  • 80% of the time this group should be looking for ways to innovate and to be more effective at what they do; this can be done through benchmarking with similar/different industries, market research, etc.
  • 20% of the time this group should be involved in continuous improvement initiatives; this is to ensure there remains a connection to what is currently being done.

Slow Leadership included a statement made by Jeff Bezos, CEO and founder of Amazon.com, on his thoughts about customer needs.  I thought I’d include a couple of other examples of Bezos’ colleagues (who, by the way, also made it onto this year’s Time 100 list who are models of how to be more effective, not just efficient:

• Indra Nooyi, Chariman and CEO of PepsiCo
  • Rather than just focus on how to be more effective in their traditional market (soft drinks and snack chips), Nooyi pushed for PepsiCo to become a “healthier brand”; purchase Quaker Oats and Tropicana in recent years and removing trans fat from its products well before other competitors.
  • PepsiCo’s international business grew 22% last year
• Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple
  • Rather than spending time, money, and resources making products people don’t want (think back to the days of the good ol’ walkman and discman), Jobs is king of marketability.  Knowing your customers’ wants and needs are far more important than building it fast or cheap.
  • Apple’s stock has increased over 70% of the past year.

If you’re still not convinced, let’s close with a quote from Thomas Leonard, founder of CoachVille: “When you're effective, you are able to accomplish the worthwhile goal you've chosen. When you're efficient, you quickly carry out actions. You won't be effective, however, unless those actions result in your achieving a meaningful goal.”

Are you efficient, effective or efficiently effective? It makes a difference.

On the floor? Here's what to look for...

Jon Miller (Gemba Panta Rei) reminds us that "what you find on the floor tells you a lot". In fact, lean challenges aren't the only thing you'll find.

By opening your view to observe not only space (floor) and inanimate objects (wheels, Ohno circles, debris, etc.) but also to the people performing the tasks, you'll get a much better sense of the barriers to higher productivity. After all, people are the sole source of productivity.

What are you looking for?

• Excessive reaches
• Bending and twisting
• frequent movements that bring people out of their comfortable reach area (30 inches)

It will become evident that lack of casters on carts, materials stored on the floor, obstacles like equipment and debris, and no Ohno circles are often the root cause of their non-value added motions and exposure to injury risk factors (musculoskeletal disorders).

So, what are you waiting for...hit the floor!

Photo credit: 

Enterprise Transformation: Extending Lean beyond tools and events

Thanks to Ralph Bernstein at Lean Insider for his post detailing the improvement efforts going on at St. Joseph's Hospital in Parkersburg, West Virginia, owned by Signature Hospital Corporation.

Kudos to St. Joseph's for such an effective demonstration of the power of incremental improvement. Too often the "increments" are over looked or looked over in favor of the bigger bang - but it's the roll-up effect of the little things that is so powerful.

We know how good ergonomics engineering can provide dramatic improvements in takt time by attacking wasted motion even in baby steps. The real challenge, now that the demonstration is successful, is to take it system-wide; as we say - Fix Once, Repeat Many (FORM).

The reason it becomes the greater challenge is that Kaizen events on the factory or the patient floor and improvement projects conducted by experts are not enough. To sustain the gains, Signature must move the game from tools and projects to enterprise transformation. That will necessitate organizational leadership that supports and drives enterprise behaviors - and engages all staff in the cause.

We hope they are successful!

Keeping Score on Employee Engagement

Recently, Kevin Meyer (Evolving Excellence) offered that "people are more than a pair of hands. They have knowledge, creativity, experience and ideas. Even if that isn't represented on a P&L or balance sheet."

Kevin is right on point, people are the sole source of productivity in an organization (you could even say they are the soul of your company's competitive advantage). The key is having them engaged (is this term becoming overused?) or involved in improving/changing/optimizing their aspect of the business.

There is one way we've found to "keep score" when it comes to how well utilized your employees are. It's called the OSHA incident rate. High incident rates are an indication of how safe and efficient the workplace is. The lower the rate - the safer the environment - the more respect for employees is demonstrated.

This is very important stuff...consider some of these recent stats from a new report, "The State of Employee Engagement 2008", issued by global consultants BlessingWhite:

• Only 1 in 3 American workers are fully engaged
• 13% are "Crash & Burners", they are disillusioned and potentially exhausted and at risk for becoming disengaged
• 19% are completely disengaged, disconnected from organizational priorities and are not getting what they need from work...people in this group are likely to collect a paycheck and enjoy favorable job conditions but contribute minimally

Fujio Cho, Toyota's Chairman, said "Manufacturers treating workers as simply one of the 'three M's --men, machines, and material -- won't develop in terms of international competitiveness."

The problem is that while many companies have excellent tools to optimize the performance of machines, and ensure the the smooth flow of raw, in process, and finished materials in their plants and to their customers, they generally lack tools to help them understand, engage and then optimize the performance of people.

This knowledge gap creates a trying fit for people, the output of which could be a painful and punishing workplace -- tough to engage when what you are engaging in hurts you.

Concentrating on lowering metrics like the OSHA incident rate is a first step in driving your company towards real Lean.

photo credit: laffy4k

Small IS Significant!

David Zinger's article "A Tiny Secret: Small is Significant" is a great reminder about how small changes can make a big impact, especially when we're all fighting for more time, resources, and money. More often than not, we spend countless hours coming up with the "golden fix" to a problem, and once we have the solution, we spend more time convincing others to fund and support the fix.

Though you can't discount a good solid improvement that raises the bar on quality or productivity, you also can't discount the small changes that make a big difference to the people doing the job 8 hours a day, 5 days a week.

Today, Humantech announced the start of its second annual Find It - Fix It Challenge. The contest recognizes simple and effective workplace solutions that result in increased productivity, imprved worker morale, and fewer workplace injuries and illnesses. The contest is open to all Humantech clients, past or present. We've found that many of these improvements came as a result of our RAPID Team Events (focused four day initiatives aimed at identifying as many ergonomic improvements as possible, and deploying real-time fixes and a 90 day plan to fix the rest, modeled on Kaizen events).

We're looking forward to another great list of entries that prove small IS significant!

photo credit: lazlo-photo

E-Z-Go shows their workers the light!

A look at how they do it at E-Z-GO from LeanBlog.org:

"Workers use electric power tools that measure torque and angle for increased precision, and assembly lines are ergonomically friendly so the product can be adjusted to a worker's height. Parts are also scanned to eliminate product defects, and E-Z-GO has even increased its lighting from 30 to 120 foot-candles to assist worker's visibility."

There are lots of tools (Standardized Work, Value Stream Mapping, or Kaizen events) in the Lean toolbox. Applying the safety and ergonomics tool set within the context of lean removes barriers between people and their work (i.e. "ergonomically friendly"). This typically equals a more stable and streamlined process that promotes quality the 1st time.

One barrier often sidestepped is reviewing how we process 85% of the way we process information (See "Lighting the Way to Lean").

Textron, and E-Z-GO, obviously have seen the light!

Lighting the Way to Lean

One of the main reasons that we started this blog was that it would be a central place for people with different backgrounds to meet and discuss how the workplace can be improved by concentrating on the intersection of people, work and the work environment; in other words, by taking a 30-Inch View. Last week we found Josh Kerst commenting on Lean in the field of pharmaceutical manufacturing. Today, we came across an article from late last year that has application well beyond the audience of the publication.

The article discussed an often over-looked factor when it comes to workstation design: lighting.

Josh pointed out that 85% of the information that humans gather comes through our eyes.

Poor lighting not only affects the quality of work and overall productivity, but inadequate lighting forces the worker to adopt awkward positions that may lead to back pain, eyestrain, fatigue, headaches, and other ailments.

Click HERE to read more on the subject.