The website is
up and running: www.lean.org.za. Please go and visit it if you have not
already done so. The Lean Summit Africa
2008 presentations can be found under ‘Products.’ Feedback and improvement suggestions would be
greatly appreciated.
Please note
that LIA’s first workshop in 2009 will be in Cape Town from 23 to 25 February:
Introduction to lean, Value Stream Mapping, and Creating continuous flow.
And now to
other things: most recipients of this newsletter avoid playing Russian
roulette. One wonders why anyone would -
there is a one in six chance you kill yourself.
And if you don’t kill yourself, you gain only the temporary thrill (I
speculate as I don’t speak from experience!) of escaping unscathed from a
deadly situation.
What has this
to do with lean? Quite a lot, I
suggest. A cornerstone of lean is
standardization. I like to think of this
as ‘the consistent use of agreed best practices.’ In life this would amount to the consistent
use of agreed basics like regular washing, dental hygiene, balanced eating,
appreciating yourself, etc.
Interspersing such good habits with the occasional game of Russian
roulette would be crazy: the cumulative benefits of routine, simple, good
practices could be calamitously undone by occasional bad practice.
There is
something about the current global economic meltdown that says to me that
segments of the US
investment community had got into the habit of regular Russian roulette
playing, somehow believing that this bad habit would not catch up with
them. Now we are all suffering the
fallout.
All around us,
companies are cutting back and preparing for the worst recession in
decades. I have two questions to ask if
you are in this situation. The first:
‘Why did you drift into patterns of behaviour/spending which you now believe
you should cut out?’ The second: ‘Are
you going to cut some of the basic best practices crucial to your company’s
long-term health?’
In the face of
these questions, it seems to me a time to remind ourselves of the basics of
lean, as captured by: Purpose, Process and People.
Purpose: As my friend Terry Hill likes to say, ‘A
company defines itself by what it says “No” to.’ We need to examine our purpose and cut out
work for which we are not suited. Saying
yes to such work compromises our core customers and products, consuming scarce
resources better applied to the core.
Process: We need to re-examine (through ‘Go see’) our
core processes and search anew for waste of all kinds. Taking out waste cuts costs, reduces the
break-even point (and thus risk), and increases customer satisfaction: key
achievements in troubled times.
People: Involving staff in waste reduction around
time, materials and resources motivates them in troubled times. They are then no longer pawns to misfortune
but agents for improvement. And a focus
on standardized work brings both stability and a platform for continuous
improvement.
A small group
of us from LIA recently visited the Toyota plant
near Durban.
We all know the motor industry is being badly hit by the economic
meltdown. But what we witnessed was an
incredibly ordered, disciplined, rhythmic operation; and the management is
speaking not of layoffs but additional training and readying for the next
upturn. The people and the plant shout
out ‘standardized work’ and attention to the basics. No Russian roulette in the good times or the
bad.
Rose Keanly, Managing Director, Old Mutual Service, Technology &
Administration, and a LIA Director, attended the Lean Transformation Summit
in London on 21
November 2008. We will post her
reflections and insights on the website soon, but I thought a snippet in this
newsletter would be a treat. She was
particularly keen to hear views on lean in the context of the global economic
meltdown. Dan Jones and Jim Womack provided the lead. Two highlights:
·
‘"Good companies prosper in hard
times". While there is a temptation to revert to traditional cost cutting
in these times, the real need is to accelerate lean rather than allow this to
happen. Lean is therefore at a critical juncture in many organisations - it
either demonstrates that it can step up the pace or it will wither away.
·
‘Talking about pace, there was a
wonderful presentation entitled "What would happen if your company was
taken over by a really Lean organisation?" by Frits Nygaard who
recounted the story of the takeover of Radiometer by Danaher. He was on the
receiving end, being part of Radiometer, and gave us amusing yet telling
insights into the pace at which Danaher managed this transition applying lean
principles and the level of operational improvement that Radiometer achieved
within very short periods of time thereafter.’
As
the year draws to a close and we each reflect on our achievements, I hope we
will take heart from them knowing that determined action leads to better
results, despite the times. So, Lorraine and I wish you
well and a pleasant break at the year end.
May 2009 be one of renewed hope and wellbeing for you and your loved
ones.
Kind regards
