Early in my China experience, I had mentioned to several friends that I was taking my factory “lean” as part of a turnaround strategy. My European and American friends laughed, called me a dreamer and promised I’d be sorry I tried it. The (racist and incorrect) thinking then was that Chinese people were incapable of assimilating new ideas.
After achieving some initial success (yes, Chinese assimilated the new ideas and even implemented them!!!!), I was told that it wouldn’t last, and that I’d go back to the “old way” to ensure cost effectiveness in operations.
After several successes, I am now being asked how to do it. Here are the steps I’ve taken to implement lean in several facilities:
- Choose the right team
You could start by giving large lectures on what lean is, what are the the benefits, and how reaping those benefits are necessary for your organization’s health and ultimate survival. Those who are interested enough to ask questions, even those who are initially opposed to the change, will make good team members. Those who are uninterested or unable comment will probably not make good team members. While everyone will ultimately be involved in some respect, there may be a core team of evangelists whom you can count on to support the overall effort. - Limit expectations
I would usually choose benefits such as improved inventory and throughput, as these highly visible results. There can be many, many more benefits, but in the early days I like to limit them to just a few as it helps to focus the group’s attention on the deliverables. - Flowchart existing processes
Have your people prepare a flow-chart, with cycle times, tracing the flow of materials from purchasing through-to shipping. - Map the value stream (critical!)
Teach them what a Value-stream Map is, and let them map the same value streams they previously flow-charted. Revise the map if necessary reflect any waste the team overlooked, then compare the map to reality and revise with the team. Utilize the Theory of Contraints in balancing the processes. - Work together to identify waste
Work with them to determine which are value-added process steps and which are waste. - Strategize & implement
Formulate strategies which can be employed to eliminate or at least reduce the waste. Make elimination of waste a project (or multiple projects, as appropriate) and use standard project management techniques to make it happen. - Repeat as necessary
Some hints:
- Start the journey by identifying low-hanging fruit. You might want to have some quick and visible “wins” early on. Make sure you celebrate those wins.
- You may wish to assign some project leaders who have a stakeholding in the process improvement.
- Show the math… how reducing waste in the process, end to end, will improve inventory and delivery performance. Make sure “wins” are celebrated as quickly as possible.
- I assigned the Chinese translation of “The Goal” as required reading to all my managers and some staff. It helped get them to easily understand the Theory of Constraints.
- Don’t be afraid to take risks… if you don’t, your team certainly won’t. You do not achieve change without risks, and no one will take risks if the costs are deemed too high. (Drive out fear).
