1. BALANCEZEN A take on Lean By Ralph Bateman

2. BalanceZen A take on Lean In almost all areas of private and business life, power commercialism and modern marketing techniques have repackaged existing goods and process. Lean was the package of choice derived to commercialize broad manufacturing and operational processes into a sellable commodity. It worked! Today, the Lean philosophy is a product in its own right generating $billions in revenue each year for purveyors ranging from technical writers to consultants to national and international institutions. 3. BalanceZen A take on Lean Credit for lean manufacturing which morphed from the Toyota Production System, (TPS) no doubt goes to the Toyota Motor Company whos production system has been the flavor of the day since sometime between 1948 and 1975. However, in a report called Decoding the DNA of the Toyota Production system Steven Spear and Prof. Kent Bowen, (Harvard Business review) state that few manufacturers have managed to imitate Toyota successfully. Ironically, according to Paul A. Eisenstein, The Detroit Bureau, (NBC Business News, January 8th 2013) Toyota Motor Corp. recalled more vehicles than any other automaker operating in the U.S. market during 2012, topping the recall list for three of the past four years. 4. BalanceZen A take on Lean Spear and Bowen continued hundreds of thousands of executives from thousands of businesses have toured Toyotas plants in Japan and the United States, and have become frustrated by their inability to replicate Toyotas performance. So why is lean still popular today having seemingly failed to realize its obvious promise on a mass scale? Has lean in fact failed, or is it our interpretation and expectations that have failed? 5. BalanceZen A take on Lean So what is this thing thats attracted so much attention and scrutiny yet is so difficult to emulate. and if its failed, why would we want to emulate it? 6. BalanceZen A take on Lean With tools and technology of the day, managers have always worked with processes that took advantage of those tools and technology to produce goods at profit and satisfactory quality levels. While some were better at it than others, many were not. The early days of the Japanese auto industry saw quality standards broadly recognized as appalling. That changed with the development and introduction by Toyota of a production system designed to produce repeatable levels of acceptable quality at a predictable margin. Its whats become known of course as Lean Manufacturing 7. BalanceZen A take on Lean Basically, Toyota went back to the drawing board of manufacturing and scrutinized every aspect of every detail in their industries production cycle. What they came up with was an awareness that has spread not only to all other automakers, but to manufacturers in general Regrettably however, the term Lean has become a clich with many managers and corporate leaders driving the philosophy without fully understanding the engine that drives its application and intent. Lean is not a one size fits all solution... Its a means to an end. 8. BalanceZen A take on Lean A means that can be adapted for many applications in many industries but not all and not all to the same extent. 9. Often referred to by the less informed as more with less, lean is about balance throughout the entire production cycle. Implemented correctly, it offers serious accommodation for growth and expansion at minimal cost. BalanceZen A take on Lean 10. Toyota developed their system around the need for highly specified, regimented processes, balanced by the right mix of resource and sufficiently disciplined to steer a narrow path. It may be the ultimate Do it by the Book process without actually having a book! Insufficiencies and excess resources in the full cycle process are identified, addressed and corrected. The Toyota Production System endeavors to achieve efficient balance. BalanceZen A take on Lean 11. BalanceZen A take on Lean It always has been Its all about Balance Balance is achieved by assigning the right amount of labor, materials and support to the task, (or tasks) at hand.. no more, no less. If there are excesses in any area, its considered muda or as weve always called it in the English speaking world waste. Waste in all its forms must be identified, removed or re-assigned. 12. BalanceZen A take on Lean Its all about Discipline Thankfully, discipline is not a finger pointing exercise as depicted in the caricature opposite but it is as key a component in the realm of a lean manufacturing as it is in life. Disciplines ensure that were continually engaged in the process, regardless whether that process is building a product or simply drilling down into an incident repeatedly asking the question, why, why, why! (OK, Im a couple short)! It always has been 13. BalanceZen A take on Lean Its about Engagement Within a lean environment, all stakeholders have a common goal; to be constantly aware and engaged in analyzing, developing, optimizing or replacing processes. It always has been 14. Toyotas production system, while not specifically documented, is a highly regimented process focused at a basic task level. Any variance applied, even to the sequencing of tasks provide opportunity for waste, higher costs and lower quality. Employees throughout the complete production cycle have specific tasks. If a breakdown or shortage occurs, theres a person already assigned to address that particular issue which is also a highly regimented process. Flow itself evaluates the effectiveness of interactions between individuals within the production cycle, looking at, and measuring each performance within a supplier / customer framework. BalanceZen A new take on Lean In conclusion to the Spear and Bowen report 15. Failures within each process or task hypothesis has a detailed and defined process to analyze the issue(s) with that process, and its correction or improvement. Employees are required to ask for help if they go behind the set schedule, which itself sets off a pre-designed support process. Flow is a key element in the Production system and requires all direct and indirect (support) functions have highly simplified direct (straight line) flow. Toyota promote a scientific approach to process analysis. When changes are needed, employees are expected to present explicit logic of the hypothesis. BalanceZen A new take on Lean In conclusion to the Spear and Bowen report 16. Focus 1 Execute highly detailed processes Focus 2 The devil is in the details.. Kill the devil Focus 3 Support direct simple processes Focus 4 Support a scientific approach to analysis The Toyota Production System is a highly regimented and (task) detailed group of procedures and processes. Through very disciplined adherence to the complete manufacturing process by all stakeholders, the overall goal is to eliminate confusion, waste (in all its forms) and variance. Procedures specifically are targeted via individual tasks. Flexibility is an added ingredient added by virtue of (scientific) assessment of improvement within each area found to be lacking. Is the macro approach Toyota apply to its manufacturing process the biggest reason why most companies fail to apply it successfully? Or is it a failure by corporations to adequately identify the meaning of success as it relates to them?... You decide! BalanceZen 17. Laboright.com Part of the less than 20 series