Lean Quote Impossible Is Not a Fact. It’s an Opinion.

On Fridays I will post a Lean related Quote. Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on this journey because without learning we can not improve.

"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing." — Muhammad Ali

Like Muhammad Ali, Henry Ford had tremendous self-belief and he constantly preached on it. He would hire workers that didn’t understand the meaning of impossible and would keep pushing the limits of their imagination. This was the ingenuity behind his continuous improvement

Your self-belief as a leader is infectious. What do you believe about yourself? What do you believe about your ability? What is possible and what is impossible? Your willingness to try the impossible will inspire your team push the limits as well.

Easy goals don’t require innovation. A good BHAG does. It’s achievable, but only through different thinking, real struggle, and a dash of luck. If it’s truly impossible—as opposed to perceived as impossible—people will disengage from the process entirely.

It's easier to say something is impossible, or at least extremely unlikely. Everyone has periods of doubts. Everyone considers giving up sometimes, but then you just have to remember why you tried so hard in the first place.

Nothing is impossible. If you never tried it then you would never know if it worked. Every failure teaches you something if you are willing to learn from your mistakes. Those saying it can not be done should not interrupt those trying it. Artificial roadblocks are wasteful and counterproductive. Keep trying. Keep learning.

Meet-up: Beyond Lean's Joe Wilson

Joe Wilson, who blogs at Beyond Lean, is the subject of our Meet-up today.  Joe has been involved with Lean and continuous improvement activities for over a decade in multiple industries. He shares his experience and real world examples in his writing which makes it highly relateable.


Who are you and what do you do?
My name is Joe Wilson. I currently work for a pharmaceutical company and also have worked in the meat processing and automotive industry, mostly in a variety of Industrial Engineering and Continuous Improvement roles. I am also a contributor to the Beyond Lean blog.

How and when did you learn Lean?
I guess my formal training started when I worked for what was then a Dana plant where I got to take part in a formal kaizen event. The event itself wasn’t that memorable, but I was fascinated because the training material seemed to codify a lot of the way I already thought. After that, I went to work for a company that was all in on Eli Goldratt and Theory of Constraints, so I got to see a different angle of the CI picture. From there, I went to work with Matt Wrye (not because of him, but that’s where we met) and had the opportunity to really go deep with being a part of a Lean conversion. I also got to work with somebody who later went on to a supplier development position with Toyota who was invaluable in helping to informally coach me and close some of the theory gaps in my mind. I had some evolution in my role there that allowed me to spend time developing my formal problem solving skills, including working with some incredibly talented Shainin Red X problem solvers and a passionate Six Sigma Black Belt. There have been some formal classes and certifications and thousands of hours of self study.

How and why did you start blogging or writing about Lean?
Matt may remember it differently (and his version is probably right), but when he told me about starting up Beyond Lean, I told him to let me know if he wanted any help. He told me that if I ever wanted to contribute, he would let me guest post. That evolved at the beginning of this year to a more permanent role as an author. Unfortunately, because of some other time-sucking issues, my contributions have been a little more sporadic than I would like. For me, the writing is the easy part…it’s the editing part that kills me.

What does Lean mean to you?
Personally, Lean is that example that I can point to when I’m trying to make a point that other people can’t see. It is leverage in trying to change the way other people think about their work. It’s a community of people who allow me to validate or challenge my existing ideas about what’s possible. I don’t have a clue in the “chicken or the egg” argument of whether or not Lean makes me think this way or if I think this way and it aligns with Lean. I just know that Lean fits for me.

What is the biggest myth or misconception of Lean?
It seems lazy, but I’ll fall back on the whole “Lean is not a collection of tools” line. Let’s be honest, when most people talk about “lean”, what they are talking about is the understanding of what Toyota has done. In that sense the discussion revolves around trying to study somebody else’s solutions to their problems. To me, breaking down specific tools makes for some enjoyable philosophical and theoretical conversation, but it often seems like a distraction when you are trying to actually do something.

What is your current Lean passion, project, or initiative?
Professionally, I am focused on the concept and practice of how problems are defined. I don’t mean that in terms of an individual problem or for an A3. What I mean is, organizationally, how are we going to identify what is and isn’t a problem, what scale the problem is, and how we are going to dedicate resources to solve the problems. Toyota’s system became what it is because they made certain decisions along the way that shaped what they will and won’t do. I believe everything else (from a CI perspective) flows from that point.

Personally, I’m on a quest to see if there is such an animal as “Lean Six Sigma”. Although I’m “certified” in both Lean and Six Sigma, I have never been able to understand how the two could merge. So far, the closest mental model I’ve been able to come up with is a food truck. In theory, it’s mobile food service. In practice, it’s either a truck or it’s a kitchen. It can’t be both at the same time effectively.

Check to Solve Problems

A simple, pragmatic problem solving methodology is the Plan, Do, Check, Act (PDCA) approach. It begins with a Planning phase in which the problem is clearly identified and understood. Potential solutions are then generated and tested on a small scale in the "Do" phase, and the outcome of this testing is evaluated during the Check phase. "Do" and "Check" phases can be iterated as many times as is necessary before the full, polished solution is implemented in the "Act" phase.

The PDCA cycle model is built as a continuous loop and this loop ensures that processes are frequently revisited. This is very beneficial to organizations because if something changes or isn't working to satisfaction it can be changed. It also reduces the chance of something that isn't quite working to be inadvertently overlooked.

The four phases in the Plan-Do-Check-Act Cycle involve:
Plan: Identifying and analyzing the problem.
Do: Developing and testing a potential solution.
Check: Measuring how effective the test solution was, and analyzing whether it could be improved in any way.
Act: Implementing the improved solution fully.

It is the Check stage of the process which often lacks attention. The Plan stage is never a problem because it’s an obviously interesting stage for which there will be no shortage of strategist and project manager to pick up the baton. Do and Act are both production stages to which clear activities can be assigned. The Check stage, however, is often the most subjective of the stages and will typically receive the least focus. If it’s true that information is king, then it follows that the Check stage of the PDCA process is the most important as it fuels the other stages by introducing recommendations which will keep the cycle alive.

A recent car repair experience has been a great reminder of the importance of following the PDCA cycle with particular emphasis on check. While having a tail light replaced we asked to have the oil changed. Upon the oil change and subsequent inspection the garage found the serpentine belt was worn and needed replacement. They changed the belt and this is where the trouble begins. When you first start the car and turn the wheel the belt squeals. This happened for a few days before we had to make another repair appointment.

The garage looked at the car and said the water pump was leaking onto the belt and it needed replaced. The chain of events didn’t seem to make sense so we asked if the belt still squeals to which the repairman said no. We picked up the vehicle and immediately found the belt was still squealing. Now my wife who is not too happy lets into the repairman with the 5 whys to which resulted in an I don’t know. So now we have to bring the car back so they fix the problem we brought the car in for, the squealing serpentine belt.

It was apparent that the repair garage did not check to see if their hypothesis that the water pump leaking was the root cause to the squealing serpentine belt. If they had they would have found what we did which that it still squeals. Hopefully then they would have continued to troubleshoot the problem until they reached the root cause. After which they could confirm their solution solved our problem.

Hopefully, this example will serve as a lesson about the importance of checking that your solutions do in fact address the root cause. When you solve problems in your business remember you are not done until the testing is conclusive. The beauty of the PDCA beyond its simplicity is the iterative problem solving cycle which if followed gets to the root of the problem.

10 Signs of a L.A.M.E. Company, Not a Lean Company

Unfortunately, there are many examples of Lean mistakenly implemented. A few years ago Mark Graban, blogger at Lean Blog, coined the term "L.A.M.E." — Lean As Misguidedly Executed. L.A.M.E. includes those things that people call "Lean" but really aren’t a good representation of true Lean mindsets and practices.

In order to fully understand Lean and establish the success that can come from truly applying the right thinking it is importance to know how it contrasts with L.A.M.E. The following 10 items are signs of a L.A.M.E. company not a Lean company.

1. Slashing the workforce.
When organizations use lean methods to drive layoffs, this would be an example of L.A.M.E., not Lean. Slash-and-burn approaches send shock waves that affect the remaining workforce. Lean is based on dual ideal of continuous improvement and respect for people. Downsizing is penny-wise and pound-foolish not respectful.

2. Lean is to blame for poor performance.
Low inventories are commonly linked to Lean because many organizations are able to reduce inventory levels due to practicing Lean Thinking. But "true" Lean Thinkers understand lower inventories are a resultant of a process improvement not a solution to a problem.

3. Customers complain often.
Customer responses to your company reflect their treatment by employees, particularly your front-line staff. A lot of complaints means that the customer focused culture you’ve tried to create has either not reached everyone or seems so contrived that customers are dissatisfied rather than delighted.

4. Talented people giving average performance.
Talented people want to deliver great results, not only for your business but also for them. If your star employees are delivering average sales, productivity and profitability, they are not getting what they need from you. Invest in your employees by cultivating continuous learning and improvement.

5. Issues are repeated.
If you hear about the same problems over and over, it's likely that there is little or no effective action being taken to deal with them. This is an indication that there lacks a PDCA approach to problem solving and continuous improvement is probably more like firefighting.

6. Feeling overwhelmed.
No matter how hard you work or how fast you work, you never even come close to getting everything done. It just seems like you've always got too much work and too little time. So you're forced to make one of two unhealthy choices: to either let some work go or let some work get done more poorly than you would like. This is a lack of respect for people.

7. Lack of appreciation.
And this, of course, is one of the worst possible ways to manage or motivate a workforce. Employees at all levels need to know that other people have noticed their good work and have commented on it. Without verbalized appreciation, feelings of "what's the point" and "why bother" start to take over.

8. Disengaged workforce.
Your disengagement can be caused by several things. Your organization may have gone through a huge amount of change but didn't give you any training to cope with the change. So you feel less confident of your abilities. Or the disengagement may have come about because your organization never bothered to learn your strengths or tap into your strengths. Allow employees the opportunity to participate in the business.

9. Hoarding information.
Some people withhold information from others because they know that knowledge is power. And they only share their information when it suits their purposes. In fact, many employees believe their managers know a lot more about the business than they're telling. Remember knowledge is the primary lever that can affect the rate of change in any organization.

10. Unsustainable Results
If a company is focusing on implementing a checklist of tools and processes then they do not understand Lean is about the thinking. These companies are trying to copy and paste solutions that will not fit their needs. I would have to say they are practicing L.A.M.E. if results are not sustaining. A Lean company values standardized work and when implemented the results have a much higher chance of being sustained.

Sometimes it can be hard to tell if a company is Lean or L.A.M.E. For many of us these signs are clear from experience. What other L.A.M.E examples have you seen others claim as Lean?

Lean Quote: Desire is the Key to Motivation, But It's Commitment You Need for Success

On Fridays I will post a Lean related Quote. Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on this journey because without learning we can not improve.

"Desire is the key to motivation, but it's determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal - a commitment to excellence - that will enable you to attain the success you seek." — Mario Andretti

I picked today's quote in part because I am on my way to the NASCAR race in New Hampshire this weekend and in part from it's lesson. Desire and drive to win (no pun intended) can't be replaced by tools, technology, or engineering. You still need a commitment to attaining your goal to win. Winners aren’t afraid of challenges, they go after them. Winning isn’t something that is handed to you. You must do the preparatory, ground work if you’re going to win. This translates into our lives and our work in the same manner. To improve you must truly want to change and be willing to work hard to make it successful. It is this desire that sets successful individuals apart from others.

Without commitment, success is just but a far away dream. It is the force originating from within you that seeks to bring out the potential in you and drive you to your destiny.

It is the desire of many to achieve success but a determined person is never satisfied until he gets what he is after. Commitment is what motivates one to strive and work hard towards success; therefore without it one tends to walk blindly and without purpose.

Just how committed are you?

Answer that for yourself and really take a good look at your reasons for starting that idea in the first place. Because if your desire and commitment lack drive, the necessary skills or bucket loads of patience you will ultimately fail in your personal quest, whatever that may be.

The commitments you make and the actions you take with enthusiastic determination will bring you the success you are now envisioning.

Meet-up: Evolving Excellence's Kevin Meyer

Today, I am pleased to Meet-up with Kevin Meyer of LeanCEO.com and Evolving Excellence.  I have been following Kevin since my early years as he was one of the first online Lean resources. Kevin is extremely talented and creative as seen from his successful various business endeavors. You probably don't even realize the influence Kevin has had on your journey but I think if you look you will find you have used some of his resources.


The goal of Meet-up is provide you an opportunity to meet some other influential voices in the Lean community. I will ask these authors a series of questions:

1. Who are you and what do you do?
My name is Kevin Meyer, and for the past seven years I have been president of Specialty Silicone Fabricators, a 400-person multi-site contract manufacturer of medical device components. After getting my chemical engineering degree from Rensselaer, I made light bulbs for Sylvania for several years, then medical products with Abbott for over a decade, telecom photonics for Newport, and started and sold my own contract manufacturing company.

On the side I run a lean knowledgebase, LeanCEO.com, and blog at Evolving Excellence. I’m a partner in Gemba Academy, which now provides online lean training to over 1,000 customers worldwide. I’m also a partner in another technology company outside of the lean space, and sit on the boards of two other tech companies.

Somehow I find the time to do some consulting, primarily focused on executive level lean leadership. I also consult with venture capital groups that need to understand the value in potential investment opportunities that include manufacturing operations. I’ve found VCs to be surprisingly open to non-traditional valuation methods.

With my wife Kim I live in Morro Bay, California, a small fishing village on the central coast, surrounded by over 220 wineries. For well over a decade I’ve succeeded at an annual goal to visit two new countries and learn something radically new each year.

2. How and when did you learn Lean?
My first experience with lean, although I didn’t know it yet, was with Sylvania in the mid-80s. We had just received our first contract to supply auto headlights to Toyota and had shipped over the first 100,000 units. A few weeks later we got a call that there was a major quality problem, and several folks went to Japan in response. On the Toyota conference table were five defective units. We discussed the problems, then asked for the rest of the defective units so we could analyze them. The Toyota folks looked at us funny then explained that those five were the defective units, and the quality level was unacceptable. We changed our underwear and flew home to a new reality.

In 1997, about seven years into my career with Abbott Laboratories, I was offered the opportunity to move to Salt Lake City to run the company’s largest molding facility. What they didn’t tell me was that this was a 24/7/365 operation, with every machine running, and they were still several weeks late delivering to multiple downstream assembly plants. So how do you catch up? The pressure was on.

I began to poke around at the early internet and discovered the Toyota Production System, lean, and The Association for Manufacturing Excellence. Thanks to the likes of Dave Hogg, Doc Hall, and Dan McDonnell I learned about several lean concepts, with quick changeover being the key to turning around our molding operation. Within six months we were caught up, and after a year we were actually getting rid of old, unnecessary equipment even though our demand continued to grow.

Since then I’ve been able to leverage lean to make significant improvements in many other operations. My knowledge of lean continues to grow thanks to knowing several people in the lean world, serving on the board of directors of AME for many years, visiting lean companies around the world, and especially by being able to try new ideas and concepts in the companies I’ve been part of.

3. How and why did you start blogging or writing about Lean?
As I was learning about lean in 1997 I began to capture a list of online resources on my computer. Colleagues at my company soon asked for that list, and then some colleagues outside of the company. I created Superfactory.com to hold those resources, which soon grew to become one of the largest lean resource sites. In 2004 I started the Evolving Excellence blog, and I continue to post a couple times a week. As I moved into more general management and executive roles I began to explore how lean could be applied to leadership – therefore I also shifted the Superfactory.com knowledgebase into LeanCEO.com, broadening the focus onto lean leadership.

Bill Waddell and I wrote Evolving Excellence – the book – in 2007. I am currently writing a book on how personal and professional leadership can be transformed by lean and zen principles. It’s a bit of a struggle as the unnecessary wordiness of most business texts, and the publishing business itself, flies in the face of the principles I’m promoting.

4. What does Lean mean to you?
I am definitely not a lean “purist” – I believe lean does and must evolve from the teachings of Woollard, Ford, Shingo, and Ohno. This puts me at odds with many in the lean community who argue vociferously whenever someone violates some principle apparently carved in stone and ensconced in Japan. Such argument is, ironically, a waste in itself.

My experience in the real world – running multiple manufacturing facilities and even companies – has taught me that every situation is unique even if the underlying issues have the same common roots. The core philosophy of lean – specifying and optimizing value from the perspective of the customer and leveraging people – remains relatively constant, as do the fundamental tools. But new ideas and new perspectives continue to present themselves. Just as lean teaches us to challenge perspectives and the status quo, philosophies and tools, including lean, should also always be challenged. And someday there will be something new.

5. What is the biggest myth or misconception of Lean?
Maybe it’s not the biggest myth or misconception, but not understanding or perhaps outright ignorance of the importance of the respect for people pillar of lean creates missed opportunities for most organizations on the lean journey. I believe it is also the reason for most lean failures.

Traditional financial statements account for the “cost” of people but there is no offsetting “value” – the value of experience, knowledge and creativity. This leads to crazy decisions like laying off thousands of experienced people to save a few bucks an hour on labor, while incurring supply chain, quality, and retraining costs.

By focusing on creating great people and using their ideas you can achieve incredible competitive advantage. My company successfully competes with companies in low labor “cost” countries like India and China – and we do it from what is supposedly one of the most business unfriendly states in the country. I can give you examples of many other companies doing the same, many of which are in low margin businesses. Stop complaining and start learning how to compete.

I’ve learned that the largest cost in business is not material, labor, or overhead – it’s unnecessary complexity. The key to reducing complexity is leveraging smart people who are given the right tools. I still haven’t seen a robot submit a suggestion for improvement – which is perhaps why some of the most efficient factories in the world have the lowest number of robots.

6. What is your current Lean passion, project, or initiative?
I have several ongoing lean projects, generally revolving around disseminating lean knowledge. Lean CEO continues to grow, as does Gemba Academy. I am also interested in how lean can be applied to unique industry niches, and with a couple partners am launching another startup in September to capitalize on one such opportunity.

However my strongest interest is with how lean and zen principles can dramatically transform both professional and personal leadership. The nexus is very interesting. Some of this grew out of necessity – having to juggle a bunch of projects as well as handle a difficult and chaotic family medical situation. But it also grew out of my occasional lean leadership consulting, which has almost always morphed into more of an executive coaching. Simplicity, clarity, enabling people, defined planning but living in the moment, hansei reflection.

The Importance of Networking for Learning Lean

Lean Manufacturing has been taught from practitioner to practitioner and company to company for decades. This learning and reciprocal sharing of best practices is what helps us all improve.

A network of like-minded professionals creates an opportunity for those that practice Lean, Six Sigma and other improvement philosophies to share their knowledge; and for those that are considering the methodologies to learn through questioning and relationships with practitioners. Local groups that share your interest in a particular topic, offer a great forum to learn and share information for little or no cost. Special interest groups within these groups can offer further topic specialization and can be a tremendous way to learn or be mentored.

Finding a network near you doesn’t have to be difficult. Many professional associations like the Association for Manufacturing Excellence (AME), American Society of Quality (ASQ), and many others offer these networks. Local MEP and consultants also have a good network of connections that can help. Start by finding those networks near you and ask how you can get involved.

Now, when you are ready to visit a company willing to share it is not enough to just show up. You should go prepared to answer one of your problems. If you visit with the goal of finding a solution to a problem at your company you will be more apt to find it. Copying solutions don’t work but can help you learn a better way. Remember to “adopt then adapt” when implementing solutions. The reverse often results in a failure to implement.

Hosting a visit is equally valuable. Here are some tips I’ve learned from hosting:

Set and meet expectations. Before the day arrives, understand what the visitors want to see. Suggest what might be the best way to experience your program. Be clear about the time commitment.

Seek feedback. Using something like the “3 idea form” ask visitors to record 3 good things they will take back with them and 3 opportunities for improvement for the host site.

Allow for follow-up. Make connects, share contact info, and create an opportunity for visitors to follow-up. Inherently, once you return home to implement something you might have seen you find more questions and it can be helpful to have someone to follow-up with.

Visiting a company or hosting a visit can be a great way recognizing your achievements. It also helps reinforce your pursuit of Lean by sharing your journey with others who are on the same journey. Networking supports the continuous learning cycle we all need to feed our improvements.