Facts Speak For Themselves

The general causes of troubles in factories arise from wrong knowledge and incorrect operations. To discern what is wrong and what is incorrect we have to launch into a fact finding process.

“The Facts.”

An overused expression.
Everybody assumes he knows, but no one actually knows.
One might be reminded of a story of the blind men touching an elephant and each reporting different description of what the elephant is.
One touches the trunk and talks only that, another touches the tail and describes the elephant as such.
Each believes his experience to be correct.
People often tell the stories from others as if they were their own experiences.

Discussions alone cannot eliminate troubles.
Words cannot always describe facts.
What is white may turn out as black.
Discussions cannot settle whether it is white or black.

“Let facts speak for themselves.”

With a humble attitude, carefully check things one by one.
At any rate what we are dealing with is a difficult thing.
It has an infinite number of features.
We must be aware that our knowledge and experience are finite, and always imperfect.
This recognition will make the facts appear.

A person who has engaged in a job for a long time is the one we call experienced.
As experienced person has a great deal of knowledge about that job.
These are correct knowledge and incorrect knowledge.
The problem is that he doesn’t know which is correct and which is wrong.
A true expert is the experienced person who is always furnishing his knowledge with facts, reflecting on that knowledge and making corrections.
Unfortunately, all persons with experience are not necessarily be true experts.
They can become encumbrances who bear superstitions.

We have to work diligently to find true knowledge.
It is just like in climbing a mountain road, you have to climb one step at a time.
After you’ve continued the climb for some time, you’ll suddenly realize how far you are above the starting point.

Lean Quote: Four Attributes of an Effective Performance Measurement System

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.

"What gets measured gets done. Make sure you are measuring the right things!" — Peter Drucker

An effective measurement system is one of the most powerful tools for change. In a perfect world, a measurement system will actively promote performance improvement by measuring what matters; providing corrective feedback and positive reinforcement to enthusiastic people who enjoy being measured and take improvement on as a challenge.

An effective performance measurement system should have the following four attributes:

First key of a successful measurement system is Context. Effective measurement can only occur in a positive, supportive context. This is the culture that surrounds the measurement - informational or punishment, process not person. The attitude of the boss. An unfavorable measure is an opportunity not a threat. We want to surface issues, not suppress them.

The second key for a successful measurement system is Focus. Measure the right thing. Be aware of measuring too much. Derive many of the measures from participative policy deployment, not sucked out of the air.

The third key for a successful measurement system is Integration. There must be an integrated system for measurement. Maybe a balanced scorecard or policy deployment, although better in a Lean context would create flow, maintain flow, and organize flow. In any case measures need to be aligned, balanced, and adaptive.

The fourth key for a successful measurement system is Interactivity. Measures need to be acted on in real time. Two-way interaction. Actually setting up the measures is only a small part - how they are used and reviewed is at least as important. Perhaps a daily meeting around the communications board. This is social process, not a technical process.

Good systems need good people. There is no sense in examining a process unless at the same time you examine the people who govern the process. Improvement does not take place on paper. Improvement happens when people employ enthusiasm, dedication, commitment, leadership and morale in their daily routine. A good system on paper is a healthy beginning but if you want results you need to follow up a paper system with a people system.


 

The Successes of Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma: A Case Study

Those who deal with Six Sigma and Lean Manufacturing on a frequent basis will be fully aware of the benefits they can have for businesses; dramatic improvements in quality and service, improved customer satisfaction and improved reliability, are just to name a few. 

But, it’s rare that individuals looking to learn more about the philosophy of these techniques actually get to hear about real life examples, of how these processes have contributed to the rising success of a company. 

In construction and engineering, the process of Six Sigma and Lean Manufacturing is key. Its adoption allows for maximum durability and quality for many hardwearing operative products that require use on a day-to-day basis, under all weather conditions. It’s because of this that many engineering companies are now looking to adopt these processes in their production strategies. 

But, it’s not just the consumer that benefits from these processes. As this case study featuring the manufacturing company Midlake Products shows, the pros of Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma can contribute to significant growth of a company itself. If you’re looking to find out more about how the processes can contribute to your business, here’s how it worked for Midlake Products: 

Quality and Reputation 
Midlake Products and Manufacturing is a privately held, family owned business, which was established in 1987. With custom hinges, metal fabrications and metal finishing acting as the main foundations of the business, the company has gone from strength-to-strength and now services all trades from the marine industry to self-service industries. 

Midlake Products continue to practice and embrace the philosophy for Six Sigma and Lean Manufacturing, and it’s these that they believe have been the key contributors to the success of their products. 

By investing in Six Sigma technology that seeks to improve the quality of process outputs by identifying and removing defects, Midlake Products minimize any variability in their manufacturing. It’s through this that Midlake can continually meet their important quality policy, which strives to provide products to their customers, which meet or exceed their expectations. The further use of quality management methods and tools, including a special infrastructure of people consisting of “Black Belt” or “Green Belt” experts, means that Midlake’s customers always benefit from outstanding quality and reliability products. 

And as previously stated, it’s not just Midlake’s customers that benefit from these features. By striving to provide the highest quality products possible, Midlake has earned itself a positive reputation and superior competitive position within the industry as a result. As any business owner will know, these traits often result in increased sales and profits, often brought by both current and prospective customer loyalty. 

Financial Benefits 
All Six Sigma and Lean Manufacturing projects carried out within an organization consist of a defined sequence of steps and quantified financial targets, in order to help reduce costs or increase profits for the company as a whole. It’s these that equate to substantial financial benefits for the company that adopts the techniques into their manufacturing strategies. 

Lean Manufacturing in particular, considers the expenditure of resources by working from the perspective of the customer who consumes the product, and the company that creates it. The final product is value for both parties; value relating to the price the customer wants to pay for a high quality product, and value of product costs for the company. 

In the example of Midlake Products, their journey to effectively implement these financial targets by lowering costs for themselves whilst maintaining quality for the consumer, is ongoing - and one that has significantly contributed to their success as a result.

About the Author:
This article was written by Kathryn Thompson, an experienced freelance writer. Kathryn specializes in providing real-life business examples of the benefits of Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma, such as in the case of Midlake Products and Manufacturing. Midlake Products and Manufacturing is a privately held, family owned business, which was established in 1987. With custom hinges, metal fabrications and metal finishing acting as the main foundations of the business, the company has gone from strength-to-strength and now services all trades from the marine industry to self-service industries. 

Get Involved - 3rd Annual World Quality Month

Join the Global Quality Community in celebrating World Quality Month in November 2012! Now in its third year, World Quality Month provides a platform for acknowledging the efforts and accomplishments of the Global Quality Community. This is a time to celebrate—a time to showcase the advancements and valuable quality contributions in businesses, communities, and institutions.

World Quality Month is an annual celebration of quality and its impact in the world. Through the joint efforts of ASQ, its many World Partner organizations, leaders and stakeholders in the Global Quality Community, the inaugural World Quality Month began in November 2010. World Quality Month was established both to reignite attention once generated in the 1980s by National Quality Month in the U.S. and to create a united, global forum for the organizations that have celebrated World Quality Days in November to come together and raise their voices for quality. 

Visit worldqualitymonth.org often to learn about quality tools and techniques, heroes, the stories of quality in practice every day, and World Quality Month events. Celebrate World Quality Month 2012 with the Global Quality Community. 

So in November get involved. Raise your voice for quality. Make a point of it. I bet you’ll enjoy it. And when December 1 rolls around, you don’t have to stop. Speaking up for the importance of quality is our daily responsibility. The biggest barrier quality faces is making people understand that excellence just doesn't happen. Excellence isn't good intent. Through quality, excellence is available to everyone.

Together—through our collective passion for the community—we will raise the voice of quality worldwide.


I’m part of the ASQ Influential Voices program. While I receive an honorarium from ASQ for my commitment, the thoughts and opinions expressed on my blog are my own.

The Outstanding Organization is Outstanding

What’s holding back your organization? Are people still fighting fires, missing targets, producing defects, and doubting direction? Why haven’t you been able to sustain your gains? 

After two decades in the trenches of helping companies design and build better, more efficient operations, Karen Martin has pinpointed why performance improvement programs often fail: chaos, the sneaky but powerful force that frustrates customers, keeps business leaders awake at night, and saps company morale. 

Karen says that chaos in the organization is caused by: 

Lack of clarity – ambiguity abounds in purpose, roles and responsibilities, decision making, and communication 
Lack of focus – changing priorities, trying to solve too many problems at once, and distraction 
Lack of discipline – mastery requires deliberate practice, PDSA improvement cycle 
Lack of engagement – energized and connected with a purpose, employee development 

Chaos is not something we have to live with. Karen says we need to improve how we improve. The Outstanding Organization provides a means for combating chaos by creating the organizational conditions that will allow your improvement efforts to return greater gains. Karen’s system focuses on four key behaviors for operational excellence—Clarity, Focus, Discipline, Engagement—that, once they become habit, open the door to sustainable growth and profit. 

The book's central idea is that the key to removing the friction and chaos found in the daily operations of most organization is to (1) pursue clarity in internal communications, (2) focus on a small number of topics to reduce the time members spend switching between projects and give teams a chance to finish what they start, (3) have the discipline to keep practicing what makes it function better, and (4) engage members so that they identify their own goals with those of the organization. 

Karen's proven, practical, and surprisingly straightforward wisdom is easily digestible and understood. Her expertise is apparent with many great real-world examples of different organizations that she has worked with over the years. In addition to her own knowledge, Karen polled scores of experts and talked to many thought leaders to test her thinking, strengthening the value of the book. She has a tremendous knowledge of previous Lean literature and sites a large number of them throughout the book. 

The Outstanding Organization is a quick read but packed with a number of tools and techniques for solving problems that take longer to fully appreciate. This book would be good for a study group, creating great discussion that can lead to immediate results.  

Unfortunately, there is a lack of visuals, diagrams, pictures to support the teaching in the book. As a visual learner I would have liked some visuals to reinforce the learning. 

The Outstanding Organization will make any process initiative work better and stick longer. Plus, it will help produce demonstrable results. Karen shows us how an outstanding “Lean” organization can free up employees to do their best work. 

I recommend you add this book to your Lean library of knowledge. I am confident you will find value in this book well into the future.

Lean Quote: A Lack of A Problem Solving Process Means More Problems

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.

"Problems breed problems, and the lack of a disciplined method of openly attacking them breeds more problems." — Philip Crosby

We are all faced with problems to solve in our workday. There are many problem-solving methods, and the six-step method is just one of them. The problem for most people is that they do not use one process to solve problems and issues or to make decisions. Another problem is that people are not consistent in how they solve problems. They do not find something that works and then do it the same way over and over to be successful. 

The Six-Step Problem-Solving Process is described below: 

Step 1: Identify The Problem 

• Select the problem to be analyzed 
• Clearly define the problem and establish a precise problem statement 
• Set a measurable goal for the problem solving effort 
• Establish a process for coordinating with and gaining approval of leadership 

Step 2: Analyze The Problem 

• Identify the processes that impact the problem and select one 
• List the steps in the process as it currently exists 
• Map the Process 
• Validate the map of the process Identify potential cause of the problem 
• Collect and analyze data related to the problem 
• Verify or revise the original problem statement Identify root causes of the problem 
• Collect additional data if needed to verify root causes 

Step 3: Develop The Solutions 

• Establish criteria for selecting a solution 
• Generate potential solutions that will address the root causes of the problem
• Select a solution 
• Gain approval and supporter the chosen solution 
• Plan the solution 

Step 4: Implement A Solution 

• Implement the chosen solution on a trial or pilot basis 
• If the Problem Solving Process is being used in conjunction with the Continuous Improvement Process, return to Step 6 of the Continuous Improvement Process 
• If the Problem Solving Process is being used as a standalone, continue to Step 5 

Step 5: Evaluate The Results 

• Gather data on the solution 
• Analyze the data on the solution 
• Archive the desired results?
• If YES, go to Step 6. 
• If NO, go back to Step 1. 

Step 6: Standardize The Solution (and Capitalize on New Opportunities) 

• Identify systemic changes and training needs for full implementation 
• Adopt the solution
• Plan ongoing monitoring of the solution
• Continue to look for incremental improvements to refine the solution 
• Look for another improvement opportunity 

The Six-Step Problem-Solving Process is an easy approach to dealing with issues and problems that you face. It is a systematic way to approach a problem with clearly defined steps so that an individual or team doesn’t get bogged down in, “WHAT DO WE DO NEXT?”

 

Meet-up: Personal Kanban's Jim Benson

Today's guest on the meet-up guest is Jim Benson. Jim is the co-author (along with Tonianne DeMaria Barry) of Personal Kanban.  Jim and Tonianne are the ones who got me turned on to use of a kanban system for personal productivity. They wrote a wonderful book that allows anyone to visualize work in a simple system to limit activity, prioritize tasks, and focus productivity effectively. Over the last few years we have talked about personal productivity systems on a number of occasions.  I have used many of his tips in my own personal kanban system.


Who are you and what do you do?
I am Jim Benson. My partner Tonianne and I focus our work on Lean for knowledge workers. We specialize in helping people and organizations actually understand their work. We also have developed two specific Lean management patterns - Personal Kanban and Lean Coffee. Personal Kanban helps individuals and small teams see their work, limit their work-in-progress, and run visible experiments of continuous improvement. Lean Coffee is a Lean meetings tool that provides a light framework to have coherent and collaborative meetings.

How and when did you learn Lean?
I got my start in urban planning, so I used to build what A.A. Milne might have called Very Big Things. I built subways, bridges, and freeways. During that time, I gained an appreciation for the large number of moving parts some projects can have, the interfaces between the design and implementation worlds, and how to meet the needs of individuals as they worked in multiple systems simultaneously. In 2000, I started a software company that catered to the government sphere. We developed software using proto-Lean practices called “Agile Methodologies.” Agile was very helpful in getting projects completed, its strength was that it used iterative delivery to compensate for historic poor communications between developers and their customers. Once we found Agile, we looked for more toolsets to incorporate and make our processes even more adaptive. 

That’s where we found Lean, which at that time was mainly focused on manufacturing. The concepts of flow, limiting work-in-progress, and systems thinking were immediately compelling. However, it was the underlying message of respect that really caught our eye. The combination of continuous improvement with respect for workers led to immediate and exciting results.

How and why did you start blogging or writing about Lean?
That’s hard to say. I’ve been writing since I was kid, when I got my first manual typewriter. So I’ve always been writing. I would say that my first specific Lean writing would have been around 2005 when we started managing software projects specifically with Lean principles. The first Personal Kanban posts appeared in 2007, the Personal Kanban book was published in 2010. My personal belief is that our practices cannot evolve without writing and communication. It doesn’t help if we focus only on our own teams, we only learn if we read and write.

What does Lean mean to you?
For me, the key to Lean is Deming’s System of Profound Knowledge. The intersection of systems, variation, learning, and psychology give Lean flexibility and resilience. Deming’s understanding that when we form a company, we collaborate on the creation of value. That can only be done if all actors are fully and personally invested in the outcome.

What is the biggest myth or misconception of Lean?
That it’s goal is the reduction of waste. Professionals in a continuous improvement culture will remove waste as a matter of course. When we introduce Lean initiative focusing on the word “Waste”, we start with a value judgement that closes off conversations and increases fear. This is, in my opinion, the root cause of many Lean transition failures.

What is your current Lean passion, project, or initiative?
We have been working with organizations to create Lean systems that help get knowledge workers like IT, sales, creatives, and HR to communicate better with their organizations, to set up projects with more intelligent deadlines and budgets, and to calm overly aggressive project portfolios to reward actual completion with quality. 

Our passion and root of our success is linking the work of the individual to that of the projects they have. People uniformly are overburdened, often distracted, and unaware of the impacts that this has on the quality and quantity of their work. When we highlight the value streams, project loads, and other burdens of individuals, we quickly find the root causes of the frustrations and wastes of the companies they work for.