Friday, August 14, 2020

Lesson 5 - Lean Five vs y(f)x

Be sure to get a cup of coffee because this is going to be a long lesson. It will once again site the differences of these ideas and categorized as a Lean or Six Sigma practice.

Lean Five Guiding Principles

You’ll start to learn that Lean is made up of five ideas or as stated above five guiding principles; and they are simple and easy to remember. However, don’t be deceived because the concepts as they are applied flies off to so many directions that it’ll make your head spin. I’ve studied and researched these principles for years and read thousands (yes, maybe even more) pages that discussed and probed deep into the possibilities.

The five principles:
  • Customer and Value
  • Single Piece Flow
  • Flow Management
  • Waste Identification and Eliminations
  • Kaizen and Continuous Improvement

Customer and Value

Who is your customer and what does he/she value? As I teach it, VALUE is defined as:

“Any product or service delivered PERFECTLY as the customer WANTS, on time, hassle and defects free.”

In the above statement, you can see loud capitalized letters to emphasize points that makes sense. As a customer, you would not be happy if your product or service that you order does not fulfill your needs.

Now before I go any further, when you hear the word “Lean” or “TPS” or Toyota Production Systems”, the word value comes up. In its core, it is the heart and soul of what it represents. From a basic, lowest common denominator, the definition of Lean is to create VALUE for the customer while reducing and/or eliminating non-value added activities, that we recognize as WASTE. (Now, I can’t tell you the answers to any tests, but this just might be on it!)

Let’s see if we can summarize it in two words:

Customer
Value

During a training session, I asked a group of workers in the oil fields who their customer was. I got answers like the company they work for or those who signed the job tickets. In one of these sessions, the owner of the company stood up and told them that a customer could virtually be anyone who requires you to perform a function. It could be your immediate supervisor, a co-worker, a safety person, the accounts receivable specialist who needs clear and precise error-free job tickets. I told them the concept of value functioned outside of work, that a spouse is a prime example of a customer. I repeated the definition of value, as “any product or service that a customer wants and/or needs, delivered on time, hassle and defects free.” I noticed nods from those processing this information, reflecting upon how this directly relates to them. Then out of the blue, one of the employees said, “It’s like when I ask my son to take out the garbage. I’m the customer.”  (Basically validating that a customer could be someone internally and externally; whereas, a consumer is externally specific.)

More nods.

I proceeded to tell them the story about the NEW RESTAURANT IN TOWN.

From word of mouth, I get word about a new expensive restaurant that serves the best steaks around. Everyone’s read about them in the newspaper; heard about them on the radio; have seen TV commercials featuring the new business. It’s a high-end place with attractive waitresses with smiles on their happy faces. I decided it’s time to check this out for myself. I’m like any other guy, who enjoys a good steak dinner. I grab my phone, call in for reservations, clean up after work and take the wife out. Reservation is at seven o’clock. Wife and I show up ten minutes early and was asked to take a seat, and it would take a few minutes to be seated. Unfortunately, it drags on. I’m finally called to a table around 7:45 p.m., a good 45 minutes late. I’m slightly peeved because I felt I was lied to. Cooled down, now that the wife and I got a nice table, the waitress promptly serves us on a clean table setting. With a smile, she delivers ice water with lemon in it and a plate full of freshly baked bread. She gives us a couple of menus and tells us the special; first, a nice 20 oz. prime rib with all the fixings and second, wild salmon grilled to perfection. I like what I hear and order the specials for about $25 a plate. It’s more than what I pay for a dinner. I expect good food is on its way and to help kill time, I order a nice tall draft and the wife a nice glass of wine. The waitress tells us the expected wait time is about 20 minutes. Unfortunately, 20 minutes end up being about an hour. I know this because I checked my watch when the waitress mentions 20 minutes and want to hold her to it. Okay; bygones are bygones. Food’s supposed to be good and what I get are two plates of cold, under cooked meat and fish with over cooked vegetables and watery potatoes. What a bummer. It turns out to be the worst meal I’ve ever had. Three beers and wine at $15 each with an additional 20% gratuity already built into it, the bill set me back $150.

Within six months, the restaurant shuts down.

Value is what drives a customer to buy. The restaurant may have garnished the fortunes of initial buyers, and even the investors, who believed in the idea. Due to poor products and service, it could not sustain repeat and even new customers, due to repeated “NOT delivered on time and multiple incidents full of HASSLE and DEFECTS!”

As a small business operator, you must focus on what you produce in products and services that people are happy to pull out cash, check or credit card to pay.

From where you sit, up to now, you’re either barely surviving, breaking even or making good money. Regardless of this position, the question you need to ask yourself is how much time can you afford, thinking about who your customer is and what he or she values? Are you living off a steady stream of new, repeat, or few to no customers? Do you know what truly brings them to you? Are your products or service truly unique or better than competition? Are you as good as what you think, or is this a false perception, on your part, that could prevent you from earning the business you truly deserve?
These are compelling questions. Be aware of them and attempt to find answers for the sake of your company’s immediate and future well being.

Single Piece Flow

This is an important topic especially in manufacturing where huge volumes of products are manufactured. What comes to mind are long conveyor belts moving products from one end of the building to the other.

The predominant method of manufacturing is:

BATCH AND CUE

In fact, companies refer to their jobs as batches. To illustrate, let’s reflect upon the restaurant analogy. Instead of a fancy steak restaurant, let’s imagine a greasy spoon where truckers and early morning farmers stop by for what they call real food. The cook scrambled eggs for about 15 truckers because on Wednesday, for the past year or so, scrambled eggs were prepared like clockwork. It was my good routine, and he profited from it. It happened that old Jake (the cook) came to work with a strong hangover to hear Wayleen, the waitress, asking him, “What the hell are you doing?”

Jake responded, “Well it’s Wednesday and a small army will be wanting their breakfast.”

“Well, if it were Wednesday! Today’s Tuesday!” Wayleen said.

There you have it;

“Batch and Cue.”

The production line schedules big batches that are to be premade; and, when the scheduler, in this case, the waitress calls out an order, the products are pushed through. That’s why it’s called PUSH manufacturing since orders are being “pushed” through the line.

SINGLE PIECE FLOW or PULL MANUFACTURING occurs when a product is made from start to finish.

Let’s go back to the restaurant example. Instead of a group of hungry truckers, Wayleen seats a single customer in a booth and asks, “What’ll you have honey?”

The customer says, “Two fried eggs hard over, two bacon, hash browns and wheat toast.”

Wayleen writes the order down and yells at old Jake, “A number two on table five!”

Five minutes later the customer gets his breakfast, made to order (on time, defects and hassle free).

This is an example of PULL MANUFACTURING.

Here’s another example. It starts with my wife, Didi, receiving a call from her mother. She is tasked to purchase an order from one of the shopping channels. Didi fires up the computer. While she waits, she decides to open up the drapes. The drapes are dirty, so she goes to the cleaning supply cabinet to pull out the dust spray and cleaning cloth. The cleaning cloth is dirty so she throws it in the dirty hamper. She sees that the hamper is full, so she takes it to the washing machine and loads it. She looks for the detergent and finds that she’s run out and heads back to the cleaning supply cabinet to pull out the spare supply. She then goes to the cork board to write down “detergent” on the shopping list, drops the pen and finds that the floor needs mopping. So she takes the cleaning bucket out and sweeps and mops the floor. She has extra cleaning solvent in the bucket, so she decides to clean the bathrooms. Her back starts hurting, so she takes a couple of pills to find out that she’s running low, so she pulls out her smart phone and places an order. She sees that she’s got messages from her sister and daughter that prompts her to make calls to them. In about an hour when she’s done with the calls and begins to take the cleaning supplies back to the cabinet. Her mother calls asking if the order was placed.

Many times, we lose ourselves in a myriad of activities. It removes us from what we need to do to earn a living.

I’ve heard it especially from single moms, who take care of their children and operate a part time business. This takes discipline, courage, and strong time management skills to ensure customer demands are met.

Any less results to uncertain levels of successes (and failures). There would be less stress when a project flows through from start to finish without interruptions.

That’s single piece flow. Think about your own special conditions, and see what you can do to accommodate this process.

Flow Management

Flow is what makes the world go around. We see it everywhere: The clouds, rivers, wind, our bloodstream, breathing patterns: it’s the way of nature. It’s the whole universe.
So when large companies move their products along the production line, their goal is to keep the conveyor belts moving and tangle free.

When I was growing up, I’d travel from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo to Los Angeles on Hwy 101 driving through both Santa Barbara and Ventura. The population wasn’t as big as it is now; and, in these two cities, traffic jams would occur. First in Santa Barbara, the highway had, of all things, signal lights! Maybe three or four of them – and any one of them on a red light would be enough to create congestion, on what many consider a pretty busy California highway. Knowing this, I expected five to ten miles of stop and go traffic. Once I’d passed the last stop light, it would be smooth sailing till I’d hit Oxnard’s infamous “Wagon Wheel Road.” There lanes would immediately drop from three lanes to two with the driver navigating through this near needle pin turn. Well, unless I was driving late at night without any traffic, I’d count on hitting that nice bottleneck.

Bottleneck.

When you hit a bottleneck, guess what happens on the freeway?

Years ago, I read The Goal by Eli Goldratt. It was a bestseller in the 1980’s and I picked it up because I like reading best sellers, not knowing that it was about business processes and scientific management. It was written like a novel, and I learned a lot and, summarily, got hooked on the
“Theory of Constraints.”

And therein lies one of the four words previously discussed:

CONSTRAINTS.

According to Goldratt:

Throughput is monies made through sales;

Inventory is what’s needed to support operations;

Operations is everything needed to support throughput.

Don’t worry. You won’t need to really get into this. But I want to spit out a couple of tidbits about TOC.

What’s more important are the following principles:


  • Identify the constraint, which is anything that slows or stops the flow.
  • Exploit the constraint, which is what can you do to get the most out of your flow by pushing the limits of the constraint.
  • Subordinate the constraint, which is what you can do to reduce the movement of every part around the constraint to keep it in pace with the slowest part.
  • Elevate the constraint. which is what you do to fix or remove the constraint.
  • Repeat this process so that you can find and eliminate all bottlenecks to ensure a clean and happy flow.
EXAMPLE:

You are part of a team of campers, who are tasked to hike up the trail to reach a choice camp ground. Everyone is packed and ready to hit the road. You start early at base camp. The trail master is hard core, and the campers, like many of us are out-of-shape. The goal is to get to our destination before night fall and set up camp. So the hike goes well during the morning spell, everyone keeping up, and some slower than others but okay. By lunch, we stop and rest, eat and get ready to push on again, except that several of the campers who are “less athletic” have a hard time keeping up. About 70 percent of the crew are strong enough to keep up with the trail master who realizes that the he can’t leave the slower movers at the end of the convoy.
  • Identify the constraint: The three slower moving hikers.
  • Exploit the constraint: The trail master has been through this before and the way he helps move them along is to trail behind with the slower moving campers and give encouragement for them to pick up the pace. He gives them energy drinks and tells them to put on their earbuds to encourage their pace.
  • Subordinate the constraint: He tells everyone to ease up so that no one moves faster than the slowest pacers.
  • Elevate the constraint: As time passes and the deadline to reaching destination camp is near but not where it needs to be, the trail master uses another technique. He assigns the slow moving hikers up front and tells them that they need to make camp by a certain time. To encourage a quicker pace, he asks them to lead a cadence:
“I don’t know what I believe. I’ll be home by Christmas Eve. One. Two. Three. Four. One-two-three-four. One-two. Three Four!”

By now being the leaders, the slower moving hikers motivate themselves to increase the pace and thereby reach the camp with time to spare.

As you can see, this is an example, where the flow was inhibited. It was dealt with and, as a result, the goal of reaching the campsite “on time” was achieved.

Waste Identification and Elimination

As discussed in the previous lesson, waste is a major cause for inefficiencies, lost production and profits. TPS and Lean starts off by implementing the “5S”.

5S

Learning continuous improvement is constant and dynamic, picking up concepts and the variations of interpretation.  During my many years of studying and practicing scientific management theories, I’ve noticed how ideas get developed, interpreted and communicated, accepted wisdom, sounding important, but lost in translation, complexity within the details, that may not be needed, long string of words, some not used in normal conversations.

Unlike other languages, English is full of innuendo.  The normal blue collar workforce with its own vernacular, when asked to grasp these new concepts they struggled with interpretation and implementation.

As an example, I’d like to share with you what I learned with the concept of 5 S.  First I’ll provide my opinion of the English version, then I’ll follow up with the Japanese version.  This is my account and does not represent how other companies pass this acumen to their workforce. It’s important to illicit an argument that we, as LSS practitioners, are targeted effete, contentious and ineffective.

When I learned the five words:  Sort, Straighten, Shine, Standardize and Sustain, I was not convinced of the choice of words to convey the true meaning of a lean practice.
  • Sort
  • Set in Order
  • Shine
  • Standardize
  • Sustain
There’s no denying that the definitions to these words are correct and comprehensive.  As a normal person, with a decent vocabulary, I’ve decided our minds occasionally encounter a process that selects the correct meaning, sometimes misinterpreting and thereby creating a wrong or misguided result.  One thing I can attest to is that by attempting to simplify ideas, it oftentimes generates complexity with a never ending barrage of information.

One of my co-workers complained, “If this is so lean, why is it so freaking complicated. Why can’t I LEAN the LEAN PROCESS?”

Good point.  So in my studies of 5 S, I stumbled upon the Japanese version:
Seiri
Seiton
Seison
Seiketsu
Shitsuke

And this is what I found in defining them:
  • Seiri.  Tidiness – Sort what you need, discard what you don’t.  Rule of thumb, if you don’t miss it, trash it, or store it away.
  • Seiton.  Be Orderly or “set in order”.  Organize for efficiency.  Set things in proper places for quick retrieval and storage.
  • Seiso.  Clean.  Everybody’s a janitor.   If you see trash on the floor, pick it up, and don’t stop there, be clean at home, in public and at work! What’s also important is that the word “shine” is used a lot, so that it’s easier to see mistakes.
  • Seiketsu.  Standardize a routine that maintains the first three concepts (ala Karate Kid.  Rule number 1 "Karate for defense only."  Rule number 2 "First learn rule number one.")
  • Shitsuke.  Sustain. Discipline.  Don’t be lazy.  Do your job and do it well. Sustaining also requires a constant reminder for continuous improvement through “kaizen”.
Compare English with the Japanese.

My vote is the Japanese: simple to understand and pass on to rank and file where concepts are easier to remember and implement.

When asked why the English version was used to substitute the Japanese version, I was told because it was simple to remember.  I argued back, then why do we continue to use words like Kaizen, Kanban, Muda, Mura and Muri?

I think the 6 S that we need to introduce and implement is SIMPLICITY.


Kaizen and Continuous Improvement

As a martial artist for many years, I was taught dojo kun. “Hitotsu, jinkaku kansei ni tsutomuru koto” the first of five guiding rules in Shotokan Karate, one of the major martial arts systems originating in Japan, practiced worldwide, and founded by Gichin Funakoshi. Translated it means: Each person must strive for the completion of one's character. When recited in the dojo after each class, it was shortened to “Seek perfection of character.”

People train martial arts for various reasons: Discipline, self-defense, health, competition in a ring or cage, and self-confidence. Martial arts teaches movements that have the potential to hurt, maim or kill. Techniques are fast, economical and executed with the least amount of effort.

I bring up the subject of dojo kun and the responsibility of this rule “Seek perfection of character” so that I can introduce a martial arts culture that can be incorporated into management. As we practice and imagine being attacked, we, in our minds, defend and fight back. It’s as much a mind game as it is a physical engagement. Winning is an outcome of how your mind and body coordinates an action, and this takes practice. Without constant reminders, repetition and practice, it would be safe to say that winning is not possible without training.

I have a good friend, Simon Lam who is Chinese from Hong Kong. When I showed him the picture of the Kaizen word in kanji he translated: “Good” “Change”. When he pronounced it in Mandarin it sounded like Kaizen, very similar. When I asked him what it meant, he told me that the deep meaning from the strokes had to do with personal sacrifice, to make bad into good. I asked him what else it meant, and he said, it’s something we should always do, make good changes.

So with that said, Lean Enterprise incorporates a series of tools that include Value Stream Mapping,

Waste identification, 5S, Quality Function Deployment and Kaizen or continuous improvement.

Other management techniques used in conjunction include Theory of Constraints, eMyth,

Management by Objectives, Total Quality Management, Toyota Production Systems and Six Sigma, each creating methods of efficient and profitable workplaces. Kaizen, a popular business management tool, helps people personally. For more information refer to Dr. Robert Maurer's book, One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way.

As a martial artist, I spent many years in a dojo; considered myself a strong fighter, excellent technician and in tune with the spirit of the art. Several months ago, a friend and sensei I met in college now in his sixties emailed me and invited me to train with him and fellow martial artists who are well past their sixties and seventies. My martial arts training of late transitioned towards the internal systems, though on occasions, I end up in the dojo practicing traditional karate and kickboxing. As I age, I realize that physically, I am less stretched, limber and powerful. It does not mean I am incapable. As a culture and way of life, I have my own purpose and capabilities through continuous improvement.

“Kanpeki o Tsuikyu Suru”

To Seek Perfection.

There is a saying, “If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it” a well-known phrase that encourages complacency.
For someone who believes in kaizen, the term would be, “If it isn’t broken, what can be done to make it better?”

The act of seeking continuous improvement and perfection reflects upon the "muda" or waste hoarded in our own personal warehouse, excesses that hold us down, preventing us from self-actualization. Even the simple concept of compassion, which is the core of our religions, hides behind the mass of waste called negativity, ignorance, intolerance and misguided beliefs fostered by money, greed and/or the lack of it.

An Asian monk asked a politician, "If the concept of money did not exist, what then would be the basis of your arguments?

Would there be room for compassion in any of your policies?"  It is this spirit where TPS and Lean relies upon true communication based upon Trust, Honesty and Respect.

With the millions of variations before us, our journey for perfection will never end. Kaizens and continuous improvement will allow us to pursue greatness: externally, internally, and introspectively; in our workplace, our communities, our home, within our hearts.

Do I have to shave my head and walk barefoot in the mountain ranges to achieve small business self-actualization? When I read Dr. Maurer’s book, it was an eye opener. I’m not going to let the cat out of the bag, because the good doctor explains it so well. Buy it and read. Give yourself a break and learn something important.

This is the short version: Always look to improve. Ask the questions: What small step can I take now to make me better in who I am and what I do. How can I achieve this? Can I do this now? What’s stopping me from improving?

Kaizens are identified in three ways:
  • Just Do It
  • Blitz
  • Initiatives
Just do it kaizens are short and fast changes that an employee can execute without much fan fare. An example of a just do it is represented below.

A Kaizen Blitz, is a change management, process that requires a team of individuals to meet and provide answers within a short period of time, usually, within a week or so. The team discusses a variety of facts and data, uses the Scan PDCA process to create solutions. The financial risks are usually below $5,000.

The Kaizen Initiative, however, is involved with huge investment in time, money and energy, and follows closely to a DMAIC or DMADVO Six Sigma Project Charter process. These initiatives are accompanied with AFEs, CAPEX, Pro Formas, Feasibility analysis and all other such analysis to accomplish the project. As a guide (and not a rule unless specified in a written policy), these projects are over $5,000 and more in financial risk.

Best practice requires Kaizens to be submitted formally on a Kaizen form, logged and controlled through a written process, regardless of its identification. Which means, that participants who conduct a Just Do It Kaizen should submit their ideas. For example, on one of my jobs as a LSS facilitator in the oil fields, I would collect Kaizen ideas. I had one roustabout, the lowest position in the field, working at a waste management plant. His job was to primarily keep the facility clean and orderly, not to participate in any of the skilled jobs. Trucks would off load their material into tanks requiring hoses to be used, normally loaded into tubes that hugged the tanker trucks. At the end of these tubes, the end caps are secured by a flimsy chain. Because these tankers would drive through oil fields, roadways weren’t in good condition and these trucks would bounce up and down, thereby snapping these end caps off. Trucks would be in violation of EPA rules if these caps weren’t secured. My roustabout told me what he did to help this problem. Employees are given personal protective equipment uniforms on wire hangers that collected at a corner of the facility untill they’re returned to the supplier or simply disposed of. It had no intrinsic value to the company once the uniforms are used. The roustabout, during the lull of activity, collected end caps, replaced the chain with the wire from the hangers, painted them various colors for aesthetic reasons and installed them on the trucks as they arrived. Because of this “just do it” kaizen, the company saved about $250 a month in end caps replacement. Furthermore, the president of the customer visited the facility, recognized this ingenuity and recommended the vendor promote the roustabout to supervisor.

Standardized Work is a part of Lean that facilitates a Total Quality Management process where critical to quality standards are met to ensure clue to the customer. Standardized Work normally consists of three basic parts:
  • Sequential steps
  • Takt time (time divided by units)
  • Inventory and/or Work in Progess
Best practice validates Standardized Work through documents like batch records or travel tickets where the process of work moves logically and systematically from start to finish ensuring again quality to the customer. It is further verified and validated through carefully written Standard Operating Procedures, work instructions, job aids, training, audits, continuous improvement “Kaizens,” re-evaluations, and subsequent PDCAs.

Standardized Work is instrumental in the fourth or “standardized” phase of 5S, and according to Taiichi Ohno, from Toyota, insists that kaizens provide no value without Standardized Work through supporting documentation, training, processes and philosophies and that continuous improvement cannot occur unless standards are established. Though I won’t get into it in this lesson, achieving standards require certain tools that include:


  • Batch Records
  • Certificates of Compliance
  • Travel Tickets
  • Standardized Work
  • Standard Operating Procedures, aka SOP
  • Work Instructions
  • Job Aids

So prior to conducting a Kaizen or Continuous Improvement initiative, be sure to have a starting point as Master Ohno instructs.

Y(f)X

You're going to like this.  The math formula above represents a series of events, being "x" is an input while "f" is a process that creates "y" or the output.

Data is collected that creates a statistical bell curve where standard deviations (or the average spread of data surrounding or around the mean) is calculated through an assessment from a sample population of throughput.

I'll repeat a previous lesson. Six Sigma works primarily on problem statements where facts and data are collected to come up with conclusions that result to preventive action.  I'm not going to bring Six Sigma methodologies in this course because it'll take a chunk load of time.  For now, it's a good start.
Six Sigma is not an easy pill to swallow, but it is effective and those strong enough to eat hot chili can take a green belt class and enjoy a ride of a life time.



In summary:

Lean relies upon the 5 Guiding Principles and primarily is based upon behavior and culture, while
Six Sigma's base is y(f)x which is procedural or process orientated.