Exploring the application of "lean" to complex, dynamic business challenges

Posts tagged lean healthcare

Why Isn’t “Mainstream” Lean Working?



Have you ever found yourself on a journey that didn’t seem to be getting you to where you wanted to go?  At what point did you call it quits?  Was it before you spent far more than what you estimated in time and expense–only to find yourself a long way from where you set out to reach?  Suppose you finally broke down and asked directions–and then realized that everyone else who was trying to get to your destination was lost as well?  Wouldn’t that be enough to say that it’s time to try a new way?

Apparently not if your journey involves going lean.

It is frustrating to see that, after decades of attempting “mainstream”* lean methods, how few organizations have succeeded in achieving anything near what the benchmarks demonstrated to be possible.  And it appears that this problem is finally becoming recognized; leading lean proponents have found the need to address very basic questions, such as why don’t companies seem to see financial benefits?  Some explain that most are simply not as good as Toyota at doing this. Even Jim Womack, the well known author who is widely acknowledged to have launched this movement, pointed out a glaring issue.  Just a few years ago in a podcast interview with LeanBlog he stated that very few–perhaps just a couple–could really claim that they’ve gotten anywhere close to what is possible.

But now this same approach to implementing lean is being applied to everything from hospitals to government.  Many are being trained, others certified, to lead lean journeys.  But isn’t this a problem if this pathway cannot be clearly shown to achieve the results that are really needed? 

Let me ask this another way.  If pretty much everyone is getting it wrong, can we really say that it’s their fault?  At what point should we start questioning the roadmap they’ve been given?

My increasing frustration was what drove me to research and write the book, Going Lean: How the Best Companies Apply Lean Manufacturing Principles to Shatter Uncertainty, Drive Innovation, and Maximize Profits (the title offers a glimpse into what going lean is really about).  And the clear need for a better description of what the path to lean should and should not look like is the reason for my follow-on book, The Going Lean Fieldbook: A Practical Guide to Lean Transformation and Sustainable Success (AMACOM, 2011). 

The increasing popularity of these works indicates to me that organizations are finally beginning to see the need to try a new way.  It’s not too late to keep the lean movement on track to achieve the core benefits that have been demonstrated to be possible–particularly since these are precisely what companies and institutions so desperately need to thrive in today’s challenging environment.

*[Note: I use the term "mainstream" to describe the popular methods that condense "lean" down to discrete tools and techniques, as opposed to the less-cited writings providing the context and mechanics for a needed pathway to measurable, sustainable lean transformation.]

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Addressing Today’s Critical Challenge: With Today’s High Unemployment, Where Are All The Job Applicants?



Yesterday I was honored to participate as part of the National Manufacturing Talent Development Roundtable, an event led by the National Association of Manufacturers’ Manufacturing Institute.  The purpose was to bring together manufacturers, educators, and thought leaders to discuss critical issues leading to “a bold set of recommendations for Governors, Congress, and the Administration to drive innovation in secondary and postsecondary education” to promote a robust educational pipeline to support manufacturing.

To me, the urgent need for this discussion was clear; there seems to exist a serious breakdown in the skills pipeline for manufacturing, something I pointed out in my previous post, Indications of a Workforce Crisis Ahead, in which I described a key challenge faced by Marlin Wire, a small manufacturer in Baltimore.  What stands out about this company is that it continues to thrive in today’s downturn–even competing successfully against China.  How?  By leveraging lean principles in a way that goes beyond operational efficiency, promoting the kind of innovation that contines to open up new opportunities (as described in my new book, The Going Lean Fieldbook: A Practical Guide to Lean Transformation and Sustainable Success).  But the company faces a significant challenge: getting the skilled workforce it needs to expand.

At a time when unemployment stands at nearly 10 percent, it is shocking that companies like Marlin Wire are having real difficulty recruiting the people it needs.  And this is not an isolated case; it has been estimated that this sort of skills mismatch accounts for a significant percentage of todays unemployment.  I myself have listened to frustrated manufacturers describing their inability to fill what are apparently well-paying jobs.  It doesn’t seem possible, but at the height of the worst economic downturn in nearly a century, manufacturers are running into labor shortages.

So clearly I was excited about participating in this event.  Of course, I believe there is a real opportunity for implementing lean methods.  But it’s important to avoid a key hazard: tweaking current processes as a way of directly targeting near-term outcomes (a key contributor to failure–see Four Signs Your Lean Initiative is Promoting Fear); instead lean principles must be applied to achieve what is really needed: fundamental transformation that creates dramatic, lasting results. 

It seemed to me that the Manufacturing Institute did precisely what was needed by assembling this impressive panel of manufacturers, educators, and thought leaders to explore this critical issue that is today impacting our country in such a tangible way.  I was impressed with what I heard–and I am optimistic that this will serve as an important step for jump-starting this critically needed transformation!

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New Guide to Lean Transformation for Sustainable Success–Now Available!



Monday’s blog post hit on a key challenge to going lean–that applying its most recognized tools for solving individual problems or addressing discrete parts of the business is not enough.  Taking action without first developing a master plan is hardly lean; in the words of management guru W. Edwards Deming, it amounts to little more than “tampering.”

What, instead, should be done?  My book, Going Lean: How the Best Companies Apply Lean Manufacturing Principles to Shatter Uncertainty, Drive Innovation, and Maximize Profits demonstrates that going lean is really about tranforming the business to attain radically different results–even within the most challenging conditions (a concept and set of principles known as lean dynamics).  It describes the importance of adopting a structured methodology for assessing the challenge and then taking action in a way that progressively advances toward attaining sustainable exellence.  But it has become clear that more detail on implementation is needed.

The Going Lean Fieldbook: A Practical Guide to Lean Transformation and Sustainable Success is intended to help, and is now available at bookstores.  Intended either as a companion guide to Going Lean, or as a stand-alone resource, it provides practical advice for applying lean dynamics principles throughout your organization.  Click here to learn more and for links to Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble where it is now in stock.

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