Lean has become the proven approach companies have used in industry after industry to transform into – and maintain position as – leading, dominant, world-class competitors. Yet, many companies that begin the Lean transformation process with energy and resolve fail to sustain and complete the transformation to a Lean organization. Download this white paper to learn more.
Maintain Your Focus: Sustaining
the Lean Transformation on the
Shop Floor
A LEAN MANUFACTURING WHITE PAPER
ïÜáíÉ=é~éÉêTABLE OF CONTENTS: PAGE
Introduction..........................................................................03Assumptions of the Initial State .............................................05Elements for Sustaining Lean.................................................06Summary..............................................................................11INTRODUCTIONFrom its origins in the Japanese automotive industry severaldecades ago, Lean has become the proven approach companieshave used in industry after industry to transform into - and Yet, many companiesmaintain position as - leading, dominant, world-class com-petitors. Not only do these companies define the high bar of that begin the Lean
industry performance, but month after month, year after year, process with energy
they constantly raise that performance bar. and resolve fail tosustain and completeAs the proven benefits of Lean have become apparent, and as the transformation tomarket pressures drive companies to improve customer a Lean organization.response to survive and prosper, Lean has become the chosenavenue to success for tens of thousands of companies.
Yet, many companies that begin the Lean transformation process with energy andresolve fail to sustain and complete the transformation to a Lean organization. Theybegin with a flourish: senior management makes announcements, there is a high-profile "kick-off," perhaps Lean gurus are brought in, employees are trained in Leanapproaches and the methodologies of improvement techniques, pilot areas are select-ed, and so on.
| 3In truth, initial results may be impressive. Perhaps manufacturing lead times andinventories are reduced significantly and on-time performance improves dramatically.Customers are happy. Management is happy. Employees have overcome initial reserva-tions and now feel invigorated and eager to continue. Lifeseems good, the future wide open.
Then, for no one apparent reason, it starts to fade. The In order for Lean to
relentless focus on eliminating waste from the system seems succeed . each
more like lip service. The self-sustaining fire has cooled and the company must haveon-going improvement effort falters and seems about to stop. the proper methodsThere are fitful attempts to continue or to restart the initiative, for directing, measur-but these actions have no sustainable effect. ing, forcing and rein-forcing Lean activi-For example, many companies begin their Lean initiatives with ties on a daily basisthe 5S program, yet only a very small percentage ever achievesthe fifth S, "Sustain". 5S becomes no more than a glorified at the most granular
housekeeping exercise and the value it can deliver to improved level of activities.
workflow and productivity remain unmined.
Further, less than 20% of companies that begin Lean grade themselves well as Leanenterprises years after they kicked off their Lean transformation.
Sadly, in the end, for many companies that begin down the road to Lean, the truth isthat the transformation to a Lean enterprise has stalled or, in the worst case, failedaltogether (though none in the company will likely admit it). The initial results areindisputable, the words may still be there, but despite everyone's best intentions, thereare no actions or results to back up those words. The path to failure is paved with goodintentions.
In order for Lean to succeed, to reach that point of self-sustaining criticality, eachcompany must have the proper methods directing, measuring, forcing and reinforcingLean activities on a daily basis at the most granular level of activities. This paper con-siders strategies and tactics that are effective in fostering the progression of a compa-ny from Lean novice to Lean enterprise at the shop floor level.
4 |ASSUMPTIONS OF THE INITIAL STATEThere are certain principles of Lean that guide the effort. The fundamentals will be thesame in every company, although the details of the implementation and the use andtiming of so-called Lean tools may vary widely depending on the company strategy andneeds.
There are five principles of Lean:
Specify value Value is always defined from the customer point-of-view.
Identify the value streamOnce value is specified, then the value stre... [download for more]
