Kaizen (改善), Japanese for "improvement", or "change for the better" refers to philosophy or practices that focus upon continuous improvement of processes in manufacturing, engineering, game development, and business management.
“Excellence is not a singular act, but a habit. You are what you repeatedly do.” Shaquille O’Neal
A place for everything and everything in its place
I’ve never met a Small Business owner who didn’t think that their businesses were lean but many misunderstand that lacking resources is not the same as being efficient. Most are just understaffed and are anything but efficient. I had one owner explain that she didn’t think or could see how Lean applied to small business and yet was thrilled at how a procedure she had recently implemented had made things so much easier. She had implemented a “Lean” methodology without realizing it. Most people hate structure because they feel it can stifle creativity but there really isn’t anyone who can’t benefit from Lean methodology including highly creative individuals. If an Artist, Writer, Engineer or any other creative person knew where everything was and had it within easy reach; would it not facilitate their creative process? The example I like and think just about everybody can relate to is car keys. Have you ever been unable to find your car keys? For most people, the answer is yes and tends to happen when you’re about to leave for work, etc. For most people, the solution is that they put their car keys in the same place day in, day out: a place for everything and everything in its place. To me this is the essence of lean. The simple act of putting something in a designated place can save a significant amount of time that might otherwise be spent searching. Searching is wasted motion. There’s no value in it and “Lean” is about minimizing waste or anything that does not provide value to the customer. People have varying interpretations of what adds value but for the most part it’s just a matter of perspective. An Engineering Director decided to cut cleaning staff to save costs which meant that the emptying of the Engineer’s desk garbage containers by the cleaning staff was eliminated. His rationale was that it was better than eliminating even one of the many Engineers. Quite a few of the Engineers saw garbage disposal as beneath their station in life and were un-cooperative. Their argument was that it was just one more interruption to make them less productive. Multi-tasking is the bane of any creative individual so it’s better if disruptions are minimized/controlled but everyone also needs breaks to eat, recoup, etc. And emptying a garbage container out occasionally on a trip to the bathroom (assuming convenient locations of appropriate receptacles) is likely only a matter of a few additional seconds. In the big scheme of things, the productivity of the collective Engineers was likely reduced much less than it would have been if an Engineer had been laid off. It’s just that the Engineers were thinking about their personal productivity and egos while the Engineering Director was thinking about overall Engineering production. Of course, nice rational arguments like that rarely enter into people’s psyche when they perceive an unpleasant change and it’s no surprise that the Director had a hard time selling it. I think he finally came up with some unempathetic angry response like, “Suck it up!” And for the most part everyone acquiesced. They knew better than to mess with him. He was tough. The point being that it’s not always easy to see the forest for the trees or to truly understand what’s of value to the customer but there’s no doubt organizations like Tim Horton’s or McDonald’s get it. You know you don’t have to wait; that they’ve got all sorts of systems and processes to minimize anything that doesn’t offer value to the customer. I noticed a McDonald’s had an automated French fry basket indexer under a hopper that automatically filled them. Having a person just open a bag of fries and unceremoniously dump it in a hopper is definitely more efficient than having to repeatedly fill multiple deep fryer baskets from a single bag. There would be undesired variation and likely waste in terms of serving sizes, etc... McDonald’s definitely gets Lean and they also have the resources to do it really well.
As said, Small Business always has limited resources but they can still benefit from implementing Lean concepts. I know too many businesses that complain of lost equipment especially when it’s regularly transported. What if you they had the equivalent of transportable shadow boards so it was obvious when something wasn’t packed? What about utilizing a placement mat (footprint) for laying out equipment on location? Wouldn’t the time it took to set it up be worth it to save on replacement costs? Probably.
I know most people feel they don’t have time to implement Lean principles but if they expend resources (time and money) searching, looking, or replacing any items then that’s an indicator that there’s an ROI in it for them. It’ll reduce stress, and save much needed time and money. To me it’s a no- brainer. And if a Business wishes to achieve World Class then they’ll be adopting Lean because these days you can’t be World Class without it.
And if you don’t know where to start, there are many books and consultants more than happy to help.
Some Lean terms:
Muda – 7 forms of waste: Transportation, Inventory, Motion (e.g., any walking is always considered non-value added), Waiting, Over-processing, Over-production, Defects
Value Stream Mapping - is a lean manufacturing technique used to analyze and design the flow of materials and information required to bring a product or service to a consumer. At Toyota, where the technique originated, it is known as "material and information flow mapping". It can be applied to nearly any value chain. (Source: Wikipedia) This can be used on any process!
Work Place Organization – 5 S: Sorting (Seiri), Stabilizing or Straightening Out (Seiton), Sweeping or Shining (Seiso), Standardizing (Seiketsu), Sustaining the Practice (Shitsuke)
Visual controls - is a technique employed in many places where information is communicated by using visual signals instead of texts or other written instructions. The design is deliberate in allowing quick recognition of the information being communicated, in order to increase efficiency and clarity. These signals can take many forms; from different coloured clothing for different teams, to focusing measures upon the size of the problem and not the size of the activity, to kanban and heijunka boxes and many other diverse examples. In the Toyota Way, it is also known as mieruka. (Source: Wikipedia) Examples include shadow boards, footprints for equipment, or inventory, etc.
Error Proofing - Poka-yoke (ポカヨケ?) [poka joke] is a Japanese term that means "fail-safing" or "mistake-proofing". A poka-yoke is any mechanism in a Lean manufacturing process that helps an equipment operator avoid (yokeru) mistakes (poka). Its purpose is to eliminate product defects by preventing, correcting, or drawing attention to human errors as they occur. The concept was formalized, and the term adopted, by Shigeo Shingo as part of the Toyota Production System. (Source: Wikipedia)
Books:
The Machine That Changed the World: The Story of Lean Production by James P. Womack, Daniel T. Jones, Daniel Roos
Fundamental Principles of Lean Manufacturing by Shigeo Shingo
5S for Operators: 5 Pillars of the Visual Workplace (For Your Organization!) by Hiroyuki Hirano
Kaizen: The Key to Japan's Competitive Success by Masaaki Imai
