For over 25 years, the GBMP’s mission has been to help organizations large and small develop their most valuable resource: their employees.  Our abiding belief, connoted in our slogan, EVERYBODY EVERYDAY, is that given the right training and inspiration, every employee – from the front lines to the corner office can be a Lean thinker and problem solver.  My personal learning first as an operating manager has been, that continuous improvement requires an army of problem-solvers, a culture that embraces tough challenges collaboratively and confidently. 

Presently, we are all faced with a challenge that absolutely requires that confidence and collaboration.  While we may not be able to march forward arm in arm at this point, thanks to the facility available from the Internet we still can learn together – face-to-face – in the Gemba, if only remotely.  And there is no better time or burning platform than at this moment to engage and inspire all of our employees to become an army of innovators and problem solvers in face of COVID19. 

Whether your workforce is presently at home or in the workplace, local or dispersed, GBMP consultants can help with interactive Lean and Six Sigma training, consulting and coaching targeted exactly to your needs and timeframe.  While we may not be able join you at this time at your site, we are all still as close as your nearest computer or smart device. 

We’re all facing a tough and unprecedented situation right now.  But the best of human spirit dictates that we nevertheless find ways to do our jobs and improve our jobs.  Whether are an existing GBMP partner or are just beginning with continuous improvement, I encourage to take a few moments to peruse the interactive opportunities available to you from GBMP.  Let us help you turn downtime into learning time.
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– O.L.D. 

​Written by Bruce Hamilton 
President, GBMP

In the 1980's an astoundingly competitive system for production emerged from an unlikely source. Toyota, a Japanese car manufacturer with a previously poor reputation and customer value, began producing exceptionally reliable cars at very competitive prices. Borrowing a management philosophy from American quality guru, W. Edwards Deming, and production techniques from Henry Ford and others, Toyota evolved its own unique system for driving waste out of every process in order to produce products with high customer value.  They dubbed it the Toyota Production System (TPS). Over the last several decades, Toyota's incredible success in the marketplace has been all the more striking in contrast to its major competitors whose fortunes have plummeted. In the 1950's, a Ford production employee could produce 8 cars for every one made by Toyota. Today the tables have turned. A small Japanese company facing extinction fifty years ago is now officially the world's largest auto manufacturer. In the 1990's a new term "Lean Manufacturing" was dubbed to replace the negative connotations of TPS (namely that it was a Japanese method and that it was only good for production). In a nutshell, Lean is a philosophical and methodological approach that strives to provide ever-increasing value to the customer through total employee involvement in the reduction of non-value-added activities and their associated costs.

We believe that US manufacturers and service providers can successfully apply the Toyota system and receive its full competitive and financial benefits, if they take time to understand more than just its technical aspects (the "know how" without the "know why"). Copying Toyota's methods without careful consideration to their whole system will produce short-lived, or worse negative, outcomes. We also believe that the hidden power of TPS is based not on tools and techniques but on unlocking human intellect and creativity at every point in the process and on establishing collaborative relationships between management and workers, between departments, and between customers and suppliers.

If you think of the different aspects of TPS/Lean Manufacturing as the three legs on a tripod, consider what would happen if you took away any one of them. The tripod collapses.

If you are interested in a brief history of time savings (from the early innovators Eli Whitney and Frederick Winslow Taylor to Henry Ford, the Gilbreths and W. Edwards Deming) along with the ultimate learning approach for a whole system, learn-and-do, deployment and implementation, we suggest the e2 Continuous Improvement System - Managing & Sustaining your Lean Transformation through the "Everybody, Everyday" Approach to Lean workbook.  

Philosophy before strategy
"If you practice a bad golf swing long enough, you'll get very good at swinging the club poorly." - Ryuji Fukuda

The foundations of Lean Manufacturing provide a  shared understanding for management & employees of the philosophical basis that separates successful Lean Manufacturing implementations from failures. If you do not understand the "know why" (philosophy), none of the rest will make any sense. Practicing the philosophy of Lean manufacturing, developing tacit learning, engaging all employees in Kaizen and understanding what is meant by improvement.

1. Customer First Thinking
2. Employees = Most Important Resource
3. Direct Observation
4. Kaizen is for everybody, everyday

What is Lean management?
​True North is a term used by Toyota to indicate the right direction of improvement - based upon providing perfect products, just-in-time, according the customers exact demand. It should be visual, self-managing and continuously striving for higher quality, lower cost, shorter lead-times and greater selection for the customer.

To undergo a Lean Manufacturing transformation, ultimately every aspect of a business requires reconsideration. The current condition was not built overnight. Management must align policy to support Lean, must lead in a new way, must develop positive relationships with all stakeholders. Kaizen - the means to realign resources - represents small changes for the better in their daily work. For management, kaizen means to re-think strategy, organization and policy, and to implement incremental changes to the status-quo management system that is contradictory to True North.

How do we improve?
By applying the technical aspects of Continuous Improvement - proven tools, techniques and countermeasures - people  reduce or eliminate one or more of the 7 wastes* while going about their daily work.  But a tool is only a tool when used correctly, and used to assist in a situation where it makes sense (you wouldn't use a wrench to hang a picture). If we do not understand the purpose of the tools and the conditions under which a tool makes sense, we are sure to struggle in our journey.  When tools are understood to be a means to an end, a series of aids to assist us in establishing a system made up of processes that flow value according to customer need, then the chances of success are much greater.  Encouraging managers and employees to learn and, more importantly, practice with them regularly, the technical "leg" of our tripod can significantly accelerate improvement efforts as well as highlight additional improvement opportunities.​
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​Written by Lela Glikes
​Director of Programs, GBMP

Direct observation – seeing for yourself – isn’t just a keystone of The Toyota Production System. It’s the underpinning of all of science. Secondhand information cannot substitute for being there, intently watching and listening, trying to understand on the spot what’s actually happening.
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Before Galileo conducted his now-famous experiment to demonstrate the force of gravity, the prevailing world view of this experiment was that if a large and small ball were dropped together, the large ball would fall faster. This incorrect image of reality had been in place for over 1000 years before Galileo challenged it.  For promoting this revolutionary concept of direct observation, Galileo is often referred to today as the “father of science.” But in his own time, he was ostracized as a heretic because he challenged status quo thinking.

So, what’s that have to do with going to see the workplace today – and, in particular, management’s role when we “go see”? Several key points come to mind. First, to understand the physics of the situation, we need to observe for ourselves. Second, the observation should relate to a hypothesis. Galileo actually disproved the hypothesis that the heavy ball would fall faster, creating a new version of we call common sense. Today, every grade-schooler can tell you about that experiment. This represents the technical side of ‘go see’ that requires both critical thinking and an open mind.

But there is also an essential social side to direct observation, which is management’s most important contribution to improvement.  Galileo’s brilliance was squashed in his lifetime because, in effect, because he had no management support.  They didn’t go see, didn’t have an open mind, and above all were not scientists. As a result, it took another few hundred years for Galileo’s thinking to be accepted. Without management validation and support, brilliant ideas languish, and improvement stalls.

Those of you who have seen Toast Kaizen, a short video to demonstrate the power of Kaizen – small changes for the better – may also recollect that direct observation was needed to understand the toasting process before we could even talk about improvement.

As a starting point, remember. You have two roles when you go see. 

First, you’re a scientist, present with a critical but open mind. You go to the Gemba to learn. 

Second, you are there to help in whatever capacity you are able. And if you’re a top manager, you can help in ways to energize and accelerate your Lean transformation efforts that no one else in your organization can provide – removing roadblocks, providing resources and generally creating an environment that challenges employees but also gives them safety to experiment without reprisal. 

Here are a few specific tips for Gemba Walks:

For starters, tip one: if you haven’t been in the practice of visiting the workplace, be careful not to scare people. Particularly as you begin to visit the floor, get your first-line supervisors involved upfront so that they can explain to their employees that management is visiting the floor understand and help to remove the struggles that employees have with their jobs. There will still be concern on the floor when you first visit, but a least a little less than if you show up unannounced.  This also engages your first-line supervisors upfront, lessening their concerns as well. In fact, a little preparation on your part will you some background on problems and opportunities in a particular area that will make you more comfortable when you go see. Having time to reflect on these in advance of meeting with associates will make you a more informed listener.  We repeat - informed yes, but only for listening and observing. You need to listen and observe. Ask questions, yes, to understand, but don’t also answer them – even if you think you know the answer.

Please remember that in a traditional environment, employees wait to be told what they think. As a top manager in a Lean environment, your job is to change that paradigm. You’re not just going to the floor as a scientist; you are also the chief executive change agent. Once you change, it will be easier for your managers and supervisors to change also. 

Tip Two: Don’t intimidate your employees bring a large posse of managers to go see. This just complicates communication. Yes, you may also benefit from having other managers along with the top manager so that they can learn as well, but don’t make the group so large that participation is difficult.

Tip Three: There are just so many ways to insult and disrespect people – and the more elevated your position in the organization, the bigger the insult. Here’s a list of Don’t’s.  Bottom line? If you can’t handle the social part of going to see, then you’ll never get to the science part. Respect for people is one of the most basic principles of the Toyota Production System. If you can’t show respect, then expect nothing in return.

Don’t:

• Point, Lean, Drink
• Use your phone, eat, laugh in a way that could be perceived by anyone that you are laughing about others working
• Argue, interrupt the team members workflow, make verbal judgments about what is bad or different about the worksite you are in (this includes safety practices, quality procedures)
• Stand over people (like lurking or stalking), get in the way of the team members working path, stand with your back to the team members for an extended period of time
• Waste time with questions that are long and hard for the group to understand
• Violate any safety procedure the company has requested
•  Carry on multiple conversations within a group, make comments that can be overheard and taken out of context, come to the worksite without some way of saying hello or introducing yourself
• Take pictures or video, or use stopwatches in any way without being involved with members from their organization,
• Snoop through their documentation at the worksite

Managers often are oblivious to the impact that their individual behaviors have on team members.   All of these “don’ts” can render your visits to Gemba worse than ineffective if you don’t avoid them. 

So okay, that’s the Law. Now here’s Gospel: the good news.  If you offer appropriate, supportive behaviors, these will be understood by employees as well. And the more senior your role, the more impactful these behaviors will be to everyone involved. If you are the top manager, you take the lead and then others will follow. You won’t see an overnight turnaround – but very soon your sincerity and passion will catch on. 

It’s critical to connect with your team members in a way that will enable the science part of the Gemba walk to be productive. 

Do:

• Respectfully recognize each person with eye contact
• Ask interested, authentic questions of the people available at the worksite
• Seek to understand and find things to replicate at your organization
• Be aware that your posture and body positioning is telling a story to others (ex. shaking your head in a negative way when looking underneath a roller conveyor, yawning)
• Try to stay with a high level of alertness to things all around you (360 degrees is ideal)
• Wear the appropriate PPE at all times, be aware of other visitors to the worksite (auditors, customers, video crew, etc.),
• Thank people for their time, insight, advice or let them know how you will benefit from their gift of sharing time and experience
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In many ways, the social part of the Gemba walk is harder than the go see science, because it requires a change in management behavior.  At GBMP we like to say that Lean transformation is 90% people and 10% technical and the journey never ends of course. This is always room for improvement. Easier, better faster and cheaper, as Shigeo Shingo said, is the order for improvement. When you go to the Gemba, your role is to empower employees to achieve these ends and then to provide resources they can’t muster themselves – or remove roadblocks in your system that hold them back. Does your system “make these problems ugly?” Does the environment favor reporting problems?  Are there policies or organizational problems the inadvertently stymie improvement efforts? Take notes. These problems are your homework.
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You don’t go to Gemba to tell anyone how to do their job; you go to ask and understand what they need to do their job. You go to remove their struggles.  And you go to learn and deepen your understanding so that you can be a better manager.  Your Gemba walk may be only 30 minutes, but if you follow these guidelines it will enable your team members to create breakthrough improvement and keep your organization headed in a True North direction.

How do you know where you’re going if you don’t know where you are? These are busy times. We are all trying to do more with less and feeling overwhelmed. Amid all that, you are considering launching a Lean initiative, your new Lean implementation isn’t getting any buy-in or your existing Lean program is failing.

This is the perfect time to consider a thorough Lean Operational Assessment from an experienced Lean Practitioner. Making the time to assess your current Lean efforts and results is not optional; it is critically necessary to mapping out the future success of Lean in your organization.

Have you ever uttered the words “that’s how we have always done things”? Continuous improvement is all about changing the status quo. Einstein said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” But you need to know how and where to start. An operational assessment will tell you just that.

A Lean Operational Assessment can be an eye-opening experience, one that you should welcome. It’s about taking the time to evaluate how your organization is operating and how Lean is driving behavior and results. A Lean Operational Assessment by GBMP provides you with valuable insight into your strengths and opportunities and is an important step on your Lean journey - whether you’re just starting out or ready to take your Lean program to the next level.

It is a tool which can aid you in:

1. Assessing the current condition of Lean
2. Determining your current and potential future states
3. Differentiating between short- and long-term Lean goals
4. Creating a roadmap for improvement
5. Comparing actual performance with potential or desired performance
6. Determining what steps should be taken to achieve desired performance metrics
7. Identifying steps to take to realize everyone’s potential to contribute to your organization’s overall success
   
   

Sure, you can try to assess your own Lean improvement efforts, but the input from an experienced Continuous Improvement Manager and Coach from GBMP will provide perspectives you’ve never considered.  As they say, “You don’t know what you don’t know”. GBMP can help with a complementary* Lean Operational Assessment. Give us a few hours of your time and we’ll give you a fresh outlook for the new decade with a clear picture of where your Lean initiative stands, where it could go, and a map of how to get there. Get started by contacting GBMP today.
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* Fees apply outside of New England; Assessment is complementary in the US states of MA, ME, NH, RI, CT, RI & VT.

In the context of the Toyota Production System, True North has a very concrete and specific meaning, an ideal that transcends any particular business or occupation. True North is not for you to invent, but rather to understand in the context of your business. It will guide your business strategy, but it is not your strategy. And if you follow the True North principles, it will generate terrific business results. But to be clear True North is not a set of results either.  If you understand its meaning, then all of the other pieces of Toyota's system will make sense to you. And if you don't understand it, then the rest of their system won't make any sense to you at all. That's how important it is.

Consider this: At some point, each of us is either a customer or a supplier. We generally think of external customers as the customers, but every downstream process within your company is also a customer. External suppliers are also very important providers -- they're the outside factory that typically accounts for 80% of product cost and, like our employees, can have a really big impact on improvement if we only include them in our TPS efforts. (See Supplier Kaizen for how to do this.) Customers and suppliers are really two sides of the same coin. Like doctor-patient, clerk-customer, machining-assembly, distributor-end user -- we all rely on each other.

Customers and suppliers – internal and/or external - they are the Yin and the Yang of commerce. The customer wants perfect goods and services, and the supplier wants to provide that very same thing. To head in a True North direction, your business perspective must be win-win for the customer and the supplier. 

In any process we say that the customer is first, meaning suppliers need to understand value from the customers' standpoint. For example, as customers, we would ideally have perfect quality and instant delivery of products and services, with absolutely no waste. That's the ideal, and this is True North, independent of your industry or job function.

But in order to approach this ideal for the consumer, we need to do a much better job supporting and developing our providers. Management's commitments to developing this most valuable, creative resource are the other side of the coin.

So that's the big picture. Now, let's break it down into its parts looking at the Yin and Yang of each part.
We’ll start with perfect quality. As consumers, we expect this, and providers will naturally do their best work to deliver it if they in work an environment that supports them. It's just human nature. Who likes to produce defects? No one. When provider quality is not perfect, the customer’s process becomes unstable and unpredictable.
There are two roads that can be taken when defects occur in a process: The traditional response to defects -- a very costly one -- is inspection, sorting, rework or scrap. These words may vary between industries, but they never drive defects to zero. These responses also subject the providers to mindless tasks that don't fix problems but only sweep them under the rug.

On the other hand, in a True North environment, the providers, be they employees or external suppliers, will be challenged to perfect the process through problem-solving and kaizen rather than just inspecting out defects. In this scenario, the consumer is provided real value while the provider is developing his or her ability. Win-win. Providing meaningful work to employees and suppliers, and challenging them to solve problems, is management's first True North goal. This requires drawing a line in the sand for defects: No defect is ever passed to the next process. Quality at the source is essential.

When first considering the idea of never ever passing a defect to the next process, you may be thinking "OMG we'll never ship another product."  But if you refuse to sort and sift through bad material from suppliers, quality will improve. Are your team members spending more time on sorting and rework than production? If so, then you haven’t solved the problems. But if you identify and fix these problems on the spot, you’ll all be problem-solvers. You can start today!

Of course, managers worry about stopping production to fix problems, but they soon learn that this behavior not only increases productivity and quality but also develops the skills and passion of the providers. It's the manager's responsibility to create an environment in which employees not only know where to look for improvement but also feel safe and supported when they identify problems. That's True North too. If the providers feel that reporting problems will affect their personal well-being then the problems are compounded: First the problem is not reported, and second the problem festers with the provider.

What is the solution? Employees must be developed as problem-solvers. They need to be given a basic understanding of problem-solving methods to support their efforts. Employee development through learning and practice is True North too. And the same ideal holds when we're working with external suppliers too.

Here are a couple of more tenets of True North that will create an environment favorable to problem-solving and improvement. First, an explicit and credible promise from management that employees will not lose jobs as a result of participating in improvements is key. While no company can guarantee lifetime employment, we can provide assurances that downsizing is not a planned outcome of improvement. Articulating the opportunities of TPS is management's responsibility. Management must also commit to removing destructive physical and mental stress (also known as Muri) from work. Simply put, employees with fried brains will not make good problem-solvers. If we can't identify and remove stressors, then they become the silent killer of engagement and enthusiasm. If as True North indicates, our employees and suppliers are the most important resources for improvement, then we had best make Muri elimination a top priority too.
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Imagine a flock of geese in migration. For them, the direction is clear and shared. They have, as W. Edwards Deming put it, "constancy of purpose." Leadership will change from time to time along the migration, but the direction – True North - remains constant. Good luck & happy new year!