Practicing Behavior Patterns are More Important than Tools

Posted on February 5, 2012 by Vivek Naik

Rating: 0 (from 0 votes)

Rating: 8.0/10 (1 vote cast)

Many companies fail to reach the success similar to that of Toyota as they randomly apply tools and techniques of lean. The right way as proposed in “Toyota Kata” is practicing the behavior patterns in our daily routine. This thought is in alignment with the previous post about how the business should manage itself. Practicing behavior patterns forces us to focus on the means people use to run the business.

Why learning and practicing behavior pattern is more important than learning the tools?

It is all about cultivating right habits. When you expect to change culture by teaching and applying tools and techniques it is only superficial.It does not guarantee the change in the thinking model of the people involved. Thus a cultural shift is unlikely.

On the other hand when you learn and practice behavior patterns it cultivates habits. Thus changing people at a different level than just learning new tools. There is a shift in thinking and perception. This is a likely condition under which an organisation may undergo a cultural shift.

Now the big question is : What are these right behavior patterns that patterns that we need to learn and practice on daily basis to continuously improve, adapt and prosper?

Rating: 8.0/10 (1 vote cast)

Rating: 0 (from 0 votes)

Stand-Up Workstation : After 2 Weeks

Posted on April 28, 2011 by Vivek Naik

Rating: +2 (from 6 votes)

Rating: 9.0/10 (6 votes cast)

There has been some progress with stand-up workstation experiment. I have added few components that I manage on the wall next to the station. Above the worstation is the Mission and Key Performance Indicators for the Operations department. On the left side are three section for Product Request, Issues, and Projects. Each section has incoming items (lower level) which are waiting review and Active items (upper level). Right above each section is the Standard Operating procedure (under development). This helps in visually managing the activities I need to do(any paper waiting in the lower level is activity due).On the right side is the area allocated to track Metrics like Quality, Order Delivery, Cost, Productivity and Safety.

I am already feeling lot more productive at the end of the day than before. Standing up usually gets things done lot faster, maybe because you are more alert than in sitting position. At this point there are lot more things to be done, like how to visually manage leader standard work. Other things I want to add is visual tool to deploy/ manage strategies.

Rating: 9.0/10 (6 votes cast)

Rating: +2 (from 6 votes)

Gemba Walk: Mangement by Walking Around (MBWA)

Posted on August 7, 2010 by Vivek Naik

Rating: +2 (from 4 votes)

Rating: 7.3/10 (7 votes cast)

What is a Gemba Walk?

Gemba walk , in simple words is a form of “Management by Walking Around” (MBWA). This is a very powerful tool as it is based on the fundamental principles of lean known as the ” 3G’s of lean ” as listed below. Gemba walk provides a first-hand unpolluted information about your Processes, Products and People.

3 G’s of Lean

Gemba – “The actual place”. This a place of actual work where the value is created

Gembutsu – “The thing”. Products or things which we are interested to improve.

Genjitsu – “The facts”. The real facts that are happening at the place of interest

I like to call Gemba walk as Management by walking around because it allows you to do just that. A 15 minutes Gemba walk has proved to be more effective in resolving flow interrupters for delivery than having hour long status meetings far away in the comfort of the office with unreliable data. When you are out there on the Gemba looking at the actual process, products and people responsible for them, there is no doubt about anything , no one can fabricate false information, you can interact with the process owner to resolve problems more quickly. This also helps all the Line Managers to align their priorities to solve problems for more efficient flow of the products through the value stream.

Few things to keep in mind to make this a successful tool:

- Have a clear theme and agenda for the walk

- prepare a list of questions to ask

- Setup a display board for each workstation which help process owner to answer question you will be asking

- Have the top-most management do Gemba walk along with you at least during the initial phase, that way everyone know that we are serious about improvement

- Be disciplined never miss the gemba walk

- Make sure resources are made available to resolve issues discovered during the walk

- make sure the account abilities are clear and everyone responsible completes their task

Gemba walk will be a good management tool as long as you use it properly. It can be used to serve various purposes. I will share more about my experiences in later posts. Till then if you have any questions or you need to know anything in particular about its implementation and application…. just leave a comment below.

Rating: 7.3/10 (7 votes cast)

Rating: +2 (from 4 votes)

Lean Management – Driving force of Lean Transformation

Posted on November 15, 2009 by Vivek Naik

Rating: +2 (from 2 votes)

Rating: 8.5/10 (4 votes cast)

How many times have you successfully implemented change using lean tools only to realize, after few weeks or months, that the manager and other people have either reverted back to the old methods or have found ways to circumvent the newly established methods.

We learned the hard way that lean transformation cannot be supported and sustained with traditional management system

Most of the times traditional management is results driven and may not focus on the process. Thus there is no inherent motivation for the manager to improve the process. Also when lean tools are applied this type of management does not provide a sustainable system to integrate, improve and sustain changes with daily feedback to realign to solve problems as they arise.

The “Lean Management” provides the framework to drive the lean culture. As identified by David Mann in his book “Creating Lean Culture“, there are 4 elements that makeup the Lean Management:

1. Leader Standard Work

2. Daily Accountability

3. Visual Controls

4. Discipline

Leader Standard Work sustains the systems integrates the changes made during the transformation process. Visual Control and Daily Accountability helps keep the process and people aligned to solve problems as they arise. The Discipline of the leader ensures that standard work is followed and the whole system works coherently.