I can remember many times when I got “stuck” with my kaizen.
One particular situation stays with me even though it was over 15 years ago.
I was working with a company to help them make ergonomic improvements for each process in a product line. It was our intention to do this first and then connect all the processes into a U-shape cell – on to takt time, etc. But first, the ergonomic kaizen. I worked with the team members on their ideas and mine. They had an endless list of great ideas – creative, unique and on-target to the aim of our goals. The implementation phase was quick and happy.
The rest of the list made me nervous – as our tasks would not be related to ergonomic improvements or continuous flow. We needed to maximize the efficiency of part flow to some processes while creating an isolated island for the team members. Since the team members in this line rotated to each process, the tension among the team grew rapidly. As we tried to assess which process layout style was best for the team members and continuous flow, well, let me just say, it wasn’t just the welder giving off sparks.
Finally, a dim light bulb flickered in my head reminding me that we would get nowhere fast by just talking and simulating with sticky notes. However, if we were to try out the ideas (with an open mind of course), and see them as a team, we could evaluate facts and ideas very quickly. I rallied the group for a pep talk about kaizen spirit and a slogan came to my mind – “Don’t think it out. Try it out!” As a result the team was energized to try anything to get unstuck.
Perhaps you can imagine what happened next. As soon as we united to actually DO and TRY experiments, we were able to implement very good kaizens quickly. The teamwork they had from the ergonomic kaizen was back and even stronger. During my next visit to the plant, I arrived to grinning faces as the team showed me their first TRY at a continuous flow cell.
Have you had any experiences being stuck and how you broke the deadlock that the rest of us could learn from? Please share.
- Lesa
About 10 years ago while doing a “try it out” on a fuel pump module assembly line my team was stumped on getting the best layout. The plant manager asked why? So we told him we could not fit all the equipment in the space we had. His response, I did not tell you to fit it in the space, I told you to set it up for the best flow. Within one hour we were done and that same layout was applied to 4 other assembly cells in our plant that year. Do not assume.
Lesa – I love what you say here and how you say it. Most of my management are engineers and they love to design. How nice to let go of “perfect” and try it out? Thank you for the reminder! – Rob
I love the phrase, so thanks for that! Don’t think it out – try it out. And amazing how the word try frees the mind from perfectionistic immobilization. So many people treat the word try like it’s a dirty word. Now, will you be changing your blog name to TPS: The Trying People’s System? It does have a certain ring to it.
Lesa
Long before I ever heard the word Lean and Toyota was still just a poor Japanese car no one bought, I had already learned the lesson. When you sit down with a group everyone fixes on their ideas as best, and the longer you spending talking about it the stronger the positions get. Yet when you go out and start putting the ideas to the test many fall by the wayside, as people start to see what is happening, in the end you usually come up with something that combines the best from several of the ideas, and often includes things never even suggested during the discussion.
Lean is supposed to be about making the workplace and work better, and the best place to do that is in the Gemba.