NC State of Business

During this time of year, our thoughts on collegiate sports turn to deciding national championships in the spring sports. For me specifically, I make sure the recorder gets each baseball and fast-pitch softball game so that I do not miss a moment of the action. Watching these great athletes pursue their dreams stimulates so much thought within me. Their drive to succeed, the focus on giving their all, the overall effort being put forth, and the team work that appears to be so naturally ingrained within each competitor. It is easy to see that some teams are more talented; while others may make better decisions during the course of action.

All teams have a given set of constraints or rules that they must follow and each team looks to best position their assets and strategies to ensure success. Looking deeper, something stands out in all of those teams. That something is unity. Each player has their position on defense, their own spot in the batting order, and some that have supporting roles. The coaches and assistants also have their own roles and specialties in support of the team. Others on the team include: the grounds-keepers, university officials, tutors, bus drivers, and a host of other supporting casts all needing to be on the same page so the team can succeed. With all this going on, it would be easy to lose focus, to worry more about individual statistics, hang too much thought on a loss, or to just simply stray and become disjointed. How can these teams avoid these distractions and maintain the course?

Television news gives us daily examples of companies and organizations that get off the path. Their operations seem to become fragmented. I have heard many times, “Our department/area makes money; but, the rest of plant is losing it”. How about this one, “I do my part, the rest of the people are not doing theirs”. Better still is the frustration revealed when one responds, “We had a good plan; but, we got off course and never realized it until it was too late”. Often times they add in comments like “our goals did not make it to the levels to get everyone on the same page” or “our metrics did not correlate to our financials”. I think most of us have experienced these types of situations. So how do we create unity and sustain associate unity within our companies?

Just like the centerfielder has the shortstops back, how do we get the line worker to have the salesperson’s back or the purchasing agent to get a hit after the supply clerk just grounded out? I would suggest that unity comes from being on the same page and being aware of not only the individual role; but, also how everything fits together. In the world of lean, policy deployment not only creates this type of unity; but, ensures that strategies are aligned, correct metrics are in place, and communication is clear. Let’s take some time to ponder and we will get into this more in Part 2.

Recently, I found myself thinking about my favorite restaurant. It is a family-run Italian place in one of the cities in which I used to live. What sets this eatery apart from other restaurants? Well, the food is fantastic, with homemade pastas, sauces, and soups. But another thing that comes to mind is that I don’t think I ever enjoyed a meal there without seeing the owner walking around the dining room. His standard practice is to greet each guest and see if they are enjoying their culinary experience.

In Lean thinking, gemba is defined as the place where work gets done or things happen. With that in mind, it would make sense to think of a dining area as gemba for a restauranteur. Without even realizing it, this restaurant owner does a gemba walk every day. By stopping and chatting with each group of diners, he is accomplishing the following:

Confirming Standard Work. He can quickly see with his own eyes whether his dining area is clean, how many people are waiting, whether guests have been served the appropriate food, and how his employees are interacting with customers and each other.

Understanding the Voice of the Customer. The owner has direct contact with his customer base. He has immediate feedback as to how satisfied they are with his product and service. He also can solicit ideas for new products and restaurant improvements. In this case, this is evidenced by the number of entrees listed on the menu that were inspired by friends and customers.

Encountering Problems and Issues Firsthand. Rather than receiving a daily or weekly report on the number of guests or amount of sales revenue, the owner has real-time access to what is happening in his business. Problems or concerns in the kitchen or dining room can be encountered and dealt with as they occur. He also has the opportunity to use these situations as teaching moments with his staff.

Now I am really hungry. I don’t think they deliver to Charlotte, though.

As you can see, you don’t have to work in a factory to visit your gemba. Do you go to gemba as often as my favorite restaurant owner?

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.” Charles Darwin

How is your organization adapting to the changes we face in today’s economy? I recently finished reading How Toyota Became #1: Leadership Lessons from the World’s Greatest Car Company (David Magee, 2007). Given today’s condition of the automotive industry, it may seem odd to look towards it for leadership lessons. However, this book does provide interesting insights into how leadership has influenced the success of Toyota.

I was particularly fascinated by the chapter entitled Cultivate Evolution. The bottom-line from the Toyota experience is that growing requires a willingness to evolve. This seems pretty obvious. We seek to continuously improve our organizations. Consequently, we desire that everyone in the organization is flexible and accepts change.

Taiichi Ohno, the father of the Toyota Production System, is quoted in the book as saying ‘something is wrong if workers do not look around each day, find things that are tedious or boring, and then rewrite the procedures’. How is your organization? Is there anything wrong? Are people accepting the current way of doing things or proactively seeking improvements?

Getting everyone to look around each day for new ways of doing business suggests an engrained culture of adaptation and regeneration. Therefore, leaders must be willing to:
• Model the behavior. Do you personally find new ways to do things?
• Encourage a willingness to take responsibility and ownership of making things better
• Empower, let go, or other similar words that mean providing employees the authority to make changes. This includes changing structures or organizational duties that may impede decision-making.

How does your leadership style affect your ability to cultivate evolution? As Darwin pointed out, it is not the strong or intelligent that survive, but those most adaptable. That is a lesson from Toyota’s evolution…. and given today’s economy, evolution is essential for an organization’s survival.

Magee, D. (2007). How Toyota Became #1: Leadership Lessons from the World’s Greatest Car Company. New York: Penguin.

I was at a store the other day purchasing some items. After receiving the total from the cashier I presented a gift card and a credit card, my intentions to use the full amount on the gift card and then cover remaining charges with my credit card. After an attempt or so to complete the sale it became apparent that the salesperson was having difficulty navigating the steps required to perform this type of transaction on the sales computer. She was very apologetic as she struggled to complete the transaction and admitted that she was new to the job. Eventually she called the manager to help her. Upon arriving the manager let the sales clerk know that she was displeased that this was the second time that she had been required to come and provide help. After this short exchange the manager began executing the required steps necessary to complete the transaction all the while moving very quickly and interjecting phrases like, “you do this,” “I’ll show you that in a minute,” “we’ll come back to this,” etc. Quickly enough the transaction was completed and the sales clerk was still confused as to what to do should this situation arise again.

We’ve all seen situations like this occur and it provides a good example of an opportunity for management to implement a lean tool to provide a better experience for all involved. Looking at this particular instance we see that the sales clerk wants to do a good job but is frustrated with the complexity of the sales system and embarrassed that she is having this problem. The manager is frustrated that she has to be interrupted to demonstrate this process to the sales clerk a second time. Finally, the customer is left waiting. It is obvious that there is no winner: everyone loses.

Let’s look what might have occurred if standard work methods had been implemented for this task:
1. The management recognizes the benefits of standard work and creates an initiative to create the standard work methods.
2. A trained and experienced sales clerk or team of clerks creates a step by step, concise, accurate and complete work method demonstrating how to accomplish this task.
3. The new sales clerk is trained on the standard work method. Due to the fact that the standard work method is clear, concise, complete and accurate the new sales clerk is much more likely to learn quickly, thus requiring less of her own time as well as less of a trainer’s time.
4. During the actual sale the likelihood that the sales clerk can perform the transaction without help is much higher and even if there is a problem the she can refer to the method and resolved her problem herself.

We know that in this example all three parties, the sales clerk, the manager and the customer had a less than ideal experience. Now, in the presence of standard work methods the sales clerk is more confident in herself because of her more clear and effective training and because she knows that even if she does have a problem she can resolve it herself. This confidence is likely to show through in her demeanor and have a positive effect on her interactions with customers. The manager won’t have to be involved in the transaction at all meaning that she can devote her time to other opportunities. Finally, the customer won’t have to wait as long. Unlike the actual example where everyone lost, in this one everyone wins.

Bruce Springsteen, an American icon, has a few ideas on how manufacturing can survive today and thrive in the future.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street band performed in Greensboro last Saturday night. My family and I personally contributed to the economic development in Greensboro by staying overnight in the area and paying $10 to park at the Coliseum. Multiply that by some thousands and Bruce helped the local economy.

I left the concert thinking that Bruce even has some pretty good ideas on how to improve manufacturing. The singer and audience interaction was awe inspiring. One built on the other and the success depended on each other - both were aware of the multiplicative power of the interaction. Ten thousand people on their feet acting in unison all knowing and singing the words. Wow - that's what makes any organization successful.

What can manufacturing leaders learn from Bruce to make their organizations successful?

First the leaders could take a lesson on the fact it isn’t all about the leader, it’s about the audience and employees. Bruce’s success is based on his ability and desire to get the audience involved - walking into the audience with the microphone, taking requests, focusing on the local Greensboro area, physically taking posters from fans for song requests, taking himself out of the spotlight to talk to children, etc.

Second, the use of standards to galvanize consistent group response and action. Bruce used old favorites that the crowd knew to enlist the audience. Standard work is a manufacturing tool and little understood and underused.

Third, the concert was successful because of the leader and follower team effort. Bruce on stage without the audience or the audience without Bruce would not have been very productive. The same can be said of manufacturing. It is the combined and building action of the employees that give manufacturing its potential.

A charismatic or egotistical leader can get things started but doesn’t guarantee success. Growth and success requires tapping into the employee potential to make the organization resonate with improvement ideas.

I enjoyed the concert and surprised myself by listening to a little more Bruce Springsteen and the E Street band.