The philosophy and tools of lean manufacturing

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This is the second of a three-part series where I am going to ask you a basic question and then explore that topic. These questions are extremely relevant as we emerge from a disruptive time and enter a period of fundamental change in the way companies conduct business and consumers consume. Read Part I and Part III.

This month's question: Are you balancing your focus on lean tools with your focus on lean philosophy? Both are important, and the weight of the balance might shift at different points along your journey.

Whether you are at the beginning or are a well-developed and mature lean organization, the question is important. Think of the philosophy as the "what" and the tools as the "how" components of your overall lean system of operating. Both are necessary.

Understanding and effectively leveraging the lean philosophy provides high-level guidance from the top floor to the shop floor. By defining and clarifying the philosophy for your company, you can help people begin to see the direction and destination. If that philosophy is undefined (undocumented) or misunderstood, you run the very real risk that people and functions will operate at cross-purposes. If people assume everyone understands the philosophy the same way as they do, they might simply talk past each other and wonder why things seem chaotic. A consistently understood and appropriately deployed lean philosophy will go a long way toward answering the "what" question.

Knowing how to use the tools of lean is essential to getting anything done. Although lean ideas apply throughout any organization or industry, the specific way they’re implemented may differ from one instance to another. It might be a matter of tweaking the terminology or focus.

Even within your own company there can be differences. For example, the welder and production supervisor will likely have a different focus in how to apply streamlined flow than the order-entry or accounts-payable staff. One deals directly with the physical product (tangible) and the other deals with information (intangible). But in both cases, people use lean knowledge and tools to drive out nonvalue-added work. This gets you down into the details and helps you address the "how" question.

A firm grasp of both the tools and philosophy are critical to getting the most out of your resources and satisfying your customers. If either the tools or the philosophy is missing, or you have a great imbalance between the two, then you are likely to have a miserable lean experience. At this point, the lean journey backslides or disappears—and you know how hard it is to restart the effort.

What are the symptoms when the tools and philosophy are out of balance? Three examples will help to illustrate what you might see or experience.

Let's start with the case where your organization becomes tool-centric. People have an appetite for getting the place cleaned up, so you deploy 5S on the shop floor. Maybe you implement some team structure and a bit of training. A few self-starters may try to introduce a few more lean tools and methods.

All this creates a very bottom-up approach with little higher-level direction or support. There is no governance structure for the effort: no steering team, no lean strategy, no explanation about why you are doing this. You may start off like a bottle rocket with lots of energy and commotion, but with only some tools and no philosophy, the effort fizzles.

Let's build on the previous example. Suppose you use the whole portfolio of lean tools. People are trained and you see demonstrable results in velocity, quality, customer satisfaction, and financial performance. This is all good, but if you fail to provide the greater context, develop leadership understanding, and clearly articulate why this is important and that you’re in this for the long-haul, there will come a time when another shiny object comes along and your lean journey falters. Again, all tools and no philosophy.

Finally, consider the case where leadership conveys lots of platitudes—perhaps giving a grand oration about how your company is a lean organization practicing lean and feeling good about it. But unless you see people being given the tools, training, and time to learn and actually deploy improvements, along with measures to track their impact, the platitudes will fall short. Front-line employees will see through this and just go about their business. You are talking a good game but failing to create a sustainable improvement system. Philosophy and no tools!

These examples may appear harsh but upon honest reflection may have validity. What is the balance in your organization?

So, what is a good balance between tools and philosophy? Usually it's somewhere between 40% tools/60% philosophy and 60% tools/40% philosophy. The balance moves around depending on the situation and what forces are active in and on your organization.

What does an organization with a good balance look like? First, leaders clearly understand and articulate the lean philosophy. Supporting their decisions and investments are key ideas like respect for people, focus on rhythm and flow, understanding customer needs, and using performance measures.

Leaders communicate what the lean journey means to all stakeholders, including the workforce, customers, owners, and the community. They tailor the lean philosophy to the audience. Their messages for front-line personnel, the customers, and the community all differ, but they all draw from a single philosophical foundation.

Leaders develop operating principles that clearly identify what is important for successful operations. These principles spell out items that answer the "what is important" question. Time is spent to help the entire workforce understand. Operating principles are very visible and routinely communicated and reinforced. The workforce is empowered to speak up when the principles are not being followed and provide input to make the operations better. This kind of "catch-ball" interaction helps create alignment from the top floor to shop floor.

Regarding tools, the company has invested in developing deep knowledge in all the different lean methods and techniques, as well as (for more advanced organizations) the Six Sigma body of knowledge. Six Sigma brings a more quantitative, scientific approach to studying and eliminating variation. Knowledge is spread and shared everywhere, not concentrated in just a few people.

The organization deploys tools in targeted ways that link to higher-level strategies. This might be a kaizen event, a shop floor reorganization, even everyday kaizen, which empowers people to look for ways to improve their work processes on their own. The people using the tools to make improvements understand the connection to the bigger picture—that is, the philosophy.

The reason to pursue your lean journey and invest in continuous improvement is to make your business more successful. In doing so, you enhance the lives of all your employees and their families—an awesome responsibility.

Lean journeys test leaders. It might be easier at times to postpone a project, avoid training, or skip that all-hands meeting where the philosophy is reinforced. Not to worry; we’ll do it later. But later never comes, and people see right through the façade.

Finding the balance between tools and philosophy takes hard work and determination. A successful lean journey does not happen by accident. It happens from intentional effort throughout the organization. Lead with intent.

If you lose the right balance between tools and philosophy, you should expect mediocre results and a disappointing return on your investment. Strike the balance, and the sky's the limit!