Is Lean changing you, or are you changing Lean?
Philip Holt
Business Transformation Leader and COO | MBA | Leadership | Business Transformation | Operational Excellence | C-suite Level Engagement | Lean Thinking | Organisational & Value Stream Design
Sir Alec Issigonis, designer of the original Mini in 1959, famously said:
“A camel is a horse designed by committee.”
The phrase has become a common idiom and stresses the need for technical quality over political feasibility, ensuring that the results are prioritised over keeping stakeholders happy in the short-term.
The last edition of the newsletter addressed the subject of the use of Japanese terms when rolling out a Lean Transformation and this week, whilst attending the Journey to Excellence conference in Manchester, I encountered a number of people who described quite proudly how they had adapted their Lean Operating Models, or OpEx Systems, to remove the use of "Japanese" and how they had developed language that fitted their organisation. In fact, Jon Tudor , the founder and organiser of the JTE conference and someone for whom I have a great deal of respect, and I have an ongoing friendly debate about this, as he is of the opinion that his clients are 'turned off' by the use of Japanese terms, whereas I believe that we need to help them to understand why the new language register will support a successful Lean deployment.
I find it incredible that the very people who are tasked with transforming an organisation, making change happen, will spend an inordinate amount of time to try to fit in with the organisation as it is. The reason for this is, perhaps, that the organisation has appointed 'Same Agents' into the role, something that I wrote about in my article: Don't Hire someone who fits your Organisation.
This results in the sort of Lean Operating Models that I observe within many organisations, ones that look more like metaphorical Camels than Horses, designed by committees that have engendered the current paradigms of the organisation into the system, building a bias into it that will never allow for the change that they profess to desire.
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Contrast this with people such as Dr Gary Kaplan, who instituted the Virgina Mason Production System (VMPS). Virginia Mason are a Hospital group, not an automotive manufacturer, and yet, after benchmarking Toyota, Dr Kaplan had enough of an understanding of what made the Toyota Production System (TPS) so effective that he forwent the temptation to re-design the Virginia Mason Operating Model and, instead, simply called it VMPS and emulated much of the learning from Toyota.
What the vast majority of organisations are failing to understand is the essence of what made TPS so effective for Toyota and why it was studied by MIT and generically termed Lean. They are instead focussing on making their Lean Programme 'fit' their organisation so as not to 'scare off' their people, missing the point that change is and needs to be scary as part of the process. Whilst I'm not advocating that an organisation must make its people fluent in Japanese, what I would argue is that, just as with learning any new skill, a new language register will help to dispel current ways of thinking and support the change in thinking required. Understanding the zeitgeist of TPS, of which language is an essential part, is critical to being able to apply it within an organisation and to make the change that is desired.
This subsequently poses the question to any organisation:
Is Lean changing you, or are you changing Lean?
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Takt Times Group
3 个月I am not sure what the body of the article has to do with horses and camels, but I wouldn’t knock camels, which bedouins have found well suited for traveling in hot deserts. And neither horses nor camels were designed. Both evolved as answers to the problem of survival in different environments. As for Japanese terms, I am in favor of using them when they have no local equivalent, but the challenge is to understand them correctly. I have seen “Hoshin” used to describe improvement events, and the reorder-point system called “Kanban.”
Operations Excellence Leader @ Zimmer Biomet | Lean Six Sigma, Engineering
4 个月I hold a contrasting perspective. Lean manufacturing has been established for quite some time, and many individuals have participated in lean initiatives, leading to the integration of its terminology into our common language—often without a true understanding of its implications. Consider how many organizations implement 5S but only perform cleaning at the end of shifts, or utilize Kanban systems that resemble loosely organized storage rather than effective inventory management. Many have Value Stream Maps that remain inaccessible in a cabinet. The core principles remain unchanged; they should be adapted to serve the specific needs of your business in 2024. I ceased referring to Gemba walks after rebranding them as Tier 1, 2, or 3 meetings. Does anyone still refer to a machine warning light as an Andon? It seems unlikely that many are effectively utilizing Hoshin Kanri for strategic deployment. There appears to be a tendency to adopt Japanese terminology for the sake of sophistication, rather than genuine application.
Lancaster University/Manufacturers Alliance
5 个月I would love to hear David Bovis, M. npn view on this? What is the brains reaction to new words? Is it better to use familiar terms and ‘connect’ with people, or does the “challenge” that breaks people out of their routine prove more effective in achieving change?
| Digital | Transformation | Manufacturing | Supply Chain | Switzerland
5 个月I read this and immediately thought about (German) words that have no direct translation to English; eg my favourite being ?verschlimmbessern“. I think also true with some of the Japanese terminology in lean. Language matters; and for example the word Kaizen expresses in a single word that which would take several in English. Elegant.
Director, True North Excellence & Visiting Fellow, Business School at The Manchester Metropolitan University
5 个月Very much depends on the opex maturity of the company as to what point Japanese words becomes the norm. Every corporate company has a legacy of using Japanese words and many have a model of operating, that includes such terminology. Engaging a business with very little exposure, such as a small privately owned manufacturer, then the approach needs to align to the language of the leader. Get on the shop floor, share good practice when it happens, negates the phenomenon of ‘not made here’ which can restrict adoption of lean, saying Genchi genbutsu or Yokotan is just hard for some to say or understand. So you are correct that a lean system will inevitably have Japanese, because the organisation will have a degree of lean maturity, but it does not follow that starting with Japanese words with a low lean maturity company is necessary, in fact it can be a detractor to adoption. But brilliant post for discussion