Lean, Respect, and Thank you

Above is my proudest moment as a Lean practitioner. We had just spent a week redesigning an assembly line. We made everything work, every time. We tested every station over and over. Tested the flow, tested the rate, made it "just so". When the run started, I made sure everything was as it should be, made sure everyone knew his task, and got help if needed. During 2 weeks of running, we tied or set record production, every day. The unit labor cost was down 50% over a year previously.

...but none of that compared to getting a "Thank You" card from the crew, most of whom were 'temps' and had no expectation that they would return for the next run. This was a crew we'd challenged to do better than had ever been done, who worked hard and assembled more with better quality than in the history of the product. Nor did any of the cost data compare to having one of those temps shake my hand near the end of the run and say "I've worked in a lot of different places, but this is the first time anyone treated me with real respect."

As Deming said "A bad system will beat a good person every time." But I think it's more than that. Maybe "A really good system can make a great person out of anyone." Maybe. In any case, I wouldn't trade this card for anything.