A Quality Mindset
Philip Holt
Business Transformation Leader and COO | MBA | Leadership | Business Transformation | Operational Excellence | C-suite Level Engagement | Lean Thinking | Organisational & Value Stream Design
I was thinking about the fundamentals of Operational Excellence during some Hansei time and, no matter which way I look at it, I believe that the foundation is a Quality Mindset and that 5S (Work place Organisation) has to be the fundament of this.
A trigger to this reflection was remembering a story told to me by an ex-Group Leader at Toyota, turned Lean Consultant:
One day in their Engine Plant in Deeside, a Toyota Lean Sensei was visiting from Japan and was walking through the plant.
The team were proudly showing him the efficiency of their operations and he complimented them on their 5S, which made them very proud.
However, he then went on to pick up a bolt off the floor, which was very obvious because of the high standard of their 5S.
He proceeded to ask?where the bolt had come from and, as they were unable to tell him, he pulled the Andon and insisted that they check the whole shift's engine output, which they did.
They found that one of the engines produced that shift was missing a bolt, the bolt that was found on the floor, at which point the Sensei gesticulated toward his head and said,?in a dry tone,?"Quality Mindset".
Effective 5S is an enabler of a Quality Mind-set and one of the first things that I learnt about Lean Thinking is:
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"If you can't do 5S, you can't do Lean"
However, although still predominantly seen as a manufacturing 'Lean Tool', 5S is the essence of Lean Thinking and is just as necessary (probably more so) in the office environment, as much waste is created due to the mismanagement and disorganisation found in many knowledge and administrative systems.
Errors due to multiple versions of the same document, email strings that are reacted to at different points and a general misalignment of standards are massive and create rework and defect levels in the office environment that would?simply not be tolerated in a manufacturing environment.
It is therefore crucial that we all ensure, regardless of where we are in the organisation, that our 5S is a central focus of our Lean Deployment and the basis of our Operational Excellence.
Feel free to visit?my Website and Blog at:?LeadingwithLean?and?my other?LinkedIn posts?may be found?at this?link.?
Interested to learn more? Click on the following links to read the introductions or buy one of my books:
Feel free to visit?my Website at:?LeadingwithLean?and?my other?LinkedIn posts?may be found?at this?link.
Cable Plant/Operations/Production - solution provider!
8 年Very good Philip. A never to be forgotten painful example but one that emphasised the quality mindset and no doubt brought about an appropriate corrective reaction.
Safety Excellence | Operational Excellence | Change Management | Leadership Excellence | Coaching | Employee Engagement
8 年Very good post! Not only is 5S a critical part of Lean, it is a critical part of Safety and overall Operational Excellence.
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8 年El ejemplo de líder de grupo en Toyota, es muy claro... cada cosa en su lugar, 5s es la base de implementación Lean y de la cultura de una organización.
Consultor de BI | Power BI Developer ?? | Co-líder de la comunidad Power BI en Albacete | Conecto datos, procesos y personas con #PowerBI creando soluciones de datos y analítica para la toma de decisiones | Padre
8 年I completely agree with this point. 5s must be the first step.
Principal and Director of North America's Industrial Project Management Team focused on maximizing value to our client's operational bottom line
8 年5 s backed by 5 Why's - why is it organized this way and why is it the best way?