How Long Does It Take to Master Lean?


I have been quite fortunate to work with hundreds of organizations on their lean approach to improving their business. Over time, many of these organizations get  detailed lessons in the tools, techniques, and applications of some of the more common tools for seeing and eliminating waste. These include flow mapping, takt time, time observation, loading diagrams, VA/NVA analysis, standard work, and process control.

The best way to learn is to have the time to practice each tool with real examples.  Even better to apply the tool to unique and actual problems in the workplace.  When learning in a training environment, team members are generally overwhelmed. Not that tools are complicated, as each one in itself is relatively simple to learn. None require more than a fourth grade education.

The sense of overwhelming comes from the hundreds of applications of the tools, and the decision making that is required to select the right tool in the right setting. This takes years to master. Becoming an "expert" in even the most basic tools takes continued practice in a variety of applications. The more you practice ( properly practice ) the tools, the easier they are to use.

After many years in this line of work, I still see tools misapplied, or the same set of tools used on all types of problems. One idea you might consider is what waste am I am trying to see or eliminate, and what tool is designed to expose this waste. This action will prevent using a hammer on all problems, because not every problem looks like a nail.

The reality is, as many experienced Lean experts will yell you, is that it takes decades to master even the basic tools across all the settings and applications.  I get many young, bright minds asking me what is next?  There has to be some other secret sauce in the lean toolkit.   All I can say is I am over 2 decades into this journey, and I believe I might be 80% competent in about 60% of the tools.  So much for being an expert.  

You generally have a ten year window to repeatedly apply the nine common tools to see and eliminate waste to any process.  Each application should subsequently reveal new wastes and more double digit improvement opportunities.   

Refreshing your memory these tools are as follows:

1) takt time
2) direct observation
3) loading diagram
4) process mapping
5) value added / non-value added analysis
6) spaghetti mapping
7) communication circle
8) standard work
9) production or process control

Each application should reveal more and more waste.  New tools and approaches are not usually needed within the first six or seven applications of lean problem solving. Have you ever gone back to a problem you have studied and re-applied these tools?  If not, how are you continuously improving?  If you are not continuously improving, you are not really creating a lean culture, you are just doing spot improvement work.

I challenge you to go back and re-study a problem using the set or subset of the nine common tools to see and eliminate waste.  If you re-study the problem you will learn new things about these tools that you have not learned before.   Imagine the learning that can occur.

Alas, this is why lean takes so long to master lean.   

How long has it taken you to master learn?

Lean Blessings,

Ron

Ron Bercaw

President , Breakthrough Horizons LTD
www.breakthroughhorizons.com 




Location: Madeira Beach, FL, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Power of Kaizen

Image
                                                         Lean Nation, Today I want to talk about kaizen.  Kaizen is actually two words: Kai = change, and Zen = for the better. Taken together kaizen is change for the better.  In the spirit of continuous improvement, organizations use a kaizen event to deliver meaningful team-based change.   The DNA of a kaizen event is to apply an entire cycle of the scientific method in a compressed time.  A kaizen event is traditionally a 4.5 consecutive day endeavor.    Of note is some organizations run 4-5 teams in the same kaizen event so there is a small distinction between kaizen events and kaizen teams. The investment in personnel time and leadership time to complete a kaizen is not insignificant.  The amount of time, however, is not as cri...
Read more

Lean Measurement: measurement and target setting is simple

Image
  Lean Nation, Today’s blog is about metrics, lean metrics to be specific. Anytime we improve, we cannot validate we have improved unless we can measure a difference. But where can we expect a measurable change and how much of a change is considered good when studying processes? Having worked with organizations over the last 30 years, answering these two questions can be quite challenging, but it doesn't need to be.  When we struggle for a solution to these two questions, my advice is to always go back to the basics. In lean improvement, we are trying to get better performance from two activities, seeing (discerning) and eliminating wasted time and activity. If we eliminate wasted time and activity, what can we expect to find? Lean organizations understand that when waste is removed from a process three things will simultaneously happen: 1)       With less time being spent on wasteful activities, we should expect that the time to complete work should tak...
Read more

How to Draft and Publish a Book

 Lean Nation, This month we are going to deviate from our normal lean based topics.  One of the questions I frequently get is how do you author and publish a book. At the time of this blog, my fifth publication is currently in copy edit in anticipation of a fall or winter release. Truth be told, I was a math geek in high school. I dodged every English and literature class I could. I nearly failed first-year English class in college. So how did it get to the point that I have now published five books in a 13-year span? Probably divine intervention, but more seriously I have learned a few things along the way, and I would like to share them with you in this blog. I think everyone can author a book, but most people fail to get started. If you have a story, it should be told. Not to get rich to but to capture your thinking at a point in time. Once in print, your work is available for generations. So, with that introduction, let us review the key steps for consideration in writing ...
Read more