The goal of Lean Thinking is ultimately to create flow in all facets of your business. In a perfect world, all of this amazing ‘flow’ should be directed to the customer.
If that is so important, what is ‘flow’? This is not just a dreamy state of being in the moment after the perfect zen state meditational session. Flow is the constant movement of products being manufactured, progress of information, design, service information - any action or task that combines to make up all the operations of your business.
Interruptions to that flow is the focus for Lean Thinking.
This is where the 8 Wastes of Lean kick in. Using these as a guide, business leaders can start to ‘see’ what is holding processes back and getting in the way of that elusive perfect flow. This is a relentless and endless process. Putting time aside to go on a hunting trip, head out to where the work is done, observe and listen to what is really going on. I encourage leaders to do this 2-3 times a week. If you are more consistent, then the behaviours you see will become a closer representation of what is really going on.
When you can see what isn’t working smoothly, the rest becomes a lot easier. Engaging the team to allow them to be more transparent about all the niggly issues when doing their jobs. After all it isn’t their fault, it is the system that is letting them down.
Issues might be one or a combination of the following:
Team members were not trained or orientated effectively enough to do their job
Waiting for information for other teams or customers
Wrong materials or supplies are running short
Looking for the right tools that aren’t broken
The list is as long as my imagination……. And I can imagine a lot!!
Leader standard work is such an important part of the puzzle. By putting regular time aside to go out and look for the struggle, looking for the waste, you will get the results of better flow. The results might not be obvious in the beginning because the changes are small. Don’t hit the panic button and give up, trust in the law of compound interest. If you think long term and act short term, the benefits will continue to grow far more than you ever imagined.
As a rule of thumb, I would recommend a leader to put aside 4-8 hours per week on continuous improvement activity. Most of the time we are working alongside other team members, teaching them and facilitating problem solving skills and role modelling that it is OK to make mistakes, as long as we are learning from them.
The final element is helping to create better flow in your business is metrics. You must be measuring parts of the performance to guide and inform the team about progress and where issues might be lurking. I always advocate on quality or lead measures to help teams with this. It could be counting the amount of re-work, waiting times, downtime of machinery - whatever it is, it is enough to guide data-driven improvements. Lag measures might be the final performance indicator, for example the overall lead time or DIFOTIS (delivery in full, on time, in specification). Together the team should have just enough information to help guide their decisions and actions.
It is all about investing in the time to improve flow in your business.
