Kaikaku

Lean Accounting

From superfactory.com http://www.evolvingexcellence.com/blog/2006/09/course_correcti.html

 

22 September 2006

Course Correction Complements of Norman Bodek

I’m on my way back from a very successful Lean Accounting Summit, and I’m sure Bill and I will have more on this in the near future.

One major highlight for me was dinner with the father of lean in America, Norman Bodek, and then listening to his lunchtime keynote on Friday. I’ve heard him speak a couple times, and have enjoyed several conversations with him in the past. You are initially enthralled by the first-person stories of working with the titans of lean… Shingo, Ohno, and others. But when Norman begins to talk about how he simply wants to help people learn, and how he believes that lean practitioners have forgotten that only half of the Toyota Production System is about waste elimination and that the other half is respect for people, you realize he is someone truly special. There is genuine goodness in this man, powerful enough to make many of us look inside ourselves to see how we measure up.

His keynote was great, to the extent that some attendees apparently asked if next year’s Summit   

could include an entire “Bodek Track”. All Bodek, all the time, to paraphrase a cable channel ad. He focused on the other half of TPS… respect for people, and his comments made you think. Why has Toyota not laid anyone off since 1950, even in tough years, but GM and Ford this year alone will lay off tens of thousands? Why is inventory measured and reported down to the penny, but an organization’s most important asset, the knowledge and creativity of people, is nowhere on a balance sheet? The underutilization of people is one of lean’s forms of waste, but where is it measured? Human Resources, HR, used to be “HRD”… Human Resources Development. No longer. What happened to the “D”? “We must bring back the ‘D’!” Lean companies, such as Toyota, have extremely high levels of employee involvement… such as suggestion programs that average several implemented ideas per month per employee resulting in over $8,000 in savings per employee per year. He ended by having the 500 attendees stand up and swear that they will go back and make a difference.

At least some of us will.

At a time when companies like HP are dealing with spying on employees and GM and Ford are shedding tens of thousands of years of knowledge, Norman Bodek helps recalibrate us to what is really important. Many of us have focused on the tools, the planning, and the obsession with waste reduction… and have forgotten that the respect for people is just as important. I know I have, especially as I deal with some difficult people issues at a couple organizations I’m working with. Talking to, or more accurately listening to, Norman has reminded me about what is truly important. It came at an opportune time.

Thanks for the course correction,

Norman

.

Podcast

Mark Graban interviewed me this past week for his first Podcast.  We talk about my discovery of Quick and Easy Kaizen, how it was the heart of the Toyota system - getting all employees involved in continuous improvement.  The puzzle to me is why every company doesn't add this most valuable process to their management lexicon.  We say that "People are our most valuable asset." but we do very little to develop that asset to its fullest.   

China does represent a shorterm labor savings but in the long term we are giving away our companies to them.   This week I was  watching  parts of the  Tour  de France bicycle race on television and saw one of the leaders on a Giant bike.

At one time over fifteen years ago, Schwin was probably America's leading bicycle company.  They went to Taiwan to manufacture their bikes to take advantage of the low labor cost.  The company in Taiwan was Giant.  Initially, Schwin wanted to reduce their assembly costs but Giant convinced them to also save money on engineering and every other phase of manufacturing and design.  After ten years or so when the initial contract was over, Giant told Schwin, "We don't need you anymore.  We know how to make great bikes, you taught us how."  All we have to do is learn how to market the bikes.  "Shortly, thereafter Schwin went bankrupt and sold their "name," to another American company.

Unfortunately, we are great in short term thinking.  Toyota recognizes the threat from China but they are building more and more automobiles in America.  If they can do it why can't other American companies do it?  To me the only difference in Toyota and American manufacturers is that Toyota develops their people and the best way to develop people is from their own creative ideas.

Please do listen to the podcast at http://kanban.blogspot.com/2006/07/leanblog-podcast-1-norman-bodek.html

And give me some feedback,

Thank you

Manager's Walk

Dear Norm,

An associate of mine (Jim McKinley) here in the Pensacola area sent me a copy of your reply to his question about "The Gemba Walk" article and I thought I would say hi. I produced a seminar in Orlando for you several years ago using racing pit stops to improve manufacturing changeovers. I have since carried this concept around the world several times.
You seem to still be making a difference in manufacturing and I congratulate you for this. Your Gemba walk concept is much more useful than Management by Walking Around without a plan! It seems to complement Myron Tribus' "Planning the Quality Visit" concept (http://deming.ces.clemson.edu/pub/den/quality_visit.pdf ).

 

Stan Adams
Time Dimension

The difference between a great performance and a poor performance is that we can learn much more from the poor performance.

How do you find a quality croissant?

Many years ago, I visited Italy on my birthday, August 12th, and stayed at the Villa San Michele, a small luxurious hotel in Fiesole situated on a cliff with breathtaking views of Florence.  The villa, attributed to Michelangelo, once a 15th century monastery housing Catholic nuns with very tiny rooms, afforded us a breakfast never to be forgotten.  For it is was here, the morning of my birthday, that I received a special gift to eat with absolute pleasure the world's greatest croissants.  It was absolutely memorable.  My taste buds literally exploded.  But, alas for now, wherever I go and order croissants I am always disappointed in the comparison.

In 1978, I went on my first trip to Japan almost totally lost by the language barrier.  Forever hopeful though, I ordered each morning croissants with eggs, only to be again and again disappointed.   I knew at the time that Japanese products were being noticed as having greater and greater quality but that sense of quality did not reach their bakers of croissants.  Italy, especially Fiesole had nothing, as yet, to worry about. 

Well, quality improvement over these past twenty some odd years has surely penetrated throughout Japan.  While Japan 50 years ago was noted as only making "junky" products, we can all attest to the high quality automobiles, the fine Nikon and Canon digital cameras, the excellent Sony and Nippondenso games, the superior machine tools, their extraordinary electronic products, and many other high quality items manufactured in Japan.  As quality has improve enormously in Japan, in almost every aspect of their lives, I felt assuredly that one day soon croissants would be baked equal to those I once experienced many years ago.

Not to be totally disappointed, on my last trip to Japan a few months ago, I stayed at the new Oriental hotel in downtown Tokyo.  The room was magnificent with a great view of Tokyo, high definition television, most comfortable of beds, and the "piece d'resistance," a marble bathroom with three shower heads, sunken Jacuzzi tub, and a computerize la bode fit for a seventeenth century European monarch.  With baited breath, I rose and drifted to the breakfast room with hope that my thirty years of searching for a comparable croissant was to be found. 

It was dazzling!  The croissants were great.  I ate them with much appreciation but still even though they were the finest eaten in the last thirty years, they were not yet exactly equal to those once tasted in Fiosele.  Italy was being challenged by Japan but still ahead in the race.

I now live in Vancouver, Washington overlooked by the great Mount Hood and Mount St. Helens truly America's visual splendor.  But, unfortunately, I have never found a croissant that comes even close to Japan or that great one discovered years ago on my birthday.

But, I don't give up.  I do live with hope that America will once again discover that a democracy can only exist when its people realize the vital importance of having a quality of work life, and living a quality of life and that the heart of great quality is to be able to eat a great croissant.

---------

I do hope you like my story and want me to write more about the importance of quality in our lives.  I especially want to write about the quality of work life, what it means and how it can be attained by all. Please do cheer me on.  Thank you,

He Aint Dead Yet

Posted from superfactory.com

18 April 2006

He Ain't Dead Yet

This Thursday, the 20th, Norm Bodek is slated to receive the Certified Grand Master Six Sigma Medal at an event hosted by the Portland, Oregon

(Norm's home town) APICS chapter.  The announcement reads more like a eulogy than anything else, but believe me, Norm is very much alive and well, and rabble rousing all over the world.

He joins Armand Feigenbaum, James Harrington and Mohammed Zairi in receiving the award - all three are guys who have had a global impact on manufacturing quality.  As good as the other recipients are, they should feel honored by having Norm join the exclusive club.

Any Superfactory readers who live near Portland

ought to try to make it out there.  For the rest of you, it seems like an excellent time to fire off an email to Norm, letting him know that you are with him in spirit, even if you've never met him before.  He deserves the thanks, respect and admiration of all of us. You know, they don't call him 'The Godfather of Lean' for nothin' .

Posted by Bill Waddell 

Respect for People

Subject: interested in your opinion

Something’s been on my mind the last day or so – You’ve no doubt seen people commenting that Toyota doesn’t practice what they preach when it comes to respect for people – I don’t know offhand all the anecdotal evidence, but it seems to be like someone is addressed rudely, or Japanese employees are respected more than American ones.

Seems to me that “respect” might have a semantic effect here, especially because it’s something translated from a Japanese idea – even deeper, a feeling that is largely culturally determined.

A couple of possibilities – it might be true that respect for people actually means respect for some people. Or do Americans take respect to mean positive responses to ideas, softness of approach, patience in the face of disagreements, while Japanese mean it’s OK to snap back and reject your idea because you aren’t going to take it personally, or you will feel humbled and in need of learning, but not humiliated, or something like that? If it’s a pillar, do we understand the nuances meant in each culture?

I know that you’ve written about this in great volume and I could probably find the answer if I re-read a lot, but thought I’d take a shortcut and ask you directly.

Karen Wilhelm
Senior Web Editor
Society of Manufacturing Engineers
One SME Drive, PO Box 930
Dearborn, MI 48121

kwilhelm@sme.org
Website: www.sme.org
SME is your gateway to lean manufacturing.

www.sme.org/lean

 

Dear Karen,

A wonderful perspective on your part.

First, what is amazing is that "Respect for People," is the second pillar of Toyota's success.   Ohno was absolutely ruthless, employees and suppliers lived in fear of him.  However, an employee was never laid off and a supplier never went bankrupt.  Employees grew strong and suppliers became very profitable, almost all suppliers are world class leaders.  Ohno might have been ruthless in one sense but he focused on developing people and suppliers.  They might have resented him while he was alive, for he was very hard, but in retrospect they treasure what he did for them. 

Toyota became the leader in the world from Shingo's and Ohno's teachings.

What do we mean by "Respect for People?"  Do I really respect you when I let you work every day without growing?  Do I respect you when I can lay you off at any time?

Toyota empowers people:  To stop the line - to stop every other worker from working - that is real respect and trust. To implement creative improvement ideas around their work area.  They trust you to come up with the best idea to make your work easier and more interesting.  You don't have to wait for management to tell you what to do.  By asking people to solve problems and become problem solvers.  Managers in the West normally tell people what to do and rarely ever ask them and listen to their ideas.  Listening and empowering people to implement their own ideas are the key to real respect. And develops and educates them -  they continually train you on the job and will pay for your college education.

Does the system work as well in the West as it does in Japan? I don't think so. 

Toyota is very cautious in working with us. 

Yes, you are right, management in the West is very careful not to criticize or offend the workers.   Remember the workers in Japan had lifetime employment.  Like a father with a child, sometimes you are tough with them to help them grow and succeed in life and you might not be as tactful as you should be. Of course, there are people at Toyota in both America and Japan that are not totally happy with their work.  Work in a factory is not easy and is often not joyous but Toyota probably better than others is moving in a very positive direction to develop their employees, make great products and to help the world all at the same time. 

When we meet this week we will have a chance to dialog more on this subject.  We will address what I believe is the real meaning of "Respect for People."

Best,

Norman

Zero Defects

Sorry to have parted so long.  I will try to be more regular.

Zero Defects - Where to start?

Recommend that you begin with:

1. Spotlessness - Get everyone involved in looking around them and begin to clean up their work area, like being in the Army when you know the General is coming or when you know that a guest is coming to your house, you tend to put things in visual order. 

2.  Order - Like with the 5 S technique you want everything to be kept at a certain place, well marked, easy to find, visually pleasing, easy to spot defectives, and easy to tell the number of items in front of you.  When you consider that the next person to receive your work is your customer you want them to receive things nicely.  When you send someone some candy, you don't pile up it up;  Imagine receiving a box of candy with the chocolates just piled on top of each other.

3.   Pre-set – only what is needed is in front of you, tools exactly placed, easy to reach, and marked.  You take only those parts you need to be assembled.  Start off with a small batch.  Say you are going to build 100 items, take only 10 of each and assemble only ten; use a template to place the parts on and when you assemble the 10 items, if any parts are left over there is a chance you might have missed using that one part and you only have ten to items to re-check.

4.  Pre-inspect – take just an extra second and inspect every part before you use it.  Stop and watch your fellow worker to see if they are pre-inspecting.  You can learn a lot just by looking.   

5.    Do it – assemble it precisely in the best way possible.  Learn standard work which is to have in front of you the exact instructions of how to do your work with precision.  Check your quality standards and note down any discrepancies.

6.   Post-inspect – stop for a second to make sure the work you did was done exactly right.  Make sure that there are no scratches, no mars, no burrs, and that no defects will be passed on to your customer.

7.  Order – check that the exact number of items needed is going to be past on to your customer.  When I first moved to Portland Oregon I went to shop at a Safeway Supermarket Food Store. I spent just a few minutes as the sight was so unpleasing.  A few years later while running a workshop on customer service one of the attendees told me what great customer service they received at a Safeway.  At first, I couldn't believe it but the attendee insisted that I go back and check.  What a pleasant surprise to see such a spotless and immaculate store.  Safeway has seven attributes which I will write about in the next article.  But, Safeway insures spotlessness by having one of their managers take every single hour of the working day a walk around the store just looking to make sure that everything is in exact order. It only takes a few minutes but what a powerful way to insure that the store stays spotless - try it in your company.

Once you have gone through the first seven steps than our challenge is to really go after zero defects through our poka-yoke devices.  Talk to you about this a little bit later.

Best,

Norman Bodek

And please do read my two new books:  Rebirth of American Industry and JIT IS FLOW.

JIT IS FLOW

JIT IS FLOW – Practice and Principles of Lean Manufacturing

Vancouver, WA, March 15, 2006

Fifteen years ago I had Mr. Hirano’s JIT Implemental Manual translated into English. It was a great masterpiece for anyone serious about implementing JIT. To create a deep impression in serious students of JIT, we sold the two set manuals for $2000. This was the highest price set of books ever published by Productivity Press, and we sold “bundles” of them without a single complaint on the value to the customer.  We felt that if they would pay that high a price they would go out and do JIT on the factory floor.

JIT Is Flow is Hirano and Furuya’s latest publication and I believe gives us for the first time in the West an extensive practical overview of JIT/Lean.  This book is a wonderful addition to Jeffrey Liker’s The Toyota Way, and books by James P. Womack and others. I am sure that Mr. Ohno and Dr. Shingo would have approved.

Here is a book, actually a manual in book form that can be used to drive your lean efforts. It is a “jewel,” packed with information adding extensively to what was contained in the JIT Handbook. I believe the best way to use this book to your advantage is to read it in study groups. Then see if you can get teams of managers, engineers and employees to read a few chapters; then attempt to implement those ideas immediately. You will learn by doing it. The power is in the doing!

“JIT truly is flow—and flow is best medicine in a disruptive ultra-competitive world. This book covers all the bases in telling how. And don’t miss the insightful 24-page interview at the end. I think the trailing interview with Erik Hager is great.” Richard J. Schonberger, author or Japanese Manufacturing Techniques: Nine Hidden Lessons in Simplicity, The World Class Manufacturing: The Lessons of Simplicity Applied and World Class Manufacturing: The Next Decade

“Going through this book has been a rewarding experience. Hirano's "5 Pillars of the Visual Workplace" and "JIT Implementation manual" were classics. They contained detailed descriptions of the techniques and clear instructions that could be immediately implemented on the shop floor.  However they were also very prescriptive and not so easy to adapt to other sectors. This book brings out the depth of the thought process behind Hirano's work.  The know-why and the know-how that is contained in this book will be extremely useful to every business in today's scenario.  The clarity which Hirano brings to each aspect of the transformation to JIT / Lean and the delineation of the principles involved will be invaluable to every leader and manager aiming for business excellence.  It is an amazing book. This is another feather in your cap.  Best wishes for the success of this book - and may there be many more.” T. V. Suresh, President, Tao Consulting, Chenai, India

  “JIT IS FLOW is the best lean manufacturing book for study groups that I have ever encountered.” Doug Nelson, CFPIM, CIRM, CSSBB, President, APICS, Portland Chapter

 “JIT IS FLOW” gets back to the 'basics' of lean. The book goes right to the heart of 'why' we focus on waste (long-term competitiveness & profitability), as opposed to making waste reduction a short-term, cost-savings-based exercise. By understanding the principles behind the tools, we can begin the journey toward REAL change, & REAL success. I plan to recommend this book to every management team I work with. Bill Kluck, President, NWLEAN, Inc.

“This is a great book.  It provides a comprehensive step-by-step approach to the tools of Lean Manufacturing and demonstrates that Lean must be lead by a commitment to change and a positive approach to innovation.  I encourage every manager that is motivated to get results to read this book!” Collin McLoughlin, President, Enna Inc.

"JIT is FLOW" is a great HOW To manual for any organization looking for the competitive advantage.  This should be a required Text for all business schools!  Hirano is an Icon and is still ahead of his time.” David McGiverin, Process Engineer, DCI International

 Other books from PCS Press: The Idea Generator – Quick and Easy Kaizen, Kaikaku – The Power and Magic of Lean (A Shingo prize winner), All You Gotta Do Is Ask, and Rebirth of American Industry. The press can obtain copies of books by contacting Norman Bodek at 360-737-1883 or bodek@pcspress.com, others can buy the book at www.pcspress.com.

 

Rebirth of American Industry

Rebirth of American Industry – a new book from PCS Press

 Vancouver, WA,

March 12, 2006

-- The old saying, "as General Motors (GM) goes, so goes the nation.” Whoops! Last year GM lost 8.45 billion dollars. What does that mean for American industry? While GM was losing all of that money,Toyota will probably make over 11 billion and have over 50 billion dollars in cash. What happened to GM and can we learn from Toyota’s success?

In this exciting new book Rebirth of American Industry written by William H. Waddell and Norman Bodek, you will see clearly the mistakes made at GM and how Toyota has avoided those pitfalls. While GM focused on “profits this quarter,”  Toyota had a long term vision, learned how to please their customers and delivered high quality automobiles.

“This excellent book will make some enemies. It is outspoken, hard-hitting, and correct.” Brian Maskell, President of BMA Inc., - author of Putting Performance Measurement to Work

“Rebirth puts American management on the carpet; showing how modern accounting drives American companies to non-lean measures. It clearly demonstrates why American manufacturers continue to come up short when compared to their lean competitors. If unheeded, it could be the epitaph of a once-great manufacturing powerhouse.” Bill Kluck, President, The Northwest Lean Networks

Rebirth of American Industry: A Study of Lean Management. The book traces the evolution of manufacturing management along two lines: that pioneered by Henry Ford, then furthered by Toyota to its modern level of success; versus that originated by Alfred Sloan and others at General Motors still in practice in most American companies today. The latter system of management proves to be the underlying cause of the current failure of American manufacturing to compete.
 

Foreword written by Dr. Thomas Johnson, author of Relevance Regained, and Relevance Lost, said “In Rebirth of American Industry, William Waddell and Norman Bodek provide a long overdue revision to the standard historical interpretation of the financial control system that DuPont brought to General Motors” which “ has been touted by business gurus such as Peter Drucker and Tom Peters and by leading graduate business schools as the gold standard of good management in American business from the 1950s to the present day.” And, “ Waddell's and Bodek's book helps mark the way by making us more mindful than ever of the pitfalls that lie waiting if we continue to follow the precepts of Sloan-style financial management.” “Indeed, so long as top managers remain committed to the manage-by-results ‘Sloan culture,’ Waddell and Bodek believe that companies have no hope of adopting the "lean culture" that permeates Toyota's remarkably successful system.”

 
"Before a rebirth is possible, the leaders of American industry have to wake up.  The ideas in this book ring out clear and loud like a bell.  This book is required reading for anyone who is committed to taking manufacturing into the future." Jon Miller, President Gemba Research LLC

 

“I read your book “Rebirth of American Industry” with much interest. The history you lay out and the process of manufacturing that got us to the 1970s is informative and interesting. It is not enough to just say it is a good book. It should be required reading for all business schools and master programs. Carly Murdy, Director, UAW Education Department

 

Other books from PCS Press: The Idea Generator – Quick and Easy Kaizen, Kaikaku – The Power and Magic of Lean (A Shingo prize winner), All You Gotta Do Is Ask, and JIT IS FLOW. The press can obtain a copy of Rebirth by contacting Norman Bodek at 360-737-1883 or bodek@pcspress.com. Others may buy the book from http://www.pcspress.com

 

 

JIT IS FLOW

In a few weeks I will have a new book published titled JIT IS FLOW.  The following is the foreword to the book:

Foreword to JIT IS FlOW

 

JIT IS FlOW reminds me of a brief interchange with a Toyota veteran in the late 1990s. After a long career beginning in 1946, he retired, having lived through the development of the system described in JIT IS FlOW. He could not remember any milestone events, but knew that from the outset the objective had been to make maximum use of the only asset

Toyota had, its people. Making material flow quickly through production was only one aspect of the system. Fast, visible flow made people watch quality constantly and generate improvement ideas frequently. Thinking at work is necessary because conditions are always changing, and the parts of the system reinforce each other to speed learning as things change. Finally he noted that despite going to factories every day, he could never fully understand the system. “Every day I learn something new about it.”

 

That is the spirit of this book. Hiroyuki Hirano and Makoto Furuya, the authors, obviously have long first-hand experience with the Toyota Production System, both using it and coaching it. Their explanations are both simple and profound, the mark of deep experience. Readers new to the system will easily grasp the basic ideas, while those that have worked with it a long time will spot insights that had not occurred to them before. Like Alice in Wonderland, readers are apt to learn from it according to the experience they bring to the reading – and perhaps see something new each time they re-thumb it. That makes JIT IS FlOW a book to keep on the shelf.

 

This kind of insight is difficult to convey in one’s native language. When it is translated from Japanese, something is inevitably lost, but the translation of JIT IS FlOW crosses that divide pretty well. For example, the passage in Chapter 5 on “People Love Making Things” was obviously hard to express in English. The gist of it is that full engagement in process improvement requires that people love what they do so much that they can’t wait to come in each day and try some different idea. They do not work just for the money. Some, if they did not need money to live on, would come to work every day because they like the challenge. It becomes a vital part of their life.

 

When hiring people, love of the work is a difficult selection criterion to apply, but it is worth the time and patience to try. For most of us, the notion dawns slowly that this system of work is really about the development of people throughout their working life. When developing people, each person is discovered to be an individual; no two alike. That is why leadership of this kind of working system is specific to each site, each one having unique problems, processes, and especially, people working there. The system principles may be general, but applying them is a new learning exercise every time.

 

So take your time mulling over Hirano and Furuya’s thinking. Take it in sips, reflecting on your own experience while digesting the essence of theirs. As a leader of process improvement, you too should come to truly enjoy learning something new every day.

 

Robert W. “Doc” Hall

Editor-in-Chief, Target Magazine

Association for Manufacturing Excellence

Robert is also the author of Driving the Productivity Machine: Production   Planning & Control in Japan, Attaining Manufacturing Excellence, The Kaizen Blitz: Accelerating Breakthroughs in Productivity and Performance and others.