Articles about Lean Sensei

Various articles and clippings about LSI from newspapers and websites

Contact Info:
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Lean manufacturing
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lean manufacturing or lean production, often simply, "Lean," is a production practice that considers the expenditure of resources for any goal other than the creation of value for the end customer to be wasteful, and thus a target for elimination. Working from the perspective of the customer who consumes a product or service, "value" is defined as any action or process that a customer would be willing to pay for. Basically, lean is centered on preserving value with less work. Lean manufacturing is a generic process management philosophy derived mostly from the Toyota Production System (TPS) (hence the term Toyotism is also prevalent) and identified as "Lean" only in the 1990s.[1][2] It is renowned for its focus on reduction of the original Toyota seven wastes to improve overall customer value, but there are varying perspectives on how this is best achieved. The steady growth of Toyota, from a small company to the world's largest automaker,[3] has focused attention on how it has achieved this. Lean manufacturing is a variation on the theme of efficiency based on optimizing flow; it is a present-day instance of the recurring theme in human history toward increasing efficiency, decreasing waste, and using empirical methods to decide what matters, rather than uncritically accepting pre-existing ideas. As such, it is a chapter in the larger narrative that also includes such ideas as the folk wisdom of thrift, time and motion study, Taylorism, the Efficiency Movement, and Fordism. Lean manufacturing is often seen as a more refined version of earlier efficiency efforts, building upon the work of earlier leaders such as Taylor or Ford, and learning from their mistakes.

Lean leadership
The role of the leaders within the organization is the fundamental element of sustaining the progress of lean thinking. Experienced kaizen members at Toyota, for example, often bring up the concepts of Senpai, Kohai, and Sensei, because they strongly feel that

transferring of Toyota culture down and across Toyota can only happen when more experienced Toyota Sensei continuously coach and guide the less experienced lean champions. Unfortunately, most lean practitioners in North America focus on the tools and methodologies of lean, versus the philosophy and culture of lean. Some exceptions include Shingijitsu Consulting out of Japan, which is made up of ex-Toyota managers, and Lean Sensei International based in North America, which coaches lean through Toyota-style cultural experience. One of the dislocative effects of Lean is in the area of key performance indicators (KPI). The KPIs by which a plant/facility are judged will often be driving behaviour, because the KPIs themselves assume a particular approach to the work being done. This can be an issue where, for example a truly Lean, Fixed Repeating Schedule (FRS) and JIT approach is adopted, because these KPIs will no longer reflect performance, as the assumptions on which they are based become invalid. It is a key leadership challenge to manage the impact of this KPI chaos within the organization. Similarly, commonly used accounting systems developed to support mass production are no longer appropriate for companies pursuing Lean. Lean Accounting provides truly Lean approaches to business management and financial reporting. After formulating the guiding principles of its lean manufacturing approach in the Toyota Production System (TPS) Toyota formalized in 2001 the basis of its lean management: the key managerial values and attitudes needed to sustain continuous improvement in the long run. These core management principles are articulated around the twin pillars of Continuous Improvement (relentless elimination of waste) and Respect for People (engagement in long term relationships based on continuous improvement and mutual trust). This formalization stems from problem solving. As Toyota expanded beyond its home base for the past 20 years, it hit the same problems in getting TPS properly applied that other western companies have had in copying TPS. Like any other problem, it has been working on trying a series of countermeasures to solve this particular concern. These countermeasures have focused on culture: how people behave, which is the most difficult challenge of all. Without the proper behavioral principles and values, TPS can be totally misapplied and fail to deliver results. As one sensei said, one can create a Buddha image and forget to inject soul in it. As with TPS, the values had originally been passed down in a master-disciple manner, from boss to subordinate, without any written statement on the way. And just as with TPS, it was internally argued that formalizing the values would stifle them and lead to further misunderstanding. But as Toyota veterans eventually wrote down the basic principles of TPS, Toyota set to put the Toyota Way into writing to educate new joiners.[23] Continuous Improvement breaks down into three basic principles: 1. Challenge : Having a long term vision of the challenges one needs to face to realize one's ambition (what we need to learn rather than what we want to do and

then having the spirit to face that challenge). To do so, we have to challenge ourselves every day to see if we are achieving our goals. 2. Kaizen : Good enough never is, no process can ever be thought perfect, so operations must be improved continuously, striving for innovation and evolution. 3. Genchi Genbutsu : Going to the source to see the facts for oneself and make the right decisions, create consensus, and make sure goals are attained at the best possible speed. Respect For People is less known outside of Toyota, and essentially involves two defining principles: 1. Respect Taking every stakeholders' problems seriously, and making every effort to build mutual trust. Taking responsibility for other people reaching their objectives. Thought provoking, I find. As a manager, I must take responsibility for my subordinates reaching the target I set for them. 2. Teamwork : This is about developing individuals through team problem-solving. The idea is to develop and engage people through their contribution to team performance. Shop floor teams, the whole site as team, and team Toyota at the outset.

6/11/13

Business In Vancouver: Printable story

Published June 11, 2013

RETAIL AND MANUFACTURING

Chewing the fat about lean production processes

The principle of lean philosophy or thinking says that companies must shed everything that does not add true value to end customers By David Chao If you don't know anything about "lean," Six Sigma or TPS (Toyota Production System), you'd better pay attention because virtually every industry, from every corner of this earth is embracing these new principles to lower cost and improve efficiency and quality. In fact, these "process improvement" philosophies or tools are spreading like wild fires and are now influencing everything from the way McDonald's flips burger patties to the way Boeing builds aircrafts. First introduced by the automakers, these proven company-wide methodologies are making it possible for car companies to develop new vehicles 20% to 50% faster, reduce defects by another 40% or more and market feature-rich cars without increasing price to the consumers. Haven't you noticed that in recent years, car manufacturers are bringing out technologies and features faster than you can blink? So what do these terms mean? What is lean ? No, it doesn't mean that Jenny Craig is suddenly involved in car design or manufacturing, but there is a definite parallel between the weight-loss clinic and lean methodology: both focus on reducing unwanted waste from your system. In Jenny's case, that "waste" refers to "fat." In a business situation, the "waste" refers to anything that is viewed as "waste of time" by the final buying customers (that is, non-value-added time). The principle of lean philosophy or thinking says that companies must shed everything that does not add true value to end customers. That means they have to consciously work toward removing wasted time, space, or materials from the whole cycle of designing and manufacturing cars so that we as end customers who buy them get more bang for the buck. Lean is applied through teams who work together to generate ideas for reducing waste. The original lean concept was first developed by Henry Ford, who applied this thinking to produce Model Ts at astonishing rates at least by early 1900s standard. Toyota then took the basic concept and worked on it for more than 40 years, creating the flawless Toyota Production System, or TPS for short. The TPS philosophy is so widely used around the world that even
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Business In Vancouver: Printable story

emerging countries like Vietnam, which likely produced your newest Nike shoes or Old Navy T-shirt, now embrace lean and TPS as key business drivers. Here in Vancouver, hundreds of organizations are already involved in lean transformation from manufacturing, warehousing, banking, insurance and hospitals to schools. Companies and organizations are applying the concept of lean and TPS to dramatically improve their speed, quality and service while improving their company's culture and even their corporate strategy. And we are excited to hear that Jeffrey Liker and Mike Hoseus (the authors of the bestselling TPS books called the Toyota Way books) are coming to Vancouver to speak about the latest trends in lean, Toyota Way and TPS. They are part of the Lean Summit, which is scheduled to place at Vancouver's Terminal City Club from June 18 to 20. Highly acclaimed authors Liker and Hoseus will share the methodologies and practices that lean organizations embrace to rise above the level of mediocrity in their quest to create exceptional organizations. In addition, local and international industry leaders in the financial, health care, medical and manufacturing sectors will share their triumphs, challenges and stories about their lean journey. Local executives scheduled to speak at the conference include Launi Skinner, CEO at First West Credit Union; Stu McIntosh, Cascade Aerospace vice-president; John Kalbfeisch, COO at Alpha Technologies; and Scott McCarten of Vancouver Coastal Health. More information can be found at www.leansummit2013.com. I'll make one bet with you: within the next few years, your employer will ask you to take some training on lean, TPS or Toyota Way. It's only a matter of time before every corporation is going to be endorsing these ideas. Be ready. Copyright 2013, Business In Vancouver Story URL: http://www.biv.com/article/20130611/BIV0119/306119945/chewing-the-fat-about-leanproduction-processes

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September 2228, 2009 Business in Vancouver

news

Companies learning to be lean the Toyota way

Global success of Japanese auto-manufacturing giant is a direct result of a corporate operating philosophy that emphasizes employee accountability and continual improvement
Krisendra Bisetty

oyota Motor Corp.s efficient cars have earned the Japanese auto giant top place among global automakers, and now its business principles are helping drive a new approach to running companies and manufacturing. B.C. ma nufacturers, known largely for their love of the status quo, are starting to adopt the Toyota way of doing things to generate more efficiencies, cost-savings and productivity, said David Chao, a Vancouver consultant who has been helping businesses locally and abroad hitch on to the concept of lean manufacturing. And in a coup for Chao, who is president of Lean Sensei International, three gurus of the lean world are in town this week to talk at a lean strategy summit he has organized for B.C. manufacturers and other businesses. Jeffrey Liker, Mike Hoseus and David Meier, considered authoritative figures on Toyotas production processes and authors of several books on the subject will provide insight over the three-day conference on what lean means for business leaders and companies. Its really become a global movement, Liker said in an interview. Its being adopted by hospitals, mining companies and financial companies and by governments. Likers 2004 book, The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles from the Worlds

Toyota MOtor Corp.

(NYSE:TM)

Toyota City, Japan President: Akio Toyoda Employees: 324,222 Market cap: US$129.3 billion P/E ratio: N/A EPS: (US$4.85)
Sources: Stockwatch, Globe Investor, Yahoo Finance

Lean on me: Lean Sensei president David Chao (left) helped Paul Paris Paris Orthotics improve production to meet overwhelming market demand

Toyotas management principles include:

a philosophy that Toyota exists to benefit customers and society; a focus on survival for the long term; fixing problems and finding their root causes before proceeding; Toyota has a single eight-step problemsolving method for the entire company; and developing people by respecting and challenging them; Toyotas view is that a person who is not learning and is not challenged is not growing and therefore is not being respected.

Greatest Manufacturer, became an international bestseller. Its based on the underlying philosophy and principles that drive Toyotas quality and efficiency-obsessed culture. With Toyota operating not as a single global giant but as a collection of small to medium-size companies plants, dealerships and engineering divisions each developing their own capability to continuously improve the companys philosophy is finding widespread appeal, he said. One of the things that distinguishes Toyota is a very long-term perspective, said Liker, who is professor of industrial and operations engineering at the University of Michigan and principal of Optiprise Inc., a Michigan company that helps companies learn from Toyotas management principles. Theyve also set an intermediate vision and one of the major things theyre focused on is increased self-reliance of every region of the company. The vision gets turned into goals for each operating region and then broken down into objectives for each business unit of Toyota, including engineering, manufacturing, sales and the supply base. Eventually it gets to the point where every hourly worker, engineer and manager can outline what will be

accomplished and how it relates to the global vision. But Liker said the ability to align goals and objectives from the boardroom down to the factory floor is directly proportional to the strength of a companys leadership. If the management is not highly skilled in continuous improvement, then just giving them goals is pretty hopeless, he said. Youre just giving them a goal that they have to fail at. Or theyll find ways to make the numbers look good, but perhaps sacrifice quality or safety. I n Nor t h A mer ic a , Toyota has worked for decades to develop a complete line of leadership from the top to the bottom of the basic hourly work group to teach companies its system for eliminating waste and solving problems in production. And because theyve made that investment, when theres something like this recession, theyre able to be very adaptable, said Liker. He added that many companies want a shortterm turnaround, but their people arent capable of it. They dont have a stable process to begin with, and they dont have the tools for improvement, so they just kind of struggle and flounder. Chao, a former Toyota consultant and the first engineer hired by Suzuki

Canada Inc., said that unlike at Toyota where everyone, including executives, is required to spend time on the factory floor, most senior

Its really become a global movement

Jeffrey Liker, author, The Toyota Way

managers of North American companies havent even touched their product. And in North America, we often say, If it aint broken, dont fix it, but the Toyota way says, If it aint broken, lets make it better. Among the 75 local clients Chaos team has coached over the past decade is Paris

Orthotics, Canadas largest manufacturer of prescription orthoses, or foot arch supports. In late 2006-07, it was battling to scale production capacity fast enough to meet overwhelming increase in orders. It sort of tipped us over the tipping point, recalled Paul Paris, the Vancouverbased companys president. We used a lean intervention as a catalyst or a mechanism to help us get out of

the crisis. The problem with most Canadian manufacturers, said Chao, is that theyre too focused on money-making and cutting corners to save costs instead of giving customers what they want. We will sacrifice longterm gains for short-term [benefits], whereas in Japan and particularly Toyota, theyll sacrifice short-term gains to ensure that theres long-term viability. Chao said that when he walks into a typical Canadian factory, hes always taken aback. I walk in there and within 15 minutes I can point out 20 things that can be improved.
kbisetty@telus.net

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32

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Daily business news at www.biv.com April 1218, 2011

Timothy Renshaw
A cautionary tale of fat cats and lean thinking

ean manufacturers can get fat real fast. Toyotas 2010 saga is a testament to that. The addendum to this yarn, however, is that companies built better from the start can turn even the worst corporate cock-ups into improving that solid foundation. David Chao can speak to that. In our last episode with the man from Lean Sensei International (issue 1041; October 6-12, 2009), Toyota was riding a hot streak. In auto industry argot, it had accelerated past the overweight General Motors motorcade to become the worlds top automaker. But the exhilarating wind in the hair for the executive team in the bright Toyota convertible motoring down the fast lane didnt last long. The company took some ill-advised detours along Toyota Way. The apostles of lean manufacturing and enlightened corporate vision that championed customer care were soon getting sideswiped at every turn. You might recall something about braking-system problems and faulty accelerator pedals. Around nine million vehicle recalls later, the media pilingon had begun to wane somewhat. But the damage inflicted was significant. Early in 2010 Toyotas stock price was down 20%. Its 2010 yearend financials showed revenue and sales recovering but still down from pre-recall days. Net revenue dropped 7.7% compared with the previous year. The corporate pain, however, was not confined to sales and revenue. The company and its corporate culture of continual improvement (kaizen) and innovation (kaikaku) were shaken from the top down, its reputation for quality tarnished worldwide. But, as Chao sees it, that was not all bad. The series of corporate calamities, he said, made the worlds most powerful car company stand up and take notice. That it did, and it would have been an obtuse operation had it not. But more than taking notice, Toyota was humbled brought to its knees [it had forgotten] that crises can happen to the best of companies. Time for some of Toyotas much vaunted lean thinking the antidote to the ill effects of what Chao

calls Big Company Disease. Among other initiatives, executive ranks were trimmed and decision-making processes localized to promote nimbleness of execution and reduce head office micromanagement. The customer-focus mantra that the sturm und drang of unprecedented global expansion had drowned out was back atop the playlist for new Toyota president Akio Toyoda. The company appears now to be heading in the right direction on Toyota Way. Revenue in fiscal 2011s first nine months was up 5% compared with the same period a year earlier. For Chao, recently returned from Japan and the devastation that has

Cartoon by Rice

At Large

Peter Ladner
Casino expansion gamble a bad bet for Vancouver

The exhilarating wind in the hair for the executive team in the bright Toyota convertible didnt last long
crippled parts of that country, there are parallels between the corporate and country disasters and how the Japanese culture is helping rather than hindering the recovery process. The finish line for both is still many miles away: Japan struggling to rebuild; Toyota facing production shutdowns in North America because of parts shortages in Japan. But humility, patience and consistency are among the common cultural traits coming to the fore on both fronts. They look good on a global auto colossus. Far more appealing they are than the inert culture of entitlement that helped topple the former automaking champ of the world from its pedestal and whose homeland, staggering under an accumulated debt estimated to be around $44 trillion, still does not know how to control spending. Any bets on which corporate culture will deliver real long-term recovery and improvement sooner? Timothy Renshaw (trenshaw@biv. com) is the editor of Business in Vancouver. His column appears every two weeks.

Whats your opinion?

BIV welcomes readers opinions. All letters, including those sent by e-mail, must include the authors name, address and daytime telephone number. Business in Vancouver, 102 East 4th Avenue, Vancouver, B.C. V5T 1G2. Fax:604-6881963. E-mail:news@biv.com. We reserve the right to edit for brevity, clarity and legality.

s we head into the decisionmaking homestretch on the Edgewater Casino expansion debate, its hard to know what were being asked to bet on. The financial ground keeps shifting. Its as if someone keeps changing the horses in the race. First it was a casino touted as twice the size of the existing one. Were moving it across the street and doubling its size, Paragon CEO Scott Menke told the Vancouver Board of Trade. Based on the citys staff report, the expanded casino is actually 3.1 times as large as the existing one. We also heard from Menke that casinos are safer than shopping malls. Meanwhile the retired head of the RCMPs integrated illegal gaming enforcement team, Fred Pinnock, is on record as saying other than correctional institutions, casinos have the highest density of organized crime figures anywhere. Think money laundering. After initial promises that destination gamblers would bring $100 million into the casino, a tsunami of independent observers from UBC real estate professor Tsur Somerville to local casino and hotel insiders agreed with U.K. international gambling expert Peter Collins, who told BC Business that pretty much 90% of your revenues will come from people living within half an hours drive time, or maybe 45 minutes. Through all of this, three key numbers were held aloft in the media,

editorial board briefings, city reports and public statements, all stamped with the imprimatur of a Deloitte study for an unnamed client: the expanded casino/hotel project will provide the City of Vancouver with $17 million in gambling revenue (up from $6 million today), spin off $224 million to the province of B.C. and generate $538 million in economic activity annually. One number eroded slightly when BC Lottery Corp. (BCLC)

Deloittes estimates of new gambling revenue to the City of Vancouver are more than three times higher than the HLT number
CEO Michael Graydon told Vancouver city council to expect between $12 million and $14 million, not the $17 million originally promised. Largely on the basis of the Deloitte numbers, the BC Business Council, the Vancouver Board of Trade, the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association, the BC Chamber of Commerce and various unions endorsed the casino expansion. Now we discover, through a quiet release on Frances Bulas blog, that an independent study on the Edgewater expansion for BCLC in September 2009 came to a radically different conclusion. Prepared by HLT Advisory Inc., it discounted expectations

of destination gamblers and looked at the net impact of the expansion after factoring in losses to other local casinos. Its prediction of the net increase in revenue to BCLC was $47 million. Deloittes comparable number is 425% greater. Similarly, Deloittes estimates of new gambling revenue to the City of Vancouver are more than three times higher than the HLT number ($3.6 million). BCLC counters that the HLT report was based on an expansion with 20% fewer slots than the Deloitte report. OK, but how does that account for Deloittes estimates, which are 300% to 400% higher? Why was this other document never brought into the public discussion, even though BCLC had commissioned it? Why did BCLC tell HLT not to consider international destination tourism, but allow predictions of international tourism to underpin Deloittes projections? Why were the business community, the public and the city led to believe exclusively in the Deloitte study, a dubious piece of marketing hype built on assumptions rejected by BCLC in the HLT study? Finally, do all these business associations and unions really want their city to be built around an enterprise widely known to have adverse economic impacts in other jurisdictions, promoted by fudged numbers? Vancouver city council is expected to vote on this on April 19. It should vote it down and look for economic development that creates productive jobs without victims and myriad hidden costs. Peter Ladner (pladner@biv.com) is a founder of Business in Vancouver and a former Vancouver city councillor.

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CAREERS
SATURDAY, JUNE 6, 2009

AND JOB OPPORTUNITIES G8

Give your employees the tools to make ethical decisions

TS been an interesting few weeks in the news world. We watched in awe as the speaker of the British House of Commons resigned amid a growing ethics scandal among its elected members the first such resignation in three centuries. Many of these parliamentarians had charged outBARBARA rageous personal BOWES expenses to the WORKING WORLD government. At the same time, Canadians were treated to six days of former prime minister Brian Mulroney squirming in the witness chair at the Oliphant Commission as he was pounded by questions about the ethics surrounding his clandestine acceptance of envelopes stuffed with money. National opinion polls showed that people not only saw his behaviour as unethical, they perceived it to be illegal. On a local level, we learned of a wellknown bank robber who was thrown back in jail after his old patterns of behaviour appear to have caught up to him. Why is it that people never seem to learn? While some people might be gloating at seeing people like Mulroney on the hot seat, we have to realize that unethical behaviour is not restricted to parliamentarians or to corporate leaders. There is plenty of unethical behavior that occurs right before our eyes, among ordinary corporations and employees. For instance, it wasnt that long ago that we witnessed the shredding of evidence and irregular accounting procedures during the Enron scandal. At the same time, unethical behaviour in the workplace is not limited to such higher level failings, it occurs among front-line workers.

Continued
Please see BOWES G2

JOE.BRYKSA@FREEPRESS.MB.CA

Westeels Mark Humphrey with huge rolls of steel that his company fabricates into grain storage bins.

Employees urged to come up with solutions

Shop-floor empowerment

T may seem like a paradox to say that Westeel, a company best recognized for making the galvanized metal grain bins that punctuate the prairiescape, does not function in a silo culture. But within the last three years, Westeel has successfully knocked down any former barriers to communication and changed the way employees express ideas and influence operations. This culture shift has allowed the organization to reach a new degree of automation in its five plants and set unprecedented sales records all while at its highest level of employment in its 104-year history. Mark Humphrey, vice-president and general manager of Westeel, a division of Vicwest Operating Limited Partnership, credits the growth to a leadership philosophy giving the balance of power to its 587 emDR. JOHN ployees, including 234 working at its McFERRAN St. Boniface plant. Our culture is like an inverted pyramid. I consider myself at the bottom of the pyramid and at the widest part is our people working on the shop floor, he says. We empower those people to identify problems and come up with innovative ways to improve processes so that Westeel can deliver a quality product, in the shortest lead time and at a competitive price to our customers. At the end of the day, thats why were here.
Q: What type of culture have you tried to build at Westeel? A: Our culture is built on the core values of teamwork, integrity, mutual respect, creativity and courage, with courage meaning being willing to take a risk and put forth ideas. Empowering people on the shop floor to identify problems and come up with their own solutions has been a big plus for us in creating a culture of continuous improvement. They know that if they have an idea, theyre going to be listened to. We have implemented some great suggestions from a request for a cushioned rubber mat to stand on to a way to reduce a machines set-up time from eight hours to 10 minutes. I may not know how to build a grain bin, but I do know a great idea when one is presented to me. Last year, Westeel conducted a company-wide cultural satisfaction survey to identify some of the things we are doing right as well as areas we need to improve. The survey helped our management team decide what we need to focus on now, including where our growth will come from and how our employees can contribute to our future success.

The heads of some of Manitobas most successful companies talk about their business and people challenges.

VIEW FROM THE TOP

that collects valuable feedback and use those suggestions to improve our products. Recently, the customer committee provided input into the design of a new floor system for our grain storage bins. This floor system has 40 per cent fewer parts than the previous design which allows for faster installation. Previously, two of the major customers on the customer committee purchased floors from one of our competitors. Since being invited to be part of our design process, they have committed to buying only from us.
Q: Despite everything going well, do you still face any uphill challenges? A: While the Winnipeg plant has come a long way, my biggest challenge is that we still have four other plants that are where Winnipeg was three years ago. We now have to roll out the things weve implemented here to the rest of the organization and show them how to measure performance, create a road map to improvement and be engaged in the process. Even here where things have gone well, the challenge I find is the constant need to reinforce the message. For example, when I would walk around the factory, I used to constantly see brooms left on the shop floor. It drove me crazy. So I challenged the guys to come up with a measurable plan to improve housekeeping practices. Its taken three years to get people to hang brooms up but theyre getting it now. We still struggle with the little things from time to time. Its having the discipline of doing what you say youre going to do and then keeping it up. Q: What qualities do you look for in team leaders? A: Im interested in innovative people who are capable of showing initiative; I dont have to tell them what to do. They need to be continuously thinking of ways to improve the way we do business but also need to know how to execute. I want people in every Westeel department from sales to maintenance to be able to assess the as is situation and come up with a road map of how to get from where we are at to what their vision may be. Q: Are there any mentors or models of leadership that you particularly admire? A: Before coming to Westeel in 2005, I spent 13 years at Motor Coach Industries and I consider former MCI executives Mario Gonzalez (now vice-president, operations for Lilydale) and Bob Munro (now president of Arnes Welding) to be among my mentors. Mario and Bob also believe in the inverted pyramid philosophy and I learned a great deal from them; I hope to be able to give someone else the same kinds of opportunities that they gave me. I am also passionate about lean management and the Toyota approach to problem solving and shop-floor control. I have studied with Lean Sensei International, the benchmark when it comes to delivering Toyota-style process improvements in manufacturing. Being in Japan to tour top companies helped me create a vision of what I want my factory to look like. In fact, I encourage all our supervisors to be Lean Sensei green belts or black belts as a way for them to understand and carry out lean principles. Basically, if you want to be a supervisor at Westeel, you need to be a green belt at a minimum. If someone here wants me to invest in their training for a black belt designation, Im willing to do it. It only takes one profitable idea for it to pay for itself. With reporting by Barbara Chabai

Q: How are you able to motivate people to take a risk and come forward with ideas? A: Something else we discovered as a result of the survey was that people want to share in the profits, so we introduced a Continuous Improvement Bonus Plan. While not all of our employees can affect sales, they all can affect cost, create capacity and the ability to generate volume. The plan is simple. Six per cent of EBITDA above a threshold goes into a pool of funds that will be shared based on each divisions pro-rata contribution to EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization). So if the Westeel Division is able to generate 40 per cent of the EBITDA, we get 40 per cent of the pool. Because of this plan, our people can now link continuous improvement activities to money in their bank account. Suddenly, they appreciate that if the company is doing well, it means the pool is growing. That positively reinforces our employee suggestion system. Q: Are customers able to share ideas for your continued improvement? A: Absolutely. While we continue to be focused on our customers with initiatives such as decreasing lead time, we also believe its important to involve them in the design of new products. We have formed a customer committee

John McFerran, PhD, CMC, F. CHRP, is founder and president of People First HR Services Ltd. For more information, visit www.peoplefirsthr.com.

winnipegfreepress.com

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BAYWEST MAI"IAGEMENT CORP.

Vancouver, Surrey, Abbotsford and Kelowna. For example, who would have imagined that a process designed to

improve the manufacturing industry could be applied to a property management firm? That's exactly what happened when Friesen recently decided to adopt "Lean Sensei, " a management approach originally used by heavy industlY to
reduce redundancy and optimize production flow.

Lean philosophy can be as simple as breaking down an

office duty such as invoicing or payroll into a series of steps

in order to identify wasteful or repetitive actions. It's also called process mapping and at Eaywest this frequently translates into executives and line staff studying PostIt Notes arranged in sequence on the boardroom wall. "I learned about Lean philosophy through a mentor who was involved in the process, and it has proven to be an ideal solution to the office environment where tweaking operations is a perpetual challenge," says Friesen, He
credits the program with having saved {{significant resources while acting as a natural team builder."

- Cindy Street,

VP business development

Actively engaging in the philosophy of continuous

improvement has radically improved many office functions, from the preparation of monthly financial statements for clients to the way incoming mail is dispatched to departments. "It's become invaluable to our goal of carefully controlled
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Reprint from Business in Vancouver Magazine

Profile: Tony Woodruff
Tuesday, 10 April 2007

Fire sales: FPI president Tony Woodruff heads a rapidly growing Delta-based fireplace manufacturer that emulates the successful business practices and corporate culture Toyota Motor Corp. Mission: To expand FPI by producing quality fireplaces Assets: An understanding of Toyota Motor Companys principles and 14 years experience at FPI Yield: Steady growth to $83 million in annual revenue and 450 employees worldwide

Glen Korstrom Outfitted with 10 fireplaces, FPI Fireplace Products International Ltd.s boardroom has the potential to become one overheated corporate venue. Fortunately for the Delta companys management, however, those fireplaces remain fire-free. As FPI president Tony Woodruff points out, lighting them up not only gets the boardroom toasty, it also activates air conditioning around the fireplace manufacturers 200,000-squarefoot building and chills many of its 350 local employees. For flame, visitors can instead look to the boardrooms six framed Norman Rockwell-style photos depicting happy families sharing warmth around wood stoves and open fires. For corporate heat, they can consider FPIs growth over the past half dozen years. Woodruff has increased his Delta-based companys annual revenue from $60 million in 2001, when he assumed the top management job from CEO and founder Robert Little, to more than $83 million and 450 worldwide staff last year. That 38% growth is more impressive when you consider that two-thirds of FPIs sales are in the U.S. Only one-quarter of the companys revenue is from Canada. The rest is spread across Europe, Asia and Australia. In 2001, the American exchange rate was something like $1.50 to the Canadian dollar. This morning it was roughly $1.15, Woodruff said.

In standardized U.S. dollars, FPIs growth is closer to 70%, he said. The loonies rise against the American greenback was enough to make Woodruff consider shifting some manufacturing to Bellingham. But after speaking with manufacturers who have factories on both sides of the border and conferring with Washington State economic development representatives, he changed his mind. You would have to drug-test your people regularly down there. Here, we dont do that, he said. The quality of the labour pool in B.C. is better. Woodruff decided that a better strategy would be to buy land adjacent to his Delta factory at the end of a cul-de-sac in the Tilbury Business Park, where he plans to build a 40,000-squarefoot factory. Other Woodruff growth strategies include: creating an eight-employee Australian subsidiary; negotiating a joint-venture with a Chinese company in Shanghai; and offering RRSP matching, profit-sharing and other perks to retain workers and reduce recruitment costs. Through it all, he has tried to understand how Toyota Motor Corp. has become the worlds fastest-growing large auto-maker and emulate its corporate culture. We think Toyota is the greatest manufacturing company in the world, Woodruff said. Theyre light-years ahead of anybody else. Business coaches at Vancouvers Lean Sensei International help FPI managers adopt techniques that Toyota has used to improve efficiency. Lean Sensei president David Chao has worked for Toyota-related businesses in Japan and in North America. He helped FPI boost its efficiency by suggesting that the company implement a Kanban system, which would streamline raw material orders and enable FPI to lower inventory levels by 25%. Theyre far from perfect, but theyre significantly better than a lot of Vancouver manufacturing companies, Chao said. Woodruff knows that his plant can operate more efficiently, and he seeks help from every possible channel. For example, a white-board that hangs on a wall in FPIs vast manufacturing plant includes shaded boxes next to each workers name to indicate how many ideas he or she has

suggested that the company has implemented. Muda is a Japanese word for waste and they define it broadly, Woodruff said of people at both Toyota and Lean Sensei. They look at waste from the point of view of the customer. What will the customer pay for? What does the customer see as valuable? Everything else that the company does, which does not contribute to the customers buying experience, they say, is waste. Woodruff might implement one expensive Toyota practice: having a button that any worker can press to immediately shut down operations, start a siren wailing and cause lights to flash to indicate a problem. When senior Toyota managers hear their siren, they drop everything and investigate what the problem is because they dont want the plant to be shut down for one second longer than necessary, Woodruff said. The lesson here is that more important than restarting production is to ensure that workers dont pass a problem down the line. The worker knows that its not about how many products they produce in a day, but how many perfect products they produce, Woodruff said. Other aspects of U.K.-born and Oxford University-educated Woodruffs demeanour make clear that he emulates Japanese business practices. He bows his head slightly when he thanks guests for their visit. And when he walks through his manufacturing plant, he shows respect for each worker by asking what he or she thinks of one of Woodruffs recent decisions. The 55-year-old worked as a Deloitte and Co. accountant in London in the 1970s. The auditing giant transferred him to Chicago, where he soon joined General Binding Corp. to get management experience. He moved to Vancouver in 1989 for a two-year stint running GBCs 100-employee Canadian division. When GBC recalled Woodruff to its Chicago head office, Woodruff and his wife realized how much they loved living in Vancouver. They returned, and Woodruff joined FPI in 1993 as its vice-president of sales and marketing. He compares FPIs founder and CEO to Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates, because Little is more interested in product development and customer service than day-to-day management. Im the guy with the management background. I can do plans, hire people, set objectives and keep people headed in the right direction, Woodruff said. Vancouver fireplace sellers say FPIs price-points (between $1,200 and $5,000) are on par with others and so is their quality. Fireplace manufacturing is a competitive sector that includes B.C.-based competition such as

Pacific Energy Fireplace Products Ltd. and bigger players such as Ontarios CFM Corp. and Iowas HNI Corp. We face the same factors, said Pacific Energy president Paul Erickson. Theres the price of materials, the price of labour, the U.S. dollar impact. We ship to roughly the same marketplaces in North America so freight costs would impact them as they impact us. Its kind of like Chev and Ford.

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Shorter wait times aim of plan patterned after Toyota system

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Shorter wait times aim of plan patterned after Toyota system

BY AMY OBRIAN, VANCOUVER SUN MARCH 21, 2009

Zoe Hodgson (right) gets check-in information at Women's Hospital reception area. Photograph by: Bill Keay, Vancouver Sun

Over the course of five days in January, a series of small changes which promise to have big implications for patient waiting times and patient safety were quietly made in a few of Vancouvers biggest health care facilities. The changes were not trumpeted by politicians or bragged about in press releases. They were not the results of multimilliondollar cash infusions or a new wave of medical graduates. Instead of throwing money at their problems, executives at the Provincial Health Services Authority are throwing people at them. And theyre doing it in a way modelled on the success of Japanese car manufacturing giant Toyota. No, theyre not approaching patients like theyre cars on an assembly line. But they are using a Japanese-speaking sensei or teacher who has ties to the Toyota family to help them eliminate inefficiencies and streamline their operations. Nurses for years have told us that there is a lot of waste in the system, said Lynda Cranston, president and CEO of the health authority. So weve been asking, Are we actually being as efficient and effective as we can? And are we providing you with an environment that is efficient and effective, so you can do your job? Carmaker-inspired model Bureaucracies are, by nature, slow and sluggish beasts. While there is plenty of fast-paced action on the front lines of hospitals and other health care agencies, the upper echelons of the medical system are undeniably bureaucratic. Suggest a change in the system and it could take months or more to make it happen.

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With the Toyota-inspired model, though, it took less than five days to implement seemingly small changes that will mean shorter waiting times for potentially life-saving procedures, more pleasant and efficient hospital visits for patients, and safer procedures. Its not about some bigger agenda. It has nothing to do with anything other than what it should be about the patient, said Piper Shalley, a nurse who works in the pediatric intensive care unit. At B.C. Womens Hospital, a Toyota-based five-day workshop was able to reduce by 90 per cent the time from when a new mother is ready to be discharged from the hospital to when she exits the building and heads home. Before the program, the discharge process took an average of 10 hours. Now, it takes about one hour. Court-ordered psychiatric patients used to have to wait 10 days to be admitted to a bed. Since the workshop, its down to an average of 3 12 days. At the BC Cancer Agency, staff were able to reduce by 83 per cent the time from when a doctor made a referral to when the patient got in to see a specialist. Before the workshop, the average wait was 42 days. Now, its seven. The changes cost the system next to nothing. Changing small processes So far, the Provincial Health Services Authority which includes BC Womens and Childrens hospitals, the BC Cancer Agency and the BC Centre for Disease Control has completed 45 Toyota-inspired projects. All levels of staff have been included, from front-desk clerks to doctors to vice-presidents to the CEO. Groups of eight or 10 people are thrown into a room together, presented with the details of the problem, instructed on how to map it out, and then they brainstorm solutions, implementing one of them by weeks end. Its not a matter of changing the world. Were just changing small processes, said Dr. Kevin Elwood, a tuberculosis specialist at the BC Centre for Disease Control. Its not magic. During the two workshops that have been done at Elwoods clinic, the focus was on improving workflow processes, he said. Basically, that meant cutting out unnecessary physical and procedural steps, cleaning up the filing systems, and altering the appointment system. The results have been shorter waiting times for people needing to get a skin test for tuberculosis and for test results. Now, you walk through and it looks like nuns have come through and cleaned up the place for us, he said. But there were no nuns and no magic involved. Just a variety of staff plucked from different levels of the chain, and an outsider who could ask all the naive, basic questions that those entrenched in the system likely wouldnt see. Jan Christilaw, acting president of B.C. Womens Hospital, said the efficiency-finding missions known as imPROVE within the health authority have been effective, particularly for an organization that has been primarily occupied with delivering babies and caring for women. One of the things we started to notice in health care is that you get set in your ways. You get set in your ways of doing things, Christilaw said. And its sometimes difficult for one individual, who works in any part of health care, to step back and say, There are four steps in this process that we really dont need to be doing.

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Several other B.C. health authorities, including Vancouver Coastal and Providence, have also been using Toyota-based methods to tighten up workflow and eliminate waste. The philosophy is commonly referred to as lean management, and was first applied in earnest to the health care system at the beginning of the decade. Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle is considered one of the leaders in applying the lean philosophy to health care. The hospital began implementing lean strategies in 2002 and within three years, it had saved more than $8 million US in capital expenses. By increasing efficiencies, the hospital was able to scrap plans for several expensive expansions, including new surgery suites, a new hyperbaric chamber and new endoscopy suites. It was able to reduce the number of full-time equivalent staff positions by 36 per cent, through attrition and reassigning some staff to other positions. There were no layoffs. The Seattle hospital saved 53 per cent on inventory, reduced set-up time for surgeries and bed moves by 82 per cent, and reduced the distance that staff travelled during their shifts by 44 per cent. The reasons for implementing lean strategies in B.C. hospitals are compelling. Our aging population, combined with doctor and nurse shortages, means that more has to be done with less. We believe theres higher clinical efficacy and outcomes by virtue of the fact that were more efficient. Were able to do things more efficiently, said Larry Gold, president of BC Childrens Hospital and the Sunny Hill Health Centre. And from a taxpayer standpoint, were using our resources in as an efficient and effective way as we possibly can. Improving safety, care But lean strategies are also aimed at improving patient safety and care. A 2004 study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal found that an average of 7.5 out of every 100 hospital admissions results in an adverse event such as an infection but close to 70,000 of those each year are potentially preventable. One in every six incidents of adverse events results in the patients death. A key objective of the lean philosophy is to reduce such occurrences. It can be hard to understand the reasons for the overlaps, redundancies and inefficiencies in the health care system. But not when you consider that the system has grown from a point of necessity, rather than profit. Additionally, it has had more layers added with new medical advancements, new funding and more patients. It is natural that there would be areas for improvement. Dr. Paul Bach, an anesthesiologist at St. Pauls Hospitals heart centre, had something of an epiphany in his thinking about the medical system upon walking into the waiting room one day. There was one day where a number of things conspired against me and I came out to see a waiting room full of people and I had to organize them to come back later in the day. And it was at that point I realized that the system that we had just wasnt efficient, he said. In fact, as I thought more about it what I realized was our medical systems were never designed. They grew. And theyve sort of become cobbled together in bits and pieces.

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Bach was involved in an imPROVE project that aimed to reduce the waiting time for patients to be assessed before heart surgery. Before the project, patients were waiting an average of 71 minutes to see the proper doctor. After the project, that time was reduced to 15 minutes. We increased the number of cardiac patients we see by about 25 per cent, from 600 to more than 800, in one year, without increasing our staffing level or appointments all because we just got more efficient, he said. There have been lots of benefits, not just patient wait times. Its translated into seeing more patients, seeing them more efficiently and making their surgical journey a much safer one in the long run. (St. Pauls Hospital is not part of the Provincial Health Services Authority, but the heart centre was involved in an imPROVE project because the health authority administers and funds all cardiac services for the province, regardless of where theyre delivered.) Executives within the health authority talk eagerly about how imPROVE is part of a larger culture shift within the organization. Some skepticism The hope is that by placing the reins of change in the hands of front-line workers, they will feel empowered. By helping staff feel more empowered, the hope is that they will take increased ownership of their jobs. Theres a much higher level of satisfaction with staff, Gold said. Effectively, were getting the right care to the right child with the right set of resources, at the right time. Naturally, there was some skepticism and hesitancy about imPROVE when it was first rolled out in late 2007. But for those front-line workers who have been immersed in one of the workshops, its clear that these are not top-down initiatives. I would just say that I was very impressed, said Shalley, the pediatric ICU nurse. It was focussed on the patient and focussed on the people who are required to care for the patient. There is no end-date for the imPROVE process. The idea is to continually re-evaluate and redesign processes in all areas of the health authority, with improved efficiency and safety as the key objectives. Eventually, what we would hope is that five years from now, well be able to say, We made fewer medical errors and its because of this process, Christilaw said. aobrian@vancouversun.com
Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

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Can Lean Save Canadian Manufacturing?

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CAN LEAN SAVE CANADIAN MANUFACTURING?

Problems cannot be solved at the same level of awareness that created them
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By Jacob Stoller | February 24, 2009 When GM announced the imminent closing of its Oshawa, ON, truck plant last June, company executives blamed declining sales. As if to prove this point, many newspapers carried photos of car lots full of unsold SUVs and trucks. Theres another explanation for these rows of vehicles, howeverGM had created a huge inventory of products that nobody was willing to buy. This distinction, while it may sound trivial, is essential to the core of Lean. According to Lean, any manufacturer, whether it be an auto giant or a small job shop, should build only what customers want, when they want it, and at the best possible price. Everything else is waste. A Lean expert, looking at a photo of a car lot would not say that too few were sold, but that too many were produced. Lean, unfortunately, is not a magic bullet, and it would be a gross over-simplification to say that Lean is a cure-all for the ills of North American manufacturing. To its credit, GM, Ford, and Chrysler have used Lean methods extensively to cut costs and narrow the productivity gap between themselves and Japanese car manufacturers, but this hasnt been enough. Delphi, GMs auto parts spin-off, won numerous awards for its application of Lean methods, only to go bankrupt in 2005. Many Canadian metal shops use a number of Lean methods, and yet are still struggling. Lean, however, does offer a powerful vision for companies that need to reduce costs and improve quality in order to stay competitive. At a time when costs of fuel and materials, are rising, and Canada is competing with regions that have low labour costs, the practice of eliminating waste is likely to become a matter of survival. What Lean does in a nutshell, says Larry Cot, president and CEO of Lean Advisors Inc., is allow you to do more with less. Practicing Lean Lean methods like Kaizen and 5S are used frequently in Canada, but few companies are applying the Lean philosophy broadly to their businesses. People are taking it like another program, says Anders Nielsen, owner at Gardiner Nielsen Associates. Its like dieting. Heres your list of what you can eatjust follow it and youll get thin. Well, thats probably not true. You need to be more involved, you need to understand it, you need to live and breathe it. Theres no kind of quick and easy way to do this. One problem is the notion that Lean only applies to physical processes. If you look at just the shop floor, says Cot, youre only looking at a point in the system. You will find that up front, all the information communication flowstalking to the customer, deciding what the products going to look like design-wise and so onusually takes up most of the lead time. The manufacturing of the part is usually a smaller portion. Applying Lean to the entire product lifecycle involves a major mind shift for many companies. This means going back to the basic roots of the entire company, says Chao, which is what kind of products do you

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produce, how do you treat and relate with the customers, how do you produce the product, and how do you deliver the product. According to Michael Ewing, program director, Lean Six Sigma, Centre of Excellence at Schulich School of Business, this broader view needs to include all aspects of the business, including finance and partnerships. For a metal fabrication shop, Lean must be considered as a strategy versus just a series of activities, says Ewing. It requires looking back at the P&L and balance sheets and focusing on the elements of the business that are eating your lunch. Lean must be applied across the supply chain and practiced by your supply chain partnersone weak link, and the system fails. Cultural Barriers Lean relies heavily on input from those closest to the manufacturing processes. According to Nielsen, North American managers, used to a hierarchical style of management, often have difficulty seeing shop floor workers as problem solvers. We kind of believe that managers have all the answers, says Nielsen. In the consensus style of Japan, a manager isnt somebody with the answersits somebody with the right questions, the right strategy. The Japanese rely on individual people to understand the strategy and to apply it wherever they are working. Whereas in North America what I see is the average shop floor employee or lower management are simply saying tell me what to do and Ill do it to the best of my ability, but I dont really need or want to understand the business strategy. I just want to follow a program. As a result, North American manufacturers fail to build the kind of organizations they need to make sustainable long-term improvements. One of the primary reasons why were struggling in North America, says David Chao, president and founder at Lean Sensei International, is because Lean is being used as a tool to achieve certain cost reductions that go against the principles of Lean thinking. Instead of looking after the people, developing the talent, looking strategically at the right place to cut costs, reduce defects, and increase the flow, they say, okay, lets make a short term obvious cost reduction. So they cut the training, cut investment in people, close down the plant, reduce the work hours, etc. The benefits of these cuts are usually short lived, according to Chao, and errors and defects tend to subsequently arise. The worst part, however is that these measures effectively kill any culture of continuous improvement. People begin to associate Lean with layoffs, or Lean with cost reduction, says Chao, and the whole principle of Lean, which is developing people and constantly challenging them to do better, is out the window then. Because once people begin to associate lean with nothing more than cost cutting, why would they feel motivated to improve anything? They will say that if they improve their process by 10 per cent, then 10 per cent of their people could be let go a few weeks later. Theres no incentive for people to improve thenin fact, they may begin to resist and fight back any attempt to improve because they are no longer associating positive changes with Lean thinking. The most important factor is to ensure that people of all levels embrace Lean because they know that Lean makes the organization and people stronger, more motivated, and more customer-focused. Lean and Job Shops Many believe Lean works best in large, mass production environments, but doesnt scale well to job shops. Not so, says Ewing. Lean equally applies to job shops, and lead time reduction, which is an important element of Lean, becomes key. One of the challenges in job shops is that each order is different; the standardized approach to process and flow needs to be adapted flexibly. At the end of the day, there are always common, repeated tasks that are required for every job. There are certain processes that all product groups go through, says Cot. One of the things that job

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shops always think is that every product is a different product group. Its not. Every job shop we go into, they all have three or four product groups, and therefore they only have three or four value streams. Cot believes that with job shops, its the leaders, not the workers that have to make the most painful adjustments. Usually in the job shop theres an owner that runs the place and is the president and CEO, says Cot, and that person of course probably learned the trade back in the 1970s and 80s, and did what we all didapplied continuous improvement to different areas. The problem was that we didnt understand the whole system end to end. For Lean to make a real difference in Canadian manufacturing, there will have to be some fundamental rethinking on the part of many individuals who are nearing retirement, and who just came out of an era where, thanks to a low Canadian dollar and a booming US export market, flow and waste were not high priorities, and the motto for most was probably if it aint broke, dont fix it. Lean offers a real alternative for todays challenges. Its there if they want to do it, says Cot. The problem is do they really have the will and the passion to actually change? Cot is highly optimistic for those who opt to take the leap. This economic crisis is the best thing that could happen to Canada and the US. You watch. Because the real drivers of our economy are going to survive. The 21st century leaders are going to be the ones that are still around. This economic crisis is going to weed out the weak ones.

Rogers Publishing Ltd.

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The Florida Times-Union October 11, 2004 Lean is the word in the business world By GREGORY RICHARDS The Florida Times-Union Jerry Bussell has found what he believes is the key to manufacturing success. And now he wants to share it with the rest of the city. -------------------------------------------------Jerry Bussell, the vice president of global operations for Medtronic Xomed, is a big supporter of the lean philosophy, placing signs around the company to keep employees thinking "lean." Kaizen Corner is one of those signs, as kaizen means continuous improvement. JOHN PEMBERTON/The Times-Union ------------------------------------------------Five years ago, Bussell discovered lean production, a Japanese philosophy of removing wasteful actions and procedures that don't add value for the customer. He persuaded his bosses at Medtronic Xomed, a Southside manufacturer of products that treat ear, nose and throat diseases, to implement the system. The results wowed everyone involved: The system slashed production time and defect rates, saving the company tens of millions of dollars. And it made employees happier by allowing them to take charge of their work. "I had never seen such an integrated strategy that was simple, made sense, could be well understood and that you could drive the type of results that you could," said Bussell, Medtronic Xomed's vice president of global operations. "The speed that you could get improvement without spending a lot of money was just staggering to me." Although it is becoming the rage among some American businesses, most haven't made much progress with the strategy, which was developed by Toyota Motor Corp. in the 1950s. So, Bussell thought, why not help Jacksonville's businesses become "lean"? And why stop there? Last year, with assistance from the First Coast Manufacturers Association and WorkSource, a non-profit job-training organization, the Lean Consortium was born. Although there are a dozen lean consortiums in Canada and a handful in the United States, none strive to be as far-reaching. Besides transforming businesses, the group would like to see the theory's principles seep deep into government, schools and the culture of Jacksonville in hopes that the big payoff would be more jobs as companies are drawn to the region. Learning lean While in the first stages of bringing lean production to Medtronic Xomed, Bussell had some essential lean thinking terms painted on columns lining a walkway connecting two of the company's buildings. Executives would occasionally quiz workers about what they mean; right answers meant prizes like T-shirts and free lunches. --------------------------------------------------

Utilizing the lean manufacturing system, assembly line stations on the floor at Dura Automotive are designed around the workers, funneling parts within reach to minimize movements and increase productivity. JON M. FLETCHER/The Times-Union -------------------------------------------------Now, 15 other First Coast companies are learning what terms like muda, kanban, kaizen and value stream mapping are all about. The group ranges from CF Machine & Tool Inc., a 10-employee Westside machine part manufacturer, to cigar manufacturer Swisher International Inc. and the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, both with over 1,000 employees. Besides size and industry, the organizations are each at different levels of implementing lean thinking. To become a member, the companies have to make a three-year commitment to the consortium, and pay annual fees that range from about $500 to $2,000, depending on the firm's size. The consortium works in several ways. Monthly, it holds an "Introduction to Lean" class, and a focus group studies ways members can better organize their operations. Another monthly event is the "walk of shame," where attendees walk through a member's facility to point out processes needing improvement and to celebrate accomplishments. It also holds quarterly sessions about mapping business processes to allow companies to see inefficiencies. But increasingly, the companies are starting to look to each other for guidance as to how to transform their businesses, said Amy Erickson, the consortium's facilitator. A top lean thinking expert is advising the group. The consortium has hired David Chao, who travels from his base in Canada several times a year to visit First Coast companies. Cindy Hildebrand, CF Machine's president, said she wouldn't have been able to begin to make her business lean without the consortium. "I wouldn't have known where to begin," she said. "It's just been incredibly helpful having the support group." Lasting performance Business process reengineering. Total quality management. Taguchi methods.

-------------------------------------------------Medtronic Xomed assembly technician Kim Keo reaches for a part she needs to assemble a nerve integrity monitor in her pod. Several workers share space in the pod to start and finish the unit passing from one worker to the next. JOHN PEMBERTON/The Times-Union --------------------------------------------------

Over the years, manufacturers have seen plenty of systems designed to improve operations. Each has come and gone. Industry officials predict lean thinking has more permanence.

Art Smalley, a faculty member at the Lean Enterprise Institute, a Boston-based non-profit research and training organization, said he was "pessimistic" about lean production's future 10 years ago. "I didn't think American management could stay attuned to anything for more than a few years," he said. Now he thinks differently. "Toyota's been doing this since the 1950s. If they've been doing this for 50 years and nothing's displaced it, I think it'll be true for us." Lean production's holistic approach to improving quality, cost and delivery is "timeless," Smalley said. Previous methods focused on only a portion of those needs. About 55 percent of companies nationwide are involved in lean in some way, said David Drickhamer, an editor at trade magazine IndustryWeek. But, he said, many of those companies are just getting started or had stalled in their efforts. The practice is much more widespread in other countries, said Chao, the Canadian lean expert. In Japan, and in Canada, for instance, there are many consortiums focused on lean, he said. In the United States, such groups are very few. "That's probably because the U.S. mentality is very competitive," Chao said. "They don't want to share ideas and leverage with other companies. They're afraid they're going to lose their competitive advantage." In Japan, he said, competitors share information freely because they believe it will help the entire industry. Not embracing lean quickly means great risk for companies, given heightening global competition. "Lean is the standard now -- it is no longer an option," Chao said. "Either you become lean and use lean methods or you say goodbye to your future." Companies that have fully embraced lean have shown spectacular results. But reaching that level is not easy, and it's an unrelenting process, say industry officials. Medtronic Xomed, for example, one of the First Coast companies farthest along in implementing lean thinking, has used the philosophy to turbocharge its operations. The company has moved assembly areas right into the warehouse, eliminating the need to shuttle parts and finished goods all about the complex. It compressed work areas into "cells" with one worker within arms' length of another, making it easy to correct any problems. And they've given employees the authority to control how products are built, with the management staff acting as coaches. "Who knows how to do the job better than the people who are doing it?" Bussell said. "We don't know. We don't do these things." Medtronic Xomed's efforts have earned it two of the manufacturing industry's biggest awards: The 2002 Best Plants award from IndustryWeek and the 2003 Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing, which has been described as the "Nobel prize of manufacturing." Its success got its parent company, Medtronic Inc., a Minneapolis-based company with $9 billion in revenue, to adopt lean.

Powered by lean processes, Toyota has become the world's second-largest automaker, behind General Motors Corp. And in its fiscal year that ended in March, it reported a profit of nearly $11 billion -- more than General Motors, Ford Motor Co. and DaimlerChrysler Corp.'s earnings combined. "I've never seen anybody who's really serious about implementing lean who doesn't get very positive results," said Peter Ward, chair of the management sciences department at Ohio State University. Sure, cutting waste sounds easy. But doing it right -- and doing it constantly -- is a lot of work. Among the challenges companies face when implementing lean: Getting top management to commit to it; converting staff members in middle-management jobs from bosses to coaches; and dedicating time and money to employee training. "If you're tough enough to do it, you gain a competitive advantage," said Ward, who has done awardwinning research on lean production. "Because it's hard work, it's hard to duplicate." But the hard work required to get a company to think lean involves brain power, not brawn, Bussell said. "Part of lean is making people's jobs safe and easy. We don't want people working faster -- we just want them working steady at the right pace. If we want them to do more, then we have to improve the process." There's also no end point, for there's always waste to trim. "It's almost like putting a brand new pair of glasses on after years and years. And all of a sudden you can see things -- you can see waste -- that you've never seen before," Bussell said. Lean Jacksonville The Lean Consortium's goal is to get the entire city thinking lean. Bussell, who speaks passionately about lean, said he envisions several lean consortiums in Jacksonville. Maybe one focused on small businesses. Another on banking and yet another directed to non-profits. Already, four companies are on a waiting list for a second consortium. Once 12 to 15 companies sign up, an additional consortium will be formed, said Erickson, the consortium's facilitator. Eventually, Jacksonville's public schools may teach lean thinking, just as in Japan, where schoolchildren are taught the principles of teamwork and self-reliance, Bussell said. First Coast colleges would offer courses on it and it would become a fundamental part of city government. Already, JEA and the Sheriff's Office have begun implementing lean. "It becomes part of the DNA of Jacksonville," he said. "We are the best. God, we have so much going for us in the city, such progressive leaders and people who are so dynamic. I just need to get this in the hands of some people who will run with it." Bussell said he has casually mentioned the idea to Mayor John Peyton, John Fryer, superintendent of Duval County Public Schools, and Steven Wallace, president of Florida Community College at Jacksonville. Wallace, in particular, Bussell said, "seemed really enthusiastic about it." "You have to plant seeds. That's what I'm trying to do -- plant these seeds."

It could be a brand for the region, just like North Carolina's Research Triangle Park and California's Silicon Valley, said Lad Daniels, president of the First Coast Manufacturers Association and a member of Jacksonville's City Council. Already, Bussell has trademarked the term "LeanJax" and registered a Web site of the same name. Jerry Mallot, the executive vice president of the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce, said a lean Jacksonville would aid efforts to draw companies to Northeast Florida in two ways: By showing that the city is on the forefront of management techniques, and by demonstrating the preparedness of the workforce. "It's definitely an element that makes us more attractive, and that companies appreciate and understand," said Mallot, who is the city's point person on attracting businesses. Story by: gregory.richardsjacksonville.com, (904) 359-4649 This story can be found on Jacksonville.com at http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/101104/bus_16863653.shtml. Lean Consortium members Ameritape Inc. -- specialty tape distributor Atlantic Marine Inc. -- shipyard CF Machine & Tool Inc. -- machine part manufacturer Crane Resistoflex -- hydraulic component system manufacturer Dura Automotive Systems Inc. -- automobile parking brake manufacturer Florida Custom Marble -- cultured marble products manufacturer Enkei Florida Inc. -- aluminum wheel manufacturer Goodrich Corp. -- composite and acoustical components manufacturer Jacksonville Sheriff's Office JEA -- utility Kaman Aerospace Corp. -- aircraft structural component manufacturer Medtronic Xomed -- specialized surgical product manufacturer Naval Aviation Depot -- military aircraft repair and refitting REDD Team Manufacturing -- aluminum ramp and stair manufacturer Swisher International Inc. -- cigar manufacturer

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