Roots of Lean
John Bicheno Lean Enterprise Research Centre Cardiff Business School What this talk is NOT
A history of Lean or TPS
LERC Conference, 2008 Some believe Lean started with The Machine.. in 1990, but Schonberger, World Class Hall, Zero Inventories, Manufacturing, 1986 1983 – Faster, Higher, Stronger – Basic concepts – Line operators – Results – Staff as supporting actors – Identifying problems – Overstated role of capital – Planning to execute a level – Economy of multiples schedule – Responsibility Centres – Converting for flow and – Quality: Zeroing in flexibility – – Design leverage Flow balancing – – Partners in Profit: Suppliers Quality systems – – Simple Models, Simple Product design Systems – Supplier networks – Managing the Transformation – Planning and measurement – Strategy revealed – Implementing .. – .. And manufacturing strategy
LERC Conference, 2008 Schonberger on Production History Schonberger, in a 2006 article, traces the development of production including Quality, Maintenance, and Manufacturing in Japan He concludes by saying that, although there were huge early gains, Japanese industry in general has not kept up with the state of the art in production management. But, he says, there were three significant effects of Japanese manufacturing: – JIT/TQC brought a holistic, rather than silo, orientation – It was a wake up call on the necessity for continual improvement and training – It provided a proven counter to trade off theories that were just becoming popular in the 1980s.
LERC Conference, 2008 What this talk IS
Some anecdotes and refutations on the road to ‘Lean’ and in particular to improvement Why Because I am fascinated by the evolution and the distortion of ‘Lean’ ideas.
LERC Conference, 2008 The word ‘Lean’
Although the English word Lean was first used in the MIT studies, the idea was based on the Japanese word ‘genryou’ meaning ‘reduced weight, ‘dieting’, slim down’
LERC Conference, 2008 Myths and Truths about Toyota
Ohno’s supermarket system’ (also known as the Ohno System) was the idea of making the customer go to the ‘store’ to buy. He built this and other concepts on the work of predecessors, particularly Kiichiro QuickTime™ and a Toyoda. decompressor are needed to see this picture. Kiichiro Toyoda developed the concept to ‘everyday make the necessary items in the necessary quantity’ in 1937. He wrote the first manual on what was to become TPS. TWI was Toyota’s first management and supervisor development program. Ohno’s original phrase for what became TPS was “Profit Based
Industrial Engineering” QuickTime™ and a decompressor Ohno battled for years to get his ideas accepted. For instance are needed to see this picture. changeover reduction failed and was brought in only after a successful implementation in Brazil Ohno was a big shouter, particularly with supervisors. He did NOT use ‘Socratic’ methods. Shop floor TPS was essentially developed during the 1950’s and early 60’s. Work in other areas took place after this. Shingo did not invent SMED
LERC Conference, 2008 Antecedants: Time and Parts
The Venetian Arsenal? Lenses and Clocks Interchangeable parts (LeBlanc, 1750s)
David Landes, The Wealth and Poverty of Nations, Little Brown, 1998
LERC Conference, 2008 Antecedents: Location
The British industrial innovators Hawthorne Works (Mayo, Shewart, Deming, Juran) Taylor, Gilbreth, TWI in New Jersey Toyota City
LERC Conference, 2008 Improvement: The Philosophy
LERC Conference, 2008 Toyota Founding Concepts…
First published in 1859 ‘The spirit of self help is the root of all genuine growth in the individual; and, exhibited in the lives of many, it constitutes the true source of national vigor and strength’ By learning to be more efficient, employees could improve the quality of their own lives and those of co-workers. They could also improve the quality of life for the people who used the products they made, which were consequently of more use and value. ‘The greatest results in life are usually attained by the exercise of ordinary qualities… they who are the most persistent, and work with the truest spirit, will usually be the most successful.’ It is the only book on display at Sakichi Toyoda’s birthplace
LERC Conference, 2008 The Influence of Smiles…
Some Chapters Self Help - many great mean of humble origins, and self taught Leaders and inventors - who learned by doing and observation The Potters - searching for the secrets Application and perseverance - ‘genius is patience’ Helps and opportunities - Watt, Brunel, Newton, Priestly - observing with intelligence (at gemba) Artists - wealth not the ruling motive Energy and courage - the force of purpose, and promptitude of action - Wellington, Napoleon, Dr Livingstone Men of Business - attention to detail, economy of time, accuracy, punctuality - Wordsworth, Shakespeare, Walter Scott, Dr Johnson Money - living within means, frugality, riches no proof of wealth, independence attainable
LERC Conference, 2008 ‘Innovations are rarely dramatic breakthroughs…but
..rather small improvements in a new process or product in which genuine novelty and imitation-with- a-difference shade imperceptibly into one another’ (from Mark Blaug) and ‘Generally, inventions come from the operatives’ (from House of Lords, Select Committee, 1851) and ‘every invention we have made and patented has been the invention of overlookers, or ordinary working men, or skilled working mechanics, in every instance’ (from A.J. Mundella a Nottingham manufacturer)
All quoted in Terence Kealey Sex, Science and Profits, Heinemann, 2008 …developing the steam engine…
Newcomen’s, an ironmonger but with knowledge of the needs of Devon mines, developed his ideas through 10 years of exhaustive experimentation (NOT using the theories of academics or scientists e.g. Boyle) ..Watt followed, repairing Newcomen engines, whilst working as a lab technician at Glasgow University, and hence away from the restrictions of the Guilds (NOT using Black’s theories) ..Trevithick, with a primary education only, improved and lightened Watt’s engine, and built the world’s first steam locomotive ..and Stephenson, also unschooled, built the Rocket which was lighter than Trevithick’s, enabling it to run on cast iron rails…. Quoted from Terence Kealey Sex, Science and Profits, Heinemann, 2008
LERC Conference, 2008 Kealey concludes that it was….
Innovation (by Trial and Error), Observation, Market Need, and NOT research…
‘in the beginning, there was need’ Ohno
LERC Conference, 2008 Improvement: Standard Work
‘Without standards there can be no improvement’ (Ohno, TPS)
LERC Conference, 2008 Waste and Standard Work
Napoleonic Royal Navy Gun Crews
LERC Conference, 2008 Standard Work
In Workplace Management, Ohno tells of his frustration in converting the Machine Shop at Koromo Plant to his methods. He had little success for 8 years. Then in the 1950s TWI arrived at Toyota. Ohno immediately adopted and implemented TWI methods becoming a TWI trainer Today, TWI methods remain in Toyota: – Job Instruction is virtually unchanged – Job Methods have been modified - twice - but the foundations remain – Job Relations: TWI methods have been dropped, but the essential responsibilities of TWI-type supervision remain
LERC Conference, 2008 From Jim Huntzinger,’TWI Case Study: Ohno’s Vehicle to TPS’, TWI Summit, 2008 Quotes
‘To my amazement, the program that Toyota was going to great expense to transfer to NUMMI, was exactly that which the Americans had taught the Japanese decades before’ (Shook) ‘You will not become Lean by doing TWI, but you will not become Lean without doing TWI’ (Huntzinger)
Quoted in Jim Huntzinger,’TWI Case Study: Ohno’s Vehicle to TPS’, TWI Summit, 2008
LERC Conference, 2008 What TWI Learned about sustainability (1940-1945) A set plan needs to be agreed beforehand Training is useless without participation Managers need to be involved (‘only when senior management understands, sponsors, participates, and demands results..’) Supervisors are key Results and problems need to be recorded 5 x 2hr is much, much better than 1x10hr
From Donald Dinero, Training within Industry: The Foundation of Lean, Productivity, 2005
LERC Conference, 2008 What TWI taught Toyota (or reinforced) Job Methods have an important role in developing Kaizen Going to the source, observing in detail, learning by doing TWI ‘taught the scientific, rational approach to the Japanese’ Taylor > TWI > Toyota > The West W & J quote teamwork as ‘the heart of the Lean Factory’ and TWI taught the importance of Team Leaders and Supervisors. Hence Toyota’s small span of control
LERC Conference, 2008 Improvement: Cycles
LERC Conference, 2008 Cycles
(Maybe) F W Taylor’s Plan, Do, See Shewart’s PDCA Deming taught the Shewart cycle to the Japanese in the 1950s as part of his System Feedback diagram PDSA (Deming’s New Economics) Joiner and Scholtes: CAPDo Seddon: ‘Check, Plan, Do’ Six Sigma: DMAIC
LERC Conference, 2008 Scientific Method
1. Define the question 2. Gather information and resources (observe) F1? 3. Form hypothesis 4. Perform experiment and collect data 5. Analyze data 6. Interpret data and draw conclusions that serve as a starting point for new hypothesis 7. Publish results 8. Retest (frequently done by other scientists) Wikipedia on Scientific Method Simplified by Shewart and Deming for practical understanding - but often said is was simplified
LERC Conference, 2008 Improvement: The Gemba
LERC Conference, 2008 Improvement at ‘Gemba’
Hawthorne studies
LERC Conference, 2008 Improvement: Waste and Flow
‘Muda, Muri, Mura’ Goldratt Hopp and Spearman
LERC Conference, 2008 Leavitt on Ford QuickTime™ and a decompressor What came First? are needed to see this picture. ‘Ford was both the most brilliant and the most senseless marketer in American history. He was senseless because he refused to give the customer anything but a black car. He was brilliant because he fashioned a production system designed to fit market needs. We habitually celebrate him for the wrong reason: for his production genius. His real genius was marketing. We think he was able to cut his selling price and therefore sell millions of $500 cars because his invention of the assembly line had reduced the costs. Actually, he invented the assembly line because he had concluded that at $500 he could sell millions of cars. Mass production was the result, not the cause, of his low prices.…’ Theodore Levitt, ‘Marketing Myopia’, Harvard Business Review, July / Aug 1960
LERC Conference, 2008 Queuing
Original work of Queuing done by Erlang in 1909, but developed by Oxbridge professor David Kendall in 1953
LERC Conference, 2008 Expected Lead Time (Kingman’s (1961) Equation)
2 2 = 1/2.te.(C a + C e). (ρ / (1- ρ)) + te
Where
te is the average processing time ta is the average interarrival time ρ is utilization = te / ta 2 2 2 2 2 2 C a = σ a/t a and C e= σ e/t e 2 σ a is the variance of inter arrival time 2 σ e is the variance of the processing time
LERC Conference, 2008 Queue Time, Variation and Utilization
High variation High uncertainty leadtime Moderate variation Some uncertainty Zero variation
Utilisation ρ 100%
LERC Conference, 2008 The Equation of Lean (?)
2 2 Lead Time = 1/2.te.(C a + C e). (ρ / (1- ρ)) + te
Relates to Relates to Relates to Utilization smoothing the reducing (Where high = flow of work the variation Overload) (Heijunka) of the process (Muri) (Mura)
LERC Conference, 2008 ..and it follows that…
Load _ Capacity = Gap
Value Failure + Work + Waste Demand Demand And, because of variation the gap should be a little negative
LERC Conference, 2008 Forgotten? ‘Not Toyota’ (?)
Goldratt Hopp and Spearman
But 5000 copies of The Goal distributed to Toyota executives in 2000
LERC Conference, 2008 Improvement: But Beware!
LERC Conference, 2008 Poor Decision Practices (1): ‘Casual’ Benchmarking A tendency to copy the most visible, obvious, but frequently least important practices ‘We have been benchmarking the wrong things. Instead of copying what others do, we ought to copy how they think’ Companies have different strategies, different competitive environments, different business models, all of which make what they need to do to be successful, different. Copying Toyota’s Andon, copying Southwest’s dress code….? Why not copy Herb Kelleher’s partiality to bourbon whiskey?
After Jeffrey Pffer and Robert Sutton, ‘Hard Facts, LERC Conference, 2008 Dangerous Half - truths & Total Nonsense’, HBS Press Questions prior to Benchmarking’ type activities
Is the success you observe due to the practice you seek to emulate? Why is a particular practice linked to performance improvement? (If you can’t explain this, you are probably copying something irrelevant or damaging!) What are the disadvantages of implementing the practice, even if it is a good idea? What is the organization being benchmarked doing that you can’t see?
After Jeffrey Pffer and Robert Sutton, ‘Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-truths & Total Nonsense’, HBS Press
LERC Conference, 2008 Conclusions
Continual rediscovery – Building on the best we have found thus far Critical adaptation – Ohno’s reservations about adopting TPS Not dogmatic or arrogant – Remember Smiles Look back to look forward – Don’t reinvent, build
LERC Conference, 2008 Roots of Lean
John Bicheno Lean Enterprise Research Centre Cardiff Business School Selected References Robert Kanigel, The One Best Way, Little Brown, 1997 Terence Kealey, Sex, Science and Politics, Heinemann, 2008 David Landes, The Wealth and Poverty of Nations, Little Brown, 1998 Shigeo Shingo, Kaizen and the Art of Creative Thinking - The Scientific Thinking Mechanism, Productivity, 2007 David Magee, How Toyota Became No 1, Portfolio, 2007 Edwin Reingold, Toyota: People, Ideas and the Challenge of the New, Penguin, 1999 Taiichi Ohno, Toyota Production System, Productivity Press, 1988 Taiichi Ohno, Workplace Management, Gemba Press, 2002 Samuel Smiles, Self Help, Oxford, 2002 (first published 1859) Art Smalley, ‘Eiji Toyoda on the Roots of TPS’, www.artoflean.com Art Smalley, ‘The Legacy of Dr Shingo and his influence on TPS’, www.artoflean.com Wallace Hopp and Mark Spearman, ‘To Pull or Not to Pull: What Is the Question?’, Manufacturing and Service Operations Management, v6n2, Spring 2004 Richard Schonberger, ‘Japanese Production Management: An evolution - with mixed success’, Jnl of Operations Management, 2006 Kevin J. Watson, John H. Blackstone, Stanley C. Gardiner, ‘The evolution of a management philosophy: The theory of constraints’, Jnl of Operations Management, 2006 John Bicheno, ‘A Lean Chronology’ in The New Lean Toolbox, PICSIE, 2004 Donald Dinero, Training within Industry: The Foundation of Lean, Productivity, 2005 Anon, ‘The Miracle of Turin’, The Economist, April 26, 2008, p23 Lloyd Provost and Clifford Norman, Variation through the Ages, Quality Progress, December 1990, p 39-44