Lean Implementation Strategies and Tactics 401
Chapter 19. Lean Implementation Strategies and Tactics 401
project approach.” It was kaizen upon kaizen relentlessly. Flow was created but mostly locally within cells. There were a few kanban sys- tems that had been set up prior to this radical year, but the main focus of Digirolamo was on stability and cells. There was a clear bias for action, radical changes were made fast, skeptics were convinced in the plant and in other Tenneco plants, and the results were obvious. Table 19-2 summarizes the results. This plant’s success also got the attention of the CEO, who raised the priority of lean implementation. On the other hand, in terms of our implementation spiral (the contin- uous improvement cycle shown in Figure 3-4, Chapter 3) just part of one loop—stabilize, create flow, standardize—had been made across the entire plant. There was much work to be done to get to true Toyota Production System (TPS) anyplace in the plant.
Total head count
Salaried head count
Direct labor efficiency
Total labor productivity
Inventory $ on hand
Inventory total dollars $5 million extra cash Floor space (on 200,000 sq. ft.)
8% freed up External ppm (not focus)
638 to 44 (−93%) Lead time
Quality & delivery 2002 Toyota Award Table 19-2. Smithville Lean Performance, 2001 One-Year Improvements
As we will see in phase two of this case presented later in the chapter, the plant made little progress in the next three years in lean, and some systems actually degraded. At this point they took a value stream approach and started with a model line. The current state map that reflected all of the kaizen improvements showed a bunch of push, welding cells, a bunch of push, more welding cells, and a lot of inventory. A future state map was developed and changes were implemented, resulting in another huge step up in performance. By itself, the radical kaizen events turned the plant around and greatly improved performance, but they did not lead to a sustainable culture change and did not drive true connected flow.
T HE T OYOTA W AY F IELDBOOK
The kaizen project approach uses several specifically selected lean tools to address the exact process improvement purpose. Many of the problem-solving methods described in Chapter 13 are process improvement approaches. In that chapter we noted there are approaches to solving small, medium, and large problems. The medium problems are typically addressed by kaizen events or as Six Sigma projects outside of Toyota, as depicted in Figure 13-2 in that chapter. And Tables 13-1 to 13-3 show a variety of different approaches that Toyota uses for process improvement projects, including various types of cross-functional teams, Quality Circles, work groups under a group leader, and others. Depending on the project, these can be handled in different ways. It might be a very formal project assigned to a cross-functional team. It could be an assignment to an engineer who will pull together an ad hoc team. It could be a kaizen activity done by a work group with little outside help.
There are some common characteristics of these process improvement activ- ities at Toyota:
1. They are generally driven by hoshin kanri (policy deployment) objectives for the site that are linked to the site improvement objectives, which are linked to improvement objectives all the way up to the president of the company.
2. The process improvement project follows the steps described in Chapters 13 to 17. Ultimately, it will look like the problem-solving A3 report described in Chapter 18. It may be displayed on a board or a wall or actually on an A3 report, but all the elements will be included (problem statement, improve- ment objectives, alternatives considered, selected alternatives, justification, results, additional actions to be taken).
3. It will follow the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle.
4. It will be part of an organizational learning process, with key learning shared across the organization.