Training Within Industry

Lean Nation Radio Show Debuts November 9, 2009

2009-11-09T12:14:00.005-05:00

Today is the debut of what may be the first live radio show that is built on the topic of Lean. At the 2008 NE Shingo Prize, Karl Wadensten's delivered a passionate message to a captivated audience about the kaizen he led at VIBCO, Inc. in Rhode Island. It seems he has stepped up the effort to "yokoten" with others about Lean!

I'm not sure what will become of this, but I will be listening today at 4 pm to find out.

The Lean Leadership Industry

2009-11-04T05:48:00.001-05:00

- "Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten."

B. F. Skinner

That quote helps explain one reason why tens of thousands of books have been written on the topic of leadership and lean has become its own little cottage industry.

Sure, some people are born natural leaders, but for the vast majority of us, leadership isn't in our genes. This is why leadership should be viewed as a skill: if you don't use it, you will lose it.

Or we get frustrated and impatient, forgetting the fundamentals and seek other rehashed information that has been spun a different way that we might relate to.

Education doesn't solve problems or lead people, people do. This helps explain why the TWI J-skills are called skills, by practicing daily, we have a chance to convert the knowledge we acquire in the sessions into a skill. Use it or lose it!

I suppose the same could be said for many things in life...

A Perfect Lean Article in USAToday

2009-11-02T22:04:00.005-05:00

The title link will take you to the full article...

Leansters always say to NEVER lay off people as a result of improvements. The article predictably dances around this dogma - you may be wanting a nice, clean and tidy explanation of why Lean should never lead to layoffs, but you won't find it here:

"In the short term, as manufacturers slash inventories and reduce their workforces, the recovery could be slowed or delayed, experts say. Many, such as Sealy, are scaling back through attrition and cutting temporary staff rather than resorting to layoffs.
Yet industry wide, some jobs will be lost permanently as manufacturers use their new cost efficiencies to wring more output from fewer employees, says Cliff Waldman, an economist at the Manufacturers Alliance, which does research for the industry. But by allowing U.S. manufacturers to better compete against low-cost rivals abroad, the maneuvers are helping them maintain profits and ultimately hire employees, economists say."

"It's survival," Waldman goes on to say, "Our response to the cost pressures brought about by globalization is … to produce cheaper and more efficiently."

And the magic metric responds accordingly:

"'manufacturing productivity, or output per labor hour, rose 4.9% in the second quarter, the highest since early 2005', traced to lean-manufacturing techniques."

So what is good for Wall St. (productivity) is not so good for Main St. (loss of jobs). This was probably one of the more favorable Lean articles, but like many before it, the message is conflicted...but shouldn't it be? I predict that you may see some critical reviews of this article on the lean blogging posts today...defender's of the lean principles telling all of us how the rest of the world doesn't understand lean.

We are all learning, so be careful about seeking the Perfect Cinderella Lean Story...that may signal the end of the journey. Toyota's story is full of conflict, contradictions and put simply - problems. Their story is far from perfect and yet it continues. So why should we expect something different for our situation?