This post is a continuation from this post here.
Principle 9. Grow Leaders Who Thoroughly Understand the Work, Live the Philosophy, and Teach It to Others.
If Toyota considers the culture being one of the most important elements inside TPS, it becomes obvious the importance of having leaders who truly understand it. Toyota's leaders are developed inside and not brought from outside. Toyota want someone who is familiar with the culture. They want someone who can understand how the work is done in the line. And they want someone who is committed to pass the culture to the people he leads.
Another important aspect of Toyota leadership is regarding the leader presence. Toyota believes that the leaders should be always present in gemba. Gemba is translated as "the real place". Toyota leaders all practice genchi gembutsu or the "go-and-see" art. This is about leaders and managers to be present in the place where the product is being developed. It is said that new leaders in Toyota are taken to a place in the line, and a chalk circle is drawn in the floor. Than he/she is asked for the new manager to stay in that circle and observe. Hours later, someone will come and ask him, what did he see. This is a common way in Toyota to teach the importance of gemba.
Also it is expected from leaders full understanding of the processes and the work, making it very difficult to hire an external leader. Leaders in Toyota often interacts with their workers, and it is not unusual inside Toyota for a leader to cover a worker in his absence.
Principle 10. Develop Exceptional People and Teams Who Follows your Company's Philosophy
In order to achieve development of teams one must first consider what is the role of leadership.
The main role of a leader inside TPS is to sustain the development of Lean thinking inside the company. It is done by coaching and by example, from the highest levels of leadership to the team leader in the line. The leaders, aside from their work responsibilities, have to coach and help to spread the Toyota culture into the company. It is a common attribution every leadership position comes with in Toyota.
The hiring process in Toyota also worth mention. It focus on identifying in the candidates characteristics that are align with the company's values. It is a three-stage process that includes a job fair and several interviews. This kind of effort ensures that the new hired person have the potential to develop himself inside the company's culture and values.
After the job offer, a new hire receives instruction on the culture and TPS. Until the individuals and teams really understands the culture and TPS, they are not in a position to be empowered. The road for a team development is usually long. Toyota understands that groups have to develop over time and are not able to jump right into functional efficient work.
Another contrast TPS presents when compared with traditional models is regarding of where the problems are solved. TPS understands that problem solving is a responsibility of the working groups and leadership should act as facilitators for this process. The reason behind this approach is the familiarity with the process and the eventual problems that the working groups have, placing them in an optimal position to improve process and solve any related issues. This also empowers the workers to contribute with kaizen or continuous improvement.
Principle 11. Find Solid Partners and Grow Together to Mutual Benefit in the Long Term.
In many business, the quality of your partners and suppliers will be a determinant factor into the quality of your product. Toyota recognizes this statement and always aims for long term relationships with its partners and suppliers.
If it is normal for your company to undergo a complex hiring process to ensure that your workers will be aligned with the company's culture, then why it should be any different when selecting partners and suppliers ?
Toyota usually considers new suppliers with caution and normally test them with small orders to determine quality and commitment. It is not unusual for Toyota managers to visit new suppliers lines in order to evaluate their processes and work. Also Toyota will teach new suppliers and partners about TPS and the Toyota Way. A partner or supplier is part of the Toyota family and as such have the same expectancies and opportunities as a regular employee. Once a partnership is established, it is very difficult to be ruptured.
Principle 12. Go and See for Yourself to Thoroughly Understand the Situation (Genchi Gembutsu)
Fugio Cho was the first president of the Toyota's Georgetown, Kentucky's plant. It is said that frequently he would be found in the line, observing the teams working. Workers and managers would say that he would be really focused on the line, staring, in a trance like mode. After some time he would break focus, say good morning to people around and get back to his office. It was not unusual for a request from the president's office to come later in the day, requesting to tight a process or to correct the flow in the area. This is what Toyota call Genchi Gembutsu or go-and-see.
Leaders in Toyota understand that the most important place for them to be was the production line, or Gemba (the real place). Gemba is the place where value is added. It's the place where continuous improvement or Kaizen happens. It is the heart of TPS.
Another famous story tells that a group of Toyota managers would be visiting a possible new supplier in US. The supplier team scheduled a full day of presentations about their product with the sales team and other managers. When they arrive in the site, they asked to go directly to the production line. The sales team insisted to have them going to the presentation first, but they shown little interest, insisting into going directly to the line. Once they got to the line, they stay there, staring at the workers and the machines for some time. Then, they turned to the sales managers and said that unfortunately it would not be possible to conduct business with them. This is how serious Toyota considers Gechi Gembutsu.
Principle 13. Make Decisions Slowly by Consensus, Thoroughly Considering All Options; Implement Rapidly.
Decisions are, without any doubt, an important part of any business. The way business make their decision varies from company to company, business to business. Toyota decision process is slow and usually requires a significant amount of work, research and discussion. Toyota collects all possible data on a subject before making a decision. Although this is a costly process, it has been proven quite efficient and fundamental for TPS. Decision making have five major elements:
Principle 14. Become a Learning Organization Through Relentless Reflection (Hansei) and continuous improvement (Kaizen)
Learning to learn is a big thing inside Toyota. They achieve it by merging standardization and innovation, two concepts often regarded as opposite, into a functional methodology. By standardizing the processes, it creates a environment where improvement thru innovation is possible.
The key element for this is employee empowerment. Allowing individual and team innovation to be spread into the organization in the form of a standard. Standardization punctuated by innovation which leads to new standards.
Problem solving is one place where standardization meets innovation to generate new standards. When studying a new problem in a process, the flow usually starts by gathering more information about the situation. Many times this is done using Genchi Gembutsu. The next stage is focused into finding the real problem. This is often done asking repeatedly the question why? Why A happened? Because of B. Why B happened ? Because of C...repeat until you find the fundamental issue. Apply countermeasure. Observe how the countermeasure behaves to fix the problem. Repeat until satisfactory. Standardize.
Inside this method, hides two important aspects of the TPS culture: hansei and kaizen.
Hansei is the self-reflection. It pictures the ability of looking inside (to self) and identify what is wrong. In quality, this is of paramount importance, once it is impossible to solve a problem you don't acknowledge. It is said, in Toyota that no problem is a problem. There is a story of a senior director from Toyota who was visiting a plant in the US. After a few days, the director asked the local plant manager how many times did they stopped the line (because of problems). The manager say that it was a good thing that they did not had any problems, and so the line did not had to be stopped. The Toyota director replied to the manager "no problem is a problem".
Only through hansei, kaizen can exists. This is a very strong statement that means "there is no improvement without identifying first what needs to be improved". So, in TPS, find your weakness will enable you to improve. And the way to improve is through kaizen.
Kaizen, as described in this post, is the constant search for improvement. The literate translation would be continuous improvement, and it is at the core of the TPS.
These last three posts:
They form the theory base from what we will explore in this blog in future, more practical posts based on my experiences. I hope I was able to touch each concept in a way that is not boring or tedious (although I might have failed). What I can promise, is that the next posts will be more practical and less conceptual. I hope you guys are still there...
Principle 9. Grow Leaders Who Thoroughly Understand the Work, Live the Philosophy, and Teach It to Others.
If Toyota considers the culture being one of the most important elements inside TPS, it becomes obvious the importance of having leaders who truly understand it. Toyota's leaders are developed inside and not brought from outside. Toyota want someone who is familiar with the culture. They want someone who can understand how the work is done in the line. And they want someone who is committed to pass the culture to the people he leads.
Another important aspect of Toyota leadership is regarding the leader presence. Toyota believes that the leaders should be always present in gemba. Gemba is translated as "the real place". Toyota leaders all practice genchi gembutsu or the "go-and-see" art. This is about leaders and managers to be present in the place where the product is being developed. It is said that new leaders in Toyota are taken to a place in the line, and a chalk circle is drawn in the floor. Than he/she is asked for the new manager to stay in that circle and observe. Hours later, someone will come and ask him, what did he see. This is a common way in Toyota to teach the importance of gemba.
Also it is expected from leaders full understanding of the processes and the work, making it very difficult to hire an external leader. Leaders in Toyota often interacts with their workers, and it is not unusual inside Toyota for a leader to cover a worker in his absence.
Principle 10. Develop Exceptional People and Teams Who Follows your Company's Philosophy
In order to achieve development of teams one must first consider what is the role of leadership.
The main role of a leader inside TPS is to sustain the development of Lean thinking inside the company. It is done by coaching and by example, from the highest levels of leadership to the team leader in the line. The leaders, aside from their work responsibilities, have to coach and help to spread the Toyota culture into the company. It is a common attribution every leadership position comes with in Toyota.
The hiring process in Toyota also worth mention. It focus on identifying in the candidates characteristics that are align with the company's values. It is a three-stage process that includes a job fair and several interviews. This kind of effort ensures that the new hired person have the potential to develop himself inside the company's culture and values.
After the job offer, a new hire receives instruction on the culture and TPS. Until the individuals and teams really understands the culture and TPS, they are not in a position to be empowered. The road for a team development is usually long. Toyota understands that groups have to develop over time and are not able to jump right into functional efficient work.
Another contrast TPS presents when compared with traditional models is regarding of where the problems are solved. TPS understands that problem solving is a responsibility of the working groups and leadership should act as facilitators for this process. The reason behind this approach is the familiarity with the process and the eventual problems that the working groups have, placing them in an optimal position to improve process and solve any related issues. This also empowers the workers to contribute with kaizen or continuous improvement.
Principle 11. Find Solid Partners and Grow Together to Mutual Benefit in the Long Term.
In many business, the quality of your partners and suppliers will be a determinant factor into the quality of your product. Toyota recognizes this statement and always aims for long term relationships with its partners and suppliers.
If it is normal for your company to undergo a complex hiring process to ensure that your workers will be aligned with the company's culture, then why it should be any different when selecting partners and suppliers ?
Toyota usually considers new suppliers with caution and normally test them with small orders to determine quality and commitment. It is not unusual for Toyota managers to visit new suppliers lines in order to evaluate their processes and work. Also Toyota will teach new suppliers and partners about TPS and the Toyota Way. A partner or supplier is part of the Toyota family and as such have the same expectancies and opportunities as a regular employee. Once a partnership is established, it is very difficult to be ruptured.
Principle 12. Go and See for Yourself to Thoroughly Understand the Situation (Genchi Gembutsu)
Fugio Cho was the first president of the Toyota's Georgetown, Kentucky's plant. It is said that frequently he would be found in the line, observing the teams working. Workers and managers would say that he would be really focused on the line, staring, in a trance like mode. After some time he would break focus, say good morning to people around and get back to his office. It was not unusual for a request from the president's office to come later in the day, requesting to tight a process or to correct the flow in the area. This is what Toyota call Genchi Gembutsu or go-and-see.
Leaders in Toyota understand that the most important place for them to be was the production line, or Gemba (the real place). Gemba is the place where value is added. It's the place where continuous improvement or Kaizen happens. It is the heart of TPS.
Another famous story tells that a group of Toyota managers would be visiting a possible new supplier in US. The supplier team scheduled a full day of presentations about their product with the sales team and other managers. When they arrive in the site, they asked to go directly to the production line. The sales team insisted to have them going to the presentation first, but they shown little interest, insisting into going directly to the line. Once they got to the line, they stay there, staring at the workers and the machines for some time. Then, they turned to the sales managers and said that unfortunately it would not be possible to conduct business with them. This is how serious Toyota considers Gechi Gembutsu.
Principle 13. Make Decisions Slowly by Consensus, Thoroughly Considering All Options; Implement Rapidly.
Decisions are, without any doubt, an important part of any business. The way business make their decision varies from company to company, business to business. Toyota decision process is slow and usually requires a significant amount of work, research and discussion. Toyota collects all possible data on a subject before making a decision. Although this is a costly process, it has been proven quite efficient and fundamental for TPS. Decision making have five major elements:
- Genchi Gembutsu to find what is really happening.
- 5 whys to reach the root cause.
- Map and analyze all possible courses of actions.
- Involve teams, stakeholders and partners in the discussion.
- Use efficient communication to facilitate from one to four.
Principle 14. Become a Learning Organization Through Relentless Reflection (Hansei) and continuous improvement (Kaizen)
Learning to learn is a big thing inside Toyota. They achieve it by merging standardization and innovation, two concepts often regarded as opposite, into a functional methodology. By standardizing the processes, it creates a environment where improvement thru innovation is possible.
The key element for this is employee empowerment. Allowing individual and team innovation to be spread into the organization in the form of a standard. Standardization punctuated by innovation which leads to new standards.
Problem solving is one place where standardization meets innovation to generate new standards. When studying a new problem in a process, the flow usually starts by gathering more information about the situation. Many times this is done using Genchi Gembutsu. The next stage is focused into finding the real problem. This is often done asking repeatedly the question why? Why A happened? Because of B. Why B happened ? Because of C...repeat until you find the fundamental issue. Apply countermeasure. Observe how the countermeasure behaves to fix the problem. Repeat until satisfactory. Standardize.
Inside this method, hides two important aspects of the TPS culture: hansei and kaizen.
Hansei is the self-reflection. It pictures the ability of looking inside (to self) and identify what is wrong. In quality, this is of paramount importance, once it is impossible to solve a problem you don't acknowledge. It is said, in Toyota that no problem is a problem. There is a story of a senior director from Toyota who was visiting a plant in the US. After a few days, the director asked the local plant manager how many times did they stopped the line (because of problems). The manager say that it was a good thing that they did not had any problems, and so the line did not had to be stopped. The Toyota director replied to the manager "no problem is a problem".
Only through hansei, kaizen can exists. This is a very strong statement that means "there is no improvement without identifying first what needs to be improved". So, in TPS, find your weakness will enable you to improve. And the way to improve is through kaizen.
Kaizen, as described in this post, is the constant search for improvement. The literate translation would be continuous improvement, and it is at the core of the TPS.
These last three posts:
- Lean
- Toyota Production System (Part I of II)
- Toyota Production System (Part II of II)
They form the theory base from what we will explore in this blog in future, more practical posts based on my experiences. I hope I was able to touch each concept in a way that is not boring or tedious (although I might have failed). What I can promise, is that the next posts will be more practical and less conceptual. I hope you guys are still there...
No comments:
Post a Comment