Pursuit of Perfection

Many definitions of LEAN thinking include the concept of relentless pursuit of perfection.  In a recent LEAN class that I taught, one of the students shared an excellent quote attributed to Vince Lombardi:

"...we will chase perfection, and we will chase it relentlessly, knowing all the while we can never attain it.  But along the way, we catch excellence..."

I think this sums up the intent behind continuous improvement - it helps us move towards excellence while acknowledging that excellence is a transitory state.  If one doesn't keep improving, today's excellence becomes tomorrow's mediocrity.   

As an example of the changing state of "excellence", I share the story of Mark Spitz and Michael Phelps, two of the greatest competitive swimmers of all times.  Until Michael Phelps won eight gold medals in the 2008 Olympics, Mark Spitz held the record for most gold medals won in a single Olympic Games - seven gold medals in 1972.  However, none of the times achieved by Spitz in 1972, many of which were world records, would have earned him qualification to compete for the United States team in 2008.  As an example, Spitz would have finished 55th of 58 swimmers in the 200-meter freestyle and 33rd of 44 swimmers in the 200-meter butterfly.  

We can  argue about what was the root cause of the dramatic improvement in athletic performance - was it the athletes, their equipment, their training routines, etc. However, what is clear is the "bar" was raised over the 30+ years between Spitz and Phelps.  Just as in athletics, continuous improvement is necessary to maintain a standard of excellence.

Good reads on LEAN thinking

Several of my LEAN Basics students have asked about some good reading on LEAN thinking. I am sure there are many great sources.  Two good sources are:

Lean Thinking

Womack, J. P., & Jones, D. T. (2003). Lean thinking. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.

The Toyota Way

Liker, J. K. (2004). The Toyota Way. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Do you have any favorites that you would suggest?

Internal and administrative process as value streams

This week, I have been teaching a class on Lean Basics.  One of the premises of LEAN thinking is that LEAN focuses on the stream leading to value as perceived by the customer.  During our discussion several students asked if that meant that internal or administrative processes cannot have a value stream.  After a passionate debate, we proposed the answer to that question is "maybe".  I shared a discussion posted on lean.org on this topic:

http://www.lean.org/FuseTalk/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=54&threadid=1943

I am not sure what the "final answer" is but there is an argument that certain internal processes could indeed be "supporting value streams."

Incidentally, if you are interested in LEAN thinking, I highly recommend bookmarking lean.org and/or subscribing to their content.

What do you think?

Does LEAN work in service organizations

Given the origins of LEAN in the Toyota Production System, it is easy to see how LEAN thinking can be stereotyped as being "something for manufacturing."  However, the degree to which LEAN thinking has been adopted across a broad variety of industries outside of manufacturing is remarkable although not surprising to a LEAN thinking practitioner.

To those wishing to explore LEAN thinking in non-manufacturing organizations, I would encourage you to view this presentation by Karen Martin:

http://www.slideshare.net/AMEConnect/value-stream-mapping-for-non-manufacturingmartinreplacement

And, read/ subscribe to  this blog by Mark Graban on LEAN in Healthcare:

http://www.leanblog.org

After reading this material, do you still believe that LEAN = Manufacturing?

Value stream mapping

One of the most powerful LEAN tools is the value stream map.  We tell our students that value-stream maps are similar to traditional flow charts but are unique in that value stream maps always depict the customer as well as time.

The power of value stream maps is they enable us to "see" the process. By "seeing" the process, we can see the process in all its glory and all its ugliness.  Waste (remember Tim Woods) becomes obvious.  If you've ever heard the saying "getting there is half the fun", that can apply to the process of creating a value stream map.  The process of value stream mapping creates a safe way of understanding the value stream in a non-defensive manner.  I've found that cross-functional teams that come together to create a current state value stream map often say things like "I never realized you had that problem".  Or "I thought you were doing ....".  The level of cross-functional understanding that comes from collaborating on a current state value stream map creates a degree of trust that is remarkable.

For those wanting to learn more about value stream mapping, I highly recommend "Learning to see" by Rother and Shook. 

Rother, M., & Shook, J. (2003). Learning to see: Lean Enterprise Institute.