Lean Change Management
Dr. Michael Ball
Excellence Systems Group
Consultants
Michael Ball
Co-author of The Gold Mine
Doctorate in Theory of
Knowledge
Have studied lean
transformation for 15 years
Many try, few succeed. Those
who succeed do so
spectacularly
Excellence Systems Group
Consultants
Lean change management
1. What is a lean transformation?
2. Is there a lean theory of change?
3. Sustaining lean implementation
4. Leaning lean programs
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Lean construction
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Lean construction
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Lean construction
Dont apply
So-so
Try hard
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Lean transformation
Sustainable results:
Increase market share through customer satisfaction
Increase OTD, decrease stocks
Increase productivity, decrease non-quality
Increase innovation, lower overall capex
By using the lean method
In developing lean thinking in every employee
To forge a lean business culture
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What is so special with lean?
Lean is the first management method to
focus explicitly on knowledge creation
Lean aims at organising the flow of
problem solving (knowledge creation) as
well as the flow of work to produce parts
or services
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Lean transformation in practice
1. Stretch targets on key indicators
2. Creating and maintaining Just-in-time conditions
3. Developing employees by teaching them to
solve problems all the time and improve their
own processes
4. Improve operations, improve processes,
improve product quality
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Stretch targets
In two years:
0 accidents
50% reduction in quality
complaints
100% customer
service
30% direct labour
productivity
50% inventory reduction
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Just-in-time conditions
Levelled production plan in volume and mix
Pull system with kanban cards for frequent withdrawal
No defective parts delivered to the next process (red bin
process)
Reactivity on every late kanban card (team leader,
supervisor, management): immediate countermeasure and
root cause analysis
Kanban cards are reduced every month: reduce batch size,
increase reliability (manpower, machine, material, method)
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Develop and involve employees
Reveal problems by making standards visible
Teach people to get back in Just-in-time conditions
immediately
Then ask why? until the root cause is apparent and
the process can be improved
Train management to teach operators to recognize
waste and make suggestions
Involve workers in improving their own workstations
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Better thinking, better products
By visualizing production, one clears the window
and reveals problems
The first problems to be solved are operator issues:
training, understanding, practice
Then manufacturing problems can be resolved: better
equipment, more reliable components
Which reveals opportunities for improving the design
of the products, and lasting competitive advantage
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Lean culture
Management goes to the real place (shop floor,
customer, supplier) to see for themselves
Clarifies the problem, the purpose of the kaizen and
its targets (customer satisfaction, waste reduction)
The management line solves its own problems by
responding rapidly to abnormal situations, with
expert help if necessary
Workers are involved in the improvement of their
work environment - all difficulties are taken seriously
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Lean change management
1. What is a lean transformation?
2. Is there a lean theory of change?
3. Sustaining lean implementation
4. Leaning lean programs
Excellence Systems Group
Consultants
15
Change in the lean sense
1. Changing production frequently - the aim is to fit
production to demand by making products 1x1
in sequence
2. Continuous improvement of workstations,
production processes and products
3. Successful Start Of production for new products
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Leans theory of change
Change is supported by knowledge
Knowledge is the result of individual responsibility to
solve problems in teams
Problems are defined as a gap between actual conditions
and standards
Standardized work/Kaizen is the key lean driver to change
Global change is the result of individual change
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Leans theory of learning
1. People learn from their bosses
2. People learn by doing
3. People learn by confronting their opinions to others
perspectives
4. People learn by self-measuring
5. You only learn when you discover something you
believed in is wrong!
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People learn from their bosses
For most people work relationships are overwhelmingly
asymmetrical
In lean, hierarchies are seen as knowledge concentrations
Lean managers are required to be teachers first,
managers second (70% teaching, 30% fire-fighting)
The boss helps to grasp the problem and set targets, but
never specifies what to do
Bosses must treat people as individuals, let them know
how theyre doing and be careful not to let them down
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Learning by doing
Just do it is the first learning step, riding a bicycle is
not the same as having a theory about riding a bike
Trial-and-error works if the hypothesis being tested is
clear, and if test results are properly interpreted (PDCA)
Learning occurs through tackling typical problems and
typical solutions several times in a row - kaizen events
are a great learning tool if standard methods are used
Learning to solve unstructured problems is more
demanding: A3 management is a coaching mechanism
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Confronting opinions
Wise men change their ways: learning occurs when
realize we are wrong (50% of the time). Unfortunately the
brains main job is to tell us we are right, no matter how
wrong we are
Most groups are only comfortable discussing
information that is already in common (its safe) - the
challenge is in sharing information that one person
knows and not others
Conflicting opinions should be debated in an
environment defined by common purpose:
understanding the problem is more fruitful than debating
solutions
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Self-measurement
What gets measured gets done - self-measurement is
the key to individual learning (as opposed to
assessment by bosses, staff specialists)
To self-measure, simple indicators must be created at
work level (visual indicators if can be) - agreed with
senior executives
Action is seen in lean as a working hypothesis
Check is planned in the Plan phase of Plan-Do-CheckAct
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The hard part
You only learn when you discover
that something you believed in is
wrong!
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The hard part
Lean discussion only happen at the Gemba: real
place, real people, real things
Data is important, but in lean, the focus is on
facts
Every tool has to make sense for the operators
Every one, every day need to solve their own
problems
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Lean change management
1. What is a lean transformation?
2. Is there a lean theory of change?
3. Sustaining lean implementation
4. Leaning lean programs
Excellence Systems Group
Consultants
25
Sustaining lean implementation
Lean sustains itself the moment senior
managers realise lean is a management
system based on learning
Leaning (turning waste into work) comes
from continuously producing knowledge
(about people, processes and products)
with every part produced
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The lean revolution
Knowledge is produced by the management line,
not just by staff structures (less specialist
departments, more real experts without staff)
Managers are teachers
Organization reflects knowledge accumulation
Managers dont manage the process - the pull
system does - they manage gaps to standard
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Only the CEO can
Go to visit every department regularly
Make sure that people are doing what theyre trained to do
- and are properly trained by their own management
Challenge employees on what they should do, rather than
what they can do, and sustain the kaizen spirit
Clarify problem understanding and pull the management
andon chord if they see an issue to large to be dealt
with locally
Make sure that bad news first - anyone can mention any
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problem
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Lean change management
1. What is a lean transformation?
2. Is there a lean theory of change?
3. Sustaining lean implementation
4. Leaning lean programs
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Consultants
29
The problem
To be successful, lean programs should be run in a
lean perspective, rather than trying to implement lean
through a traditional change program mindset
This can be a problem as the people in charge of
program deployment are typically not lean experts,
and vice-versa
Lean programs should be lean - touch a greater
number of people with a minimum of dedicated lean
guys: no lean office (or a small one!)
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Change your mind
A lean program is an executive
development program for
operational managers:
coaching a football team, not
building an edifice
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Suggestions for lean programs
The CEO visits all the sites all the time, and looks at
problems and kaizen efforts
Managers must involve themselves in kaizen events
personally
Site managers are answerable to the CEO for the budgetlevel results on their indicators, and for obtaining these
results in a lean way
The lean program manager must report straight to the
CEO. He/she doesnt have a department, but one full time
correspondent by site
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Suggestions for lean programs
Site managers must meet regularly on the shop floor to
compare results and experiments - and share difficulties
The CEO sets the challenges per site, and the lean
manager teaches the method rigorously
The site lean expert runs kaizen events as training
sessions to teach the tools correctly to the middlemanagement
The lean manager must make sure the kaizen rhythm is
respected in all sites, and that results are consistent with
targets
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Sustainability tips
Dont give them the tools - help them build them
by themselves (with a nudge if they cant do it)
Use the PDCA relentlessly - build a check
mechanism with every tool implemented
Define the management reaction loop from the
operator to the plant manager for every tool
implemented
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Making it stick
Lean transformation is lean
management
Every cycle should bring us towards a
leaner organization, leaner
processes, and leaner products:
transforming waste into work
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