Lean System“Connecting the dots”

By Michael MorelliLean Sensei

February 2017

Introduction

This slide deck was created to share one of my favorite methods of teaching how a Lean business system works

It’s aim is to debunk that Lean is just a toolkit and that one can not pick and choose what they want to use and think that they’ll make and sustain gains

The results tend to give learners greater confidence in themselves that they do in fact understand Lean and can work in this new way of problem solving

Lean is not a toolkit

Upon first introduction many see Lean as a toolkit that you put into your business in order to create efficiency

In my experience when someone sits through their first Lean training class they tend to walk away still holding onto their initial pre-judgment that Lean is all about becoming more efficient

In reality the tools that Lean provides you really is not much more than structured templates to help you identify and solve common, every day frustrations that your employees and customers experience

“This so overwhelming”

In order to improve one must first learn The difficulty in grasping the Lean business

system many people experience is the growth process they’re being taught: to look at the business and problem solving process differently

Different is change and change is inevitable Change can be felt as a curve of emotion

where we initially view things either positively or negatively, eventually hitting “rock bottom” of stress and uncertainty. After our depression point comes the “I get it” moment follows and we take off to a higher level of performance than we did before

“So how do I ‘get it?”

First understand that the elements of a Lean business system are not created in silos and cannot be used á la carte

Each element represents information for you and your team to understand the customer demand and the status of the your business’ process efficiency and effectiveness in meeting those demands

I firmly believe that Lean is simply organized commonsense and to prove that you understand it, let’s play a little game

“Connect the Dots”

There are 10 elements of a Lean system on the following page that you need to connect

In order to create a connection you need to first explain what the element is and why you use it in your own words

Then you need to draw a line from that element to another element and explain what that element is and why you use it

Finally you describe how the two elements connect to one another

Again think about the information that it gives you and the value that each element gives you supporting improving your processes

There is no wrong way to connect the system

With 10 elements there is exactly 13,003,200 different ways you can connect all of these dots… chances are you will do this right!

You can not connect an element more than once, however. For example, you can not keep

connecting everything to and from the daily huddle

HINT: You will sound more convincing when you use your own words and common sense in describing the elements and how they connect

Connect the Dots of the Lean System!

Daily Huddle

Standard Work

Total Productive Maintenance

Skills Matrix

Kanban Replenishme

nt System

5s

Drivers/Dashboard

A3 Value Stream Mapping

Leader Standard Work

Here’s my go at the gameDaily Huddle

Standard Work

Total Productive Maintenance

Skills Matrix

Kanban Replenishme

nt System

5s

Drivers/Dashboard

A3 Value Stream Mapping

Leader Standard Work

Start

End

How they connect…

Daily Huddle

Standard Work

Total Productive Maintenance

Skills Matrix

Kanban Replenishment

System

5s

Drivers/Dashboard

A3 Value Stream Mapping

Leader Standard Work

Start

End

Standard Work is the current best one way of working in a particular process or task. It is a written description of the sequence of tasks that should be followed in order to deliver consistently for the customer. It tells how much time (demand) the process currently takes to complete.

Drivers are the measurements of the current opportunities in the department that the team is trying to solve within the process. In order to make improvements in a process the staff much study their current standard work to understand where the opportunity is originating by comparing the standard work to the actual process. The drivers will change either positively or negatively in the customer’s favor depending on the effectiveness of any change the team makes in their standard work. Dashboards are the high level measurements of the overall process and are used to understand how the health of the department is doing towards its strategic goals (example: The overall time it takes for a customer to come in, get what they want, and leave could be the Length of Stay metric. In order to improve the timeliness the team needs to shorten the wait time the customer waits to be seen by a service specialist. As that wait time driver is decreased towards the goal the overall Length of Stay measure is also reduce. Standard work determines your performance results.

How they connect…

Daily Huddle

Standard Work

Total Productive Maintenance

Skills Matrix

Kanban Replenishment

System

5s

Drivers/Dashboard

A3 Value Stream Mapping

Leader Standard Work

Start

End

Drivers & Dashboards only give you the results, not the details of what is going on in your process. Leader Standard Work is the leader’s standard work of how to help the team identify and solve problems and can be thought of as the fuel for the continuous improvement engine- if LSW activity stops so does the improvement of your business performance. Typical LSW activities include going and seeing the process first hand to understand where the causes of the problem are coming from (aka Standard Work Observations) as well coaching others in learning the new way of working (aka the updated Standard Work). It is also about understanding and communicating the daily customer demands at the team’s Daily Huddle.

The Daily Huddle is a structured 15 minute performance review meeting with the leader and the team to be able to understand what needs to be done by when and who will do it (aka the “Daily Playbook”). It also helps the team take time to understand how their problem solving efforts are improving their priorities (aka their “Drivers”), and gives a platform for the staff and leader to raise new learning and opportunities found where problems are managed in the Improvement Center of the board. This feedback helps the team understand where they are and will help drive further process improvements when they refer to their Value Stream Map.

How they connect…

Daily Huddle

Standard Work

Total Productive Maintenance

Skills Matrix

Kanban Replenish

ment System

5s

Drivers/Dashboard

A3 Value Stream Mapping

Leader Standard Work

Start

End

Value Stream Maps help show the true customer experience as they see and feel the services you provide. It is not created in a step by step process description like standard work is but rather depicts the areas of the overall process that customers see and feel. This helps the team identify the longest wait times in the customer’s experience as well as gives them a way to prioritize which parts of the process to improve first (aka “bottleneck theory”). When looking at a value stream map for service and product based companies, one can see how the product or customer moves throughout the process and that movement is filled with opportunities for improvement.

5s is a way at looking at the physical and electronic workspace to help understand how we are set up to deliver for our customers’ expectations. Tracing the production process of a product or the path of staff and or the customer in order provide a service will show you opportunities for placement of equipment, supplies, and workstations. Take a floor plan and draw lines from one point to another based on how a product or staff/customer travels in your work place…does it look like a bowl of spaghetti by the time you are done? If so, you’ve got frustrations in your process my friend. Solve this issue by grabbing an A3 template.

How they connect…

Daily Huddle

Standard Work

Total Productive Maintenance

Skills Matrix

Kanban Replenish

ment System

5s

Drivers/Dashboard

A3 Value Stream Mapping

Leader Standard Work

Start

End

An A3 template is used to help guide teams through the Plan, Do, Check, Act (PDCA) problem solving process. It guides problem solving teams to full understand the problem by analyzing the current process standard, performance results, the who, what, when, and where aspects of the problem that occurred (or is occurring), before the team starts asking themselves why (5 times) is the problem occurring in order to get the root cause. This root cause identification is the focus of the countermeasure(s) that are put into pilot to test whether or not the new future state of the process’ standard work will sustain. When the problem is studied and adjusted as needed to reach the goal, the process’ standard work is updated

A Kanban Replenishment System is the standard work for the adequate supply of physical resources that a team needs in order to produce/serve the customer. It is a visual management system that signals when it is time to reorder a particular supply item or when a team down the value stream is ready for the next customer or product item to serve/build. Understanding the customer demand (takt time) and process flow helps team get what they need when they need it and in just the right amount in order to minimize waste and frustration.

How they connect…

Daily Huddle

Standard Work

Total Productive Maintenance

Skills Matrix

Kanban Replenish

ment System

5s

Drivers/Dashboard

A3 Value Stream Mapping

Leader Standard Work

Start

End

Total Productive Maintenance is the standard work in keeping equipment and machinery in a team’s department fully operational and productive. The routine scheduled maintenance for equipment and machines helps prevents breakdowns, slowdowns, and errors from occurring (like your car’s maintenance schedule).

A Skills Matrix is the necessary skill sets needed to meet your customer demand. This includes the current process’ standard work procedure, the total productive maintenance requirements, kanban procedure(s), and other process improvement skills of a lean business system (i.e. root cause analysis, standard work observations, standard work creation, etc…). It is best used when it is known how much demand (volume/FTE) of a particular skill is required so the team can see how broad, deep, and flexible they are in meeting the fluctuations of their customer’s requirements (especially in service industries).

Make sense?

Lean Sensei Hartford Healthcare CorporationE-mail: michael.morelli@hhchealth.org LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/sensei

Feel free to reach out to me to share your thoughts on anything Lean and change related!