Introduction

A funny thing happened recently. You may or may not have noticed it among the assorted news stories. Toyota moved ahead of General Motors to become the number one manufacturer of automobiles in the world.

In some ways this may well be more important to the press and public relations folks then it is to the people that actually run these two businesses. I think it was former GM head Roger Smith that said he would take profitability over market share any day of the week.

But the real story here is not so much GM losing the crown as it is the whole Toyota success story. From the years immediately following World War II up to the present day, Toyota has demonstrated the ability to agilely navigate the ever changing route to success. I don’t believe there has ever been another manufacturing company so closely studied, so widely imitated or emulated as Toyota.

The history of this enterprise is replete with object lessons for anyone in the manufacturing sector. In actuality, these valuable lessons extend beyond manufacturing into almost any complex business process.

The ability to raise process above all other factors, to develop processes as close to “wasteless” as possible and to make this a continuous and ongoing process unto itself is what makes the vaunted Toyota Production System (TPS) the corner stone of Toyota’s success. Emulations of TPS have been the foundation for the success of literally hundreds of manufacturers around the world. What we now call Lean Manufacturing is a direct evolution of TPS.

Why it is important

About now you may be yawning and thinking, who cares, I don’t work in a factory. Well, don’t back-click just yet. If you think Lean Manufacturing is something that doesn’t touch you just now, you would probably be wrong. If it doesn’t touch you now, it will shortly.

If you live in the industrialized world, Lean is something that you should become very familiar with. You and all of your neighbors get up in the morning and go to work. Many of us work for companies the make things; fabricate, assemble or manufacture things. But, even you don’t work for a manufacturer, surely you work for a business that is built around processes and those processes are the area where continuous improvements can be made.

Maybe, your employer makes toothpicks or perhaps they make jet engines, may be they do residential landscaping or fix clocks? Whatever it is, there is probably some other company, the competition, who is trying build a better and cheaper toothpick or jet engine. There will always be companies figuring out how to complete a landscaping job in a day instead of a week or to fix your clock while you wait versus leaving it in the shop for a month. Whatever you do, someone is waiting to for you to stumble, waiting for an opening, an opportunity to exploit while you are vulnerable. They are always looking for a way to do things better, faster, cheaper.

So, with that bit of good news, let’s consider the following corollary. Anything we do to make our manufacturing or business processes better or more efficient has a positive effect on our ultimate success. This is true for people, companies, industries and ultimately our communities. But we must not limit our thinking to just the manufacturing process. Lean can and must be applied to the entire enterprise.

What does it include?

Getting a company lean is not figuring out where corners can be cut. It’s not a matter of ridding the company of people that are not as “good” as others. It is not just a matter of finding cheaper sources for supplies. A Lean effort might involve all or none of these. Leaning your enterprise requires us to look at the how and why more than the who and what.

Daniel T. Jones, CEO of the Lean Enterprise Academy quotes a senior Toyota executive in his article, The Beginner’s Guide to Lean, “Brilliant process management is our strategy. We get brilliant results from average people managing brilliant processes.”

That should be good news to all of us. It means that we don’t have to be staffed with the entire graduating class from The Wharton School in order to run a successful enterprise. It also means that we can all have a potentially positive affect on our own enterprises. We don’t have to be managing a factory in order to spot waste, to freshen, improve or revolutionize any process within our enterprise.

Any activity or process the enterprise engages in is potentially improvable. Anything that must be done can be done at less cost, in a shorter amount of time or both.

Why it applies to everyone and every process

Everything within an enterprise is ultimately connected together into a sort of virtual mechanism. Each part draws resources from one or more parts and, in turn, passes modified resources onto other parts.

If you are trying to restore an ancient automobile to its original condition, you know that you must be prepared to take on multiple projects. Fixing the engine, repairing the transmission, ridding the body of rust, repainting the car and replacing the worn out upholstery might get you started, but then you also need to look at the tires, the electrical systems, the suspension, the exhaust and pollution control systems. The point is that fixing any single thing or even a few things may improve the car, but only fixing all of it will make it as good as it can be.

Anyone who is moderately well read is certainly aware of the fact that while world markets are growing at a fantastic rate, the level of competition for those markets is becoming more intense every single day. There is little room for companies that can not differentiate themselves as being the best or somehow superior to their competition in some tangible way.

This differentiation may well be only possible through the aggregate affect of many, many improved processes applied to many phases of the operation of the enterprise. Everything suddenly matters and everything can be the one thing that makes you win or lose.

What it means to you

This process improvement philosophy is not a one time event. You can’t implement this as an isolated, self contained project. You will fail if your idea of change is limited to putting up some posters with motivational pictures and quotations.

Lean involves a culture change for most companies and that change must be permanent if it is to be successful. The change extends to every person participating in every process. Everyone must willingly exam their own part in every business process. The words, “we’ve always done it this way” must be removed from the corporate vocabulary.

Being open to change, being willing to stand up and say, I think I could do better by changing this or that aspect of my behavior, being ready to embrace change as a daily constant instead of an unpleasant survival challenge is far more important than finding the cheapest widgets or the smartest employees.

In nature, species survive through adaptability. You can be the biggest, the fastest, the smartest, the meanest or the most lethal. If you won’t change, nature will eventually find a way to effectively compete with you and ultimately destroy you. Companies are the same. Contentment, complacency and comfort with the status quo are lethal traits in this business environment.

What’s next?

It’s going to be a great several months. We will be exploring the Lean Enterprise process in detail. We are proud of our role in helping companies along the road to lean, and we are privileged to have some great customers with spectacular lean implementations. I ask you to please share your Lean stories with me.

As some of you no doubt know, I am new in this role and frankly I have a lot of learning to do. Your experiences, wisdom and opinions are very important to me and I hope to have the opportunity to benefit from them during this series.

I look forward to hearing from you soon. Contact me at Lwashington@cincom.com.

About Lou Washington, AKA Mainframe Master of MIPS and ...

I started my career in information management from the somewhat misunderstood field of Records Management. Following four years of working for the University of Missouri System's Office of Records Management, I joined Tab Products Co. in 1980. Shortly thereafter, I became interested in the software business, PCs and how those systems would shape the enterprise of the future. We were transferred to Tab's then corporate HQ in Palo Alto, CA. I was the first Product Manager for Tab's Tracker systems software products that utilized a PC-based bar-coding system to track the movements of everything from files to capital assets. I believe it was the earliest example of workflow automation available on the market. I was also peripherally involved in Tab's Laser Optics division, which brought to market one of the earliest business systems employing CD-ROM and WORM technology as an information storage media.

In 1990, I returned to Cincinnati and joined Cincom Systems where I began to learn about and work with mainframe-oriented products and systems. In those days, there was a real "split" between the mainframe forces and the desktop proponents. I always found this to be amusing since both had so many positive things to offer an enterprise. I could never understand why anyone would offer one at the exclusion of the other.

My present role at Cincom involves a number of things including product security, pricing, finance, packaging and industry research.

My wife, Barbara, and I reside in Park Hills, KY. I am a member of Blessed Sacrament Church, and I am active in a local car club, Cincinnati Cruisers. We are a group of PT Cruiser owners who enjoy tricking out our cruisers and driving around annoying people who have to drive boring cars. I am the Webmaster for the Cruisers and I invite everyone to visit http://www.cincyptcruisers.com and check out our awesome rides!