For some people, "organizational culture" calls to mind images of companies such as Google, with elaborate perks intended to lure the best talent and keep it there.
For others, it's the idea of an organization such as Zappos, which wants every employee to meet and keep lifelong friends at work.
For many Lean managers, the first company that comes to mind is Toyota, known for a kaizen culture so strong that death from overwork has become a problem.
The layperson often assumes Lean organizations are low on culture, because many popular definitions of organizational culture involve spending which would be considered wasteful by Lean managers.
Not so! Culture building is, in truth, critical to the success of Lean organizations, as demonstrated by Toyota.
Every organization wants a "culture of excellence," to the point that this oft-repeated jargon has become almost laughable. (more…)
Starbucks has used lean manufacturing to expedite service for several years, which is why, when they announced its baristas would no longer work on more than two drinks at once, it made a lot of sense.
This change was intended to address complaints about "average" quality espresso drinks and variable drink quality.
Whenever a quality issue occurs in a lean shop, observers wonder if lean management is responsible for the defect. Though substandard implementation of lean principles may negatively affect product quality, lean management should not.
Instead, lean manufacturing should alter a company's fundamental definition of quality to focus on those things that are defined by the customer as adding value. If a particular process or feature takes time and does not add value for the customer, it should be eliminated. That goes for not only large items, but also for small movements within the manufacturing process.
When the customer receives a product that includes all those features she defines as valuable, that is available when she wants it, and is provided at a value made possible by the reduction of waste, quality is achieved. Only the end user of a product can define the term "quality" as it is applied to that product. What good to the customer is an additional feature if it means that the product is not produced rapidly enough?
Some observers have rightly wondered if Starbucks intends to abandon lean management techniques and emulate trendy artisan coffee shops. The iconic chain certainly has struggled in recent years. Store expansions have slowed and earnings took a hit in fiscal year 2008. On the other hand, this year's outlook for the world's largest coffee maker is distinctly sunnier.
A quality push from Starbucks doesn't mean a step back from lean manufacturing principles. As stated above, the customer's perception of value is the most important barometer of quality for any lean shop. Changes focused on improving the customer's experience of value are justified, even if they reduce the speed of service.
Furthermore, Starbucks has so far used lean management to speed drink preparation using a model in which baristas produced as many drinks as possible. There's no reason the same techniques cannot boost speed for baristas serving only one or two drinks at a time. Observations by lean managers will need to be repeated.
When it comes to essential philosophies of lean management, executives throughout numerous industries turn to Toyota's practices and production systems for guidance. Specific Toyota initiatives may fall flat, but Toyota is overall deserving of its reputation as a model of product flow.
At Toyota, even initially successful manufacturing processes are routinely replaced as better alternatives appear or changes are necessary in response to customer concerns. It is second nature for Toyota executives to make changes immediately upon realizing that a faster, smoother alternative is available.
When faced with a problem like the one Starbucks is currently experiencing, what would Toyota do? Probably exactly what Starbucks is doing: Scrap processes that speed production but detract from customer-defined value.
“Lean” is a set of management principles based on the Toyota Production System (TPS), coined by a group of MIT researchers who wrote, “The Machine that Changed the World.”
It’s been applied to manufacturing (factories, product design, administrative functions) and service industries (healthcare, finance, telecommunications) and the United States Army has had an active lean program in place since 2006.
As a production principle, the core idea of lean principles is to maximize customer value while minimizing waste—more value with fewer resources. A lean organization understands and focuses its key processes to continually increase customer value. (more…)
