12/31/2014 How to Prioritize the Steps in Your Lean Journey

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How to Prioritize the Steps in Your Lean JourneyJason PiattTue, 2014-10-28 12:25

It has become increasingly important to show rapid results along the lean journey. While this is critical tomaintain support of senior management, it also is important to establish a process by which sustainedresults can be achieved and that follow-on projects can also be successfully developed.

A gentle balance between analysis and action must be obtained. Allowing an entirely bottom-up power ofthe people approach to the lean journey can become unguided and appear to senior management as if itwere a ship without a sail, wandering in the harbor. On the other hand, top-down lean journeys often fail toenjoy the support of the rank-and-file members of the production staff.

To overcome the organizational paralysis that comes from overanalyzing lean projects while also achievingfaster results utilizing all team members, manufacturers can benefit from faster implementation ofsolutions that are good rather than perfect with a commitment to leverage iterative development morefrequently in their processes.

If a time cycle is less than 18 months, two cycles ofPDCA will likely yield better financial results than oneimplementation of the perfect solution."

In no way should the fact-based approach be compromised with shooting-from-the-hip improvementtactics. Instead, teams must shift their focus faster onto accessing feasible solutions and realistic time spansfor implementing them.

This should be done after identifying the severity of the problem and considering the financial and non-financial consequences of imperfect improvement. For problems in which severity of defect, as well as thefinancial impact, is small, firms can realize more value by implementing a good solution quickly and theniteratively improving it than they can by delaying until the perfect solution is found.

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Much of this consideration hinges on the time to complete a cycle of PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) on the leanimplementation. If a time cycle is less than 18 months, two cycles of PDCA will likely yield better financialresults than one implementation of the perfect solution (which is often found not to be perfect after fullimplementation).

Employ a Lean Prioritization Matrix

12/31/2014 How to Prioritize the Steps in Your Lean Journey

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In only the most sophisticated manufacturing environments are simulation capabilities robust enough topredict outcomes. Instead, full implementation is often required to find all secondary effects and trueperformance improvement measurements.

To prioritize lean projects, a lean prioritization matrix should be employed. On the horizontal axis, wedepict time-to-results while the vertical axis depicts organizational impact of the project. If we split each axisinto two sections, so time is classified as long and short and impact as high and low -- we will havefour possible categories for the lean projects under consideration. We can categorize them as follows:

Quick Win: Short Duration/High Impact

Building Block: Short Duration/Low Impact

Giant Steps: Long Duration/High Impact

Ongoing Improvement: Long Duration/Low Impact

If the starting focus is on quick wins (short duration, high impact), then organizational support can begained quickly.

It is important to consider if the quick wins will in any way impact long-term progress. In other words, willthe quick-win project give short-term gains but hinder a future project that will have higher impact on theorganizational outcome?

After the low-hanging fruit of quick wins has been captured, the organization should move onto buildingblocks. These short-term, low-impact projects will continue to advance the lean journey but will onlygenerate moderate outcome improvements. These are most important to stop backsliding against thecultural change that is sure to come when the lean journey is begun.

As these building blocks are accomplished, the organization should also begin working on giant steps (highimpact, long duration). Since giant steps will take much organizational discipline and belief in the leanjourney, they are important steps as momentum builds from the building blocks.

After the major leaps are accomplished with the giant steps, ongoing improvement (long duration, lowimpact) should be pursued. These will allow the organization to solidify the cultural change necessary forthe lean journey and avoid any backslide. Additionally, these projects can continue to advance the journey.

What to do if a backslide occurs? Start again in the quick wins category of projects and advance accordingly.

By prioritizing lean projects, the journey can be productive, profitable, and sustained.

Jason Piatt is cofounder and president of Praestar Technology Corp. Prior to founding PraestarTechnology, Jason held various tactical and executive positions in engineering, sales and marketing, andprogram management with a leading power transmission component manufacturer. He has served as amember of the faculty at Penn State University and has taught at Pennsylvania College of Technology inelectrical and mechanical engineering technology, mathematics, and physics. Jason and the PraestarConsulting team have assisted numerous manufacturers in the areas of lean manufacturing, Six Sigma,sales and marketing management, and strategy formation.

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