Moving the Force without Forcing the Move


Initiating Lean through a Contracted Lean Implementation Plan By Kenneth Macro, Ph.D., Professor and Chair, Graphic Communications Department, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo


During the past twenty years there has been much energy exerted into evangelizing the Lean movement within our production facilities. After all, having efficient workflow processes that are well documented and effectively executed is tantamount to enhanc-


The Magazine 14 3.2017


ing profits, increasing productivity, and fostering a healthier work culture. The problem is that way too many graphic communication manufacturing centers have yet to experience the projected rewards that have been so loudly touted to them through the workshops, seminars, and presentations that they have engaged with.


Of course, education on the subject matter is not a colossal waste of time. In fact, it is imperative to gaining the fundamental yet intricate details of Lean, which can be overwhelming and, consequently, unrealistic and/or unreachable.


But Why Is That? Is Lean really all that difficult? After listening to any Lean or Six Sigma presentation one might ask, Does it require a lot of scientific formulas and complex calculations? Will I need to dust off my old calculus textbook so that I can talk confidently to my employees? Can I actually persuade our shop floor to buy in to this? And, Can I get these results with the staff that I have?


Inevitably, the answer is yes. You won’t need that calculus textbook, but you will need to work at it—one initiative at a time, one task at a time, one win at a time. Lean implementation requires incremental


steps, hands-on education, and lots of reflection wrapped up in patience and the ability to learn (and understand) your current status (how your produc- tion processes are situated currently). This requires introspection, the involvement of everyone in the company, and most importantly, it requires you—the CEO, the general manager, the shop floor supervisor, and any other authority within the organization.


In his book Gemba Walks, James Womack writes, “A key objective of the Lean movement is to teach everyone to untangle intermingled processes to see clearly the specific process that they manage or touch as it flows from start to finish. Then, with a clear understanding of the current state of this process, they must improve its performance so that everyone is better off—cus- tomer, employee, supplier, investor.”


The key words are to see clearly. How often are we aware of a problem on the floor only to be told about it while we are sitting in our office chair? Gemba walks come from the Japanese term gemba, which roughly translates to “go and see.” This very simple objective is crucial to effectively launching a sustainable Lean initiative. To be able to see is integral to moving your workforce.


Education Using the CLIP My colleagues and I have developed, presented, and facilitated many Lean workshops over the past 15 years. Together, we wrote a book about Lean, Lean Printing: Pathway to Success (2006). The workshops we have conducted have received excellent reviews. Yet— as we have witnessed by the looks on the faces of all our students at the end of each session—the content in its entirety was incredibly vast and, consequently, overwhelming. Companies armed with the content in hand sometimes experience great difficulty in


SOLUTIONS


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20