Lean Six Sigma Academy

I grew up watching Ohio State play football. I suppose I was watching them play as a young boy in Greenville, Ohio before I even knew what football was.

My mom once told me, “You can take the boy out of Ohio (I live in Texas now), but you cannot take Ohio out of the boy.” So true, mom, so true.

For those of you who follow college football know last year didn’t end well for my beloved Buckeyes as we were embarrassed 41-14 by the University of Florida in the National Championship game.

It was a hard night for me and while most people were angry at Troy Smith and Jim Tressel I just felt so badly for them. I mean these kids and coaches dedicated so many hours of sweat and pain only to get clobbered on national TV.  It may sound corny but I really felt bad for the kids.

Related to Continuous Improvement

My favorite Ohio State website, The Ozone, recently carried an excellent article touching on the season to be. Jim Tressel, OSU’s coach, is a brilliant and honorable man (and 5-1 against Michigan) and said some things we can all learn from.

But before getting to Tressel’s comments let’s start with the attitude of the team as experienced by the reporter.

“It’s hard to explain, but it’s almost as much what you don’t see and hear as what you do. You don’t hear braggadocio, but you hear confidence. You hear a few obligatory cliches in conversation, but more often than not, you get sincere conversation and an honest attempt to answer questions.”

There is a fine line between arrogance and confidence. You must have the latter but if the former creeps in you could be in big trouble!

“The words that come to mind to describe the attitude of the Buckeyes is focused and hungry. This team seems like a team that knows what it wants and is very intent on doing all the things it takes to get it, including recognition of its own weaknesses and the need to improve on them.”

The last sentence is the key to me. No matter if you play football or run a company you better humble yourself enough to know what you need to get better at.

Now let’s here from Senator Tressel himself.

“You look at that 2002 team we had, we certainly weren’t at championship level early in the year, but we survived then got to championship level.

“Probably early in the year this past year Florida wasn’t at championship level, won a couple of tough ones which kept them in the hunt, then got to championship level, then they deserved to be champions.”

Those two teams had something in common. They were hungry and they were willing to do what it took to get better. They recognized the need to get better and went about the business of doing just that.

In high school my wrestling coach used to tell us, “It doesn’t matter where you start, all that matters is where you end.”

If your company or plant is the furthest thing from a lean Toyota-like machine who cares! Today is a new day. Pick up a book or email me or some other experienced practitioner and start your journey today. It will take hard work and sacrifice but what doesn’t.

Finally, Jon Miller recently shared a quote from Taiichi Ohno that fits so well with a final Tressel quote.

Ohno said, “You are a fool if you do just as I say. You are a greater fool if you don’t do as I say. You should think for yourself and come up with better ideas than mine.”

Here is what Tressel says.

You have to have them very disciplined, but on the other hand they need to feel the freedom to let it rip. “We always tell them ‘Let it happen. We’ve coached you, we’ve micro-managed you, but now let it rip, make it happen.’ This group really wants to do well,” Tressel added.

Well said coach!  My official prediction for the 2007-2008 Buckeyes is we go 9-3 as we rebuild and prepare for another National Championship run in 2008-2009. 

I say “we” since I will be watching every game on satellite TV and it looks like I will even be at the ‘THE GAME’ in November as a colleague from Michigan scored me a ticket to the OSU – UM game in Ann Arbor. 

It could be a blood bath as Michigan looks to be tough this year… but hey we have the sweater vest man himself on our side so I will take my chances.

Game on brutha!

My 2.5 year old daughter hit a major milestone last night.  She swam by herself with no life jacket. 

She and her older sister (5 years old) took swim lessons earlier in the summer.  My 5 year old caught on during the lessons and was swimming in no time.  But it took the younger one a little more time to get the hang of it.

I have written about some of my kids milestones before, like when my oldest learned how to ride her bike.  As many of you know by now I always like to compare these major life accomplishments, and hey they are to my kids, to what we as lean and six sigma practitioners can do when we put our minds to it. 

Here is what I learned from my youngest daughter the last few months as she nearly sunk dozens of times only to have mom or dad hold her up.

• She had no fear.  Now for a kid learning to swim this is not always best since she pretty much jumped into the water no matter if mom or dad were close to her or not.  Nonetheless, she was and is a fearless kid.
• She was determined.  This kid is about as determined and stubborn as any person I know.  She watched her older sister swim and you could just tell it was killing her to not be able to do it herself.
• She persevered.  She drank lots of water and failed to swim many times.  Yet she never gave up.
• She listened and learned.  She did really good in her swim class and learned some basics like how float and kick.  She also listened to her mom and dad as we gave her tips.
• She put her face in the water and swam.  One of the things she hesitated to do was hold her face in the water for an extended period of time.  Finally, last night she just put her face in the water and swam.  And just like that she had it.  Once she got it she kept improving and by the end of the evening it was if she had been swimming for years.

There is much to learn, in my opinion, from a child.  If us grown-ups always display this same courage, determination, perseverance, and trust in the systems and tools that we know work (e.g. lean and six sigma) we can do great things.

Have fun with the kids in your life.  Watch them, love them, and learn from them.

Have a great weekend.  We’ll be at the pool!

I recently watched the movie Facing the Giants and it made me rethink some things related to lean and six sigma.

For those not familiar with the movie, Facing the Giants is a Christian based movie about an American football coach who goes through some hard times – both personally and professionally – and then decides to hand it all over to God. This, in my opinion, is great advice but not the purpose of this article.

The Death Crawl

The scene that impacted me the most happened during one of the team’s practices. The team had been losing and seemed sure another loss was all but certain Friday night. The coach noticed this and decided to take the leader of the team, who was also displaying a very negative attitude, and make him do the death crawl.

To do the death crawl the person must carry a player on his back while moving forward on his hands and feet in a monkey like motion. The key to this exercise is the person with the heavy load cannot allow his knees to touch the ground.

Get the Blindfold

The coach, sensing his team was not living up to their potential, decided to make one small change to this particular death crawl. He placed a blindfold on the young man’s eyes so he could not tell how far he had gone.

The reason he did this was so the boy would not get to the “target” distance and stop or feel anxiety about how much further he had to go.

Touchdown!

So the boy begins to crawl with another boy lying back to back. The coach is walking besides them as the team watches from the side. The boy is moving slowly but surely and the coach begins to offer encouragement. The excitement begins to increase.

Sensing the boy’s pain the coach increases his encouragement and challenges the boy to not quit. The coach has now really raised his voice. The boys on the sideline now have this puzzled look on their face.

Sensing the boy was now in excruciating pain the coach gets down on his hands and knees and begins to scream encouragement at the boy who finds a power deep inside him he didn’t know existed. I never cry in movies – never. But I would be less than honest if I didn’t admit to tearing up at this point.

As the boy cannot go anymore and falls to the ground the camera pans up and we see for the first time the boy crawled 100 yards which was much further than the target distance of 50 yards his coach gave him.

Moral of the Story

Initially I intended to write about how aiming for a target could limit us. But I just watched this clip again and realize the purpose of this scene goes far beyond hitting or exceeding a target.

Instead, this scene (and movie for that matter) is about giving everything you’ve got – everything – towards whatever it is you are called to do in life.

This means if you are a street sweeper you should aim to be the best street sweeper you can be and if you are a CEO you should aim to be the best CEO you can be.

I really hope you watch this 6 minute scene. You will need speakers or headphones to get the most benefit. Finally, if you are leader of people I cannot imagine a more motivational clip to show at your next team meeting.

I am on vacation this week so posting will be less than normal. But it’s my hope this article and video clip will inspire you to do something great this week.

For some reason some folks seem dead against making things better.  One of the easiest ways I can tell if I am dealing with a concrete head is by simply listening to the words they use.

For example, whenever I hear someone say (after they hear a suggestion for improvement), “Yeah, I understand what you mean.  But the problem is…” I know I am in for a challenge.

Conversely, I know things will be a lot fun when I hear someone say (after they hear a suggestion for improvement), “That’s an interesting idea.  Maybe we could even try…”

The first person is looking reasons why something will fail while the second person is thinking of additional ideas to make something better.

So if you ever catch yourself in that negative mindset, and let’s face it we have all been there, do your best to snap out of it and focus your mind on ways to make progress.

I finally finished “The 4-Hour Workweek” by Timothy Ferris.  This book was quite the emotional journey. 

Before I even read it I was both skeptical and encouraged at the same time.  I then came across an interesting concept called the Parkinson’s Law which intrigued me.  Then I entered a phase in the book that began to really annoy me.  Finally, the book ended sort of flat as Ferriss began to get all philosophical and pretty much lost me as his philosophy on life is, well, very different than mine.

So here are some parting thoughts on the book which, for the record, I recommend you pick up at your local library when it becomes available if you are interested in reading it.

What I liked

To be sure, Ferriss can write.  The book flows well and his use of quotes and relevant stories does make it an easy read.  He also makes a lot of sense when speaking about how we often spend too much time on things that matter little.  He ties this in with the Pareto Principle nicely. 

One interesting example he offers is how he “fired” a large percentage of his customers (yes, customers) since they did very little business with him.  Instead of focusing on the trivial many, he focused more on the vital few customers that did lots of business with him.  He claims this worked well for him.  I am not so sure I buy into this completely but will take him for his word.

What I didn’t like

Ah, where to start.  Ferriss is sold on things like batching and outsourcing pretty much every aspect of your life – you know pretty much opposite of everything people like Taiichi Ohno taught us.

He also wants you to “automate” things empowering others to do all the hard work for you which allows you to check your email once a week (or less).  Sounds great for the “New Rich” (NR) but what about the people in India working for next to nothing running his virtual business.  I guess they don’t get to live a 4-Hour Workweek like him.

Also, Ferriss is trying to sell this idea that having all this money and time will make you happy.  It’s as if the family that makes $35,000 per year can’t live a happy life.  I have news for Mr. Ferriss, I have seen some of the poorest people in all the world… and guess what?  They are some of the happiest people I know. 

I also know some super wealthy people.  You know the kind where the “stay at home” wife drops the kids off at daycare everyday so she can “play” with her friends.  These people, in my opinion, seem to be some of the unhappiest people I know.

My definition of rich

I am not poor nor rich.  I have been blessed with a career that I love and do well.  You see I subscribe to the old saying, “Find a job you love, and never work a day in your life.”  And since I get to teach people about lean and six sigma everyday I am like a kid in a candy store with endless aisles.

I also have a family I love more than anything money can buy.  And the smiles on my kids faces when I walk in the door each night makes me feel like the richest man on earth already.  And, no, Mr. Ferriss I am not interested in outsourcing any of it.

If you enjoyed this post please subscribe to this blog via RSS feed.

No matter what you do for a living, or vocation, you will be in position to double, possibly triple, your effectiveness after reading this post.  I am so confident you will be successful if you follow my advice I offer a complete money back guarantee, no questions asked.  Oh wait, this is a free blog.  Anyhow, let’s get to it.  

It’s all about Flow

If you spend any time studying the way Toyota produces cars you will notice they relentlessly pursue flow.  When I say flow I mean making the “thing” being worked on move through the process without stopping or waiting.  For Toyota this thing is often parts of automobiles flowing throughout their factories.  Did you know Toyota produces a car every 55 seconds?  How is that for effectiveness?  

In other situations, this “thing” may be a document in a front office environment, a piece of metal moving through the assembly line, a patient in the ER, or a pillar article being written by a professional blogger.  So you see this “thing” can be anything.

So without further delay let’s get to this 3 step recipe.

Tip 1: Become the Thing

First, we need to become the “thing” being worked on.  If the “thing” is an invoice you need to become the invoice to understand how it is actually processed.  Note, this is not how it is “supposed” to be processed.  We are only interested in reality.  If, for example, this invoice sits in an inbox for a few days you need to realize this since if you had to sit in an inbox for several days… well that would suck.

Tip 2: Eliminate Functional Boundaries

Next, we must ignore the functional boundaries that so often impede flow.  In most organizations there are ‘departments’ grouped together that don’t necessarily play nice with one other.  We need to be able to get past this… which may mean, God forbid; we shuffle some cubicles around so people that need to work together can actually look up and speak to one another instead of sending emails or instant messages.

Tips 3: Eliminate Stopping and/or Waiting

The last, and hardest tip of all, is to keep the thing, whatever it is, moving without stopping or waiting.  So, if you need to get 5 signatures on a document first ask if all 5 people really need to sign the document.  Chances are 1 or 2 will suffice. 

Then, once this is sorted you need to figure out how to get these signatures as quickly as possible with no stopping or waiting.  For sure, those functional departments discussed in point 2 will need to be examined to make this happen.  There really is no secret trick to this last step.  Often times flow is impeded for silly reasons and once this is recognized we can move past them quite easily.

There are more advanced flow principles related to the study of lean manufacturing, or the Toyota Production System, but these 3 basic steps will help any organization become more effective.  So give it a shot and check back in to let us know how you did.

Related Posts:

• Stop Moving and Start Working
• Playing Fast – American Football and Lean
• Waiting
• Standard Work
• Stop the Finger Pointing!

If you enjoyed this post please subscribe to this blog via RSS feed. What’s RSS?

Photo Credit: 1

What’s the most peanut butter and honey sandwiches you’ve ever made before?  I just got done making over 700 in 45 minutes.  Yep, that’s right 700 in 45 minutes.  Besides how… you may wonder why someone would want to make that many sandwiches.  That part is easy to answer.  My church makes these sandwiches a few times a month for some local homeless shelters.  And tonight was our night.

My friend, Frank, is in charge of this project.  Frank is a former corporate executive and now superstar executive recruiter.  But in all his spare time he does amazing things like coordinate the making of 700 sandwiches a few times a month. 

Well tonight me, the wife, and 3 kids loaded up into the Toyota Sienna and went to make sandwiches.  It was our first time there.  I had spoken to Frank earlier today and joked that I was going to “lean out” his manufacturing process.  I mean Frank is good and all… but come on.  I know lean. 

Well, I arrived at the gemba and stood in the circle for a few minutes to see what I was going to optimize.  Here is what I saw:

• Frank, the water spider, was emptying peanut butter and honey (very yummy) into bowls and mixing it up.  He then replenished the work stations as needed.
• There were a few tables set up with people already working from bowls Frank had already prepared.
• The bread, bowls, small sandwich baggies, and large bags to store the sandwiches were all at point of use.
• There were three main processes: 1) spreader (smeared the PB onto the bread), 2) small bagger (put the sandwich into a baggie), and big bagger (put the bagged sandwiches into the big bag).

Honestly, I wasn’t sure how I was going to improve the process.  I decided to get involved, genchi genbutsu style.  So me and my wife (and kids for about 5 minutes) took our positions.

My wife assumed the spreader role and I took the small baggie role.  For some of the time we didn’t have a large bagger so I had to stack the completed and bagged sandwiches up.

I’m not sure if it is because we have been married 9 years or what… but me and my wife kick butt at making PB sandwiches.  It took her about 10 seconds to spread the PB and it took me the same if I hustled.  I did, shamefully, fall behind her a few times.  When this happened she stopped and helped me catch up.  What a gal. 

A young girl finally came and helped with the big bagging process and that was that.  Short of improving the small bagging process through some standard work and properly manning the stations I can’t think of how I could improve the process.

In the end, the key isn’t how well things flow I suppose.  The far more important lean lesson is the respect for others we are teaching our children.  If I can get them to learn this now kanban and heijunka will be a piece of cake in a few years.

Subscribe

If you enjoyed this post please subscribe to this blog via RSS feed. What’s RSS?

In Lean and Six Sigma we speak about the importance of understanding value from the perspective of the customer. If you miss this all the Kanban and Control Charts in the world won’t help you.Most of the airline companies in American don’t get this concept. Let me explain.

I recently booked a trip to Virginia. I scanned the website of the airline company I usually travel with and realized that they didn’t have a return route that suited me. All the routes left too late and I hoped to get home sooner for personal reasons.

So I call up my company’s travel agency to see if there were any other options. The agent found me a one way ticket to Virginia via airline company A for $700. In order to get home sooner I would have to take my return flight via airline company B for $700. So I am up to $1400.

The agent then told me that my other option was to fly round trip with airline company A. I would take the SAME flight to Virginia while having to take my return flight several hours later than airline company B’s flight. Guess how much this ROUND TRIP ticket with airline company A cost? $225 total!

Obviously I took the $225 option since it is only costing me a few hours delay (even though my wife was not so happy). But for the life of me I cannot understand how the same company can charge $700 for a one way ticket to Virgnia while only charging me $225 for the same flight to Virginia PLUS an additional flight home to Dallas.

The morale of the story is to never book a one way trip without verifying how much it will cost to book a round trip… even if you never use the return option.

If you work for an airline company and wish to enlighten me on what it is I am missing please do. I sure can’t figure it out.

My father in law had an equally shocking experience with another airline company recently… I will share that with you all later.