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Support.from firefighting to lean flow
Phase 0) Firefighting
Phase 1) Prepare your Leadership
Phase 2) Design each Value Stream to Flow
Phase 3) Analyze, Stabilize, Visualize, and Standardize each process
for those processes that your team chose
as your top priorities in your Value Stream Plan
Acid Test — Is this value stream lean?
Yes, unlike a Continuous Improvement Journey,
a Lean Transformation Journey has a clearly defined and measurable end.
Phase 4) Use Lean Management Systems to Continuously Improve
Phase 0) Firefighting
your leaders and managers spend most of their time reacting
to things like:
If continuous improvement tools and methods are used at all
they are perceived as a potential quick fix for the 'problem of the moment'
your leaders and managers decide to be proactive
And decide to investigate the time-proven approach of cultural Lean Transformation and light bulbs start clicking in their collective minds that lean tools and lean methods were never intended to be used independently, that every lean tool and method is designed to be part of an inter-connected lean system that supports and is supported by an underlying lean culture
And once the light bulbs have clicked, those leaders and managers can never again be satisfied with going back to playing the role of the weary fire fighter
Before you begin, your top leaders need to learn...
The end goal of a Lean Journey is...
Every member of this Value Stream Team can see the flow of value to the customer, and fix that flow before it breaks down
There's no way to fully understand that with only one reading.
It is worth reading again and again until you fully digest it.
Notice that there is no mention of "waste reduction", or any of the other Lean Ideals, Principles, and Objectives.
Those desirable results will happen naturally, as side benefits when you...
focus your initial efforts on one goal:
Flow
The focus of Lean Transformation
is Flow.
1) The goal is flow
There are dozens of worthy objectives that you might seek to continuously improve.
You might seek to improve quality, reduce cost, improve your management systems...
If, however, your primary focus is not to create and sustain flow...
then you might be on a continuous improvement journey, but it's not a lean journey.
(There's nothing wrong with choosing a different focus for process improvement.
Just know that the training on this page is for a Lean Journey.)
Tip: If every member of your senior management team is not yet able to answer that question (instantaneously and convincingly) , then you are not yet ready to begin your lean journey.
2) A Lean Journey has an end
When you have completed Phase 3 of your Lean Journey,
there is an acid test:
Invite a first-time visitor to visit your work area for the first time.
Ask her to stand at your clearly-marked Process Observation Point, and then...
Ask: "Is this process flowing as expected?"
(ideally with no further instruction, but perhaps she might need a very brief introduction for how to read your at-a-glance visual control that makes flow visible for this process)
Her answer is either yes or no... red or green... no yellow.
When every work area in your entire value stream passes this acid test...
(repeatedly and reliably over time)
then you have arrived.
Yes, you can and should continue to improve from there, but you can claim with confidence...
"Our Lean Transformation is officially, measurably, undeniably successful, because every member of this Value Stream Team can see the flow of value to the customer, and fix that flow before it breaks down."
"And hey, look... all of those other cost savings and culture transformations just kind of happened on their own while we were so focused on just one thing... flow."
3) It has a clearly defined path
There is no "search for low-hanging fruit".
No "look for a quick first win".
No "brainstorming".
The path to quickly transform ANY value stream to a measurable, undeniable "state of flow" is a well-worn, teachable, repeatable path and that path is clearly mapped on this training web page.
Before you begin, perhaps do a Gap Analysis
Perhaps perform a Lean Assessment
(also known as a 'gap analysis')
to define strategic target conditions, and gaps between reality and those targets.
Download your free trial
Lean Assessment template
The conclusion of your gap analysis might be to focus on some other priority before (or instead of) a lean transformation.
For example, you might choose instead to focus on
All of these (and more) are valid alternatives
to embarking on a full-scale lean transformation at this particular moment.
and you will find many of your Systems2win templates to be extremely helpful
for many of these smaller scale continuous improvement projects
If you do, however, conclude that your collective team might be ready to consider taking on "the big one" (cultural transformation)...
then this training is for you
Before you begin, your top leaders must commit
An organization-wide Lean Transformation requires a deep level of commitment from your organization's top leaders
(not just middle management)
Lean Transformation for a single value stream requires a deep level of commitment from the top executives and managers responsible for that value stream.
If you do not have believable, passionate commitment from the top leaders of at least your value stream, then don't start.
You are wasting everyone's time.
Either:
See the section above, as well as our training for how to start your Lean Journey in different leadership environments.
Phase 1) Prepare your Leadership
Establish your Leadership Infrastructure
Who: Continuous Improvement Steering Committee, and Continuous Improvement Leadership Team
Define titles, roles, and responsibilities
for your Continuous Improvement Leadership Teams
Use your Systems2win Word template as a starting point:
Continuous Improvement Leadership Roles (LeaderRoles.docx)
Launch your Continuous Improvement Steering Committee
Use the same process to launch any type of Continuous Improvement Team
Define Roles & Guidelines for your Value Stream Team
Use your Systems2win templates as a starting point:
Make available:
Expert facilitators to coach process improvement teams
Internal facilitators (from your Continuous Improvement Leadership Team)
Outside consulting for any missing expertise
Tip: If you would like to find a consultant who is familiar with your Systems2win tools, contact us for a referral
Enlist or remove anchor draggers
Some of the foundational features of a lean culture are to encourage everyone to develop 'eyes for seeing problems', and to provide a safe environment to surface problems without fear, and to openly debate ideas at the right times.
And yet once decisions and commitments are made…
then everyone needs to pull together.
Withheld involvement, unhelpful complaining, and active sabotaging cannot be tolerated.
Initiate Lean Management Systems
Start with where you are
It is impossible to institute robust lean management systems before you have made flow visible and manageable.
So just start with where you are.
No one could possibly rise to a level of leadership without having adopted some form of routine accountability habits.
Start with a few small tweaks
At this early stage (before flow is made visible)...
it is probably premature to devote more than 1 business day to improving your already-familiar routine accountability habits.
At this point, simply tweak your already-familiar routine accountability habits to be slightly:
Getting everyone to focus on their responsibilities to make flow visible and manageable
Define your Growth Plan for Job Security
Who: Continuous Improvement Steering Committee, and your entire Executive Team
If you need to fire people, do it now
If your head count is already too high...
then get your staffing level corrected NOW before you begin anything associated with the word "lean".
Make your Job Security Promise very public
Use your Systems2win template as a starting point to draft your own Job Security Promise.
And then publish it in prominent places throughout your work environment, and make it a big-deal centerpiece of training and motivation for every team that you charter from now on.
Create your Growth Plan
For your Job Security Promise to have credibility...
you're going to need a believable Growth Plan.
If you're not going to cut jobs...
then your strategic planning needs to give special attention to answer the question:
What ARE we going to do with all that time and money that gets freed up as the result of our continuous improvement successes?
Use your Job Design template
As processes get frequently re-designed...
Use your Job Design Matrix template to carefully design alternative career options for each potentially affected person.
For your Job Security Promise to have credibility...
you need to have systems (not just good intentions) to honestly care for your people
Define your Value Streams
Who: Continuous Improvement Leadership Team, and Continuous Improvement Steering Committee
Define value streams based on Product Families
(for simplicity, we use the term “Product Families” for both product and service families)
Use your Product Family Matrix template to segregate your offerings into clearly-defined product families
There is usually 1 primary value stream map per product family
Define supporting value streams
In addition to the value streams that provide value directly to your end customers, you will (eventually) also define "supporting value streams" that support your "production value streams"
Examples might include:
Purchasing, Accounting. Human Resources, etc.
Almost always, these supporting value streams will actually be segments of a larger (customer-facing) value stream:
Segments that are shared by multiple value streams.
Segments that are very similar between multiple value streams.
Tip: To get a "quick win", you might first focus your attention on the one customer-facing value stream that will have the greatest impact, and then come back in future improvement cycles to define your supporting value streams.
Who: Continuous Improvement Leadership Team
Begin to accumulate and organize your training materials
Systems2win templates, online training, and videos can be used for a large portion of your needs.
Also create and organize your own PowerPoints, PDF's, videos, interactive games, etc.
Your Systems2win Portal provides a well-designed user interface for Systems2win templates and training.
You will also want to design your central hub where your users can find your other tools and training.
And you will want a prominent link from your central hub to your Systems2win Portal, so that your users can find everything in one place.
For years, we resisted our customers' requests to provide a 'road map for a typical lean journey because we didn't want to suggest anything that might conflict with the diverse recommendations of the diverse value stream managers that use these same tools in diverse ways.
And yet, the truth is that most situations aren't nearly as unique as they initially appear. These suggested steps, tools, and methods will provide a pretty valuable starting point for MOST lean journeys.
Just keep in mind that there are many routes to the top of any mountain, and any seasoned lean veteran might adjust some details of the tools, methods, or sequence — based upon the unique conditions and objectives of each unique situation.
We hope you enjoy YOUR lean journey
and we thank you for choosing Systems2win to be a part of it
Define your folder and file naming conventions
Use your Systems2win template to clearly define your organization's Document Storage and Naming Conventions
Teach your leaders how to teach
Mentoring is different from teaching. Your leaders need to be good at both.
For better teachers... teach your teachers to use your Systems2win Training Design templates:
Tip: To get a "quick win", you might wait to introduce these tools at moments when they become urgent and relevant
(because the leader that you are mentoring suddenly needs to lead a training session next week)
Choose your next Strategic Challenge Goals
Who: Continuous Improvement Steering Committee, and your entire Executive Team
Do another Gap Analysis
Someone who has substantial process improvement experience
(who might be an internal team member or external consultant)
performs a Lean Assessment
(also known as a 'gap analysis')
to define strategic target conditions, and gaps between reality and those targets.
Download your free trial
Lean Assessment template
Start with Flow
As we emphasized in the text box at the top of this page (titled "What is a Lean Journey?")...
If your foremost primary objective is anything other than to design your value streams to optimize flow, then you are NOT on a Lean Journey.
(It is okay to be on a Process Improvement Journey with goals other than flow, but just recognize that all of the training on this page is not for you. It is for teams that have chosen a Lean Journey.)
If your organization HAS chosen to pursue a Lean Journey, and you still have any value stream (or a segment of a supporting value stream) that is not currently in a sustainable state of lean flow...
(as measured by the 'first-time visitor acid test')
then there should be nothing strategic to talk about for that value stream.
The strategic objective for that value stream is simple and non-negotiable:
Bring this value stream up to a sustainable state of flow.
Take your Strategic Planning to the next level
Once every work area within a value stream
has an obvious Observation Point
where any visitor can easily tell you
whether things are flowing as expected...
then (and only then) that value stream is ready to take on more advanced Strategic Challenges.
Yes, the there is an over arching lean journey traveled by your Continuous Improvement Steering Committee and Leadership Team that does span multiple value streams and segments of value streams,
but that over arching lean journey soon splits into:
One Lean Journey per Value Stream Team.
One Value Stream Team per Lean Journey.
There is only one value stream per Product Family but each value stream might be divided into segments, and many segments are comprised of 'enabling' or 'supporting' value streams, often shared by multiple value streams.
Each value stream and/or segment will have its own Value Stream Team.
A single Change Agent might have responsibility for multiple value streams but every Lean Journey
is traveled by its own Value Stream Team, even though some individuals might be a member of multiple Value Stream Teams.
Your organization chart does not require a person with the title of 'Value Stream Manager' and you don’t have to re-organize your formal management structures around value streams
(although both of those might be something that you eventually evolve toward…)
but you do need one (and only one) manager who has ultimate responsibility for the performance of each value stream
(and remember, every value stream spans many functional departments)
and you do need to form a Value Stream Team as the first step of the lean journey for each and every value stream.
Who: Continuous Improvement Leadership Team, Value Stream Team
Use the same process to launch ANY type of Continuous Improvement Team.
Who: Value Stream Team
Follow the instructions for how to do value stream mapping and use your value stream mapping tools to complete your first Current and Future State Maps,
and to socialize your first Value Stream Plan.
Each time that you successfully implement each 3-6 month Value Stream Plan you will do another round of value stream mapping and planning, and you will repeat another cycle of continuous improvement.
Follow the instructions for how to do value stream mapping
Tip: A 12 month value stream mapping cycle is simply too long. Your team will get out of the habit of focusing on value stream flow, and 7 month old goals and guidelines simply become stale and neglected.
Conduct an Executive Postmortem
Who: Continuous Improvement Steering Committee, and Continuous Improvement Leadership Team
Shortly after the final Report Out Briefing Meeting for every Value Stream Mapping Event, your top leadership team should do some hansei lean thinking, and then meet to analyze and discuss what went right and what could be improved.
This is also the ideal time to reflect on any executive-level policies that might inadvertently be creating barriers to flow or inadvertently encouraging other undesirable behaviors.
Each process in the value stream comes under the spotlight individually
as the Future State Value Stream and Plan provide True North design criteria for every process in the value stream.
For any process, your leaders might choose to split into sub phases
For a simple process, or a process that has already been improved many times...
your leaders might choose to combine Analyze, Stabilize, Visualize, and Standardize into one intense Kaizen Event
It is also common to split these into 2, 3, or even more sub-phases.
Launch the Team
Who: Continuous Improvement Leadership Team
Use the same process to launch ANY type of Continuous Improvement Team.
Analyze each process
Who: The Coach, and Process Improvement Learner or Team for this process
Perform process observation and process analysis
Think, ponder, and reflect
The most important phase of every process improvement effort is to pause long enough to think, ponder, and reflect.
(perhaps using your Hansei questions to stimulate Lean Thinking)
Each process has its own Key Performance Indicators and Key Behavior Indicators
(supporting the value stream KPI’s and KBI’s)
Stabilize each process
Who: The Coach, and Process Improvement Learner or Team for this process
Design the process to meet the value stream plan
Tools & methods to design processes to meet the value stream plan might include:
Yamazumi work load balance chart, standard work analysis, spaghetti diagram to design cellular work layouts, clearly-marked FIFO lanes, supermarkets (with or without kanbans), heijunka box or pitch chart, different standard work and perhaps cell configurations for different takt demand levels, etc.
Additional tools & methods for Lean Office Flow might include:
Processing cells with pre-defined meeting times, workflow cycles, electronic and paper FIFO lanes, etc.
Establish routine 5S habits
Everything has a place and everything is in its place.
Safety is routine. Cleaning and maintenance are routinely performed.
Routine 5S Audits remind workers to be continuously vigilant to maintain a safe, clean workplace where problems are easily identified as soon as they surface and to establish a lean culture where people know they will be rewarded (not crucified) for exposing problems
(because problems can't be solved until they are exposed)
Deal with quality issues
Once you get started with actually implementing flow in your real world
it won't be long before you realize that the most common barriers to flow are quality problems.
Methods and tools for quality improvement, might include root cause analysis Pareto chart, and other problem solving tools. FMEA Failure Mode Effects Analysis, Control Plans, SPC Control Charts, poka yoke mistake proofing, etc.
A process is stable when
it is capable of safely producing a consistent output that meets current customer demand on schedule, with consistent quality
Tips for stabilizing a process
Reduce variability by isolating it.
Stabilize a process by standardizing it.
Design Visual Controls for each process
Who: The Coach, and Process Improvement Learner or Team for this process
Make release of work (to your pacemaker) visible
Use a Heijunka Box, or a Pitch Chart, or a Job Log, or invent some other creative way to make visible how work is scheduled and released to your (one and only) pacemaker operation.
Use Team Boards
Most teams should have a Visual Team Board where the team meets for a daily Stand Up Meeting, in front of their physical bulletin board displaying the most important documents and charts used by that team.
Establish Observation Stations
Use a Layout Diagram to clearly identify Observation Stations
These are the places where your first-time visitor will stand when you do your Acid Test for visibility of flow.
These are also the places where every member of your team (and every member of management) knows they can stand (or just quickly walk past without even stopping) to know how things are going — with one quick glance.
At every work center — make flow visual
Use FIFO lanes, supermarkets, kanbans, and perhaps invent your own creative ways to make the flow of work as visible as possible. (and be sure to use your Systems2win templates that are designed to make flow visible for different types of work centers)
In the office, visual work is even more important
How might you get creative to design your own visible means of seeing the rhythmic pulse of your Pitch Cycle(s) for Office and Administrative workflow?
How might you set aside Processing Cells?
How might you design FIFO lanes containing physical folders?
(with the equipment needed for workers to perform specialized tasks as the team gathers to work together at pre-determined times)
How might you make visible the on-time status of Workflow Cycles performed independently by each worker?
(the work they do to process information going into and out of your Processing Cells)
Acid Test for Visibility of Flow
When your lean visual management systems are in place for a work area, you should be ready for the acid test.
Invite someone unfamiliar with the work area to stand at the clearly-marked Process Observation Point,
ideally with no further instruction, but perhaps with a brief explanation for:
1) how to read your at-a-glance visual control chart that makes heijunka flow visible for this process
2) how often it is updated — which usually coincides with your Pitch Pulse Cycle
(which is measured in hours; not days)
and then...
Ask: Is this process flowing as expected?
The answer should be either yes or no. (red or green... no yellow)
Identical.
The Acid Test for Visibility of Flow doubles as the Acid Test for Lean Transformation.
You have arrived.
When every process in your value stream passes the Acid Test (repeatedly over time), then the Lean Transformation phase of your Continuous Improvement Journey has been successfully completed.
Yes, you should continue to improve but you can claim with confidence...
"Our Lean Transformation is officially, measurably, undeniably successful, because every member of this Value Stream Team can see the flow of value to the customer, and fix that flow before it breaks down."
And hey, look... all of those other cost savings and culture transformations just kind of happened on their own while we were so focused on just one thing... flow.
Who: The Coach, and Process Improvement Learner or Team for this process
Document everything that every team member does
Every routine task is standardized.
Standard work is clearly visible and easily audited.
Everyone always does every routine tasks the standard way.
You will often use multiple types of documentation to understand and improve the same process from different perspectives for different purposes.
See online training for your many Systems2win tools for diverse types of Standard Work
Cross Train
Cross train your people, and use your Systems2win Training Matrix to track progress.
Introduce Leader Standard Work
A first-level team leader might spend 50-80% of her day doing Leader Standard Work.
Her boss, maybe 30%. The CEO, maybe 3%. No one has zero standard work.
Acid Test
When you have successfully implemented Standard Work, then the Acid Test for Visual Work should be reliable and trustworthy
at all times
It's pretty easy to stage one successful demonstration of the Acid Test
(which just so happens to coincide with when the VP is visiting)
When you have successfully implemented Standard Work
Anyone walking past that work area at any time knows they can trust the visuals to be current and accurate — at all times
Optimize
It is impossible to Optimize a process until you Analyze, Stabilize, Visualize, and Standardize that process
In other words... Stay on the path
Don't attempt to start any advanced methods of Phase 4 Continuous Improvement until you have successfully completed the Acid Test at the end of Phase 3
Establish Systems to Self-Heal Flow
Who: Value Stream Team, Continuous Improvement Leadership Team
Your goal isn't just 'flow'
Your goal is 'self-healing flow' that does not require management intervention to operate, or even to fix itself.
Every member of this Value Stream Team can see the flow of value to the customer, and fix that flow before it breaks down.
When you have self-healing flow, management intervention is rare.
Focus on Visual Management Systems
Although there are several components to a well-designed Lean Management System, everything else will follow naturally if you focus on Visual Management Systems.
Improve jidoka swarming systems
When something goes wrong that your people can't handle without management intervention, swarm to resolve the issue quickly.
Then remove the need for jidoka swarming
As you progress on your lean journey, your kaizen events and other lean management systems should be primarily focused on creating standard work for how to handle things that might disrupt flow.
Or more correctly, how your workers can handle those things without management intervention.
This is when you might use tools and methods like:
for common (and not-so-common) situations that sometimes happen
Decision Logic Flowchart
Lower the Water Level
Who: Value Stream Team, Continuous Improvement Leadership Team
Each time stability is achieved — stress the system
Each time stability is achieved — lower the water level to expose the "rocks and alligators" that lie hidden beneath the surface
of your current levels of inventory or time allowances.
Ways that you might stress the system might include:
The most common "rocks and alligators" to emerge will be quality issues so you will often reconsider your preparedness for more and more advanced quality tools and methods, such as Built-in quality, Poka Yoke, FMEA, TPM, OEE…
Each time that a person's career is affected use your Job Design Matrix and other Change Management tools
to ensure that every employee smoothly transitions to rewarding new roles.
NEVER renege on the Job Assurance Guarantee that you make such a big deal about every time that you launch a new team.
Continuously Improve your Processes and Systems
Who: Value Stream Team, Continuous Improvement Leadership Team
Use your Lean Management Systems
to define and reach continually-improving strategically-aligned milestones toward Lean Ideals, Principles and Objectives to improve flow within and between every process within every value stream
Continuously improve your Lean Management Systems
When (and only when) your value stream is in a sustainable state of flow then for that value stream, (which might be more advanced than some of your other value streams), your Continuous Improvement Steering Committee and Leadership Team can shift their focus from the Lean Journey (which is always focused first and foremost on Lean Flow) to other potential Strategic Challenges of a Continuous Improvement Journey.
Potential Strategic Challenges such as:
Better Lean Management Systems
Kaizen Event leadership. Kata Coaching. Gemba Walks. Audits. Team Boards. Stand up meetings. Leader Standard Work. Shu ha ri leadership development. Team Charters. Lean Accounting Systems. Version control for your tool library.
Better Strategic Planning and Policy Deployment
X-Matrix. Catchball. Decision making tools & systems. Change Management.
Your Growth Plan. Customer partnership. Supplier partnership.
Better systems for problem solving
Better root cause analysis, kaizen events, A3 projects, PDCA Coaching Cycles...
Better systems for quality assurance, control, and improvement.
Design for Six Sigma, and systems to pro actively avoid problems before they disrupt.
Better employee training, coaching, and motivation
Cross training. Training systems.
Results management. Pay for team performance.
Leadership development.
Yes Continuous Improvement really is Continuous
but don't let it overwhelm you
If you only take away one thing from this training page...
it should be this:
And unlike a potentially confusing and endless Continuous Improvement journey,
there's nothing confusing or unattainable about a Lean Journey
The Lean Journey path is very well-worn, very clearly marked, and your arrival at the clearly-defined final destination is very easily measured...
Does THIS value stream pass the acid test?
Can a first-time visitor stand in a clearly marked Process Observation Point for each process in the value stream, and (without further instruction) correctly tell you whether or not each process is flowing as expected?
Yes or no?
everything else will ease into place
Trust the process
and enjoy your lean journey
When to use each tool
in a Typical Lean Journey for Lean Transformation
Road map for a typical
Lean Transformation
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