Reducing time

Taiichi Ohno, the founder of the Toyota Production system is quoted as saying.

What Lean is

“All we are doing is looking at the time line, from the moment the customer gives us an order to the point when we collect the cash. And we are reducing the time line by reducing the non-value adding wastes.”

M Tu W Th F Sa Su

Organisation spends money on raw materials

Value stream including wastes

Timeline

Organisation Receives money for finished

goods delivered

From This

M Tu W Th F Sa Su

Organisation spend money on raw materials

Value stream wastes reduced

Timeline

Organisation Receives money for finished goods delivered

To this

• This is all very well as reducing the wastes means that, as a consequence, we are also reducing costs.

• However we have now created a huge gap in our timeline.• The success or failure of your Lean system can rest largely on

the decisions made around how this gap is filled.

What about the gap

There are now 2 choices

• Option 1 – Stretch the timeline back out by making half the workforce redundant. It is commonly understood that people are our largest cost right and Lean is surely all about reducing costs?

There is a choice

M Tu W Th F Sa Su

Organisation spend money on raw materials

Value stream wastes reduced

Timeline

Organisation Receives money for finished goods delivered

Lean destroying approach

• Low Moral• Untrusting employees• Unwillingness to engage in Lean• Lean efforts fail• Waste and the status quo returns• Increasing costs (long term)• Difficulty in rehiring experienced labour when the need

arises.

The result of option 1

• Option 2 – Utilise those liberated by the waste removal process in continuous improvement. Especially in areas such as customer satisfaction, sales improvements, research and development, innovation and quality improvement.

The alternative

M Tu W Th F Sa Su

Organisation spend money on raw materials

Value stream wastes reduced

Timeline

Organisation Receives money for finished goods delivered

Lean building approach

Organisation Receives money for finished

goods delivered

• Employee Moral is lifted• Mutual trust between Employees and leadership• Lean system takes off• Costs reduction velocity increases• Organisation becomes an employer of choice.• Organisation gets paid twice within the same timeline.

The result of option 2

Result delivery for option one is simpler and quicker, but at what cost?

Result delivery for option two takes vision, time and perseverance, plus sometimes a Leap of faith from senior leaders. The results though speak for themselves.

Make a choice the decision is yours !!!

Summary

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End