Problems with problem solving

Dr. Maier, who is responsible for the introduction of a lean management system at the Müller company based on the Toyota model, no longer understands the world. He attended numerous events on the introduction of "Lean". He also read all the books and publications on the subject on the market. And the department heads in manufacturing, logistics, purchasing and development? They were intensively trained and can talk about "SMED, Poka Yoke, Kaikaku and Co" almost in their sleep.

In short, the company has spared no effort in recent years to train employees on Lean methods and tools. All managers have included the introduction in their target

capitulation after a short time

targets are in place. And there is even a team that deals exclusively with the implementation of lean management.

Disappointments do not stay away

Nevertheless, the hoped-for results are not forthcoming. And the management? They are breathing down Dr. Maier's neck. They expect concrete results, but they don't really want to see them. Yet Dr. Maier was so confident. At the kick-off of the project, he spoke impressively about the stronger customer orientation, the more stable quality and all this at lower costs as a result of the introduction of a lean program. And continuous improvement as a guarantee for success in order to be able to adapt more quickly to new market conditions? He wanted to introduce this as a side effect, so to speak. His credo at the time was: "Introducing Lean can't be that difficult; consequently, there won't be any problems with it in our organization. But now he is in a pickle, so to speak, because he is not delivering as promised.

Dr. Maier is not the only manager and organizational developer who has had the experiences described above when introducing a lean program. Although lean management has been an established term in numerous management books and corporate guidelines for years, many companies capitulate during the introduction and sooner or later abandon the "lean mode" because the hoped-for results fail to materialize.

Avoid waste - from the customer's point of view

What exactly is behind Lean Production and Lean Management? Lean Production is often described with the words "less is more". This means: All activities that are not value-adding from the customer's point of view and for which the customer is consequently not willing to pay should be eliminated from the operational activity. The goal is to avoid any kind of waste (Japanese: muda) along the value chain. By means of a consistent orientation of production to the needs of the customer, the aim of lean production is to

• high-quality products
• with the highest delivery reliability
• at lowest throughput times
• produced at a reasonable cost. The quality of the employees' work is the most important

Reward for mistakes?

Focus. Because only good employees can make good products. "Most automotive people build good cars. We 'build' good people and they build good cars." That's one of Toyota's credos.

Toyota is the benchmark for lean production with its Toyota Production System, or TPS for short. The core elements of TPS are:

• a synchronization of the processes,
• a standardization of the processes,
• the avoidance of mistakes,
• the improvement of the production facilities and
• a systematic qualification of the employees.

Behind this is the goal of continuous improvement (Japanese: Kaizen). This is formulated in Toyota's corporate philosophy: "We want to survive as a company in the long term by improving and developing how we produce good products for customers. »

More than tools and methods

According to the textbook, lean management refers to the totality of methods, principles of thought and procedures for the efficient design of the entire value chain of industrial goods. Does this very sober description do justice to lean management? Is lean management not rather a philosophy and thus not a mere application of lean tools and methods?

Lean management pursues the goal of achieving a strong customer orientation with consistent cost reduction for the entire value chain, both across companies and within companies. The basic idea here is to solve problems combined with continuous improvement. Lean Management therefore aims to bring problems to the surface and make them visible - instead of hiding them. But where problems are identified and analyzed, mistakes are also named, and who likes to admit mistakes? And which company "rewards" employees who make mistakes or uncover problems? Yet this is precisely the core of lean management: creating a (corporate) culture that does not condemn mistakes, as is usually the case, but instead sees them as an opportunity to develop and improve, just like the problems that are identified.

But back to Dr. Maier. What will he be able to report to his bosses at the next board meeting regarding the progress of the lean program? Has he perhaps been deceived by these "miracle cures" from Japan? Why has the hoped-for breakthrough to permanently higher quality combined with lower costs failed to materialize - despite Kanban, value stream analyses, teamwork and visualized key figures? Yet he and his lean team had got off to such a good start in the lean program. They were soon able to show their first results. After a value stream analysis and the application of the appropriate lean method, for example, the throughput time in production was reduced - in other words, the products reached the customer faster.

The avoidance of waste and the associated increase in value creation along the supply chain can, as many practical examples show, be managed very well using the well-known lean methods and tools. Difficulties always arise when companies try to change the way they do things.

Only the tip of the iceberg

The aim is to make lean methods and tools an integral part of everyday work in their organization. This often leads to resistance on the part of the employees. This was also the case in Dr. Maier's company. And again and again the tiresome topic of communication. The facts speak for themselves. Don't they?

Lean management requires a new attitude

The US-American Mike Rother, a guru of the Lean scene and author of the book "The Kata of the World Market Leader: Toyota's Success Methods", among others, likes to describe the connection between Lean tools and methods and Lean Management with the iceberg analogy. Lean tools and methods are the visible part of the iceberg, and lean management is the larger, invisible part that lies beneath the surface of the water. Many companies either ignore the invisible part of the iceberg when implementing a Lean program, or they postpone dealing with it until Day X, when the "real Lean issues" are addressed. They forget that the lean philosophy is primarily about the willingness to fundamentally rethink and, if necessary, change behaviors and thus bring about a fundamental cultural change in the company.

The "less is more" often quoted in connection with Lean can also be interpreted to mean that it is less about the tools and more about the right attitude in order to implement Lean Management and Lean Production permanently and successfully in companies. A wrench alone is not enough; at least as important are the head that wants to turn it and the hand that turns it. Consequently, Lean focuses on people and employees. He must be won over to review and, if necessary, revise his attitudes and habits. However, anyone who has ever tried to brush their teeth or spoon out a plate "with the left hand" as a right-handed person can judge how difficult even the smallest deviations from habits are. How difficult might it be to demand fundamental behavioral changes such as those in the Lean approach? Certainly too difficult to be neglected or to be done on the side by non-specialists.

Lean as an idea or philosophy with lean production as an implementation vehicle can only bring lasting success if management and staff succeed in tackling the hard nut of "mindset and behavior" and anchoring new, flexible, adapted behaviors in the company. Based on this new mindset, which is essentially based on problem solving and continuous improvement, the application of proven lean methods can become an important pillar of customer orientation, flexibility, increased output and thus ultimately the ongoing success of a company.

Making problems visible and solving them

How does this help Dr. Maier when he meets with his superiors? He should try to explain to the management of his company that the already practiced use of lean methods is an essential step, but only one step in the direction of a "new way of working".

•  Lean management can only work if there is a spirit in the company that allows mistakes and makes problems visible instead of hiding them,
• lasting success in the introduction of Lean can only be achieved through a fundamental change in the attitude and behaviour of employees, and
• when implementing Lean, "the journey is the destination" and it is not just another management project that will be completed on day X.

Understood in this way, lean management can be an important pillar in the company in order to be able to adapt flexibly, quickly and effectively to constantly changing market requirements and ever new internal and external challenges. This is because every employee and the entire company learn to learn from mistakes and to question what seems to be self-evident and unchangeable, and develop a routine, so to speak, of constantly improving.