Microwave Lean
I was reading a job advertisement that a friend of mine sent to me recently. They were thinking the company could be a good target for my skills and in many respects they would be - however the advertisement clearly highlights a challenge I have as a consultant. Lots of target companies that could use my services, but sadly, a much smaller group of companies that understand they need the help and are ready to accept the help.
What particularly took my eye in this advertisement was the following text (This is an add for a Lean Specialist whose role would be to implement Lean tools and techniques and their number one Essential Criteria was…), “Able to achieve set target in 5S and Lean Audits“.
Sadly I often see organisations simply cherry picking the tools they WANT to implement so they are able to pass some arbitrary audit, and not the philosophy as a whole. And then they wonder why they don’t get the results they wanted/were promised. Companies like this, even when they do use the tools - tend not to implement the tools correctly. Take 5S as an example. This tool is often the number one tool implemented by consultants/companies. However the 5S program rarely? includes the standardise and sustain. It is usually the sort, stabilise (and this is often questionable) and shine. In other-words, its nothing more than a clean up and a shine. In my opinion the key ingredients to the success of this tool (and this is dependent upon it being used as an ingredient of the whole philosophy and not in isolation) is the standardise work and the sustain. That is kaizen - the continuous improvement of these standards.
How we get through to these companies remains a mystery to me, if you have any ideas how to achieve it - let me know.
