lean leadership

Embedding Lean Manufacturing: A Blueprint for Manufacturers’ Success

Posted on by Adam Payne

As a manufacturing professional in the UK, you’re likely all too familiar with the constant pressure to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and stay competitive in an increasingly global marketplace. Over the years, I’ve worked with numerous British manufacturers who have faced these challenges head-on, and time and time again, I’ve seen one approach stand out as a game-changer: lean manufacturing.

Lean manufacturing isn’t just another buzzword or passing trend. It’s a proven methodology that has transformed industries worldwide, and it’s particularly relevant for UK manufacturers looking to thrive. In this post, we’ll explore the essential steps to embed lean manufacturing in your business and highlight why so many manufacturers are embracing this approach. We’ll also look at some inspiring success stories that demonstrate the transformative power of lean principles.

Essential Steps to Implement Lean Manufacturing

Implementing lean manufacturing is a journey, not a destination. It requires commitment, patience, and a willingness to challenge the status quo. Here are the key steps you’ll need to take to successfully embed lean principles in your organisation:

a) Align your organisation around lean principles

The first and perhaps most crucial step is to ensure that everyone in your organisation understands and buys into the lean philosophy. This means educating your team about the core principles of lean manufacturing, such as:

  • Identifying and eliminating waste
  • Continuous improvement (Kaizen)
  • Respect for people
  • Creating flow in processes

In my experience, resistance to change is one of the biggest hurdles in implementing lean. That’s why it’s essential to communicate the benefits of lean manufacturing clearly and consistently. Emphasise how it can make everyone’s job easier, more satisfying, and more secure in the long run.

b) Map the value stream to identify waste

Value stream mapping is a powerful tool that helps you visualise your entire production process, from raw materials to finished product. By creating a detailed map, you can identify areas of waste, inefficiency, and bottlenecks.

I once worked with a UK-based casting manufacturer who was struggling with long lead times. Through value stream mapping, we discovered that components were spending an average of 15 days in various queues throughout the production process. By addressing these queues, we were able to reduce lead times by over 50%. (Reducing Lead-time Case Study)

c) Create flow and pull systems for smoother operations

Once you’ve identified areas of waste, the next step is to create flow in your processes. This means arranging your production line so that work moves smoothly from one step to the next, without unnecessary stops or delays.

Pull systems, such as Kanban, can be particularly effective in creating flow. Instead of pushing products through the system based on forecasts, pull systems produce items based on actual customer demand. This reduces inventory, improves cash flow, and ensures you’re making what customers actually want.

d) Utilise lean tools like 5S, Kanban, and Six Sigma

Lean manufacturing offers a variety of tools and techniques to help you improve your operations. Some of the most effective include:

  • 5S (Sort, Set in order, Shine, Standardise, Sustain): A method for organising workspaces for efficiency and effectiveness.
  • Kanban: A visual system for managing work-in-progress and scheduling production.
  • Six Sigma: A data-driven approach to eliminating defects and reducing variability.

e) Foster a culture of continuous improvement

Lean manufacturing is not a one-time project; it’s an ongoing process of continuous improvement. Encourage your team to constantly look for ways to eliminate waste and improve processes. Implement a system for collecting and acting on employee suggestions.

f) Implement technology and automation to enhance lean processes

While lean manufacturing originated before the digital age, modern technology can significantly enhance its effectiveness. Consider implementing an Manufacturing Execution Software (MES) systems like FactoryIQ to improve visibility across your operations, or explore how Industry 4.0 technologies like IoT sensors and data analytics can support your lean initiatives.

Why Manufacturers Embrace Lean Manufacturing

Now that we’ve covered the ‘how’, let’s look at the ‘why’. There are compelling reasons why manufacturers across the UK are embracing lean principles:

a) Significant improvements in efficiency and productivity

Lean manufacturing can lead to dramatic improvements in efficiency and productivity. By eliminating waste and streamlining processes, you can produce more with less. I’ve seen manufacturers increase their output by 30% or more without adding additional resources.

b) Substantial cost reductions through waste elimination

Waste is expensive. By identifying and eliminating the eight types of waste (defects, overproduction, waiting, non-utilised talent, transportation, inventory, motion, and extra-processing), lean manufacturers can significantly reduce their costs. This is particularly crucial for UK manufacturers facing increased competition post-Brexit.

c) Enhanced customer value and satisfaction

Lean manufacturing isn’t just about cutting costs; it’s about delivering more value to your customers. By focusing on what the customer truly values and eliminating everything else, you can improve quality, reduce lead times, and enhance overall customer satisfaction.

d) Environmental benefits from reduced resource consumption

With the increasing environmental awareness, lean manufacturing offers significant sustainability benefits. By reducing waste and improving efficiency, you’ll naturally reduce your consumption of energy and raw materials. This not only helps the environment but can also improve your company’s image and appeal to environmentally conscious customers.

e) Competitive advantage in the marketplace

Being lean can give you a significant competitive edge. The ability to deliver high-quality products quickly and at competitive prices can help you win new customers and retain existing ones.

f) Increased employee engagement and morale

When implemented correctly, lean manufacturing can significantly improve employee satisfaction. By involving employees in problem-solving and continuous improvement, you empower them and make their work more engaging. This can lead to higher retention rates and a more motivated workforce.

Real-World Success Stories

Let’s look at some inspiring examples of companies that have successfully embedded lean manufacturing principles:

Caterpillar Inc.’s lean journey and results

Caterpillar’s lean journey offers valuable lessons for manufacturers of all sizes. The company began implementing lean principles in the early 2000’s and has since seen remarkable results. Including the formalisation of its Caterpillar Production System which launched in 2005, and a strategic initiative to establish an enterprise-wide lean vision in 2012.

John Deere’s efficiency gains through lean principles

Another global manufacturer with operations in the UK, John Deere, has been on a lean journey since the 1990s. The company has reported significant improvements in productivity, quality, and employee satisfaction. In one facility, John Deere reduced the time to manufacture significantly through lean principles.

General Electric’s inventory reduction and quality improvements

GE’s adoption of lean principles, combined with Six Sigma, led to substantial improvements across its diverse business units. The company reported saving billions of dollars and significantly improving product quality.

While these are large multinational companies, I’ve seen similar results in smaller UK manufacturers. For instance, a medium-sized automotive parts manufacturer in the Midlands implemented lean principles and saw a 40% reduction in lead times and a 25% increase in productivity within 18 months.

Toyota’s pioneering lean practices

Toyota is often credited with pioneering lean manufacturing through its Toyota Production System (TPS). The company’s focus on continuous improvement and respect for people has led to unparalleled efficiency and quality. Toyota’s lean practices have been emulated by manufacturers worldwide, proving that lean principles can be adapted to various industries and scales.

Rolls-Royce’s lean transformation

Rolls-Royce, a renowned UK manufacturer, has also embraced lean manufacturing. By implementing lean principles, Rolls-Royce has achieved significant improvements in production efficiency and product quality. The company has reduced lead times, cut costs, and enhanced customer satisfaction, solidifying its position as a leader in the aerospace industry.

Conclusion

Embedding lean manufacturing is indeed a transformative process that can revolutionise your manufacturing operations. In following the key steps outlined – aligning your organisation, mapping value streams, creating flow, utilising lean tools, fostering continuous improvement, and leveraging technology – you can achieve significant improvements in efficiency, cost reduction, and customer satisfaction.

The benefits of lean manufacturing are clear and compelling. From improved productivity and reduced costs to enhanced customer value and environmental benefits, lean principles offer a pathway to long-term success and competitiveness.

As you embark on your lean journey, remember that it’s not about achieving perfection overnight. It’s about making consistent, incremental improvements that add up to significant results over time. Start small, celebrate your wins, learn from your setbacks, and keep pushing forward.

In the face of global competition and economic uncertainty, lean manufacturing offers UK manufacturers a proven approach to not just survive, but thrive. By embracing these principles, you can position your company for success in the years to come, driving innovation, efficiency, and growth in the ever-evolving manufacturing landscape.

Remember, the journey to lean manufacturing is challenging, but the rewards are well worth the effort. So, are you ready to start your lean journey and transform your manufacturing operations? The time to act is now. Embrace lean manufacturing and unlock the full potential of your business. By doing so, you will not only enhance your operational capabilities but also ensure a sustainable and prosperous future for your company in the competitive global market.

From Waste to Worth: Embracing Lean Manufacturing to Maximise Efficiency and Profits

Posted on by Adam Payne

Have you ever had the nagging feeling that your manufacturing business could be doing better? That despite your best efforts, you seem to be stuck in a rut, spinning your wheels without making significant progress, and watching as precious resources are squandered? You’re certainly not alone in this struggle. Across the UK, numerous small manufacturers grapple with the challenge of maximising efficiency and eliminating unnecessary costs that eat into their hard-earned profits. But there’s no need to despair because there is a powerful solution within reach that can totally transform your operations: the lean manufacturing approach.

Lean manufacturing isn’t just a set of tools or a temporary fix; it’s a comprehensive philosophy that, when embraced, can unlock the hidden potential in your business and turn what was once considered “waste” into pure gold. Allow me to guide you through this transformative philosophy and show you how to unleash a leaner, meaner, and more profitable manufacturing machine.

The Lean Mindset: Identifying and Eliminating Waste

At the very heart of lean manufacturing lies the relentless pursuit of waste elimination. But to tackle waste, we must first understand what it is. Waste in the manufacturing context can take many forms, such as overproduction, excess inventory, inefficient processes, unnecessary movements, waiting times, and defective products. Essentially, waste is anything that does not add value to your final product or service.

Developing a keen eye for waste is akin to developing a new sense of perception. It’s like decluttering your home – once you start identifying the unnecessary clutter, you begin to see it everywhere. And just like decluttering, eliminating waste in your manufacturing process can be incredibly liberating and empowering. It frees up space, resources, and energy, allowing you to focus on what truly matters: delivering value to your customers.

The Lean Toolbox: Unleashing Efficiency

With a clear understanding of what constitutes waste, the next step is to apply the power of lean manufacturing techniques. These tried-and-true tools are designed to streamline your operations and maximise efficiency. Let’s delve into a few of the game-changers that can revolutionise the way you work:

  1. Value Stream Mapping: This powerful technique allows you to visualise the entire flow of your manufacturing process, from raw materials to the finished product. By mapping out the value stream, you can identify bottlenecks, inefficiencies, and areas ripe for improvement. It’s a tool that provides a bird’s-eye view of your operations, highlighting where time and resources are being wasted and where the flow of production can be smoothed out.
  2. 5S: This lean principle (Sort, Set in Order, Shine, Standardise, Sustain) is all about creating a clean, organised, and efficient workspace. By implementing 5S, you’ll not only improve safety and productivity but also instil a sense of pride and ownership in your team. Each ‘S’ plays a crucial role: Sorting ensures that only necessary items are kept, Setting in Order arranges tools and materials for optimal workflow, Shining keeps the workspace clean, Standardising creates consistent methods and practices, and Sustaining ensures that these new standards are maintained over time.
  3. Just-in-Time Production: Say goodbye to excessive inventory and hello to a leaner, more agile manufacturing process. Just-in-Time (JIT) production ensures that you produce only what’s needed, when it’s needed, minimising waste and freeing up valuable resources. This approach requires precise planning and communication but, when executed correctly, can significantly reduce costs associated with storage and spoilage while ensuring that your products are always fresh and in line with current market demands.

Engaging Your Team: The Secret Sauce

The implementation of lean manufacturing techniques is just the beginning. To truly unlock the full potential of lean, you need to engage and empower your team. After all, your employees are the ones on the front lines, witnessing inefficiencies and waste firsthand.

Encourage your team to identify areas for improvement and share their ideas openly. Foster an environment where everyone feels valued and heard. When your employees feel invested in the lean process, they’ll become your biggest advocates and drivers of continuous improvement. This engagement leads to a more motivated workforce, one that takes initiative and pride in their work.

The Continuous Improvement Mindset: Lean is a Journey, Not a Destination

Lean manufacturing is an ongoing process, not just a single initiative. It requires a steadfast commitment to continuously identifying and eliminating inefficiencies and waste. To thrive, foster a culture of perpetual improvement where all team members proactively seek ways to refine processes and reduce waste.

Consider this as a constant cycle of enhancements, with each phase moving you towards a more streamlined, efficient, and profitable production process. This approach is essential as it keeps pace with ever-changing market conditions and technological advancements. By nurturing this dynamic culture, your business remains flexible, competitive, and at the forefront of industry developments.

The Benefits: Turning Waste into Worth

By embracing the lean manufacturing approach, you’ll unlock a host of benefits that can transform your small manufacturing business:

  1. Cost Reduction: By cutting out waste and enhancing efficiency, we directly lower our operational expenses, boosting our profit margins. Who isn’t pleased with more savings? These funds can be funnelled back into the company, propelling growth, spurring innovation, and enabling continuous enhancements.
  2. Quality Enhancement: Applying lean methodologies to pinpoint and rectify flaws boosts the quality of products, much to the delight of customers, thus delivering a dual benefit. This consistency in quality cultivates trust and loyalty, both of which are essential in the competitive landscape of today.
  3. Boost in Competitiveness: Speed and adaptability are crucial in the modern market, and lean manufacturing positions you to keep pace with market trends and supply products with more efficiency, giving your business a vital advantage over competitors. This nimbleness also makes adapting to shifts in customer tastes and market dynamics smoother.
  4. Employee Morale and Retention: Incorporating your team in the lean journey and valuing their input instils a sense of ownership and pride in their work. The outcome? Elevated job satisfaction and diminished staff turnover, particularly vital for smaller businesses. When employees feel engaged, they’re likelier to commit long-term to your company, cutting down the cost and interruption high turnover can create.

Embrace the Lean Mindset: Your Call to Action

Small manufacturers in the UK, the time has come to embrace the lean manufacturing approach and unlock the hidden potential within your operations. It may require an initial investment of time and resources, but the potential rewards are too significant to ignore.

Take the first step today by identifying areas of waste and inefficiency within your manufacturing process. Engage your team, implement lean techniques, and cultivate a culture of continuous improvement. Before you know it, you’ll be turning what was once considered “waste” into pure worth, propelling your small manufacturing business towards a leaner, more efficient, and more profitable future.

Embrace the lean mindset, and watch as your manufacturing operation transforms into a well-oiled, value-maximising machine. The time to unlock your hidden potential is now.

The Lean Transformation: A Detailed Roadmap

To embark on this lean journey, it’s essential to have a clear roadmap. This roadmap will guide you through the various stages of lean implementation, ensuring that you don’t miss any critical steps and that you can measure your progress along the way.

Stage 1: Assessment and Planning

The first stage involves a thorough assessment of your current operations. You need to understand where you are before you can chart a course to where you want to be. This assessment should be as comprehensive as possible, covering all aspects of your manufacturing process, including supply chain management, production, quality control, and delivery.

Once you’ve identified the areas that need improvement, it’s time to plan. Set clear, achievable goals for your lean transformation. These goals should be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). With these goals in place, you can develop a step-by-step plan to achieve them, assigning responsibilities and deadlines to ensure accountability.

Stage 2: Training and Empowerment

Lean manufacturing is as much about people as it is about processes. For your lean transformation to be successful, your team must be fully trained in lean principles and techniques. Invest in comprehensive training programs that not only teach the tools of lean but also instill the philosophy behind it.

Empowerment is equally important. Your employees should feel confident in suggesting improvements and taking the initiative to solve problems. This empowerment can be fostered through regular team meetings, suggestion schemes, and recognition programs that celebrate the contributions of your staff.

Stage 3: Implementation and Monitoring

With your team trained and empowered, you can begin implementing the lean techniques you’ve chosen. Start with pilot projects or specific areas of your operations to test the effectiveness of the changes and to build momentum for a wider rollout.

Monitoring is critical during this stage. You need to track the impact of your lean initiatives to ensure they are delivering the desired results. Use key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure progress against your goals. These KPIs might include metrics such as production cycle times, defect rates, inventory levels, and employee engagement scores.

Stage 4: Review and Adjust

Lean is an iterative process. After implementing changes, take the time to review the outcomes. What worked well? What didn’t? What unexpected challenges arose? Use this information to adjust your approach and refine your processes.

This stage is also an opportunity to celebrate successes and to learn from failures. Both are invaluable in building a resilient and adaptable organisation.

Stage 5: Standardisation and Replication

Once you’ve found what works, standardise those processes so that they become the new norm. Document best practices and ensure that they are followed across your entire operation.

After standardising successful practices, replicate them in other areas of your business. This replication can lead to significant improvements across your organisation, multiplying the benefits of your lean transformation.

Stage 6: Sustaining the Gains

The final stage is about sustaining the gains you’ve made. Lean is not a set-it-and-forget-it approach; it requires ongoing attention and effort. Continue to monitor your KPIs, engage with your team, and look for new ways to improve.

Remember, the landscape of manufacturing is always changing. New technologies, materials, and market demands will present new challenges and opportunities. By maintaining a lean mindset, you can ensure that your business remains flexible, efficient, and competitive for years to come.

Key Takeaways

Transforming into a lean manufacturing enterprise comes with its hurdles. It demands dedication, strict adherence to principles, and openness to transformation. However, the benefits are undeniable: lower expenses, enhanced product quality, a boost in competitive edge, and a workforce that’s more involved and committed.

Being a UK-based producer, you stand at a pivotal moment to effect profound changes in both your enterprise and your sector. By adopting lean manufacturing practices, you can tap into the dormant capabilities of your processes, steering your company towards a future that’s streamlined, high-functioning, and financially rewarding.

The time to act is now. Embrace the lean mindset, engage your team, and start your journey towards excellence. Your business, your employees, and your customers will thank you for it. The transformation that awaits is not just about cutting costs or increasing efficiency; it’s about reimagining what your business can achieve. Lean is the key to unlocking a future where your manufacturing business doesn’t just survive but thrives.

The Power of Lean: How Leadership Transformation Elevates Company Performance

Posted on by Adam Payne

By now, you’ve probably heard about Lean. It’s a powerful approach to management, which has its roots in manufacturing, but is used by many companies large and small to improve their processes and products.

As its name suggests, Lean is about eliminating waste — anything that doesn’t directly add value to the customer. This includes waste in time (waiting), materials (overproduction), money (overhead) and energy (people working on the wrong things).

Lean is a journey — not just a set of tools or tactics — and it takes time to become effective. But it can transform how you manage your people — giving you more time for important activities like coaching and developing your people so they can do their jobs better.

The Lean Leadership Journey

The journey to a Lean organisation is not an easy one. It requires a holistic approach and a complete mindset change. It takes time, effort and dedication to make the transformation successful. And it’s never over!

The following are some of the steps that you can take to start your journey toward becoming a Lean organisation:

Get everyone involved in the process. The Lean Transformation cannot be achieved through top-down management alone. The leader must work closely with employees at all levels to implement changes that will make the organisation more effective and efficient. Employees need to understand how they fit into this process, so that they can contribute effectively.

Set goals for improvement and measure progress toward those goals regularly. One of the primary reasons for implementing Lean practices is to improve business performance and increase efficiency, but measuring results will tell us if we’re moving in the right direction or not. We need to be measuring against specific goals set out at the beginning of the process (or before it began). This also helps us identify areas which need improvement as well as areas where we’re excelling.

The Lean Leaders Standard Work

Lean leadership Standard Work is a system that encourages continuous improvement and provides a framework for facilitating change. It requires leaders to focus on their actions, behaviours, and tools in order to drive continuous improvement in their organisation. This Lean Leadership Standard Work can be applied to managers, supervisors, directors, and executives alike.

Lean Leadership Standard Work encourages and promotes employees in organisations to reduce variation and improve performance. It also develops team members by demonstrating how to make smart changes and support people by defining what they should do when they take action.

Lean Leadership Standard Work can include:

  • Develop process standards alongside the process operators
  • Observing processes in action (Gemba Walks)
  • Asking 5 Why questions
  • Identifying gaps between standard & actual work (Audit)
  • Supporting process improvement
  • Coach and Mentoring Employees
  • Empowering Accountability and Responsibility
  • Deploying strategy

Lean Thinking as Leader

Lean Thinking as a Leader is about management that encourages you to make the most of your team and organisation. It is about creating an environment where people feel comfortable thinking “outside the box,” and where ideas can be considered, implemented, and monitored so that adjustments can be made quickly.

It requires leaders to be open-minded and encourages them to listen carefully to their team members’ ideas and suggestions. It also encourages leaders to collaborate with their teams in order to come up with better solutions for problems or issues. When everyone feels like they’re part of something bigger than themselves, they’ll be more likely to work hard toward achieving success in whatever it is they’ve been tasked with accomplishing.

The Lean Leader as a Teacher

A key concept in Lean is that people learn best by doing. Leaders must therefore create an environment where learning can happen, by encouraging employees to take on projects and responsibilities that stretch them, while also providing coaching and feedback along the way. The goal, according to Masaaki Imai (the author of Kaizen), is to help each employee become “Kaizen conscious, developing skills and tools for problem solving” — and this requires a great deal of effort on the part of managers in order to ensure that all employees are given opportunities to learn, grow and improve within their roles at work.

Eliminating waste is a key Lean Leadership Principle

Waste can be defined as anything that does not add value to the product or service being created. Waste occurs in all processes and can be categorised into three types of wasteful actions that negatively impact workflow, productivity and ultimately, customer satisfaction.

  1. Muda (or non-value-added work). These are activities that do not add any value to the end product or service, such as, Overproduction, Inventory, Defects, Motion, Over-processing, Waiting, Transportation.
  2. Muri (or overburden). This is when workers are asked to do more than they can handle efficiently, safely, or ethically.
  3. Mura (or unevenness). This occurs when there are unexpected fluctuations in demand for products or services due to things like seasonal change or competitor activity.

Waste takes time and resources to create, so eliminating it saves time and money.

Lean Leaders Put Customers First

Lean leaders are customer focused. They don’t waste time or money on anything that doesn’t directly improve the customer experience, and they know that this is the best way to grow their business.

This means that lean leaders put their customers’ needs first by:

  1. Listening to their customers and understanding their challenges and needs.
  2. Paying attention to what customers think about the product or service, and how they use it.
  3. Identifying areas where they can improve the products or services based on what customers say.

Takeaway: Lean leadership is about learning and improving.

A company benefits from having the right leadership in place, which ultimately helps a business to grow. They’ll learn from your customers, try new things, and challenge you in new ways. They’ll collaborate with others and actively seek outside support. Without good leaders, or without lean principles guiding those leaders, you’re going to get the same results: no learning and therefore no improvement.

Boost your team’s performance and your leadership potential with New Way Growth’s personalised Helping Managers to Succeed and Lead Programme. Let’s shape your leadership success story today!

Seven Tips For Being An Effective Lean Leader

Posted on by Adam Payne

Lean Leadership

Lean is about creating a culture of continuous improvement, where everyone—from the CEO to the cleaner—is working together to eliminate waste, cut costs, and improve quality.

Lean is based on a number principles that can be applied at every level. These principles include:

  • Eliminate waste through value stream mapping, one-piece flow and standardised work
  • Reduce cycle time by visualising how things are currently done
  • Standardize everything possible, from processes to parts and equipment used
  • Create pull systems to avoid overproduction (Make-to-Stock vs Make-to-Order)
  • Build Quality In by eliminating defects through prevention instead of inspection (Poka Yoke)
  • Sustain Kaizen (Continuous Improvement)

Focusing on value is your first priority.

The Kaizen Mindset

A kaizen mindset is the basis for lean leadership and practice, which doesn’t always mean continuous improvement.

The idea of continuous improvement is a common misconception. Continuous improvement means that you are constantly trying to improve your processes and products, but it doesn’t mean that you are always making an improvement.

Some people think that they need to be perfect before they can consider themselves “lean” or “continuous improvement leaders.” In reality, lean leadership is about being better than yesterday—and that requires a kaizen mindset.

When you have a kaizen mindset, you’re constantly scanning what’s going on around you, looking for ways to improve: “What can I do right now? What can I do better tomorrow?” It’s not just about coming up with new ideas or projects; it’s also about recognising when something isn’t working as well as it could be and taking steps to get to the root cause and fix it, not just putting a plaster over it!

Leading From The Front, Not The Rear

The traditional command-and-control method of management does not fit within the lean philosophy, but some leaders still struggle to let go of traditional power structures and control mechanisms that don’t serve their people or the organisation very well in today’s working environment.

Some leaders are so accustomed to being the only ones who have access to all the information, they find it difficult to accept that there are times when they need to consult others.

Other leaders are not used to being challenged, so when someone does challenge them, they feel threatened and react poorly, which creates conflict instead of innovation.

Lean leaders know that the only way to truly achieve what they want is by empowering their employees—and by extension, their customers. This also means that you have to empower yourself so that you can lead others effectively.

Identifying Customer Needs For Improved Lean Leadership

Identifying who your customers are and what they value is necessary when you engage in lean and continuous improvement activities.

A good place to start is with a customer-value analysis or voice-of-the-customer. This will help you identify the features and functions that customers truly value, as well as the characteristics that differentiate your product from competitors. In addition to evaluating the needs of current customers, identify potential new customer segments by identifying needs not currently being met by competitors.

Once you have identified certain key features of your product or service, list them in priority order for each of these segments. Then prioritize these features across all segments and compare results—this will allow you to identify potential opportunities for improvement and make sure nothing is left out of your plan.

If possible, involve others from different departments in this process so they can also provide input on how they would rank these factors.

Critical Thinking: Learn To Eliminate Your Problems Forever

It’s easy to get bogged down in the day-to-day grind, and it’s tempting to just focus on what’s right in front of you—especially when there are so many other pressing matters that need attention.

The biggest difference between lean leadership and traditional management is that lean leadership is focused on long-term solutions, while traditional management is focused on short-term results. This means that lean leaders don’t just focus on solving a problem temporarily, but rather they seek out ways to prevent the problem from ever coming up again. This is done by finding the root causes of problems and eliminating them permanently.

It may sound simple, but truly engaging in kaizen requires critical thinking and effort to see past the obvious problems, and focus on the root causes to find long-term solutions that eliminate waste forever.

Kaizen is about eliminating waste wherever it exists, not only in physical processes but also in organisational culture and structure. This means that leaders need to create an environment where employees feel safe expressing themselves freely without fear of reprisal or judgment from management (even if those judgments are well-intentioned).

How The Kaizen Mindset Helps With Business Collaboration

The kaizen mindset is centred on solving problems collaboratively as needed, so no single individual or team plays a more prominent role than others do in generating ideas for improvements.

The Lean Leadership approach is based on the principle that everyone has the ability to improve their own work processes and contribute to business success. This means that leaders at all levels need to be ready to take responsibility for their roles in improving business performance while also encouraging employees to take ownership of their own areas of focus.

Leaders need to realise that by creating an environment where everyone feels comfortable contributing ideas, everyone shares in the responsibility of being able to improve business performance. A key component of this process is creating a culture where employees feel safe sharing their thoughts and ideas without fear of reprisal or negative consequences.

The kaizen mindset is centred on solving problems collaboratively as needed, so no single individual or team plays a more prominent role than others do in generating ideas for improvements that are then implemented for better performance.

How Self-Aware Lean Leaders Succeed

The most effective lean leaders are those who understand themselves exceptionally well. They know their strengths, weaknesses and passions, and they use that knowledge to their advantage.

When you’re a leader, it’s important to be able to balance your own personal needs with the needs of your team. The best lean leaders do this by taking time to reflect on how they personally feel about a particular issue before acting on it.

In addition, they work hard to understand each individual member of their team so they can provide them with an environment that is conducive to success.

Additionally, check out our sister company New Way Growth and their ‘Helping Managers to Lead and Succeed‘ programme.

How To Cut Waste And Increase Productivity By Implementing Lean Manufacturing

Posted on by Adam Payne

Lean Manufacturing is a culture and a strategy. It’s a way of doing things that helps companies improve efficiency, quality, and flexibility. It’s not just about tools and processes—it’s about people, too.

Lean Manufacturing is all about making things more efficient. It focuses on eliminating waste and finding ways to streamline workflows so that the company can produce more with less time and money.

Create a Lean Manufacturing culture

A Lean Manufacturing culture is an environment where people are taking responsibility for their own improvement, the improvement of processes and products, and the overall improvement of the company. It’s a culture built on trust, accountability, and continuous improvement.

In order to create this culture, it’s important to give employees the freedom to make decisions about how they do their job and then hold them accountable for those decisions. This can be tricky if you’re not sure what your employees’ strengths are or how they work best. But one way to develop this understanding is by asking questions like: “What’s been most helpful in improving your efficiency?” or “What practices have helped you achieve your goals?”

Once you’ve identified some of these practices, try them out on other employees! Make sure they’re working before adopting them as official company policy though—you don’t want anyone feeling like they’re being punished just because they weren’t included in testing new ideas before implementation!

Have the Upper Management Lead by Example

Lean is a powerful strategy, but it’s not something that can be implemented overnight. In order to make the most of your Lean efforts and get the most out of your employees, it’s important to have upper management lead by example.

Upper management should be actively engaged in the process of implementing Lean, from the beginning to end. They should also be involved in training new employees on Lean’s principles and ensuring that everyone is working together toward common goals. This will help employees understand how important their role is in helping you achieve those goals, which will increase their sense of ownership over their work.

Upper management should also be willing to let go of their preconceived notions about how things should be done in favour of allowing employees more freedom when it comes time to make decisions about how tasks should be completed.

Train your Team on Lean Basics

One of the best ways to get your team on board with Lean is to train them on the basics.

The Lean principles are not complicated, but they can be difficult to understand if you’re new to the concept. You should prepare your team by giving them a solid understanding of what Lean is and why it’s important before you start putting it into practice.

If your team doesn’t have a clear understanding of the principles, they will have trouble implementing them into their day-to-day work. If, for example, if you try to reduce waste without first explaining what waste is and why it needs to be reduced, then you’ll find that the effort isn’t effective or sustainable.

This is especially true when it comes to engaging your employees in Lean initiatives: if they don’t understand why they should participate in these efforts and how they’ll benefit from doing so, then they won’t be motivated enough to participate fully or consistently.

Value Stream Map – Study the Current Process

The first step in implementing Lean is to study the current process. This will help you identify areas of improvement and determine whether or not you are ready for the changes that will be necessary to make this happen. You can do this by performing a value stream map, which is a visual representation of your workflow.

The process should be broken down into steps. You want to look at each step and ask yourself what can be done to improve it, and how this change might affect other parts of the process as well. It is important to consider how each step impacts other steps, so you can look at all aspects of your operations and make sure that they are working together effectively.

Look for Waste and Remove It (Muda – Waste, Mura – Unevenness, Muri – Overburden)

You can define waste as anything that detracts from the value of a product or service you’re producing from your customers’ point of view. Waste can take many forms, such as overproduction, unnecessary resources, and more. These things need to be eliminated so that organisations aren’t creating products or services that don’t add value.

Muda is any kind of wasted motion, such as unnecessary steps in a process or unnecessary travel between locations. Mura refers to unevenness in the production line—it means one part of the process might be operating at peak efficiency while another part is idle or struggling just to keep up. Muri refers to overburdening people with too much work—this is often seen when you have an employee working alone on a task that should be split between two or more people to match customer demand (TAKT).

Map out the Main Bottlenecks

The main bottlenecks in a process are the aspects of the system that are limiting its throughput.

In order to identify these, you’ll need to first look at or build your Value Stream Map or Process Map and identify where there are bottlenecks. Then, you can work on fixing them by identifying what’s causing the bottleneck and finding ways to remove it. This may involve making changes like adjusting how people work together, reducing change-over times, increasing the Overall Equipment Effectiveness or changing how tasks are assigned (e.g., having workers perform different parts of a task).

Once you’ve identified where your bottlenecks are, you can start working on removing them.

Standardise Everything

This means that you need to define what “standard” means, and then make sure all employees are aware of it and trained to it. Standardising your processes gives consistency in how your team members perform their tasks. 

For example, if you’re a software company and you’re trying to improve efficiency by standardising on coding practices, then every employee should know which practices are allowed and which are not allowed.

You should also standardise your equipment and tools. If multiple employees use the same equipment or tool, everyone should use it in the same way every time.

If your company has multiple locations, then standardising everything is even more important because it helps create consistency between locations. If everyone knows what standards they need to meet at each location, then they’ll be able to work together better across locations knowing the desired quality will always be met.

Develop a Continuous Improvement Mentality

Implementing lean means shifting your focus from your business’s outputs to its inputs. But if you’re going to do that, you need to first develop a continuous improvement mentality.

To do this, you have to be willing to adopt an attitude of continuous improvement and continuous learning. You need to be constantly looking for ways that you can improve how things are done in your office or factory and how they contribute to the overall success of your business.

You also need to be willing to consider new ideas, because one of the main tenets of lean is that there are no bad ideas—only challenges in implementation. If someone suggests something new or comes up with a way of doing something differently, try it out! Even if it doesn’t work right away, you may learn something valuable about how something works or doesn’t work within your organisation.

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The Lean Bug: Embracing The Lean Revolution in Manufacturing

Posted on by Adam Payne

Igniting Transformation with Lean Philosophy

Lean Manufacturing, a philosophy embedding a culture of efficiency and continuous improvement, has revolutionised industries worldwide. Its inception within the automotive industry to today’s widespread application showcases its universal benefit across various sectors. When considering Lean Thinking, one can’t help but admire its holistic approach to streamlining operations, enhancing product quality, and boosting customer satisfaction.

Throughout my career, from my initial days as an engineer at a small SME to my role as a corporate executive, I have witnessed firsthand Lean Manufacturing’s transformative potential. My journey into the world of Lean began with a simple yet profound introduction to the concept of Kaizen while working at Linread Northbridge, a precision fasteners manufacturer for the aerospace sector. This pivotal moment sparked a lasting passion for Lean principles that I’ve carried through to every organisation I’ve served (including my own businesses, New Way Growth, FactoryIQ and obviously TCMUK Limited), assisting Manufacturing SMEs in realising their full potential through strategic Lean interventions and comprehensive programs.

The First Step to Lean Success: A Kaizen Event

Reflecting on my first engagement with Lean, a SMED event aimed at reducing a Header Machine’s changeover time from an entire shift to a mere 30 minutes stands out. This experience, under the guidance of a seasoned Japanese Sensei, was not merely about time reduction. It was a lesson in unlocking hidden potential, leveraging precise KPIs, and fostering a mindset geared towards continuous improvement. From relocating machining centers to implementing strategies that yielded savings of over £15 million in the first year, the principles of Lean Thinking have proven time and again that with the right mindset, ‘impossible’ is merely an opinion.

Overcoming the “It Won’t Work Here” Mentality

Resistance to change is a common theme in any organisational transformation. Yet, the principle of marginal gains teaches us the power of incremental improvements. By nurturing a culture that embraces every opportunity for growth, however small, organisations can witness significant advancements over time. The essence of Lean is not in the complexity of tools or techniques but in harnessing the collective knowledge and creativity of its people to drive enduring improvement.

More Than Techniques: A Cultural Shift

Lean Manufacturing transcends mere operational tactics; it represents a fundamental shift in organisational culture and mindset. Its success is contingent not on the size of the company but on the depth of commitment to these principles by its leaders and teams. Engaging closely with the ground-level processes, understanding the real challenges, and courageously tackling the root causes, paves the way for sustainable growth and competitive advantage.

Conclusion: Lean Leadership and Organisational Excellence

The journey towards Lean excellence is ongoing and evolving. It demands a leadership style that is hands-on, empathetic, and visionary. As organisations venture into this transformative path, they unlock efficiencies, eliminate waste, and set new benchmarks of performance. The legacy of Lean is not just in its methods but in the cultural rejuvenation it brings about, fostering an environment where continuous improvement becomes the norm, not the exception.

Lean Manufacturing is more than a methodology; it’s a catalyst for redefining excellence in the manufacturing sector. So, as you delve into the world of Lean, remember, the journey is as rewarding as the destination. Embrace each challenge, celebrate every small win, and continuously strive for a better, leaner, and more efficient tomorrow.

For personalised advice, practical insights, and to explore how Lean can revitalise your manufacturing processes, please feel free to reach out.

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Operationalise Your Strategy

Posted on by Adam Payne

Benefits of Policy Deployment

  • Organisations with the capability to consistently execute their plans through the adoption of Strategy Execution outperform the market.
  • Organisational capabilities will be aligned to support the achievement of your company objectives.
  • Resources will be allocated to business processes in priority order (according to the importance/contribution the process makes to your business)
  • Your company can excel in the business/commercial sector in which it operates.

The Policy Deployment process has yielded some unbelievable benefits for me in my career and it’s one of those processes I recommend all businesses leaders introduce, (but I will also state if you are not prepared to apply the rigorous PDCA management process that goes with it, it’s not for you). I’ve been using Policy Deployment for 15+ years across multiple businesses, as an example: £1bn Turnover business, achieving £200m EBITDA across 38 sites globally, including Lean Savings within the first year of £21m. Done well, it works!

Some of you are probably getting to the stage or are currently producing budgets for your coming year. Now wouldn’t it be worthwhile aligning your Strategy and your budget requirements and drive some break through thinking into the process.

The process itself comes from a technique called Hoshin Kanri, which is a method devised to capture and cement strategic goals, well for me it does more that cement goals, it disseminates those goals into tactical projects that are owned, timed bound and measured.

There have been a number of English translations Policy Deployment, Goal Deployment, Hoshin Planning. I prefer Policy Deployment Process or PDP, but as you probably know from me by now, call it what you want just as long as you use it.

So What DOES it do?

  • It forces the clear identification of “How” we move ourselves towards our Strategic objectives.
  • It creates an alignment of all facets of the organisation on the key strategic initiatives (cross-functional teamwork).
  • Fosters a data-oriented, fact-based culture.
  • Reinforces the vision, but also clearly defines how we will get there (Based on “Who” does “What”).

What it DOESN’T do!

  • Achieve results if the management process isn’t changed (Moved to rigorous PDCA).
  • Achieve results if the “How’s” (Improvement Priorities) aren’t the right ones.
  • Achieve results if the “How’s” aren’t clearly defined.
  • Replace the need for solid Business Fundamentals (also known as Daily Management).

The process is intended to help an organisation:

take the Company Vision (desired end state, aspirations, business scope); the Strategy (3-5 Year Strategic gaps/objectives, high level plans for competitive advantage) and creates a One year distillation of these 3-5 year objectives.

It creates improvement priorities and metrics for tracking progress and indicates the resource responsible and accountable for them. A tactical implementation project if you like (you can go further with the process and state which projects need to be completed within each quarter of the year, to add additional focus).

Detailed action plans (A3’s) are produced for each one of the improvement priorities and reviewed on weekly/monthly/quarterly basis through monitoring of the PDP metrics.

These reviews should be held by a cross functional team who challenge each other, learn from each other and drive execution of the improvement priorities.

Typical Strategy Objectives may be:

  • Double Top Line Sales in 5 yrs
  • Double OP % to Sales in 3 yrs
  • Reject PPM Reduction by 90% in 3 yrs
  • Reduce Lead-time by 75
  • On Time Delivery to 100% in 3 yrs

Typical Annual Objectives may be:

  • Grow Top Line Sales by 15%
  • Increase OP by 25%
  • Reject PPM Reduction by 50%
  • Reduce Lead-time by 50%
  • OTD +20%

Improvement Priorities may be:

  • Quality: Create & Implement Rapid Defect Reduction Process, Implement DFSS on Critical Products
  • Delivery: Apply Lean ‘Tools to XYZ to Reduce LT, Implement Back-Office LT Reduction Process
  • Cost: Develop & Implement LCR Sourcing Plan, Launch Productivity Improvement Std Work Series in Assembly

So Why Use it?

97% of Businesses have a Vision
80% have a clear Strategic Plan
52% some Execution/Success
33% Significant Execution Success
Where do you think Policy Deployment is having an Effect?

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Short Term Vs Long Term Results

Posted on by Adam Payne

Now in anybody’s mind the drive for short term results should be aligned with the long term. But why is it we struggle so much to get this balance right, and to add, it’s never been more needed as it is in the current economic way of the world.

One of the more obvious ways I’ve seen it manifest itself is between the overall corporate strategy and the operational behaviour of local teams. Here are just some of the examples I have seen…

First one, Corporate Strategy was to reduce internal costs, based on a Senior Leaders comment regarding a competitor’s costs, an assumption made with some questionable data. Now the local team had done analysis to show profitability in what they were producing and a significant growth improvement too which the corporate focus was fighting against. Which would you have had? Peter Drucker “preparing for tomorrow” springs to mind.

The second, Corporate Strategy to enter new markets with a new service, the local sales teams refusing to follow this as they believe it would be hard to hit their commissions so subsequently paying lip service to it when necessary. Interestingly the price and the margins for the older services were falling drastically, hence the focus on new service.

The third, Private Equity Investors driving the short term results against the Business Leader driving the long term vision, I’ve witnessed on numerous occasions where PE investors introduce a weekly operations call to review KPI’s (key performance indicators) they have introduced (35/week at one business), from Health and Safety, Productivity, On Time In Full, all the good stuff but driven at a behavioural level that can have a negative impact. KPI’s drive behaviour! When managed at a micro level from upon high every week begins to channel the focus on covering the past, we spend most of our time in answering questions that happened last week, not on where are we going, how are we going to achieve, how can I help.

This is one of the more obvious I have witnessed, the pressurised environment of the end of week/month/quarter / year period often creates behaviours that from an outside perspective at least, appear to be utter madness. Of course every business needs to keep the lights on but not to the extent that it sacrifices long-term value.

There has to be a balance between Visionary/Strategic leadership and Managerial Leadership. Managerial leaders are primarily immersed in the day-to-day activities of the organisation and lack an appropriate long-term vision for growth and change. Conversely, visionary leaders are primarily future-oriented, proactive and risk-taking. These leaders base their decisions and actions on their beliefs and values, and try to share their understanding of a desired vision with others in the organisation.

In essence a business needs to have both mind-sets present, a combination of the managerial and visionary styles. Having two leaders like this requires that they trust each other implicitly and are willing to listen to each other, the CEO and COO for example. It is possible to have a singular person with both mind-sets but they are few and far between.

The balance comes in how you “Operationalise that Strategy/Vision” so both styles work hand in hand.

Food for thought as we start to get closer to a new year.

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FEAR, ONE OF OUR BIGGEST HINDRANCES

Posted on by Adam Payne

It’s getting to that time of year again for some of us, when we start to look at our half year performance or even looking to the operational budgets for the year to come.

The economic outlook is being driven by uncertainty (some of it in my opinion is the media plus others talking us into it, you’ve only got to look at the articles in the News to see it’s not all doom and gloom), we have to think positively in order to be successful.

I read an article recently from The Magic of Thinking Big, by David J. Schwartz. (here’s an extract)

“Belief and wishful thinking are quite different. Wishful thinking will never spur you to action and as a result, your wishful thought will forever remain a wish. However, when you truly believe you can do it, the how to do it will reveal itself.

Strong belief in something allows your mind to figure out ways to accomplish what you believe. Belief is the driving force behind all great successes. For example, Edison wouldn’t have continued to try and try unless he really believed he could make the electric light bulb. Schwartz discovered that belief in success is the one universal, basic and essential characteristic behind all successful people.

The size of your success is determined by the size of your belief.”

The distinguishing difference between a person who is going places and the individual who is struggling is the latter person’s habit of excuses. And one of the biggest hindrances to success is fear, and what do we always see in the papers, news, etc., FEAR!

Thinking dictates action! (David J. Schwartz)

I have witnessed colleagues thinking they are inferior to another and ultimately act like that as well. As David has pointed out, thinking dictates action.

Successful people think big and think creatively.

Creative thinking is nothing more than finding new and improved ways in what you need to achieve. Success is dependent upon using creative thinking to discover these improved ways; and as with most things, it can be learnt.

So whilst looking at your half year performance, your Operational Budgets, and or your Strategy for the coming months, think positively, think big, think what it is you need to achieve and find new ways to do things, learn from others. But definitely don’t FEAR it.

Worth a read: The Magic of Thinking Big, by David J. Schwartz.

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Re-Thinking Being Lean?????

Posted on by Adam Payne

I’ve recently read articles on Lean Manufacturing and in particular how certain businesses have been re-thinking the implementation of Lean.

Now for a bit of background on the articles. All of the business Leaders that started the implementation had been replaced and within 6 months of them being replaced the new Leader had decided to drop the programme. Now most of the stakeholder’s state that their objective is to address the challenges to delivering high-value to the customer, mmmmmm I wonder? By agreeing to drop a programme of business improvement?

Yes, lean takes time, yes lean utilises the front-line workers, yes you have to manage it and believe in it, but Lean is a long term strategy, a set of principles on how you do business, your business DNA. I wonder sometimes with the drive for instant results in a short space of time, particularly from stakeholders, the impatience for money, dividends, investors ultimately see the Leader that introduced the programme removed. This leads me to believe that stakeholders/leaders are either, ignorant, arrogant, none the wiser or have their own interest at heart, on what long term strategy and Implementation actually and physically means. I have been told about the removal of 11 Operations Managers over a 18 month period due to perceived lack of results, you cannot be that wrong in your recruitment process (or perhaps you can but that’s a separate discussion), so leads me to believe it’s the level above that’s the issue.

Now don’t get me wrong, if your haemorrhaging money within operations due to scrap or process variation don’t go and implement a 5S programme. Instead stop the haemorrhaging by attacking the root causes for variation and scrap, get controllable and predictable outputs. 5S may be part of the implementation but it’s not the saviour.

I worked in a number of businesses in my career and still see the same issues regarding short term results oriented thinking that has cost millions (and yes I mean millions in some cases). When I actually know that had the Lean Initiative programme, Operational Excellence, etc. been executed and maintained when it started, those losses wouldn’t have appeared and would have been quite the opposite.

Cost cutting is often a major reason for ditching the latest programme, and Leaders think that through the force of their personality or financial acumen that they are going to be able to fix the business without the aid of every employee in the business, how foolish are they??????

Any Improvement Programme is not going to be easy, but the benefits are massive for everyone, it takes time but ‘time’ is not a reason not to try.

What did make me smile was one of the businesses new Leaders justified the termination of the programme due to that fact that the frontline workers were involved, but in involving them had potentially reduced turnover times by 6.5 mins which equated into £410000/year of increased revenue.

Lean Manufacturing, business Improvement, whatever you call it, is not a short term strategy, but that’s not a reason not to pursue it.

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