Lean Blog Interviews: Real-World Lean Leadership Conversations in Healthcare and Beyond

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/32 Remastered audio June 2021 LeanBlog Podcast #32 once again features our friend and frequent guest, Norman Bodek, noted lean author, consultant, and President of PCS Press. In this episode, Norman talks about his recent study trip to Japan and what he saw there. If you enjoy this podcast, I hope you'll check out the rest of the series by visiting the LeanBlog podcast main page. Keywords and Main Points, Episode #32 Trip to Japan The use of videotape to analyze the process to look for waste, with the employees The purpose of standard work (and kaizen) Going after waste relentlessly People writing down that they make mistakes Shingo said, “we make mistakes, but we don't want defects” “Poka yoke” and error proofing The use of automation and temporary labor Norman — “how ROI, short-term thinking is killing America” Norman is going on another study mission in April 2008 — go with him! Contact Norman through his website at pcspress.com about that

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/31 Remastered July 2021 LeanBlog Podcast #31 is a discussion with David Meier, most recently the co-author of the book Toyota Talent, written with Dr. Jeffrey Liker. In this podcast, we discuss the topics from Toyota Talent, including standardized work and how to use the methodology correctly. We also talk briefly about Toyota's new San Antonio plant. I love David's quote, “Standardization of work doesn't mean that everybody does it exactly the same way.” There will be an upcoming Part 2 of this discussion with David where we talk about upcoming books in the Toyota series, so stay tuned. If you enjoy this podcast, I hope you'll check out the rest of the series by visiting the LeanBlog podcast main page at http://www.leanpodcast.org/. Keywords and Main Points, Episode #31 How does Toyota turn the cliche of “people are our most important asset” into reality? How to avoid standardizing for the sake of standardizing — how to decide WHAT to standardize and why How did Toyota build upon the Training Within Industry program? Why does Toyota look at work in such minute detail, breaking jobs down? What are “key points” in a job breakdown sheet? Why is it important to explain why the key points are necessary? Does this tie to “respect for people”? How does this process apply to jobs, such as nursing, that aren't repeatable 45 second assembly line cycles? Does Toyota invest more time and effort into training new employees than other companies? Blog post about Toyota, “frugal” versus “cheap” “Standardiziaton of work doesn't mean that everybody does it exactly the same way.” Talking about the new Toyota plant in San Antonio

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/30 Remastered July 2021 LeanBlog Podcast #30 is an interview with Bob Emiliani, author of the books Better Thinking, Better Results and Real Lean: Understanding the Lean Management System (Volume One) (and Volume Two). Bob had a long career at United Technologies, Pratt & Whitney and also has degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Chemical Engineering, as well as a PhD in engineering from Brown University. Better Thinking, Better Results, which is now out in a 2nd revised edition, has a new epilogue about Wiremold, the subject of the book, and how they have moved away from Lean after their acquisition by another company. In this podcast, we'll talk about why that happened and what others can learn from the story, in efforts to prevent the dismantling of even the most successful of Lean transformations. You can visit the page for this podcast at leanpodcast.org for links to Bob and his books, including the “Real Lean” series. Keywords and Main Points, Episode #30 Why did you update the Wiremold story and produce a second edition of your book Better Thinking, Better Results? So what happened? Why didn't Legrand value the Lean transformation that Art, his team, and the people of Wiremold did? So it looks like Legrand made some mistakes. What can we learn from what happened to Wiremold?

* Remastered audio June 2021 Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/29 LeanBlog Podcast #29 features a very special guest, Dr. Sami Bahri, “The World's First Lean Dentist.” If you're thinking “what can I learn about lean from a Dentist?”, please listen in. I think you'll be amazed and will learn a ton. I've really enjoyed the two chances I've had to talk with Dr Bahri, including this podcast session and I've been very impressed with his approach to lean. He's gone back to all of the source texts, including Shingo and Ohno and has really had to figure it out for himself, as opposed to following some sort of cookbook approach. I particularly appreciate how he involves his employees and staff… it's a great example we can all learn from. If you have questions or comments for Dr. Bahri, he's agreed to a follow on podcast. You can email me at [email protected] or visit leanpodcast.org to leave a comment or read some linked articles about Dr. Bahri. Keywords and Main Points, Episode #29 Learning about Lean and figuring out, over time, how to apply it to a dental office. How Dr. Bahri is able to take care of patient needs all in a single visit (not coming back for separate follow on appointments). How Dr. Bahri has engaged his workforce, through Lean, to improve productivity, job satisfaction, and employee engagement. Lean as a never-ending journey toward perfection, an experimental process. Learn how Dr. Bahri's office creating an innovative “flow manager” position.

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/28 Remastered audio June 2021 LeanBlog Podcast #28 features our friend and frequent guest, Norman Bodek, noted lean author, consultant, and President of PCS Press. This also celebrates the 1 year anniversary of the Podcast, which featured Norman as our first guest. As I've given him credit for previously, the Podcast really was Norman's idea when he said I should do "radio interviews" with him. Thankfully, this has turned into a series of interviews with others that I have enjoyed immensely. Summary of Norman's talk at the TWI Summit and the "pledge of continuous improvement." Gantt's book "Organizing Work" (via Google Books) -- the stakeholder groups that a business must serve (including community) Lifetime employment and the obligation for good management Can you have a workplace with no bosses? Example of a Skippy peanut butter plant Is the ultimate goal automation? Norman's thoughts on that Managers' resistance to change as a separate type of waste? Being on the floor all the time as a manager Norman talking about "conscious learning" (his next book)

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/27 Remastered July 2021 LeanBlog Podcast #27 is the second part of two with Jim Baran, the Owner of Value Stream Leadership, a leading recruiting firm that specializes in Lean talent. In this part of the discussion, we focus more on Lean career paths for Lean leaders and practitioners, how to differentiate yourself and how to progress in your Lean career. Keywords and Main Points, Episode #27 Advice for lean job seekers When should you move on? How can a recruiter tell if the xlack of lean success was due to lack of lean understanding versus the failings of the organization they were a part of? Lean accounting and lean product development experience, “transactional lean” Lean in a smaller company provides many opportunities The importance of selling yourself (and selling lean ideas), keeping track of your accomplishments and what happened How can Jim try to tell if a client would be (or is) a good lean company? Walking the shopfloor… Lean Certification value? Lean recruiting, Value Stream Leadership, career management

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/26 Remastered July 2021 Episode #26 of the LeanBlog Podcast brings us Dr. Gwendolyn Galsworth, of the Visual Lean Institute. She is the author, most recently of the book Visual Workplace, Visual Thinking: Creating Enterprise Excellence Through the Technologies of the Visual Workplace. Ironically enough, we will be using this audio-only format to discuss visual methods in the workplace and how that ties into Lean and the Toyota Production System. Her book has hundreds of color photos and illustrations of effective visual methods, so if you find this discussion helpful, I hope will follow up with the book. The book is an inventive and unique approach to visual management and helping people work more effectively. One small thing I really appreciate is how her case studies and examples from factories always have a photo of one of the value-adding associates who was involved in the work. Show Notes, Links, and Keywords Episode #26 Norman Bodek, visual workplace, poka yoke, visual guarantees, visual order, visual inventiveness, visuality “I-Driven”: Knowing what information that individual needs to work well Borders, home addresses, ID labels Right angles aren't necessarily the best for workplace layouts “Information deficits” are the symptom, deficits cause waste and “motion without working” Six categories of missing information: the missing “where,” the missing “what,” etc. Video training system The counter productive 5S initiative that we discussed (previous blog link) “The obedience paradigm” versus empowering people The older, existing website Forum on the new website

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/25 Remastered July 2021 For Episode #25, I'm pleased to have Dr. Mark Spearman, Founder and President/CEO of Factory Physics, Inc. (www.factoryphysics.com). You may know Dr. Spearman from his book, co-authored with Dr. Wally Hopp, Factory Physics. If there is ONE operations management textbook to own, this is it (it's well worth the cost). I was fortunate, as an Industrial Engineering undergrad at Northwestern, to take Dr. Spearman's operations course. The introduction given about Lean and the Factory Physics / Little's Law concepts (among others) have served me very well during my career. In the Podcast, we talk about his company, Factory Physics, and the work he is doing today in the manufacturing world. Show Notes, Links, and Keywords Episode #25 Keywords: Throughput, Lean Six Sigma, Lean, WIP, work in process, continuous improvement, variation, flow, Dell Computer Dr. Spearman explains The 3 Buffers: Inventory, Time, and Capacity

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/24 Remastered July 2021 Episode #24 of the LeanBlog Podcast is the 2nd part of my recent conversation with Jim Womack, of the Lean Enterprise Institute. In this episode, we talk about the state of the auto industry, from the time of The Machine That Changed the World through today. Who does Jim think is in the best shape among the "Detroit Three?" Jim also answers some questions from Lean Blog readers. If you have feedback on the podcast, or any questions for me or my guests, you can email me at [email protected] or you can call and leave a voicemail by calling the "Lean Line" at (817) 776-LEAN (817-776-5326) or contact me via Skype id "mgraban". Please give your location and your first name. Any comments (email or voicemail) might be used in follow ups to the podcast. Please visit our websites, www.leanpodcast.org and the Lean Blog main page at www.leanblog.org. Show Notes and Approximate Time, Episode #24 1:50 “We had some brief hopes for Ford in ‘Machine'” 2:20 “Mind of Toyota” book is a Womack must-read: “it's a great book, harder than heck to read” Inside the Mind of Toyota: Management Principles for Enduring Growth 3:00 Womack on GM's decline 4:15 What about the Ford Atlanta plant going from most efficient to shut down? The Taurus story, original development took 7 years when Toyota was taking only 3. At least it was what the public wanted and was easier to put together than the comparable GM product. 7:00 GM's political footprint is shrinking as factories are closed outside of Michigan and Ohio, while Toyota's is growing with factory expansion. 9:15 BBC series on the auto industry and lean production, pulling the cord much more at Toyota, and how people were scared at the Ford plant to pull the cord (mistrust between workers and management). 10:15 “If it were just a plant-on-plant competition, they [Ford] would be OK, they've learned enough… all over the company, the managers are not pulling the andon cords.” 10:40 More on Ford management and the “corrupt” Ford culture 12:10 How things stand with GM today, according to Jim 12:50 “Ford and Chrysler have a different magnitude of problem than GM.” If not for the legacy problems, GM would be OK, not a world-beater… “not as good as they should be.” 14:30 “Ford and Chrysler's problem is management.” 14:45 Question from the blog, from John Hunter, “What 3 publicly traded companies have the deepest understanding and execution of Lean?” Danaher, “can't vouch for it personally….” Tried to put them in the Lean Thinking, but was escorted off the property because the President declared they had deep secrets…. 16:15 Article about Danaher from Business Week 17:00 G.E. has been a “make the numbers” company as opposed to a “fix the company” company, says Jim. But now GE is saying they have to be like Toyota… “is there anything beyond Six Sigma or even to Six Sigma?” 18:25 Lots of other little guys out there, privately held. “Wish I could point to other examples of large companies…” 19:00 LEI is doing some research for how to take a traditional mass production mentality company and transition them to a lean management approach, what methods do you have to implement? 20:00 “The world is pretty Dilbert-like.” 20:30 “I wish I could rattle off the 14 companies who have actually done it…. No stock tips.” 20:50 From Joe Wilson, what about “Lean and Mean? Do you wish you had picked a different word than Lean? 21:15 “It also rhymes with green…. A word is a word, you have to pick something.” Jim meant it to describe “how to do more with less” but many have spun it into “how to do less with a whole lot less, including people.” 22:00 “If lean is taken on by managers who are clueless to the real meaning, well then over time, the meaning becomes the meaning that people deduce from the behavior of those managers. I can't do anything about that.” 23:00 “Lean got us out of the nationalism and ethnic focus,” that it had something to do with Japan. “Lean” was designed to focus on an objective measure of performance. (the term coined by Jon Krafcik) 24:40 “Sorry that so many clueless people [made lean “mean”]… it's a lot of stupid meanness, where you try to hurt others and end up hurting yourself.” Toyota was about growth, not trying to get rid of people. “Where you get into the problem with Lean is when you have these big behemoths that are fading fast…” 26:10 Jim spent a week in Australia looking at healthcare organizations… “How would Toyota run healthcare?” “Toyota treats car parts better than a hospital treats its patients, and treat people better than hospitals treat their staffs.” 26:45 “We're going to bankrupt every company with our healthcare practices.” 27:45 Far more than half of the visitors to the LEI website and those signing up for workshops have nothing to do with manufacturing… “How would Toyota run Starbucks?”

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/23 Remastered July 2021 pisode #23 of the LeanBlog Podcast features a panel of Lean leaders from the Group Health Cooperative, a consumer-governed, nonprofit health care system that coordinates care and coverage. Based in Seattle, Group Health and its subsidiary health carriers, Group Health Options, Inc. and KPS Health Plans, serve over 500,000 members in Washington and Idaho. GHC has been on a Lean journey, as documented on their “Daily Kaizen” blog. Joining us on the Podcast are three of their Lean Leaders: James Hereford, Executive Vice President, Strategic Services and Quality Dr. Ted Eyan, Medical Director of Health Informatics and Web Services Lee Fried, Manager of the Strategic Consulting team at Group Health In this Podcast, they discuss how GHC got started with Lean, their early “point improvement” successes, and their transition to a more systemic approach to a Lean management system through their “model line” efforts. Show Notes and Approximate Time, Episode #23 Show Notes and Approximate Time, Episode #23 1:15 James: Overview of the Group Health Cooperative (GHC) 2:00 Lee: How GHC got started on their Lean Journey in 2004, initial drivers 3:05 “RPIW” = Rapid Process Improvement Workshop (like a kaizen event) 3:30 Improved cost, quality, and delivery at the same time, in the lab, “wasn't believed possible in healthcare” and got senior management attention 3:55 Started with “point improvements” 4:15 Brought in some external consultants, education for the senior leadership team 4:30 Then moved from point improvements to large cross-departmental projects (e.g., health plan and delivery) 6:12 Looked at how to optimize the Electronic Medical Record system (involving IT and caregiver teams) 7:30 The model line, moving beyond point improvements and into cultural change –claims processing and customer service center (700 employees), HPA = Health Plan Administration 8:30 Had to make sure they weren't losing gains from earlier lean efforts — started doing more to fully ingrain lean concepts into the management practices and culture 9:15 Three components to the “Model Line” 1) Standard work of the daily management system 2) Value Streams and RPIW's to “turn the organization on it's side,” from functional organization to process organization and 3) hoshin kanri (policy deployment), building discipline around planning (goals and the means) 10:40 Ted: Have you had to adapt the lean management model to fit into a healthcare environment? 11:00 “Copy the thinking and the philosophy, not the tools”…. “What's the tool you can use? Your Brain!” 11:30 Focused on providing the right care at the right time, rather than relying on technology (or relying on “tried and true” technology) 12:15 “Lean Thinking blew my mind, everything had a corollary in medical care.” 12:30 “Toyota puts a lot of care and compassion into building cars, and so do we in taking care of people.” 12:48 “There things we don't want flexibility around” – certain medical situations that call for standard care 13:20 How did GHC try to get physicians on board and participating with Lean? “Patient at the center of care” is easy to get agreement with 14:00 “We want to take care of patients, and this helps you do it better… the system is more responsive.” 14:42 James: Are there advantages to being an integrated delivery system? “Our opportunity is so much greater…” 16:30 Ted: “If it can't be done at Group Health, it can't be done anywhere.” 16:50 Can GHC create more value through proactive or preventative health measures, ala TPM? 17:20 The goal is “lifelong health for our members… working with patients before they get sick.” 17:45 James: What have the benefits and results of the Model Line area been? 18:35 ThedaCare and John Touissant showed great humbleness even with their success 19:00 Doing as many kaizen events as you can wasn't enough.” Wanted to fundamentally change the leadership model, not the “all knowing and all doing” with the staff “checking their brain at the parking lot.” 20:00 The VP over the HPA area fully embraced Lean and change himself20:45 Had a rigorous, step-by-step method of teaching the skills and doing daily practice. The biggest change was getting the middle managers and VP to change the way they interacted with supervisors, that was the foundation for the operational changes (workcells, etc.) 22:00 Lee: RPIW's changed the thinking of a lot of folks, but it didn't get high enough to change the behavior of the leaders 22:50 Changing core thinking before changing core processes has led to better sustainment 23:10 James: Where GHC hopes this goes… the Model Line needs to be a model to learn from, applied in other areas, forcing the organization to think more about value streams and less about traditional budgeting processes 24:00 GHC now has a place in GHC to see lean (as opposed to continued visits to Genie or Virginia Mason Medical Center) 27:00 What kind of feedback are you getting from emplo

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/22 Remastered July 2021 Episode #22 of the Podcast is a discussion with Allan Wilson, CEO of Factory Logic, a software company that was acquired by SAP late last year. Allan is now the VP of Lean Manufacturing Operations for SAP. We talk about the role of technology and software in a Lean implementation. In the interest of full disclosure, I worked for Factory Logic a few years back, including time under Allan's leadership, but I have no financial interest in the company or products. Show Notes and Approximate Time, Episode #22 0:20 Background and history on Factory Logic 2:00 Using software to help standardize processes in a Lean factory, including Johnson Controls, a key customer 5:20 Value proposition for the software on the factory floor (now known as SAP's XLPO product, or “Lean Planning and Operations”) 6:00 CONWIP (constant work in process) 6:20 POLCA (not the dance!) 7:30 The SAP acqusition of Factory Logic, what will the impact be? 12,000 manufacturing companies use SAP 12:20 The XLPO/Factory Logic applications will still integrate to other ERP systems 13:00 What about the mindset of having a choice between Lean and technology, that many Lean folks are against technology/software. What about the Toyota Way principle of using technology “that supports your people and processes”? 16:30 XMII definition 19:00 Are Lean people becoming more accepting of technology? 22:00 What are some of the examples where a large company struggles to roll out Lean in a consistent way across plants? 22:30 BTR = Build to Replenishment 24:00 Building a consistent Lean model throughout your global company

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/21 Remastered June 2021 LeanBlog Podcast Episode #21 features our friend and frequent guest, Norman Bodek, noted lean author, consultant, and President of PCS Press. In this Podcast, we talk about how Lean should be good for a company's employees, that Lean and the Toyota Production System are really about building people and investing in them rather than laying people off. Norman's previous Podcast episodes can be found on the Podcast main page. Here is a link to Norman's books via Amazon.com. Show Notes and Approximate Time, Episode #21 2:00 Question from a blog reader: Is lean good for employees in the long term, or is it just good for the company and for management? 2:40 “Unfortunately, many companies are implementing lean to make more money, only…. without understanding the full power of the Toyota model” 3:00 Toyota not only builds cars, it builds people 4:45 Toyota has one team leader for every 4 to 7 people (as opposed to companies that often have a 100 to 1 ratio) 5:20 Toyota's Gary Convis 6:30 Toyota's two pillars: 1) Just-in-Time and 2) Respect for People — the second pillar is now this instead of “Jidoka” (quality at the source)?? 8:30 As Deming said, you have to root out fear from the organization, it's a form of waste that comes from viewing people as expendable 10:15 Examples of how Toyota has invested in people over time, made use of their talents 11:20 When has the “mass production” system ever been good for people? 12:15 Norman's Quick and Easy Kaizen , making work exciting by getting ideas and suggestions from employees 16:50 “I want you to come up with ideas to make your work easier, to make your work more interesting…” that empowers people, as opposed to all decisions coming from the top down 18:15 “What's the ROI of bringing in Norman Bodek?” 19:30 “There's nothing magical that Toyota's doing that American companies can't do!” 19:40 The book Norman likes, Getting the Right Things Done and the Hoshin Kanri process 20:30 Norman, Gary Convis, and the A3 report

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/20 Remastered July 2021 The LeanBlog Podcast is back with episode #20, our guest is Kevin Meyer, the founder of Superfactory Ventures, which can be found at Superfactory.com. You may know Kevin from his popular blog, Evolving Excellence. We'll be talking about a number of lean topics including his upcoming panel moderation at the Kellogg Manufacturing Business Conference, being held in Evanston IL in May. If you enjoy this podcast, I hope you'll check out the rest of the series by visiting the LeanBlog Podcast main page. Show Notes and Approximate Time, Episode #20 1:30 How Kevin got started with Lean 3:00 About the Evolving Excellence Blog 5:00 Blogging as a learning experience 6:00 Kevin will be speaking at Northwestern University, moderating a panel discussion on in-sourcing on on-shoring at their Manufacturing Business Conference 6:20 Companies that have been able to build manufacturing competencies in the U.S., rather than running overseas, looking at total cost, rather than just labor cost 8:00 The conference is May 12, open to registration by the public (main conference page) 8:15 A list of companies Kevin has talked about on the blog 9:10 How can we spread the word and fight the perception that you can't do manufacturing here? 9:45 Kevin's example of a custom ski manufacturer who imports very small quantities from China rather than doing it here 10:30 Danaher as a good example of lean and U.S. competitiveness 10:50 American Leather, building furniture here in Texas 12:20 Kevin's example of Avery Dennison 13:30 Are retailers encouraging lean practices or pushing suppliers overseas? 14:30 Are there some valid reasons for building in China? 15:40 Kevin's example of American Apparel 16:30 New Zealand manufacturing and off-shoring pressures 17:30 Kevin talks about lean and the value of experience in the workforce, Whirlpool example of moving to Mexico and throwing away that experience 20:30 The book from the blog, written by Kevin and Bill Waddell : Evolving Excellence: Thoughts on Lean Enterprise Leadership

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/19 Remastered June 2021 Episode #19 of the Lean Blog Podcast brings the return of Jim Womack. Jim was sitting in Melbourne Australia, where he had been speaking about lean healthcare, a topic that we will discuss in a future podcast. In this podcast, we talk about Jim's reflections on the book The Machine That Changed the World and its recent reissuing by the publisher (with updates). In the podcast, Jim not only talks about Toyota's success, but ways in which Toyota could fail or falter in the future. This is the first part of our discussion, I will release the second part in the upcoming weeks. If you enjoy this podcast, I hope you'll check out the rest of the series by visiting the LeanBlog Podcast main page. Earlier podcasts with Jim can be found here (#12) and here (#13). Show Notes and Approximate Time, Episode #19 1:30 Jim's thoughts on “Machine,” written about “why the teams [GM, Ford, Chrysler] can't win the away games” 1:55 The book before “Machine” was “The Future of the Automobile” (1984) 2:15 The job of “Machine” was to describe a complete business system… “the biggest disappointment… was to have people tell me it was a great book about factories.” 3:00 “You get the feeling that a lot of people read the book, but just that one chapter [on manufacturing].” 3:50 Probably about a million copies sold so far 4:00 The publisher said that 2007 is the year when Toyota is probably going to pass GM, so why don't we re-issue it? 4:20 The new subtitle is “Why Toyota Won” 4:45 “We've learned a lot since then… some of what we told you in the book is not exactly right, so we're thinking of it not exactly as a product recall, but as a model line enhancement. This is what might have been the 1991 model if we had done annual model changes.” 5:30 Is there risk of a backlash with Toyota becoming #1? Jim talks about “ways in which Toyota could lose,” starting with manufacturing 10:50 “They could go native” 10:05 How Toyota could lose with the product development system (book by Al Ward) 10:40 The Jeff Liker book on product development (“they are complements to each other,” Jim says): The Toyota Product Development System: Integrating People, Process And Technology 14:30 How Toyota could fail with their dealer system 15:45 Jim's essay on farmers and hunters 22:40 GM and the X-cars (info here and here) 24:10 Jim asks, “Can Toyota screw up? For the short term, the answer is no, for the long term, absolutely!” 24:30 “Most any other company would be fat, dumb, and happy.” 24:50 What about the excuses the Big 3 make about currency factors, etc.? 25:30 How the Big 3 are like the Detroit Lions

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/18 Remastered July 2021 Here is Episode #18 of the LeanBlog Podcast. My guest today is Eric Christiansen, the President of a translation services company, OmniLingua (more can be found here on their philosophy as a company, being a self-described “Deming Company.”) I was interested in talking with Eric about what it means to be a “Deming Company” and about their implementation of “wiki” tools (ala Wikipedia) for managing their standard work and process documentation. If you enjoy this podcast, I hope you'll check out the rest of the series by visiting the LeanBlog podcast main page. Show Notes and Approximate Time, Episode #18 1:30 Introducing Eric and his company 3:15 What does it mean to be a “Deming company?” 3:40 The Deming System of Profound Knowledge 4:00 The owner of OmniLingua had worked directly with Deming and appreciated the people aspects of his philosophy, how do you treat people with respect? 4:40 Has the annual review been abolished? Sales commissions were abolished, as well as production bonus plans. OmniLingua has a company-wide profit sharing plan instead. 5:15 More examples of the Deming philosophy in day-to-day life, including long-term sole-source supplier relationships 7:00 Is there still internal competition? 7:45 “Are we hiring salespeople who can't sell?” by not having commissions 8:40 How have lean methods evolved at OmniLingua? 10:15 Standard work within the company and the evolution into the use of “Wiki” technology for standard work 13:30 How they modified the process to allow some additional revision and ownership control (after an ISO audit) 15:00 How did it work when everybody had access to modify the standard work documentation? 17:00 How many people have access to the different standard work documents? 19:00 With a Word-document based standard work, people wanted to fancy them up, Wiki keeps people focused on the content 21:30 Deployment started last November (2005)

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/17 Remastered July 2021 LeanBlog Podcast #17 is a discussion with a good friend of the Lean Blog, David Meier, a former Toyota Georgetown Group Leader, founder of Lean Associates, and the co-author of the excellent book, The Toyota Way Fieldbook, and the upcoming Toyota Talent, due out in April (both co-authored with Jeff Liker, check out my Podcasts with him here and here). In this podcast, we talk about David's recent first hand experiences with factories in China. Are there labor shortages? Is there a lot of waste in Chinese factories? Do the Chinese have good management skills at this point? What lean methods did David see in China? We'll cover all this and more. If you enjoy this podcast, I hope you'll check out the rest of the series by visiting the LeanBlog podcast main page. Show Notes and Approximate Time, Episode #17 2:00 Overall, pretty surprised, Chinese factories are in good condition, but there are some real labor shortages growing, intense cost pressures from other countries (India, Vietnam, Turkey, etc.) 3:00 Lots of struggles from the supply chain side and total cost, “China isn't as great a deal as they anticipated in the beginning” (inbound supply chains) 4:00 “One company had 160% turnover last year” 4:15 Local management isn't that strong, so companies bring in their own management(which is costly to bring in foreigners) 4:45 David was frustrated to see the same challenges and problems in China that are typical here, including the “kaizen blitz” mindset (companies aren't getting long-term satisfaction or a sustainable process) 5:50 Saw one company (a clothing manufacturer in China) that took “one piece flow” to such an extreme that it was costing them in other ways, companies are missing the point of what Lean really is 6:30 More on the single piece flow situation – are you implementing single piece flow or are you improving performance? 10:00 What about Chinese factories and their metrics and goals? David was surprised to hear how everyone was focused on efficiency and labor cost 11:00 David saw a lot of Non Value Added activity (20-30% of people's activity) because ofthe way work was structured 11:40 “Big shortage of Industrial Engineers in China” 12:45 Chinese managers learn “mass production management” or lean management methods? 13:45 “I didn't see any factories that would be a model of lean” and David was visiting companies who had expressed some interest in being lean 14:15 What lean methods did David see at Chinese factories? 15:20 David says there is a general lack of understanding about how to use “Value Stream Mapping” 17:15 David and Jeff Liker are working on a new book about systems and how to develop the system properly, how to use the system (such as Kanban) to drive continuous improvement 17:45 An earlier new book, “Toyota Talent” is coming out in April 18:30 After the Fieldbook, David and Jeff realized there were some topics they could really expand on, Toyota Talent, lean systems, and problem solving. 20:15 A preview of Toyota Talent... didn't see much “Standardized Work” in China, the depth of lean there isn't as great as in the U.S. The book looks at how you break down jobs and train people. 22:00 People look at Toyota and assume that standardized work only applies in repetitive, highly cyclical jobs (but Toyota has a lot of jobs that don't fit that mold) 24:30 David comparing the high turnover in China with the high turnover in fast food and how McDonald's simplifies things, uses standard work, makes it visual, etc. But why do they accept the turnover? 25:45 The NPR piece on In-N-Out Burger and how they value employees. 26:45 David points out how you have to look at total cost, not just the low hourly labor cost 27:30 Is everything going to inevitably move to China? We're trying to compete against that with Lean, reducing costs through Lean methods and improved/faster response.

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/16 Remastered July 2021 LeanBlog Podcast #16 is the first part of two with Jim Baran, the Owner of Value Stream Leadership, a leading recruiting firm that specializes in Lean talent. I've known Jim for a few years now and he's helped me and some colleagues in the past. He's a great recruiter who really takes some interest in you and your career. If you're looking to make a career change or if you're looking for lean talent, I can personally recommend him. In our discussion, we talk about the state of the job market for folks with lean experience and what helps a lean candidate stand out in the marketplace. If you enjoy this podcast, I hope you'll check out the rest of the series by visiting the LeanBlog podcast main page. Show Notes and Approximate Time, Episode #16 1:30 About Jim, his background with lean, about his firm 2:50 What does it mean, “retained search firm”? 4:40 Jim's firm defines lean as “Toyota Way leadership” — Toyota Production System AND the Toyota Product Development System 5:00 How is the job market for lean talent, generally speaking? 6:30 People “used to hire forktruck operators out of Toyota” because they thought they knew the secret sauce 7:40 Jim Womack's email about the end of “the lean tool age” 8:00 How do you consider someone's individual or local lean accomplishments versus a good candidate having been in a prototypical lean company? 9:30 What are Jim's 5 profiles for excellent lean candidates? 10:30 Been in the Toyota Product Development System market very heavily lately, the talent with experience there has been slim 12:30 The market for lean in services areas 16:00 What about recruitment for executive level positions? 21:45 Harder to find people who can use lean to drive growth or revenue rather than only reducing costs/waste

Show notes: https://leanblog.org/15 Remastered July 2021 eanBlog Podcast #15 is a new discussion with a previous Podcast guest, Jim Huntzinger. Last time, we talked about the Lean Accounting Summit. This time, we're talking about the renaissance of the “Training Within Industry” program. We'll talk about the origins of this program, the impact it had on Toyota and the Toyota Production System, and why the program is being bought back in the United States and in lean circles. Jim is also organizing a Training Within Industry Summit, June 5-6 of 2007. Check the Show Notes, down below, for more links to TWI resources and information. Show Notes and Approximate Time, Episode #15 Background: Copies of the original TWI manuals Background: Wikipedia page on TWI 2:30 Background of the TWI program prior to the U.S. entry into WWII 3:15 How did TWI get promoted in Japan during the U.S. occupation? 4:15 How did TWI get incorporated into the Toyota Production System? “It is an excellent industrial training program on its own” but Toyota also built upon the system 6:00 What were some of the motivations behind TWI? What did they hope to achieve? 7:15 What are the different components of the TWI approach… Job Methods and Job Instruction, the focus on training people HOW to train, etc. 9:15 At Toyota, Ohno thought “Job Methods” was a little too “point focused” and he wanted to look more at the “value stream” 9:45 “Job Relations” focuses on how to be a supervisor, how to drive kaizen, etc. 11:00 How did TWI get “rediscovered” recently? Mentioned in the book Becoming Lean: Inside Stories of U.S. Manufacturers 13:45 What are the unique things Toyota was able to do with the TWI program? 14:15 TWI was focused on training NEW employees, how does TWI apply when you have long time employees who never had standard work or standard methods? 15:45 Toyota still uses Job Instruction today for training their experienced people 16:15 TWI says you have to “get the employee motivated to learn” – how do you do this? 17:45 Why did American companies move away from TWI after the war? 19:00 Early challenges with getting management focused on sustaining TWI methods 19:30 To learn more about TWI: Training Within Industry: The Foundation Of Lean (Don Dinero, history of TWI) The Twi Workbook: Essential Skills for Supervisors (Bob Wrona, hos to use TWI today) Jim's article “The Roots of Lean” Plenty of articles and references through Google

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/14 Remastered July 2021 LeanBlog Podcast #14 is a discussion with Dave Gleditsch, the Chief Technology Officer for Pelion Systems, a leading provider of software for lean manufacturing applications. I first met Dave after I read his Industry Week columns and traded some emails with him. He has a great background in manufacturing and lean, so I think he has an interesting perspective to share on lean and technology. Don't worry, this podcast isn't a sales pitch for Pelion's software. I think you'll enjoy the discussion. Show Notes and Approximate Time, Episode #14 2:00 What prompted you to write your first column? 2:30 The real issue was a poor definition of what lean really is, lean has some very concrete things for improving and innovating. 3:30 It's not just cost cutting, it's about maximizing customer value with the minimum required resources. 4:20 At American Standard, lean helped save the company, but it also became a platform for growth 5:00 Do traditionally cost driven people automatically focus on lean as only a cost cutting tool? 6:00 In the boardrooms, the real cost is gross margin expansion — impacting the top line AND the bottom line (lean and six sigma are great tools for that). You can't just cut costs on the path to growth. 7:00 How first introduced to lean concepts? 9:20 Had a lot of lean experience at HP in the 1980's, worked with Shingo, Hall, Schonberger, etc. Had to try to interpret the original Shingo “Green Book.” (A Study of the Toyota Production System from an Industrial Engineering Viewpoint) 10:40 Hall's book Zero Inventories 11:00 Dave working with Shigeo Shingo 12:00 More about Dave's experiences with lean at American Standard 15:20 What is Pelion Systems? What services and technology do they offer? 18:40 Pelion had the first web kanban portal 19:10 What business problem is Pelion helping to solve? 20:45 Can technology help speed up or further a culture change? 24:00 You have to look at more than manufacturing, but also at how different parts of the companies work together. 25:20 What about The Toyota Way principle about technology? “Use only reliable, thoroughly tested technology that serves your people and processes.” What about the anti-technology bias that tends to exist in the lean world? 30:15 What about companies who have been burned by ERP or technology promises in the past? Does that make it challenging for a software company today? What about technology vendors who seem to promise a “silver bullet” solution for manufacturers? 35:00 Is the software industry learning from past rollout mistakes? Are companies using the technology evolving? 35:25 How Pelion operates with a clear customer charter, business case, etc.

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/13 Remastered June 2021 LeanBlog Podcast #13 brings us part 2 of our discussion with James P. Womack of the Lean Enterprise Institute, the author of many books including the classic (published 10 years ago) Lean Thinking and the more recent Lean Solutions. Part 1 can be found here. In the second podcast, Jim discusses the state of manufacturing in China, including some factors to consider when competing with China, or setting up shop in China. Jim talks about the tradeoffs between manufacturing for export versus manufacturing in China for the local market. Show Notes and Approximate Time, Episode #13 1:00 Are Chinese companies focusing on the short term, as they transition to market practices, or can they focus on the long term? 2:10 How Chinese companies are often getting rid of headcount as fast as they can, as opposed to being rewarded for finding something for people to do 3:20 “Had two years to become a modern mass producer” 4:00 Smart ones are building for the long term and for the Chinese domestic market 4:37 “If you're just coming in as an exporter, a lot of things could happen,” referring to instability or political risk over time with China 5:00 “Iron rice bowl” — the idea that your job came with housing, education etc., a social control mechanism, everything came with your job… “the last thing you want to do is get anybody upset at Widget Factory #9.” 6:00 The amount of dislocation in people's lives in China 7:00 What about “sweatshop” conditions alleged at the iPod factory? 7:30 Womack says the plants run by multinationals are, generally, run right (for safety, cleanliness, etc.)… “they don't know how to run a sweatshop” 8:30 “Corner cutting doesn't really save you any money… stupid meanness.” Those factories not directly run by multinationals might be tempted to cut corners because they just don't know any better 9:50 “… what kind of doorknobs are you?” 10:10 What if we had a campaign to enforce safe work practices? Cost might actually go down. 10:40 Lots of people just moving material or sorting product in the Chinese pencil factory, lots of waste, “what a sad thing”… some minimal quality processes could save a lot of cost 11:30 “Quality is free, safety ought to be free, if you know what you're doing…” 12:00 Many Chinese factory managers “just don't any better, it's better here than the old factory” 12:30 What about the environment (air, water) in China? 14:45 China is facing the same demographic problems as Japan, Europe, the U.S. with a large older retired population (with the one-child policy) 16:00 Has the “lean math” that Jim talks about changed? If you're going to set up in China just for exporting back to the West, you have to really stop and evaluate the risk factors (political, etc.) 18:30 “What's wrong with Mexico? It's a truck location, not a boat location.” 19:00 What about reports of cars being imported from China? 20:30 Chinese car companies are a long way off from being able to compete here, quality wise. 23:20 There are 12 Lean Institutes around the world, “we are equal opportunity educators.”

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/12 Remastered June 2021 LeanBlog Podcast #12 brings us a special guest, James P. Womack of the Lean Enterprise Institute, the author of many books including the classic (published 10 years ago) Lean Thinking and the more recent Lean Solutions. We ended up talking for about 40 minutes, so I'm going to split the discussion into two podcasts. In this first part, we focus more on China's adoption (or lack of adoption) of lean practices. In the second episode, Jim talks more about general trends for China and for those considering doing business in China. LeanBlog Podcast #12 Show Notes and Approximate Timeline 1:45: Womack's trips to China started in the 1980's… on his honeymoon 2:15: http://www.leanchina.org/ is the Lean Enterprise Institute in China 2:45: The Chinese have gone from being “not even mass producers” (staggering, mindboggling inefficiency) where the goal was job creation and control (20 years ago) to where now they are trying to be globally competitive in a serious way (but with a LONG history of doing things the wrong way) 4:10 : “Management is hard” – what is modern management (or even lean management) for the Chinese? 5:00: Chinese learned management from multinationals, entrepreneurs (including “Andre the Pencil King”) 6:00: No real Toyota presence in China (other than a few joint ventures) 6:30: Any evidence of lean practices or lean thinking in China's shopfloors? 8:00 : 333Stories of waste from China 9:45: It's hard, from a cultural standpoint, for the Chinese to hear they should be like the Japanese (due to long standing animosity) 11:45: Lean can be a universal way of doing things, just as mass production can be a universal way 12:50: Does China have more hope for lean if they don't have such a long history with mass production? Womack says “why put in place the wrong thing (mass production)?” We can be General Motors or we can be Toyota… let's be Toyota. 14:30 : “They sense this low-wage thing is time limited…. They can't go on building cheap goods for Americans forever.” 17:30 : Womack's recent lean e-letter 19:10 : Wages are rising on the coast, but for commodity stuff, manufacturers will just move inland. We won't see the cost of labor really going up. The price of management is really going up though – seeing what ex-pats are being paid is putting upward pressure on management wages (folks with education) 22:30 : “I saw nobody at all working to improve the process… it looked like nothing had changed in 40 years.”Big big leap from there to everyone thinking its part of their job to improve. A complete list of Jim's books can be found here.

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/11 Remastered June 2021 Here is LeanBlog Podcast #11, once again with Norman Bodek of PCS Press and the author of many books, including Kaikaku: The Power and Magic of Lean. In this Podcast, we discuss a topic posed by a podcast listener, Bruce from Akron Ohio: how do you educate your top leadership about lean? Norman and I discuss the perspectives of CEOs and executives toward lean, change, and their organizations and some examples of lean problem solving approaches. LeanBlog Podcast #11 Show Notes and Approximate Timeline 1:20 Question from Bruce in Akron again, how do you educate your top leadership about lean? 2:00 Norman spoke at the Lean Accounting Summit, even many CFO's were asking how to get their leadership on board, as if they were powerless 3:50 Norman tells a story about a President of a $2B company asking him, “how can I get my people to deliver quality?” After two weeks in Japan, he said, “Now I understand, it's not them, it's me.” 6:15 Developing a Quality and Productivity Plan, getting input from multiple company presidents within a corporation 9:00 Building consensus among 12 company presidents 11:00 Long-term strategic plans for Japanese companies 13:30 How do we educate our top leadership? Should we buy them books like Norman's “Kaikaku“? 13:50 Norman likes to ask, “If not me, who?” Who is going to do it? How are we going to empower people to work “bottom up” If you're a middle manager, you have take charge, quit living with fear 15:30 Is the boss necessarily smarter than you?16:20 A great story about convincing a boss to NOT outsource to Asia by asking him “what do you really want?” and working toward the cost reduction targets. How many companies go to China just to join that bandwagon? 17:50 “At this rate, we'd all better learn to speak Chinese,” Norman says 18:10 Schwinn bicycle outsourced to Taiwan, then the company learned and took over design, etc. and became a big brand, Giant bicycles. They didn't need Schwinn anymore. 19:20 People at all levels of the organization point fingers up and down about why we can't do lean 20:30 The waste of not utilizing human talent, that provides the most opportunity 20:45 Why do we outsource to China before we've reduced waste and made the most of people here, instead of re-organizing our plants to avoid outsourcing? 21:40 A lot of companies say they want to empower employees, but do they know how? 23:50 Should every employee be their own boss? Norman gives an example of employees and the boss working together in a problem solving example 26:10 Norman got chewed out by a client for telling a worker what to do to solve some defects, he was told “that's not what you're here for…” It's a lesson Norman forgets sometimes, you have to ask employees, not tell. 30:30 Toyota still has a hierarchy of leadership and “bosses” within the factory, how does that fit with Norman's idea of everyone “being their own boss?” 31:30 Why are front line employees typically powerless? 33:45 Why do some bosses think that information = power, so they withhold information? 34:45 Ohno set a goal of “remove this warehouse in one year” and didn't tell people how (other than “retrain people as mechanics”), he expected them to figure out the solution

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/10 Remastered June 2021 Here is LeanBlog Podcast #10, again with Jamie Flinchbaugh, Founder of and Partner, co-author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to Lean. In this Podcast, we respond to an audio question from blog listener Bruce from Akron OH. The topic is how to educate your organization's leadership about lean and how to get them excited about your lean efforts. If you're a regular Lean Blog reader, you should recognize Jamie as a valued contributor to the blog. Click here for a link to some of his blog posts. You can read more about his background here on Jamie's web site. LeanBlog Podcast #10 Show Notes and Approximate Timeline 3:20 Question from Bruce, Akron OH… how do you educate the organization's leadership about lean, that it isn't about reducing headcount or just about 5S? 4:20 Jamie asks about some people's perspectives on their leaders, are they “knuckleheads”? Do some people think that? (Not saying that Bruce did) 5:05 The phrase “boss hater” from Jack Welch and GE 5:50 Even if your boss is a “knucklehead”, it's unproductive to treat them as if they “can't” get it, you should care more about the lean outcomes 6:26 “I can't move lean forward because my executive team doesn't have a clue” — some common finger pointing 6:53 Does lean have to start at the top, as in “top down?” Jamie says it's not true, unless you really want to become Toyota. Very few companies start off by someone at the top saying we're going to become lean (didn't even happen at Toyota… Ohno was not sitting in the executive suite, he was in the machine shop). 7:15 You can still work on lean within your span of control instead of complaining 8:15 What about executive level training? Jamie says you need to connect lean to the business strategy and results 12:15 Need to focus more on principles rather than tools 12:30 For 5S, the execs need to know “why” and what good looks like, the executives need to understand more about driving the lean culture 14:55 The reasons for doing lean depend on the context… are you in bankruptcy or do you have record profits? 15:15 Lean is about changing how people do their work, not just the results 16:30 How can you avoid the conflict that might come up if management wants to lay off employees after lean improvements? 17:30 Jamie says “waste equals layoffs” — you often resort to layoffs just to survive 18:50 If you have to do layoffs, take the hit upfront and educate people about the financials of the business 23:00 When convincing leadership, find out what convinces them… examples from other companies, from results… and use that method

Show notes: http://www.leanblog.org/9 Remastered June 2021 LeanBlog Podcast Episode #9, is a discussion with David Mann, the author of the excellent book Creating A Lean Culture: Tools To Sustain Lean Conversions. In this episode, we will talk about Steelcase's experience with their lean efforts and the realization that they required a “Lean Management System” for supervisors, managers, and leaders. We'll talk about what that means, why it's a critical feature of their Lean System and how to start making the transition to being a “lean leader.” 2:10 Started with lean, being asked to help with communications at Steelcase about 10 years ago 2:50 Steelcase's original “case for change” regarding lean 4:45 How do you prepare people for change? 5:15 Changing away from an old established piecework system (80 years of history) 7:20 Had worked with Toyota-trained consultants, had “technically perfectly fine lean designs” but they were falling apart when project teams left 8:28 “The Toyota guys were like fish and we were asking them ‘what's it like to be able to breathe underwater?'” 8:55 Baseball great Ted Williams 10:15 “Needed a different behavioral recipe”…. for leaders and supervisors, what do you need to do to sustain lean conversions? After 30 value stream conversions. 11:00 Concluded they needed a “Lean Management System” (how to manage) to complement the “Lean Production System” (the arrangement of the floor, material flow, etc.) 12:45 Needed to focus more on the process, not just results 13:00 Need to see how actual measures up to expected… and ask “why?” 13:40 “If you take care of your process, your process will take care of you.” 14:00 How do you work to transition traditional supervisors into lean supervisors, being a coach, being a leader? What about resistance to standard work for supervisors? 15:00 “It requires a leap of faith” and then small steps (e.g., visual controls, like a production control chart — put your initials on the hour-by-hour chart 4x per day and ask why when you see a chart not being filled out). 17:00 At first lean was more work for the supervisors, but they tried convincing them that it will eventually make their lives easier (if they take care of the system) 18:25 “Lean system are more high maintenance than mass production systems” (for the superivors and team leaders) — it made sense to create standard work for them (80% of their time is accounted for by standard work). 19:25 Tell me more about the hierarchy of checks within the organization… 20:30 Managers at different levels are spending a certain amount of their time checking the standard work of the manager below them 21:45 David tells a story about letting a manager lapse back into the old fire-fighting mode instead of following his standard work 24:50 Being a hero versus proper planning 26:30 What kind of timeframe would you use for evaluating whether or not a supervisor can make the transition to the lean way? 30:00 It becomes easier to see faster in a process-driven management environment that mirrors the discipline of the production environment. It becomes clear in a matter of weeks… can't do it or won't do it 31:20 Steelcase and the industry went into a historic recession after the dot com bubble and 9/11… demand fell 45%, so many people left, but those still left in management positions were the ones who had really embraced lean

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/8 Remastered June 2021 Here is LeanBlog Podcast #8, an interview with Jim Huntzinger, the President of the Lean Accounting Summit. In this Podcast, we will talk about the notion of “Lean Accounting” and some of the ways that traditional cost accounting and managerial accounting can come into conflict with our lean transformation efforts. You might think, “I'm an engineer, what do I need to know about accounting?” But trust me, you need to learn about this topic so you can understand what drives some of the decisions your management might make and how they might need to change their approach to be more compatible with lean. 1:45 Jim gives an intro to lean accounting: leaning out accounting versus “accounting for lean”. 3:20 First experiences with inaccurate standard costing systems and how that was driving bad business decisions, distortions through overhead allocation. 6:20 What bad decisions were being made through the lean journey – make/buy decisions. 6:30 How can you know how inaccurate your costing is without knowing exactly what the cost is? 7:15 The fundamental math of most accounting systems is wrong, so you're automating a bad calculation. 7:50 What about the impact of inventory reductions being treated as a reduction in assets on the balance sheet? We still need to educate companies about this even after all this time working with lean. 9:00 Prof. Tom Johnson and his books 9:15 Some warnings about accounting go back to the start of the Industrial Revolution, that it could be used for incorrect decision making… you need to make decisions based on an intimate knowledge of the product. 9:35 What is the impact of having many large major manufacturers being run by “finance people”? 11:25 Again, accounting should be a support function for decisions you've made, rather than being the driving function of decisions. 13:30 Is it easier as a private company if you can ignore Wall Street and your stock price? 14:50 Some public companies have been successful with the long-term thinking… it comes down to leadership and leadership educating their boards and why the changes are good in the long term. 15:33 Who are the success stories heard about at the Lean Accounting Summit? Almost anyone working with lean accounting is on the cutting edge. 17:20 Over 500 attendees at the Summit this year, more than doubled from 2005. 18:15 “Thought leaders” or “Learning leaders”? 19:10 There's a good mix of very large public companies down to very small privately held companies attending the Summit, a variety of industries (manufacturing and healthcare),not just the U.S. 20:15 Plans for the 2007 Summit 20:50 Will also have a “TWI” summit (Training Within Industry) – a topic for a future podcast, maybe 21:42 Training Within Industry: The Foundation Of Lean 22:50 Other lean accounting resources are on Jim's website, as well as the AME website.

Audio remastered June 2021 Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/7 Here is LeanBlog Podcast #7, a new discussion with our friend Norman Bodek, President of PCS Press and the author of many books, including Kaikaku: The Power and Magic of Lean. In this Podcast, we discuss Toyota's response to recent quality problems and recalls along with other Lean leadership topics. LeanBlog Podcast #7 Show Notes and Approximate Timeline 1:40 What are Norman's thoughts on Toyota's recalls and their response of adding time back into the product development process to build in quality? 2:08 “When your model is being attacked, it's unnerving. Very often, people are looking for an excuse to not do something.” 2:50 Yes, Norman buys Toyota 2:57 The book 40 Years, 20 Million Ideas: The Toyota Suggestion System 3:50 How Toyota invests in people, their training and development and how “lifetime employment was a brilliant concept” because that investment in people is an investment in the company. 5:45 A few years ago, Norman visited Toyota Georgetown, why was the number of suggestions dropping? Employees had been getting $20 per suggestion, no matter how small and so employees “played the game and played it well.” So, Toyota stopped the program. 7:55 “The greatest respect you can show somebody is asking their opinion and listening to their ideas.” 8:10 Norman suggests that Toyota should have just changed their system to pay $20 for an idea “if it was worth $20.” 8:40 “Lifetime employment” or “lifetime improvement?” 9:10 As employees, do we learn and improve for the sake of “me” and “my career” or for “the company?” Norman says it's “sad” that I don't want to improve for the company's sake. 10:00 Although Toyota Georgetown does not have “lifetime improvement,” they have never laid off a worker. 10:10 Are Toyota “temp” workers treated differently? Do they get a similar sense of commitment for ideas and suggestions? 11:15 How “Quick and Easy Kaizen” focuses on what's good for the worker? How do you make your work more interesting and easier? Norman says, “The result will be better quality, safety, customer service, productivity…” 12:30 Back to Toyota's product development and quality 13:10 Motorola and product development engineers improving the process 14:00 “How can you ask employees to be innovative rather than needing to have everything controlled by management, as we do in America?” 14:55 Norman says, “Management is not trained extensively, as they should be” 16:10 Working every day to improve, as employee, in a highly competitive world 16:30 Sending work to China for cheaper labor to do non-value added work versus eliminating waste? Why? 17:40 What about Toyota describing product development problems as “bonehead mistakes?” Is that not showing “respect for people?” 18:00Toyota tries to take waste development out of the development process without working them too hard. 20:20 Why Norman likes the theme of “respect for people”

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/6 Remastered June 2021 Here is LeanBlog Podcast #6, the second part of my discussion with Jamie Flinchbaugh, co-author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to Lean. You can find the first part of the podcast here. In this Podcast, we talk about how leadership needs to apply the ideas of waste to reduction to their own jobs and how leaders really “lead” rather than being merely “behind” lean efforts. 0:50 How do you teach people how to see waste? What is the role of leaders in eliminating waste? 1:10 More about the “language of waste” and specific waste terminology, why is that important? 2:10 How leaders can eliminate waste from their own role and your own work 4:20 How can leaders get people to move to action? Does fear get in the way? 4:55 “Be visible” – being visible versus being a “showman” 5:10 “Great leaders ask great questions” but it's also important to make suggestions as a leader, to help drive action 5:30 “The management support myth” — being “behind” lean versus being a leader 6:35 Asking questions versus pointing out things to do 8:30 Doing lean “with” someone versus “for” them Jamie's most recent column in Assembly Magazine can be found here. Click here for an archive of Jamie's columns.

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/5 Remastered June 2021 Here is LeanBlog Podcast #5, with a new guest: Jamie Flinchbaugh, co-author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to Lean. In this Podcast, we talk about the “language of waste” and how waste reduction is a critical tool in the implementation of lean manufacturing and the Toyota Production System. There will be a second Podcast to follow, where we focus more on the role of leadership in driving waste out of your processes. If you're a regular Lean Blog reader, you should recognize Jamie as a valued contributor to the blog. Click here for a link to some of his blog posts. Prior to starting the Lean Learning Center, Jamie was part of the development, training and implementation of the Chrysler Operating System. Jamie also worked at DTE Energy, parent to Detroit Edison, as a lean thought leader to help transform the operations, leadership and thinking of the utility industry towards a philosophy of lean systems. You can read more about his background here on Jamie's web site. LeanBlog Podcast #5 Show Notes and Approximate Timeline 1:15 Why does Jamie use the terminology “hatred for waste” in the book? 2:00 We need to not just identify waste, we need to be compelled to fix it, to take action.2:20 Do companies get hung up in the “analysis” phase? 3:10 Waste elimination is a “tool” and should be a daily activity 4:00 Do some companies waste three months by analyzing things, because they're afraid of doing the wrong thing? 4:40 Is there a risk of focusing on waste so much that you ignore your customer needs and value creation? 5:15 Jamie says “waste elimination should be an act unto itself” as opposed to just being the end goal of a different lean activity 5:40 Jamie talks about the value of “waste walks” 6:45 The “language of lean” and the types of waste 9:00 Discussion about “Waste” and “value,” the balance between the two — can you eliminate waste, but become irrelevant to your customer? 11:00 Can insourcing steps of the value stream help add more value in certain cases? 12:30 Most lean efforts are still manufacturing-centric and the amount of value you can provide is limited Jamie's most recent column in Assembly Magazine can be found here. Click here for an archive of Jamie's columns.

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/4 Remastered June 2021 This is the second part of my discussion (started in Episode #3) with Dr. Jeff Liker of the University of Michigan and his books, including "The Toyota Way." This time, we focus on "lean healthcare" or the applications of lean in hospital settings, waste elimination, and problem solving. Please visit www.leanblog.org for show notes, links and more information. 1:28 Dr. Liker's comments on lean healthcare at the University of Michigan and their 5-day certificate program 2:03 Dr. Liker visited Toyota's own hospital last year and they are just starting to implement lean and the “Toyota Way” at “Toyota Memorial Hospital“ 2:53 “Hospitals are often a complete mess, lack of organization.” 3:50 “A lot of a hospital is just a huge material flow system… and it's done really badly.” 5:08 Can also look at patient “value streams” 5:15 Can eliminate 80-90% of the waste (waiting) from a patient perspective 5:48 How the American Heart Association used the Toyota Product Development System 6:28 Why doctors are afraid that “standardized work” might stifle their actual work, “it's really about becoming a learning organization” 7:48 How healthcare professionals can be open to principles (lean principles) rather than being told what to do 9:33 Why Toyota has “mechanized the routine tasks” — to free people up for problem solving 10:48 Workarounds and problem solving in healthcare 13:03 How simple, visual tools helped 13:28 What kind of consulting or advising does Dr. Liker do for those who might want to contact him? Keynote speeches, conferences, leadership workshops and vision setting. His firm, Optiprise, does more detailed consulting work. 15:29 The Toyota Product Development System (with Jim Morgan) is a new book that came out a few months back. Currently working on a new book with David Meier (co-author of the Toyota Way Fieldbook), called Toyota Talent, about how Toyota develops their people. It is part of what will be a series of books. The book will come out next year.

Author of "The Toyota Way" Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/3 Remastered June 2021 Here is the third LeanBlog Podcast, featuring Dr. Jeffrey Liker, Professor of Industrial and Operations Engineerring at the University of Michigan. Dr. Liker is very well known in the lean world and is a leader in studying Toyota's own practices and management approaches. More information about Dr. Liker and his books can be found in the show notes, below. LeanBlog Podcast #3 Show Notes and Approximate Timeline 1:45 What originally got Liker into studying Toyota — product development and supplier interaction. 3:58 Liker: “What do you see when you go on a tour? You see the factories. The see the factory's cleaner, it's better organized, the workers seem to be working hard a very engaged… so what Americans saw was really on the surface, so what they copied was on the surface.” 5:06 Are people working on less surfacy issues now? Liker talks about the move toward “lean enterprise.” 6:08 Back in 2000, Liker was quoted as saying “50% of auto suppliers are talking lean, 2% are actually doing it.” How do you think those numbers have changed today? 7:18 Liker: “What they've done is used individual tools.” 8:02 What about companies who claim to “implement” lean in 13 weeks? 8:33 Liker discusses how Toyota develops leaders in advance of opening a new plant. How long will it take the new San Antonio plant to become a true lean factory? 10:58 Can you pick and choose which of the Toyota Way 14 points that you use? 11:08 Liker discusses mixed feelings about “creating your own system,” good in theory, but the risk is you just pick and choose isolated practices. The goal really is to become a learning organization. 13:18 Liker: “We're not putting in the kanban system to eliminate inventory.” Liker discusses the balance between short-term gains and building a lean learning culture 16:03 Liker uses the phrase “Genchi Genbutsu” (or “go and see”) 16:08 Do you sometimes have to drag senior management out to the shopfloor? 17:22 Liker discusses how finance-driven companies drive metrics that interfere with lean. How has Toyota worked to set up an accounting system that supports the Toyota Production System? 20:28 Are there other Toyota Way Principles that companies struggle with? 22:33 Liker uses the phrase “hansei” (or “reflection”). 24:03 Why Toyota thinks you can't “implement a perfect lean system.”

Remastered audio June 2021 Show notes https://www.leanblog.org/2 Here is the second LeanBlog Podcast, featuring author and consultant Norman Bodek, President of PCS Press. The first one can be found here and you can visit the main Podcast page, which includes information on how to subscribe via RSS or via Apple Podcasts. LeanBlog Podcast #2 Show Notes and Timeline More on airport near misses here and here 2:55 Respect for people, the key difference between Toyota and American companies who aren't maximizing lean 4:45 Why managers are responsible — not setting up the process properly and not giving power to the people who are in contact with the customer 6:00 Toyota realized that to give people respect, you have to give them power 6:30 In his first trip to Japan in 1981, Norman didn't see people waiting in the factories 6:55 How “jidoka” and the separation of man and machines allowed one person to run seven machines 8:21 Why it's OK to have the machine wait instead of having people wait 8:31 Norman is speaking at the Lean Accounting Conference 9:30 “The machine should be no bigger than five times the size of the part.” 10:45 How do we get managers to take responsibility for the design of the system? 11:55 How Fujio Cho changed the “line stop” by adding time buffers, so the whole factory doesn't shut down — why Taiichi Ohno wouldn't have liked that 12:20 Ohno liked the whole plant to shut down because it forces you to find the root cause 13:32 Why you don't criticize people as a manager, how to bring out creative ideas 14:54 “Toyota was the most ruthless organization in Japan… Ohno was a terror… but from this comes the most humanistic management system.” 15:34 “A Toyota manager is told to ask, not tell.” 16:55 “Blame closes people up like an oyster.” 18:39 Why we should want people to make their own work easier and more interesting 19:25 “If we want to compete with the Toyotas of the world, we have to learn how to bring out the best of our people.” 19:38 “We send work to China and Toyota comes here to make cars.” 19:50 Discussion of Toyota's hiring approach and selectivity 22:10 Our management system is broken… 23:00 How healthcare is better about no layoff pledges along with lean and how that helps

Author & President of PCS Press Remastered June 2021 (the best I could do with a 2006 recording) Show notes: HTTP://www.leanblog.org/1 Here is my first LeanBlog Podcast, featuring author and consultant Norman Bodek, President of PCS Press. I have to give credit for the idea to Norman, as he approached me about doing a series of audio interviews as a follow up to and continuation of our Q&A that I posted here on the blog earlier this year. I'll take credit for turning it into a Podcast, something that I plan on making a regular feature, every month or so. There will be additional conversations with Norman and I also plan on interviewing other lean leaders and innovators. Visit the main page for all episodes and information about how to subscribe. LeanBlog Podcast #1 Show Notes and Timeline: Introduction to the Podcast (until 2:22) The difference between kaizen and kaizen events, early history of bringing the kaizen blitz (“kaikaku”) to America (starting at 3:18) Early development of employee suggestion systems (4:18) Difference between suggestion systems and “cost savings systems” (5:00) How Toyota started their suggestion system of “small, little ideas” (5:26) There is a point where the audio is poor, Norman says at 6:00, “…ideas per employee per year, one per month, one per month implemented idea per employee. So, that represented millions of ideas. In fact, I published a book once…” Norman mentions an early book, 40 Years, 20 Million Ideas: The Toyota Suggestion System, now out of print, but available used through amazon.com, albeit at a rare book price. Then, the audio improves again. How do you “manage 1800 ideas” per month? (6:40) Norman's experiences with Gulfstream and employee suggestions (8:30) How kaizen is not a bureaucratic system (10:40) What are the proper incentives for employee suggestions? (11:40) What are the two pillars of TPS? (13:05) How do you “keep score” with employee suggestions? (14:15) How do you balance between kaizen and standard work? (14:40) What is your role as a supervisor with employee suggestions? (15:40 and 22:30) How has Toyota changed their suggestion system over time? (16:50) Why giving $20 an idea was a problem (18:15) Proof that Toyota sometimes makes mistakes – but improves! (18:50) Focusing on “implementations” as opposed to “suggestions” (21:05) What happens when you criticize a suggestion? (23:00) Here is a blog entry that Norman wrote about the podcast, with additional thoughts: “Mark Graban interviewed me this past week for his first Podcast. We talk about my discovery of Quick and Easy Kaizen, how it was the heart of the Toyota system – getting all employees involved in continuous improvement. The puzzle to me is why every company doesn't add this most valuable process to their management lexicon. We say that “People are our most valuable asset.” but we do very little to develop that asset to its fullest. China does represent short-term labor savings but in the long term we are giving away our companies to them. This week I was watching parts of the Tour de France bicycle race on television and saw one of the leaders on a Giant bike. At one time over fifteen years ago, Schwinn was probably America's leading bicycle company. They went to Taiwan to manufacture their bikes to take advantage of the low labor cost. The company in Taiwan was Giant. Initially, Schwinn wanted to reduce their assembly costs but Giant convinced them to also save money on engineering and every other phase of manufacturing and design. After ten years or so when the initial contract was over, Giant told Schwinn, “We don't need you anymore. We know how to make great bikes, you taught us how.” All we have to do is learn how to market the bikes. “Shortly, thereafter Schwinn went bankrupt and sold their “name,” to another American company. Unfortunately, we are great in short term thinking. Toyota recognizes the threat from China but they are building more and more automobiles in America. If they can do it why can't other American companies do it? To me, the only difference in Toyota and American manufacturers is that Toyota develops their people and the best way to develop people is from their own creative ideas. Please do listen to the podcast… And give me some feedback, Thank you” Here is an amazon.com link to Norman Bodek's Books. My announcer is my old friend, Steve Sholtes, a musician from Michigan.