Managing Times, August 2007

MANAGINGJ u l y / A u g u s t . 0 7

S h a r i n g S o l u t i o n s f o r Y o u r L e a n J o u r n e y

TIMES

Applying creativityin the world of business

Best practices in workplace visual management

8Lean awarenesstraining for everyone

10 12

Plan for Success through Policy De p l oy m e n t

Recently TBM held our GlobalExchange, which is our yearly meeting of allTBM associates from around the globe. It’sthe time we take to get together to share bestpractices and celebrate our diversity andinternational culture. Because we follow leanprinciples, we also try to make sure that thetime spent at this meeting is value added.This year we changed the format a bit, andone of those changes resulted in several ofour clients giving presentations about theirlean journeys to all of us on the first day ofthe exchange. Having client company representatives attend was a way for those ofus who may not have worked directly withthese companies to share in their success, aswell as a way to exchange ideas.

But more important, it gave us a chanceto hear the voice of our customer. After theclient presentations, we had a round tablediscussion in which TBM associates couldask questions of the presenters. After that, Istood up and asked the presenters to sharewith us the ways in which they thought wecould serve them better. I wasn’t asking forthem to tell us how great we are and howhappy they are with their current and pastsuccesses, but rather to honestly speak theirminds about the things TBM does thatcould be improved on. And they did—verycandidly.

We could have stopped after they hadpresented their success stories and simplypatted ourselves on the back for a job welldone. But one thing we all know about alean journey is that it’s a never-ending questfor continuous improvement. Here we hadsome very diverse clients sitting before us;how could I not have asked them for somehonest feedback on where we need toimprove in order to better help them ontheir journeys?

PUBLISHER’SNOTE Practice What You Preach

The mistake many make when faced withcriticism is to acknowledge it but never doanything about it. The same happens on alean journey—we sometimes recognize thatproblems exist, but we never actually dosomething about them. Reacting in that waywill doom you to failure.

When you hear the voices of your customers and don’t respond to them, whatmessage are you sending? You’re saying youdon’t really care what they think. That’s notthe way for a company to stay in business,let alone grow. In our case, we spent the restof the week of the exchange coming up withsolutions to our clients’ concerns. Althoughwe won’t be able to implement all of thesolutions “instantaneously,” it will be clear toeveryone—TBM associates and clientsalike—that we take their concerns seriouslyand that we are working to serve everyonebetter. It’s called practicing what you preach.

In this issue of Managing Times you canread about how to implement policy deployment to take you further to being ahigh-performing company (p. 2). You canalso learn about how one company has takenthe lead in visual workplace managementand associate empowerment (p. 10). In eachof these stories, taking action is a commontheme. Just as with our voice of the customer experience at the TBM GlobalExchange, the companies profiled understand that action—not words—is the key to success.

Anand Sharma, President & CEOTBM Consulting Group, [email protected]

Managing Times | July/August.07www.tbmcg.com/news/newsletter.php

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Featured Columnists

Doug Bonner Mike SerenaMike Caldwell Noel TempleJoe Panebianco Marie Turner

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On the cover: Components of a policydeployment matrix ensure organizationalalignment for the vital few projects thatenable companies to achieve breakthroughgrowth and focus.

Sealy Mattress has undergone some recentorganization changes, consolidating regionsfrom four to three, and as a result a numberof people have moved. Mike Hofmannremains exe c u t i ve vice president of operations.John Deutchki is corporate director of continuous improvement (CI), and BedieshMerhai, formerly Western Region CI manager, is his assistant. Dan Hige is vicepresident of the North Region, and JoeMaru is CI manager. In the North Region,David Bishop is the Albany site managerand Chris Lynch is the CI coordinator. AtBatavia, Don Pflug is site leader and KathyDiMaio is CI coordinator. At Medina, LisaNowak is site leader and Scott Bubar is CIcoordinator. At Williams Port, RickyJohnson is site manager and Don Grimleyis CI coordinator. Ken McGuffin is siteleader for Clarion. Kevin Hogan is vicepresident of the South Region, and JackSwain is CI manager. Dave Freese is siteleader for High Point. Craig Greer is siteleader for Atlanta and Tejas (TJ) Naik is CIcoordinator. In Orlando, Mike Kerkman issite leader and Luis Colon is CI coordinator. In Brenham, Ray Rodenbeck issite leader and Rodney Dickschat is CIcoordinator. In Fort Worth, Roger Keen issite leader and Danilo Burgos is CI coordinator. Shailesh Pattel is vice presidentof the West Region. He replaces TamlinFerguson, who has left the company.Christian Rergis is the Western Region CImanager. In Phoenix, David Winter is siteleader and Jose Valenzuela is CI coordinator. In St. Paul, Rob Hays is siteleader and Eric Slotness is CI coordinator.In Portland, Richard Coley is site leaderand Heidi Hicks is CI coordinator. InRichmond, Curtis Mazun is site leader andSteve Donnelly is CI coordinator. InSouthgate, Rob Bryant is site leader. In

LEANCOMMUNITYNEWSMANAGINGJ u l y / A u g u s t . 0 7

TIMES

1Managing Times | July/August.07www.tbmcg.com/news/newsletter.php

Denver, Don Cotton is site leader andMarie Rando is CI coordinator. In Kansas,Stu Ernest is site leader and Dustin Griffinis CI coordinator. Herman Fisher is divisional CI manager for the ComponentDivision. In the Component Division, theCI coordinators are James Vines inColorado Springs and Kent White inRensselaer. The CI coordinator position inDelano is open. In Edmonton, Alberta,Canada, Kim Pemberton is site leader andSarah Baghat is CI coordinator. … MarvinRiley is the new vice president of operationsat GGBNA. … Dietrich Wunn, formerlyKPO coordinator for Bunge Europe, left thecompany on July 1. … On July 24, 2007, incelebration of ConMed Corporation’s 20thanniversary of listing as a publicly tradedcompany, ConMed CEO Joseph J.Corasanti presided over NASDAQ’sopening bell. … TBM welcomes two newNorth American consultants to our family:Tim Nickerson and Kenneth GregWarrick.

CASESTUDY Plan for Success through Policy DeploymentBy Anand Sh a rma, TBM President and CEO, and Ga ry Hourselt, TBM Exe c u t i ve Vice President of In t e rnational Consulting & St ra t e gy

2

In the fall, when you close out thebooks for the fiscal year, does your management team breathe a sigh of relief?Do you see this closure as a time to relax, ordo you start looking forward to the comingyear? Does your team plan for success or justhope that the markets favor you and yourbottom line?

A company that has committed to alean transformation also has committed toworking toward long-term growth and success. This requires planning for the futureas well as creating operational excellencetoday. Although many companies understand the need for planning, doing sois perceived as much more difficult thandealing with the day-to-day operationalimprovements, and so often planning goesundone or poorly done. And yet, if a company wants to truly transform, its management team must learn to plan for thefuture. A lean company does this planningthrough policy deployment.

No organization can afford to wasteenergy and resources on efforts that do notsupport its objectives. You can use policydeployment to build consensus on a fewcritical things that will generate growth andlong-term success.

Policy deployment is a processfor focusing a company’sresources on those few criticalobjectives that improveexecution and drive growth.

Policy deployment is an integral part of thesenior management leadership process thatlies at the center of an organization’s lean transformation.

Because this is the time of year whencompanies should be planning for thefuture—and it won’t do to wait till the endof the year and hope New Year’s resolutionswill suffice—we have decided to reprintfrom our book The Antidote the sectionsthat describe policy deployment and thesteps necessary to implement it. We hopethat this will be the jump start some compa-nies need to start implementing policydeployment to improve their growth andsuccess.

Focusing on the Vital Few The transformational management

system treats strategic planning much thesame way it treats leadership, employees,customers, suppliers, and processes, which isto say very differently than the old approachto strategic planning. Policy deploymenttakes significantly less time than the oldapproach to strategic planning. It giveseveryone involved in the process equal inputinto the outcomes. It ensures that the necessary buy-in and resources exist beforethe plan is implemented. It demands relentless accountability and follow-up toachieve objectives. It delivers results alignedwith the organization’s vision, its need for operational excellence, and its desirefor growth.


Policy Deployment Initiative“We do a top-down, bottom-up

process,” said Tim Powers, president andCEO at Hubbell. Hubbell engineers manufacture and sell electrical and electronic products such as wiring systemsand lighting for offices, products for the utility infrastructure, and specialty commu-nication products. It employs more than11,000 people with annual sales of $2.5 billion. “The major benefit is that manage-ment as a team reassess where it is on anannual basis. It helps us focus on the vitalfew and get rid of the typical problems facing most companies of having too manypriorities.”

Tim and his leadership team embarkedon their lean journey early in 2002. “Wewere in a situation where we had too muchworking capital, our ability to adapt to rapidly changing market conditions was tooslow, and we needed to be quicker, moreflexible, more able,” said Tim. “I thoughtour company needed dramatic change.”

In 2002, the first full year of its lean

journey, Hubbell coined a “2x4”

strategy: two times improvement in

many critical metrics by 2004.

Its goals included 2x inventory turns by ’04,2 margin points by ’04, and 2 percentagepoint market share improvement by ’04.The “2x4”strategy helped the organizationfocus on the vital few goals that would helpHubbell improve speed, flexibility, and quality. It started lean transformation in sixsites and expanded to all thirty of its locations by 2004, a steady transition thatmakes its results even more astounding.From 2002 to 2004, Hubbell made dramaticimprovements including:

• Net sales up 54 percent• Net income up 320 percent• Sales per employee up 17 percent• Inventory down 53 percent and

inventory turns doubled• Working capital as a percent of sales

down 45 percent• Space reduction of more than 1.5

million square feet

“Our new management methodologyhas helped us take several hundred milliondollars out of working capital and put it intocash,” said Tim, “and that’s allowed us tobuy more companies.” Hubbell’s acquisitionstrategy is a key component of its plans togrow the company. It has used policydeployment since 2002 to select—and deselect—the objectives and actions thatsupport its strategies.


2 x 4

CASESTUDY

How Policy Deployment WorksThe senior management leadership processbegins with strategy, vision, commitment,and policy deployment. Policy deploymentbegins with knowledge of the facts. The ini-tial policy deployment meeting takes threedays, typically off-site, and must be attendedby the entire management team and otherkey contributors.

| Step 1 |Create a Common Understanding We believe that everyone involved in

identifying strategies and developing plansshould share the same information. Theyshould have a common understanding of theexternal environment (opportunities andthreats) and internal environment (strengthsand weaknesses), short- and long-term goals,and strategic direction, so that they can provide informed and reasoned insights.

We don’t subscribe to the idea that participants in this process should be limitedto the president/CEO and his or her directreports. Every organization has additional“movers and shakers” and informal leaderswho can enrich the discussions and strength-en the plan. We encourage you to find thenatural “go-to” people who have theircoworkers’ confidence and respect and tact-fully bring them into the process. The idealnumber of participants seems to be betweentwelve and twenty, although we’ve done poli-cy deployment with fewer and larger groups.

4

Before the first meeting, determine whowill present the critical information to thegroup that it needs to make decisions. Topics to be addressed include:

• Customers’ perceptions of quality,delivery, service, and value (each key customer/market segment)

• C o m p e t i t o r s’ strengths and we a k n e s s e s• Current company performance• Impediments to success• Operational performance indicators• Financial performance indicators• Human resource capabilities and

challenges• Supplier capabilities and challenges• Economic, legal, regulatory,

environmental, and other issues• Emerging technology and its implied

impact on the organization’s future

The presentations and discussions dur-ing the first meeting should be completed inapproximately three hours. It’s importantearly in this meeting to clearly communicatethe egalitarian nature of this process. We say“one person, one vote.” All ranks and titlesare left at the door. Participants need tounderstand this because each has an equalresponsibility for the creation and success ofthe plan.

| Step 2 |Key Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities,

and Threats (Focused SWOT) The information gathered during the

first meeting is used for the focused SWOTanalysis in the second part of the meeting.The goal of the SWOT analysis is toidentify those significant, vital few issues the

organization must address.Strengths and weaknesses are generally

assessed from an internal focus and againstcustomer expectations and competitivepressures. Opportunities and threats areassessed from an external perspective and aregenerally out of your control.

The exercise begins by asking partici-pants to assume that each is the president orleading executive of the company. If theywe re the boss, what would their priorities be?

Each person writes down threestrengths, one each on a Post-It note. Eachstrength should be a clear, concise, and complete statement. The participant thenprioritizes the strengths by putting stars inthe upper right-hand corner: *** for the toppriority, ** for number two, and * for thenumber three. Each participant repeats theprocess for the weaknesses, and then printshis or her name on the bottom right-handcorner of each note. Participants areencouraged to take their time, but not todiscuss their ideas with others in the group.The goal of this silent brainstorming activity is get everyone involved: One person, one vote.

Once this is completed, participants follow the same process for key opportuni-ties and threats. When everyone is finished,the facilitators take their notes and arrangethem on a wall by strengths, weaknesses,opportunities, and threats, and under similarcategories or sentiments within each. All participants have a chance to review thegroupings to make sure their ideas areunderstood and categorized correctly.

When the review is complete, begin-ning with strengths, the number of starsunder each category is counted to select thetop three or four areas for synthesis. Eacharea is assigned to a sub-team charged with capturing the intent and spirit of all relatedideas in a single, concise, clear statementand presenting its statement to the entiregroup for further synthesis, improvement,and a reality check. Once the group agreeson the nature and wording of the selectedstrengths, it repeats the process for weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.


5Managing Times | July/August.07

www.tbmcg.com/news/newsletter.php

| Step 3 |Develop Directional Alignment

Leadership’s most important step is toalign the direction of their organization withthe company’s vision and the revelations ofthe SWOT analysis. Leaders determine this direction by evaluating two dimensions,technology/products and markets/channels,to expose both new and related opport u n i t i e s .

The directional alignment exercise typically involves the same group that participated in the SWOT analysis. It beginswith the group suggesting new and relatedproducts the company could offer, new andrelated technologies it could pursue, newand related markets it could enter, and newand related channels it could explore. Sub-teams of the group define each new/related opportunity and anticipate its potential,impact, capital required, and risk. They present their conclusions to the entire group,which then uses the same silent brainstorm-ing technique described in Step 2 to selectthe top four to five high potential/highimpact areas with low capital/low risk rating.

Sub-teams for each of the top selectedareas identify their area’s impact on sales andearnings, and its capital and other resourcerequirements. They outline the action stepsand implementation schedule necessary tomove forward. Then they describe their findings to the entire group, which discussesthe plans, completes the strategic directionalmatrix, and reviews each plan and all planstogether for practicality.

| Step 4 |Outline the Strategic Plan

Policy deployment is a three-phaseprocess that begins with the development ofgoals that are then translated into objectivesand projects through the policy deploymentmatrix, which are reviewed monthlythroughout the year to ensure that theobjectives are being met.

The SWOT analysis and strategic directional matrix are key inputs for Phase I.The planning team uses these inputs to outline a three- to five-year strategic planthat identifies concrete and quantitativegoals in four specific areas:

• Quality/customer satisfaction• Productivity/cost reduction• Delivery/responsiveness• Morale/ergonomics/safetyOnce the goals are established, the team

reviews current performance on them andestablishes concrete, measurable goals foreach operating unit that will contribute toachieving the overall business goals.

| Step 5 |Create the Policy Deployment Matrix

The policy deployment matrix capturesbusiness objectives, projects, goals, financialimpact, and implementation teams for theorganization or for individual business unitson a single page. To complete the matrix,the leadership team for the organization orbusiness unit groups the strengths andopportunities identified during the SWOTanalysis to guide the development of growthobjectives. It then groups the weaknesses andthreats to help develop operational improve-ment objectives. We refer to growth objectives as “offensive” and operationalimprovement objectives as “defensive,” orbasic “blocking and tackling.” In our experience, the focus of the first year of thetransformation is on the defensive side, onshoring up the weaknesses and threats andgetting your house in order. Through operational excellence, your organizationearns the right to go on the offensive andplan for growth.

SWOT analysis and strategic directional matrix

6 Managing Times | July/August.07www.tbmcg.com/news/newsletter.php

CASESTUDY

With both a defensive and offensivefocus in mind, each member of the leadership team develops three prioritizedbusiness objectives for the next three to fiveyears that are broad enough to address specific SWOT statements, yet specificenough to produce achievable, measurableannual targets. As in Step 2, each participantwrites down his or her three longer termobjectives on Post-It® notes, using stars toprioritize them and printing his/her nameon each. Again, the goal of this silent brainstorming activity is get everyoneinvolved, although we notice that peopletend to be “gun shy” the first time around.

When everyone is finished, the facilitators arrange their notes on a wallunder similar areas of focus. All participantshave a chance to review the groupings tomake sure their ideas are understood andcategorized correctly.

When the review is complete, the entireteam uses the grouping and the stars toselect the top three or four business objectives for the next three to five years.Each objective is assigned to a sub-teamcharged with capturing the intent and spiritof all related ideas in a single, clear, concisestatement. The team then identifies one,two, or, at the most, three specific projectsrequired to achieve the first year intent ofthe objective, key measures for success foreach, and the potential financial impact ofcompleting the projects and meeting theobjective.

Each sub-team presents its businessobjective with first year project plans, metrics, and financial impact to the entiregroup for discussion and refinement. Theleadership team must choose which projectsto pursue with six being ideal and eight proj-ects the maximum. When all objectives havebeen finalized, the objectives, projects, goals(metrics), and financial impact are enteredon the policy deployment matrix.The last section of the matrix involves iden-tification of the implementation teams foreach project, beginning with the project

leader and, if this is for a business unit, aproject sponsor at the corporate level. Theproject leader/sponsor must have been present for the policy deployment processand cannot lead or participate on more thantwo teams.

The leadership team then selects four toeight members for each project implementa-tion team depending on the size and scopeof the project. When we facilitate theseactivities, we screen people to make sure thatthe right people end up on the right teams.Implementation team members must represent different functions, bring the customer view-point to the project, and provide the necessary technical expertise. Welook for a balance of passion and knowledge,process insiders and outsiders, executives andmanagers, and other cross-functional perspectives that help create innovativesolutions while achieving the objectives. Aswith the project sponsor/leader, an implementation team member cannot be onmore than two teams.

“We establish a policy deploymentmatrix with our top managers,” saidHubbell’s Tim Powers, “then each businessunit aligns its priorities with that. Everysingle unit ties to our policy deploymentmatrix. Our goals are the sum of the outcomes of our business units.”

Policy Deployment Matrix


| Step 6 |Choose the Vital Few and

Deselect AggressivelyThe projects chosen through policy

deployment are not the only activities peopleare working on. The purpose of this step isto select only the vital few breakthrough initiatives that will have a major impact onthe company and deselect those that won’t,because in addition to these initiatives, people are working on many importantactivities daily to maintain current levels andachieve superior performance.

We start by asking leadership teammembers to do a little homework: List allthe breakthrough initiatives in which theyare involved. Breakthrough initiatives focuson growth: (1) in sales and market share overand above maintaining the current businesslevel; (2) in earnings and asset leverage over and above maintaining the current level of performance; and, (3) toachieve your mission through strategic alignment with long-range plans.

• As a group, the participants put their initiatives in five categories:

• Regulatory, and you have to do them• Mandatory, and your job depends on

them (so you can’t tactfully negotiate relief )

• Aligned with the policy deployment matrix

• Aligned strategically• Not alignedDe-selection involves keeping those

aligned strategically and by policy deployment and the regulatory initiatives,killing those not aligned, and questioningthe mandatory to see if they must be kept.The group needs to formally “kill” each deselected project and develop action plansfor the questionable ones.

Deselecting can be a very tediousprocess because nobody wants to giveanything up. But as Hubbell discovered, it isabsolutely necessary. “It helps us focus onthe vital few and get rid of the typical problem most companies have of facing toomany priorities,” said Tim Powers.

Deselection is vital for makingp ro g ress as a corporation.

We encourage leadership teams to meetafter two or three weeks to finalize the policydeployment matrix. This allows time for theramifications of the matrix to become clearand for a “sanity check” to occur.

| Step 7 |Track and Review Performance

As the name implies, the crux of policydeployment is making sure projects are ontrack and that actions are taken to achievethe business objectives. This is done throughweekly team meetings for progress andmonthly project reviews by senior manage-ment.

As soon as the policy deploymentmatrix is complete, leaders develop a detailedmonthly schedule for reviewing performance. Following a detailed trackingprocedure, each month the executive teamreviews the projects that have failed toachieve targeted milestones and devises andimplements countermeasures. Visual controls and performance boards help everyone in the organization see how thecompany—and each team—is doing.

The Power of AlignmentHigh-performing organizations

accelerate improvements and speed past thecompetition through the power of alignment. If everyone is working on those activities that are vital to your growth andsuccess, your company will grow and succeed, as Hubbell continues to demonstrate.

“The general and agreed upon prioritiesof our company are innovating the greatestnumber of products, and serving our markets with the least amount of capital,”said Hubbell’s Tim Powers. It aligns all business units with these priorities through aone-day policy deployment review process.“We have sixteen managers in our top management team. We start from scratchevery year with a SWOT analysis: what hasgone on, how we saw it a year ago, what’schanged. We get the skeleton of the matrixthe next day and then take it out into thefield and fill it out during discussions at ourlocations, to get the exact goals and measures. We do this in the fall so we’reready to go at the beginning of December.”

This process takes place at a companywith more than 150 different product linesthat is reorganizing along those product linesto better serve its customers. The most effective alignment—of policy deployment,product/service development, functionalactivities, human resources, value streams,and other key processes—begins with thecustomer.

Policy deployment is indeed at thecenter of any company’s transformation,

and now is the time for you to make it thecenter of yours.

Note: This article has been excerpted fromThe Antidote, published by TBM ConsultingGroup, Durham, NC.


A C C E L E R AT E DL E A R N I N G What Is Cre a t i v i t y ?By Joe Pa n e b i a n c o, TBM Senior Trainer and Design Sp e c i a l i s t

During a kaizen event, we repeatedlystress, “Creativity before capital.” Thismeans we should find ways to eliminatewaste, solve problems, and make improvements without using money. To dothis requires us to be clever, inventive,resourceful, and creative. But what exactly iscreativity? Being creative means bringingsomething new into existence using imaginative skills. What is created could be a solution, a method, or an idea that youcould work on in your personal or professional life.

If you think that being creative is onlyfor people in the arts and music—and not atrait required for people working in big corporations—then you need to think againabout how creativity applies in the world ofbusiness. Creativity has far broader implica-tions than the stereotypical connotation ofartistic expression. Don’t CEOs and leadersat all levels of an organization requirecreativity to conceptualize a new product,sell an existing product in new markets, orgrow sales with current customers? At thesame time, others in the organization usecreativity to face the challenges of manufacturing the product at a competitiveprice, supporting the sales with customer

service, and distributing the productthrough effective channels. In each of theseexamples, business leaders are working onproblems and devising solutions that didn’texist before. These people are using theirminds to imagine new ways of doing something. Their solutions may involvecreating a new product, brand, or technique.

Creativity is important. It is one of thegreatest human characteristics and hashelped us evolve into what we are today.Strengthening your creative muscles is fairlysimple and can help in all aspects of yourlife. In his book How to Think like Leonardoda Vinci, Michael Gelb examines seven principles that da Vinci—one of the mostcreative minds in history—used throughouthis life. When you think of da Vinci, youmight automatically link him to the MonaLisa and wonder what relevance he has inthe business world. In addition to the arts,da Vinci investigated and made contribu-tions in the fields of anatomy, botany,geology, and physics. The principles he followed for creativity, which are describedin the following paragraphs, are still usefulways to stimulate creativity today.

CuriosityLearn about the world around you. Childrenare born with every sense attuned to exploration of their world. Like little scientists, they experiment and try differentthings to learn about and understand theworld. Some of the first sentences uttered bya child are begin with “Why?” and “How?”It is no wonder that children are morecreative than adults. According to the website www.creativityatwork.com, whengiven a problem to solve, the average adultwill think of three to six alternativesolutions; the average child thinks of 60.

Joe Panebianco


Engage in activities that will help youlearn about the world: read a book, take awalk outside and observe the world aroundyou, watch educational programming (e.g.,the Discovery and History channels) thatwill keep thinking about why and how.What you learn from these experiences canbe applied to a situation that requires creative thinking.

DemonstrationDa Vinci committed himself to testing

his knowledge through experience and wasdetermined to learn from his mistakes. He referred to this persistence as “demonstration.” In the business world, weare all familiar with the tale of the executivewho made a million dollar mistake. Whenhe told his boss that he was ready to hand inhis resignation, his boss replied, “Are youkidding? I just spent a million dollars onyour education.” Companies that rewarddemonstrated attempts at creativity willeventually hit one out of the ballpark.Another classic example of this is 3M. Thecompany that we know today originated as Minnesota Mining and ManufacturingCo. in 1902. After failing miserably as a corundum mining company, the companyexperimented and developed “Three-M-Ite”(sandpaper).

SensationSensation is the skill of observation. It

refers to using your five senses—sight,sound, touch, taste, and smell—to theirgreatest potential. Many people think ofobservation as something that only involvessight. During kaizen events, participants arefrequently instructed to make observations,or “watch the line.” Invariably, the first question they ask is, “What exactly are welooking for?” If we knew what to expect, wewouldn’t be observing. Observation requiresus to use all of our senses and be open towhatever unfolds in front of us.

Embrace Ambiguity, Paradoxes, andUncertainty

As you become more curious and continue to explore, you’re bound to be confronted with the unknown. The ability tokeep your mind open and receptive in thesesituations is essential. At these momentsmost breakthrough learning and new ideasoccur.

Balanced ThinkingResearch has shown that if you are

artistic and intuitive then you use the righthemisphere of your brain more. If you areinclined towards logic and step-by-stepprocesses, then you use your left hemispheremore. In an ideal world, we would all function as “w h o l e - b r a i n” thinkers—balancingartistic, intuitive, logical, and systematic tendencies equally. However, since most ofus are not da Vincis, we can still make aneffort to recognize different abilities amongour employees, utilize strengths while developing weaker areas, and form balancedthinking teams or work groups.

Two exercises that help develop creativityin this area are as follows:

1. Select a common object (e.g., a brick or a bucket) and brainstorm as many different uses as you can for that object.2. List as many similarities as possible between two dissimilar objects (e.g., a catand a refrigerator or an electrical outlet and a paintbrush).

Grace, Ambidexterity, Fitness, and PoiseWith few exceptions, the great geniuses

of history were extremely physically fit individuals. Da Vinci was a skilled equestrian who also walked, swam, andfenced to keep in physical shape. Althoughyou do not need to have the prowess of anOlympic athlete in order to be creative, cultivating physical interests can definitely

get your creative juices flowing.Adrenaline is a stimulant thatincreases brain activity, emotionalintensity, and speed of thought. So itmakes sense that a physically activeperson might tend to be more creativethan a less-active individual. The moreactive an individual is, the more likely thatperson is exposing himself to a broad spectrum of experiences.

Systems ThinkingSystems thinking uses a broad perspective

that includes seeing overall structures, patterns, and cycles in the system, ratherthan seeing only specific events in the system. It involves taking a macro look atthe world or an organization, rather thanonly seeing discrete, individual units orevents. A frequently used example of systemsthinking is this: If a butterfly flaps its wingsover Tokyo today, it will affect the weatherin New York next month. Finding this interrelationship of seemingly unrelatedactivities requires a systems-thinkingapproach. It requires a creative mind to comprehend how every event within anorganization helps shape the future of theorganization; it requires an even morecreative mind to channel those collectiveevents into a successful marketing campaign,product launch, or record earnings.

The ability to be more creative can leadto fame and fortune and provide a deepsense of personal satisfaction. Within anorganization, creativity is an essential toolfor effectively solving problems and generating new ideas. Nobel Prize winnerLinus Pauling said, “The best way to havea good idea is to have lots of ideas.” And thebest way to have lots of ideas is to stimulateand encourage the creativity of your workforce.

“What is a visual workplace? It is awork environment that is self-explaining,self-directing, and self-improving. A visualworkplace allows the entire work team toknow the condition of a work site at aglance. In today’s manufacturing environment, everyone has limited resources,so it’s imperative to use those resources tothe best advantage. To do that, you want tobe able to identify and manage abnormalevents (because normal events mean thatthings are running well). A good visual management system allows you to see whatis truly abnormal; this allows you to reactquickly to fix the problem.

What Are Abnormalities?In order to manage abnormalities, you

have to know what they are. This is wherepolicy deployment is critical, policy deployment sets the goals and expectationsof an organization. Through policy deployment everyone—to the individualassociate in a cell—knows what those goalsand expectations are and how each individual can work to meet and affectthem. If all associates know exactly whatgoals must be met, then abnormalities (thatis, not meeting the goals and expectations)become immediately obvious.

So the first step is getting your goalsdefined and then taking them all the way toeach cell. At Autoliv we have more than ahundred cells, and the associates in each cellhave clear expectations of what their safety,quality, delivery, employee, and cost metricsare. Anyone can walk by a cell and with aglance at the Production PerformanceAnalysis Cube and see how that cell is doingtoward achieving their goals.

Once you have a clear set of goals andexpectations for each cell, you must thenhave a set of protocols for abnormality

management. Autoliv uses “zip lines,” whichmake it quite obvious whether a cell is operating in the green (normal) or in one oftwo levels of abnormality (yellow or red).Different protocols are in place and clearlyindicated so that abnormalities can beaddressed quickly. If a cell goes yellow, forexample, a supervisor is immediately notifiedso that they can decide if resources must bepulled from other cells to help address theproblem. The protocols, which include definition, responsibility, and reaction, aredisplayed at the cell, so anyone can comeinto the facility and know the protocol forany given condition. This process establishesa baseline for improvement and a built-insystem to react to problems.

Implementing a Visual WorkplaceA key consideration when implementing

a visual workplace is to remember that themore visual protocols or instructions youhave, the easier they are to follow. Labels andcutouts make it extremely easy to get workers to put equipment or tools back inthe correct location. Pictures of items as theyshould look in a normal condition helpsmake sure the workplace standard is upheld.In a visual workplace, a picture really isworth a thousand words because people donot read everything they see. A pictorialexplanation will reach a much larger groupof people—those who can’t read, those whodon’t speak the language, and those who arein too much of a hurry to read.

A good standard to use when setting up avisual workplace is to ask the question,“Could a child understand this?” If theanswer is “yes,” then it is probably a goodvisual standard.

TECHTALK Best Practices in the Workplace: Visual ManagementBy Marie Tu rn e r, Autoliv Production System Coord i n a t o r


Marie Turner

visual

management

Once you have standards in place thatyou feel are value added, you can set up thevisual system, and then all that’s needed is to manage the system. With a good visual system anyone can tell at a glance if the standard is being violated. This means they have time to manage other things andbe proactive.

Complete management buy-in isabsolutely necessary, even with a strong visual management system. If you have thereaction protocols in place and a good visualmanagement system, and the managers don’tfollow up, it sends a bad message. If ourplant manager is on-call and willing to comein the middle of the night to deal withabnormalities and the supervisor didn’t stopand follow the protocol as needed, whatkind of example would that set for the people in the cell? If a manager walks by andsees that a zip line is in the red and continues on without reacting, a new defacto standard has been set, and it’s not agood one. The manager is saying the situation is not important. That’s not themessage the rest of the associates should begetting. The beauty of a good visual management system is that it’s very easy tosee work conditions: discipline is importantto react to abnormal signals, no excuses.This is ongoing and constant.

Likewise, if the teams are clear on theirexpectations, they just roll. They have a cleardefinition of what’s going on and what theyneed to do and they just take it and go.They can do what they need to do if theyknow what’s expected of them. However, it’scritical that management cares and followsup when there’s an abnormality.

Power to the PeopleTeam members in the cell have the power tomake changes and improvements to theirprocesses. If it’s something they can dothemselves, and does not require customerapproval, they just do it. If it’s somethingthey do not have the resources or time todo, they can fill out a kaizen suggestionform. Each supervisor has a technical person

working for them whose sole responsibilityis to implement kaizens. This has reallyhelped with the continuous improvementphilosophy of the teams. They develop faithin the kaizen system as ideas get implemented, and this encourages them togenerate more kaizens. Last year our goalwas 20 kaizens implemented per associate.This year we set the goal at 40, and we’reknocking it out of the ball park. A lot ofthese are very simple kaizens, but the savingscan add up dramatically. Saving a second,five times a day can save you half a shift in ayear. When you look at our overall costimprovements for our plant, the savingshave been huge. And if you ask anybody ifwe had any major steps in that process, theanswer would be that we’ve had a few, butmost of the savings have come from the little kaizens that just continue to add up.

We’re a big company and so we have alot of opportunity for benchmarking. Thereare four facilities in Utah we can benchmarkwith and it doesn’t cost us anything but ahalf-hour drive. Recently we went to a different facility and reviewed their visualmanagement system and the good ideas theyhad, and we in turn shared our visual management ideas. We have excellentresources right at our fingertips and we’vebegun tapping into them recently to shareinformation and best practices.

Remember that a visual management system provides shared information that iseasily and quickly understood. It speaks toyou and leads you to improvements. Toparaphrase Taiichi Ohno, founder of theToyota Production System, “Make yourworkplace into a showcase that can beunderstood by everyone at a glance …Whenthis is done, problems can be discoveredimmediately, and everyone can initiateimprovement plans.” This is the true powerof a good visual management system.


1Make your workplace into a

showcase that can be understood by everyone at a

glance.

2In terms of quality, it means

to make the defects immediately apparent.

3In terms of quantity, it means

that progress or delay,measured against the plan, ismade immediately apparent.

4When this is done, problems

can be discovered immediately, and everyone

can initiate improvement plans.

12

expectations, and opportunities for employeeinvolvement and ownership. This trainingwill also promote a “train the trainer” formatsuch that all instruction will be conductedby the existing TCV champions as part oftheir role as internal lean consultants.

The two-day lean awareness training consists of several modules in a “learn-and-do” format with specific key lean learningobjectives as outlined below:

• Introduce the key principles and concepts of lean production to all levels of the organization.

• Demonstrate learning and skill sets utilizing an individual and subteam format to demonstrate both teamworkand effectiveness.

• Actively involve site employees in the application of lean learning to each of the facility’s production, process, and office areas.

• Involve and include key production support personnel in order to evaluate how they might best contribute the success of production areas and better respond with a “manufacturing sense of urgency.”

Gain a better understanding regardingsite-launch initiatives, timelines, expecta-tions, and the key performance indicatorsand targets that will be used to measure thesuccess.

Create opportunities for participation,involvement, and discussion as well as pro-vide examples as to how each employee canmake a difference each day in their respec-tive work areas.

The Two-Day CurriculumInitial training begins with establishing

an understanding of what is “world class,”not from a Toyota perspective, but from theindustry and international competition thatEnpro organizations face each day. Once thisworld-class standard is understood, the par-ticipants discuss the specific barriers theyperceive to exist at their site that prevent orslow their progress in their journey tobecoming world class. Participants are askedto rank their site’s current lean status againstkey lean transformation concepts so that a“gap analysis” can be identified. Followingthis active and candid discussion, partici-pants are introduced to the concepts of lean

Mike Serena, managing director of theTBM LeanSigma® Institute Worldwide alongwith the internal Total Customer Value(TCV) continuous improvement championsat Enpro have been conducting a series oftwo-day lean awareness training classes acrossEnpro’s international sites. The curriculumincludes not only the training of lean princi-ples and concepts but also applies the class-room learning and skill sets to both productsimulation and “on-the-floor” application ateach manufacturing site. Training targets notonly shop floor operators but also produc-tion supervision and support personnel. Asenior management awareness and sustain-ment session is also scheduled at several sites.Enpro is planning to provide lean awarenessto all of its employees to communicate itscommitment to establishing a learningorganization and clearly define the roles,


FIELDNOTES Lean Aw a reness Training for Everyone!

Mike Serena

production and the timeline that is ofteninvolved in establishing both lean and cul-tural transformations. The discussion is rein-forced by the class conducting a “gembawalk,” where concepts and opportunities forimprovement are observed specific to theareas of material, staffing, machinery,method, and ergonomics.

As the class reconvenes, an overview ofthe LeanSigma® approach with specificinstruction regarding the effectiveness andimpact of lead-time reduction and wasteelimination as it relates to productivity arediscussed. Further, several case studies fromdifferent companies across a range of industries are presented and discussed forapplicability. Simulation exercises follow.

The second day of training includes athorough discussion of the lean productionsystem, including the concepts of takt time;one-piece flow; establishing standard work;supermarkets, pull systems, and just-in-time;standard work in process; set-up reduction;jidoka (ensuring equipment quality and pro-ductivity); and production smoothing.Again, simulation exercises emphasize theeffect of introducing the lean concepts andhow an organization can and should leverageoperational excellence into profitability andgrowth.

The importance of establishing a visualmanaged workplace through standard workalong with progressive 5S through organiza-tion and discipline and the importance ofabnormality management is discussed inrelation to its role in “sustaining the gains.”The course also provides an in-depth look atvalue-chain mapping and its effectiveness inrecognizing opportunity and creating afuture-state vision of the organization. Keyaspects of tracking quality issues and prob-lem solving through root-cause analysis arealso thoroughly discussed.

The final module takes a closer look at“point” or mini kaizens and explores theprinciples of motion economy, along withthe principles and processes involved withthe kaizen breakthrough methodology andthe advantages of conducting ergonomic-and energy-improvement projects. If you are interested in a similar program foryour corporate sites or have any questionsplease contact the TBM LeanSigma®

Institute at 800-438-5535.

13

CONSIDERTHIS!


Think Sync: Because Synchronized Value Chains Beat the Rest Every Time

In an effort to help companies who havesuccessfully started their lean journeys and whoare thinking about taking lean to the next level—moving beyond operational excellence on theshop floor to try implement lean throughout thevalue chain, TBM has created a booklet, ThinkSync: The Competitive Advantage of a Lean ValueChain. It describes the challenges manufacturersface today and traces the lean evolution that hasproduced industry leaders such as Toyota andSealy Mattress and, through the stories of TBMclients, explores the impact of lean on four keyareas of a lean value chain.

The booklet defines the phrase “lean valuechain” and contrasts that with traditional supplychain management. It can help you identify theleading indicators of a value chain in need of improvement and offers a clear explanation of thedynamics of a lean value chain and how a leanvalue chain can be used to position a companyfor growth. The booklet also addresses how a leanvalue chain can help a company improve demand

management, order fulfillment, business planningand scheduling, and supply management.

If you consider your value chain—the activities that take place to transform raw materials into products—each step in that chaincan add value to the finished product if it operates efficiently. But if you suffer high invento-ry, long lead times, erratic demand, poor on-timedelivery, or other symptoms of inefficiency, thosenon-value-added steps damage your ability tocompete.

By applying lean to your entire value chain,you reduce waste, improve quality, and acceleratedelivery at every link. Your customers get theright products at the right time and at the rightprice. As a result, you create greater value for yourcustomers and achieve significant competitiveadvantage.

Think Sync outlines an approach to developing a lean value chain that has beenproven effective by TBM Consulting Group. Torequest a copy of the lean value chain booklet,contact TBM at 800-438-5535.

Hayward Pool Products (Pomona,California) and WIKA (Lawrenceville, GA)were presented the Perfect Engine Site Awardin recognition of their commitment to the continuous improvement philosophy anddedication to a lean culture.

“The Perfect Engine” refers to the precision interworking of human resourcesand physical assets to achieve outstandingproductivity results that create business agility, growth, and profitability. The PerfectEngine Site Award recognizes individualplants or offices that have successfully implemented LeanSigma® methodologiesand have demonstrated innovation and outstanding teamwork in creating visually-managed environments that featureone-piece flow.

TBM President and CEO Anand Sharmapresented the awards to Tom Henderson,manager of continuous improvement atHayward Pool Products, and MichaelGerster, president of WIKA InstrumentCorporation, at the 14th annual LeanLeaders Exchange in Salt Lake City, UT.

“WIKA and Hayward PoolProducts achieved the PerfectEngine designation because oftheir proven ability to imple-ment and leverage cutting-edgeprocesses that facilitate agility,continuous innovation, andsynchronization to assure theprosperity of the enterprise,”said Sharma. TBM offers kudos to both companies fortheir many successes in theirlean transformations.

Winners of Fourth Annual Perfect Engine Site Aw a rd Announced

Hayward Pool Products has been on itslean journey for eight years, and it continuesto use lean principles to innovate, develop,and launch new products. Hayward has also leveraged its competitive advantage intogrowth in market share, sales and earnings.From 1999 to 2007, the site has executedmore than 400 kaizen events with the following results:

• Shipments increased 120 percent with a moderate workforce increase of 15%

• Productivity measured by shipments peremployee increased by 64 percent

• Work-in-process (WIP) inventory was reduced by 77 percent

WIKA-Alexander Wiegand GmbH & Co. iscelebrating its sixth anniversary on its lean journey. From 2001 to 2007, the companyhas implemented more than 700 kaizenevents worldwide with the followingimproved results:

• Productivity improved by 20-40 percent• Lead-time reduced from five weeks to

four days• Workforce increase of 331 percent

Corporate Headquarters4400 Ben Franklin Boulevard

Durham, North Carolina 27704 USA

1.800.438.5535

Australia403A 86 Bay Street

Port Melbourne, Victoria3207 Australia03 9681 7385

BrazilAvenida Moema 170, cj 45

Sao Paulo -- SPBrasil 04077-02055.11.5051.7490

ChinaRoom 3, 3/F, POS PLAZA

1600 Century Avenue Pudong

Shanghai, 200122 P.R. China

86.21.6888.6671

India“Technopolis”

Sector-54DLF Golf Course Road

Gurgaon, India 122 002 91.124.437.5995

MexicoCalzada San Pedro #250 Nte.

Edificio HQCol. Miravalle

CP 64660Monterrey, NL

52.81.50.00.91.36

Switzerland29, route de Pré-Bois

1215 Geneva 15Switzerland

41.22.710.77.70

United Kingdom3 Gleneagles House

Vernon GateDERBY DE1 1UP

United Kingdom44.1332.367378

TBM LeanSigma® Institute 2007 Event and Workshop Schedule

MANAGINGJ u l y / A u g u s t . 0 7

TIMES

Business Process Kaizen Instructor Training Oct 23-26 Durham, NC

Design for LeanSigma® New Products and Processes Sept 17-21 Durham, NC

Dec 10-14 Durham, NC

Kaizen Breakthrough Experience Nov 5-9 Vermeer Manufacturing, Pella, IA

Nov 19-23 WIKA Wiegand GmbH, Klingenberg, GR

Kaizen Promotion Office Workshop Oct 2-5 TBD, UK

Oct 2-5 TBD, BR

Nov 6-9 Durham, NC

Dec 11-14 Shanghai, CH

Lean Management Accounting Sept 18-19 Durham, NC

Nov 14-15 Durham, NC

Lean Sigma® Fundamentals Sept 11-12 Mexico

Lean Sigma® for Process Industries Oct 24-25 Sao Paulo, BR

LeanSigma® Vision TourOct 15-19 TBD, US

Management for Daily ImprovementSept 17-21 TBD, Monterrey, MX

Nov 12-16 WIKA Instrument Corp., Lawrenceville, GA

Shop Floor Kaizen Breakthrough Instructor TrainingSept 25-28 Shanghai, CH

Oct 9-12 Durham, NC

Oct 30-Nov 2 UK

Dec 4-7 Durham, NC

Quest for the Perfect EngineTM

Aug 29-30 Shanghai, CH

Sept 4-5 New Delhi, IN

Sept 17-18 UK

Sept 20-21 Paris, FR

Oct2-4 Pomona, CA ( H a y w a rd plant tour)

Oct 18-19 Munich, GR

Nov 13-14 Hong Kong, CH

Nov13-14 Argentina

Nov 13-14 Mexico

Nov 19-20 Madurai, IN

We realize that many of you are identifying your 2008 training needs during 4th

quarter. The TBM web site will feature an updated training calendar very soon.

In the meanwhile, please be sure to call the TBM LeanSigma Institute if you have

any questions about course dates and prices.

Managing Times, August 2007

Documents

Transcript of Managing Times, August 2007