Lean Nation:
(Part 3 of 7) I am continuing to blog on a seven part series on how to create a world class organization. Here are the steps to creating a culture of continuous improvement:
1. Find a Sensei - You need a coach to make the journey.
2. Select your Organizational Wide outcome measures - these are known as the True North measures.
3. Prioritize and Map your Value Streams - select the areas with the most leverage.
4. Deliver Improvement - Use A-3 thinking and lean principles to make the changes identified in your value stream mapping sessions.
5. Sustain your improvements using visual management and leadership standard work.
results are only realized if the gains are held.
6. Support your improvements with ongoing training and leadership development.
7. Spread your improvements to other parts of your organization.
This week I will expand on step 3: Prioritizing and Mapping your Value streams. For decades process improvement was focused on localized or spot improvements. "We need to see more patients in the ER", "we need to improve the reliability for spot weld #4". Tremendous progress was realized at the local level. the tools to see and eliminate waste would be used in full force with impressive results.
The challenge was how many of these improvements impacted the strategy of the organization? How many of them flowed through to the profit and loss statement? sadly, not nearly as many as one would expect.
To realize organizational excellence, you must look at processes from end to end, not at a local level. This prevents an "island of excellence" in a "sea of waste". It also ensures that waste is removed from the system not simply transplanted from area to the next, which we frequently see from improvement projects.
Toyota calls this end to end look "product and Information " flow. This flow is a mapping exercise to understand all of the work and information flows from a customer need until the need is met. and it is one of the great "inventions" in the science of improvement. We now have the ability to see flow across the entire organization and impact that waste has on the customer. You know this product and information flow mapping as value stream mapping.
A value stream is all the activities, good and bad that it takes to deliver value to a customer. This analysis usually shows us that 95-99% of the activity fails to add value in the customers eyes. This creates the opportunity and developing a vision with less waste is part of the future state design in value stream mapping.
But before we go map, we must know what to map. Since you have identified the outcomes measures for your organization in the previous step (step # 2 and the subject of the previous blog), you can evaluate each of your value streams to see which one has the greatest impact on the key measures.
I like to do this using a pugh analysis. This again you can review in a previous blog known as 7 ways. the Pugh analysis, evaluates multiple alternatives (value streams) against multiple criteria (outcome measures). the activity determines which value streams have the greatest leverage on accomplishing your outcomes.
Coming out of the value stream you will have a prioritized action plan targeting key areas to eliminate waste. We'll discuss eliminating the waste next week when we talk about step 4 , delivering improvement.
Lean blessings;
Ron
Ron Bercaw
http://www.breakthroughhorizons.com/
(Part 3 of 7) I am continuing to blog on a seven part series on how to create a world class organization. Here are the steps to creating a culture of continuous improvement:
1. Find a Sensei - You need a coach to make the journey.
2. Select your Organizational Wide outcome measures - these are known as the True North measures.
3. Prioritize and Map your Value Streams - select the areas with the most leverage.
4. Deliver Improvement - Use A-3 thinking and lean principles to make the changes identified in your value stream mapping sessions.
5. Sustain your improvements using visual management and leadership standard work.
results are only realized if the gains are held.
6. Support your improvements with ongoing training and leadership development.
7. Spread your improvements to other parts of your organization.
This week I will expand on step 3: Prioritizing and Mapping your Value streams. For decades process improvement was focused on localized or spot improvements. "We need to see more patients in the ER", "we need to improve the reliability for spot weld #4". Tremendous progress was realized at the local level. the tools to see and eliminate waste would be used in full force with impressive results.
The challenge was how many of these improvements impacted the strategy of the organization? How many of them flowed through to the profit and loss statement? sadly, not nearly as many as one would expect.
To realize organizational excellence, you must look at processes from end to end, not at a local level. This prevents an "island of excellence" in a "sea of waste". It also ensures that waste is removed from the system not simply transplanted from area to the next, which we frequently see from improvement projects.
Toyota calls this end to end look "product and Information " flow. This flow is a mapping exercise to understand all of the work and information flows from a customer need until the need is met. and it is one of the great "inventions" in the science of improvement. We now have the ability to see flow across the entire organization and impact that waste has on the customer. You know this product and information flow mapping as value stream mapping.
A value stream is all the activities, good and bad that it takes to deliver value to a customer. This analysis usually shows us that 95-99% of the activity fails to add value in the customers eyes. This creates the opportunity and developing a vision with less waste is part of the future state design in value stream mapping.
But before we go map, we must know what to map. Since you have identified the outcomes measures for your organization in the previous step (step # 2 and the subject of the previous blog), you can evaluate each of your value streams to see which one has the greatest impact on the key measures.
I like to do this using a pugh analysis. This again you can review in a previous blog known as 7 ways. the Pugh analysis, evaluates multiple alternatives (value streams) against multiple criteria (outcome measures). the activity determines which value streams have the greatest leverage on accomplishing your outcomes.
Coming out of the value stream you will have a prioritized action plan targeting key areas to eliminate waste. We'll discuss eliminating the waste next week when we talk about step 4 , delivering improvement.
Lean blessings;
Ron
Ron Bercaw
http://www.breakthroughhorizons.com/
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