We’ve been in consulting situations where management was skeptical about
lean and had a “show me” attitude. They thought lean had potential and it was
worth giving it a try. But they were going to wait and see if it applied in their
operation, with their culture. In cases like this we might ask, “Where is yourpain?
What is it about your operation that keeps you awake at night?” This will gener-
ally lead to some juicy opportunities for immediate improvements that will knock
their socks off. And of course if you’re working on a “hot project,” as defined by
the leadership, they are likely to pull out all the stops and provide open access
to resources and offer their own clout to get things done. When things almost
magically get better, management becomes believers.
But those who live by the sword can die by the sword. Once management sees
what lean can do for hot projects, they want more. “Lets go over there, where we
have another serious problem.” Or: “Now let’s move over here, where this darn
machine has been a problem since we first installed it.” And you can end up with
the endless cycle of point kaizen we saw with the kaizen workshop approach. It’s
almost like giving the really good stuff to a drug addict. You win them over, but
at what cost?
Many Six Sigma projects are “hot project” approaches. The Black Belt is under
pressure to produce major savings for each and every project. The most obvious
Chapter 19. Lean Implementation Strategies and Tactics 403Characteristics
Short-term urgency: solve current crisis
One-dimensional
Specific improvement targets
Isolated process improvementsSome companies use kaizen eventsSTRENGTHS- High interest/support
- Resources usually available
- Bias for action
- Willingness to make radical changes
quickly - Opportunity to convince skeptics through
dramatic results - Solve top management problems and
get support for further activities
TRAPS- No overall vision/strategy
- No system to support lasting change
- Risk of back-sliding
- Lacks ownership if driven by staff
function - Dramatic short-term results becomes the
basis for judging all future lean efforts. - Lean becomes a short-term firefighting
tool.
Figure 19-2. Strengths and traps of hot projects approach