I once listened to an experience from a colleague who had a Toyota Production System guru visiting the shop floor. I remember finding it to be a inspiring story. The guru would walk around and ask things like: “See that roll of brown paper there on the floor. How do you think it is feeling?” In amazement this colleague stared at the roll of paper and said: “A little sad I think, it has been forgotten and it is standing in a humid environment. Quite miserable I think.” The guru nodded and continued the tour asking more questions like that. When I heard the story it made me laugh. Poor roll of paper! This story is still in my mind however after a few years; I am not even sure anymore who told me. But it stuck with me. That is why I have started a shelter for abandoned brown paper rolls.
All kidding aside: it is sometimes hard to truly observe what surrounds us. That goes for this example with the brown paper roll, but also for the processes that we work with. What if they could tell us how they are doing, what would they say? Are we clear on what we expect from them and can they tell us if expectations are being met? And if not, can they tell us why? Can we do something about it and can we see it improving? I wonder if the guru also asked questions about the processes. “How do you think this process is doing right now?” “Ehhhh… Fine I guess? Everyone seems busy, things are moving…?”
Expectations towards a brown paper roll are simple: it is expected to not be moist and easily accessible when something needs to be wrapped (or when post-its need to be put on it). At the heart of what we want from processes lies expected versus actual performance. Preferably not at the end of the month, through generic performance indicators that are part of a fat PowerPoint, put together by an under-appreciated analyst who is boo-ed each time the numbers need to be pried out of the hands of a few very busy people. It could also be that a gut-wrenching amount of money is spent on a dashboard, and that the dashboard is copied into the PowerPoint. Ugh. But I already wrote an article about that, so best not to go off on that tantrum again.
Ok, a little tantrum. Is it bad to spend money on a dashboard with monthly figures? Yes, unless:
- You use it to spend less time on collecting data for your financial reporting
- It drives meaningful action, so not just a status update. If you struggle to understand how your meeting drives meaningful action… Ouch, big red flag
- You have spent at least ten times more energy and money on enabling performance management at process level, through those working with the process; operators on the shop-floor for instance
End of tantrum… Lets focus on what is the right thing to do.
The most common application of visual management is the hour-by-hour process performance board. In the beginning hourly intervals are often enough. The problems to solve are of such a size that hourly information provides enough level of granularity. If you do not have flow or continuous production, you can apply visual management by knowing the the batch size and the time allowed both to setup the equipment and to produce the specified quantity; if needed per work area or machine. This also allows you to learn how to best balance production across different areas. Rest assured that there is a great example to draw inspiration from for whatever situation you are in: job-by-job tracking, between-process tracking, you name it.
So why would we go through this effort? Lean is all about staying short on the ball. When a process isnot delivering, we need to know the reason on the spot. And then we need to be able to investigate the reason and find the root cause. The longer you wait, the less useful information you will find during that investigation. It could even be worse: those who actually know are already clocked out and you are left guessing.
Here are some tips:
- Do not focus on status or history, focus on process. Brainstorm how to best monitor the performance of the process – meaning that you are allowing for the detection of problems. And test if you can see the result of improvement actions on your board
- Make sure that your visuals are out in the open, easy to understand and engaging for the shop-floor. They should trigger improvement thinking. This includes considering who updates them, who holds the pen
- Understand that processes change, so evaluate and update the visual boards. And please… Stop worrying about similar look and feel. It is not a marketing campaign
Two last things:
- Avoid using reason codes. You often end up with generic stuff that cannot be 5why-ed. “Look at this Pareto chart: 80% of our performance issues are related to ‘breakdown’!” Useless. Your team leaders need to coach your operators on providing meaningful information.
- You need to invest time to teach your team leaders and operators basic problem solving skills and you need to coach them on that during the daily accountability meetings. And most importantly: do your leader standard work! Otherwise you have only created nice wallpaper
Maybe I can conclude with this no-brainer: do not ever, ever, blame the person. Blame the process. Otherwise good luck with motivating your shop-floor with maintaining transparency. Remember the patience part of leader standard work.