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The Lean journey is the endless pursuit to identify and remove waste from every process in the organization. On the Lean journey your organization’s culture changes from waste acceptance to relentless waste eradication.

Those on the Lean journey know that waste exists everywhere, and that the reduction of waste in one area often exposes problems and waste in other areas of the organization.

Change is no longer a scary threat. In a Lean company change is accepted as the norm. Kaizen events – process improvements – are welcomed as opportunities to grow the company.

Lean companies measure performance in new ways. In the world of Lean you measure by the minute, by the hour . . . not by the week or the month.

The time to make something, to produce something, or to process something is reduced 30%, 40%, 60%, or more.

Lean is adopted at the top, but driven from the bottom. Lean is driven by the people who do the work, who are closest to the problems. Everyone is trained and empowered to identify problems, to find the root causes of problems, and to solve the problems when they are first detected, when the problem is happening.

Lean leaders are coaches and teachers. Lean leaders lead the organization as if their only power is that of persuasion and example. Lean leaders never intimidate.

A Lean journey is truly a voyage from waste to wealth.

This blog is adapted from my soon-to-be-published book(in stores March 15th) on how any company can turn inevitable waste into cash. Stay tuned for continuous blogs on how to “Turn Waste into Wealth” at my website: www.markdeluzio.com.

Problems are money-making opportunities. Problems lock out profits and cash. Lean is the key to unlocking the wealth. Problems solved by Lean result in improved economics.

Lean is based on discovering and fixing problems. Discovering and uncovering problems is not simple. Problems can masquerade as acceptable ways of doing things. Problems can be so entrenched that companies learn to live with them and don’t recognize the dysfunctional behavior as abnormal.

A manager told a Lean consultant that his plant had no problems with hydraulic oil leakage. Yet before they took a tour of the facility everyone had to don rubber boots because the floor was slick with leaked oil. After fifteen years of living with leaked oil, the problem had become an accepted norm.

Problems can be hidden by employees who believe their job is dependent on making the organization work despite the waste, errors, do-overs, re-work. Office cleaners love paper-filled companies. Accountants love bedeviling new tax laws and regulations. Inspectors of all types exist because products are not correctly made 100% of the time.

Generally when you hear employees say there’s no problem, there is a problem. There are always problems. On display, or in the dark, there are always problems.

Solve problems at the lowest level in your organization. Root out the root causes. Remove the root cause and remove a barrier to wealth creation.

This blog is adapted from my soon-to-be-published book on how any company can turn inevitable waste into cash. Stay tuned for continuous blogs on how to “Turn Waste into Wealth” at my website: www.markdeluzio.com.

LEAN Is Not A Four Letter Word

Because organizations have misused Lean, using the tools solely to reduce headcount, it is not surprising that various employee groups believe Lean is a four-letter word, an acronym for  “Less Employees Are Needed.”

A Lean transformation often surfaces excess, or redundant employees.  This reality can reinforce Lean’s negative reputation if leadership does not properly manage dynamics.  One of the principles of Lean is to respect all individuals.  Wise leadership respects all the people, and knows that without employee buy-in, a true transformation to wealth creation will not happen.  Honest, ethical, straightforward managements level with the employees.  They admit the possibility of some job eliminations.  They introduce employee retention policies that are inline with the “people first” tenant of Lean. There are at least 12 proven strategies that good companies use to deal with potential job reductions.  (These strategies, and many others, are outlined in my forthcoming book, “Turn Waste Into Wealth.”)

To deal with the potential job reduction good companies do the following:

• Provide proactive cross-functional training and the development of a multi-skilled workforce. Engineers are trained to be sales people, and receptionists are trained to be customer service reps.
• Encourage employees to change, to grow, to be flexible regarding job descriptions, work locations, workdays and hours.
• Foster a continuous improvement mindset personally and professionally.
• Use cross-functional teams where potentially adrift employees can make new contributions.
• Use Lean created resources and money to grow the businesses providing new work opportunities.
• Natural attrition creates cross-job movement opportunities.
• Reduce, or eliminate, temps and seasonal hires.
• Deploy people to full time improvement teams.
• In source activities that make sense.
• Offer incentives for early retirement.
• Provide out placement assistance.
• Voluntary separation creates job opportunities.

Good companies fight to avoid layoffs and terminations, but they must be able to deal with adverse economic or business conditions.

Lean transformation is tied to contributing employees, not to fewer employees.

Lean leads to growth and jobs.  And “jobs” is a good four-letter word.

This blog is adapted from my soon-to-be-published book on how any company can turn inevitable waste into cash.  Stay tuned for continuous blogs on how to “Turn Waste into Wealth” at my website: www.markdeluzio.com.