From: Minnesota Technology Magazine - Spring
2007
Bio
Mary Connor, MTI
Mary
Connor has over 32 years of manufacturing, financial management, marketing and
consulting experience that includes strategic planning and computer OEM
marketing to the U.S. Department of Defense. She began her career as a
Proposal Manager at Unisys; has been the Controller for the College of St.
Catherine; was the Chief Financial Officer, owner and secession consultant of
Midwest Fire Protection; and is currently a Business Specialist with Minnesota
Technology, Inc.
Ms. Connor holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration
and Business Education from the University of Minnesota as well as a Master of
Business Administration from the Carlson School of Management, University of
Minnesota. In addition, she is certified by Ewing Marion Kauffman
Foundation as a Fast Trac for Manufacturing Trainer. She has also
received training in Lean culture, innovation, industrial marketing, Value and
Strategic Pricing and ISO 9001:2001 Transition
The Lean Paradox
How can a growth specialist endorse the principles of Lean? After all,
isn’t bigger better? The more the merrier?
Lean is a paradox: To grow, one needs to shed useless processes. To
succeed, a culture of discipline needs to be established; yet it is a
discipline that calls for flexibility and adaptability. To improve, constant
changes are implemented—but how can you regularly make changes without
creating chaos? How can the answer be to ask more questions?
The seeming contradictions in Lean are something I get asked about
regularly when I consult with businesses that don’t know exactly how the
principles are supposed to work. I first explain how eliminating or
streamlining processes allows for growth. By eliminating the waste of
inefficient procedures, an organization can rapidly add capacity. This frees
up cash that could be frozen in inventory - and capacity and cash are both are
needed for growth. Other growth benefits of Lean are realized when an
organization can secure new business from existing or new customers because of
newly developed competitive strengths such as shorter lead times, lower cost,
and better quality.
For those concerned about how a company can continually improve while
retaining some stability in the organization, I respond by talking about Lean
culture. Culture is a set of shared beliefs, customs, and practices carried
out by a group of people. By following a cultural structure, people identify
with the goals of their group as well as further them. It’s true in a
business culture, too. An organization should develop cultural structures that
promote accountability, compel the right behavior, and remove opportunities
for error. By standardizing business processes in this way, grey zones for
decision-making are eliminated. Organizations where Lean culture has been
fully embraced can begin to extend beyond the organization to grow with other
Lean external partners in the supply chain.
Structure is a good thing, especially for those who are overwhelmed by the
crises of day-to-day operations. For Lean initiatives to take root, it is
essential to stabilize things in the organization before making massive
changes. An organization with excess inventory, overtime, and expediting
usually has unstable processes and an insecure workforce. Focus first on
stabilizing.
Lean has several tools with which to create structure, such as Flow and
Visual Workplace, which help to quickly expose problems. Exposing and solving
problems are at the heart of the Lean system. Once identified, issues can be
addressed and corrective action taken. The simplified model: Standardize the
work, find problems, fix them, standardize the fix so the problems don’t
recur, repeat.
When first introduced to Lean, I find that it is a common misperception for
businesses to think it’s all about learning these sorts of techniques and
tools. But in actuality, tools such as kan-bans are often temporary responses
until a better solution is found or conditions change. To achieve the ideal of
continuous improvement, employee involvement at all levels of the organization
is necessary. Understanding critical Lean tools and strengthening
problem-solving skills is essential.
The Lean model is grounded in questions. We don’t tell, we ask; we
don’t command, we engage. The Socratic style of iterative questioning helps
employees reflect on the clarity and completeness of their ideas for
improvement. In a true Lean environment, all assumptions are confronted with
questions. Can we reduce or eliminate waste? Can we keep the material flowing?
How does this activity benefit the customer? By relentlessly challenging
processes, we continually find ideas for improvement. In a Lean environment,
the notion of the ideal aims for zero defects, on-time delivery, a batch size
of one, and a safe working environment. Seeking the ideal can be a major
source of the creative tension that fuels further improvements. In this way,
the answer really is to ask more questions.
Though it may seem confounding at first, Lean is elegant in its simplicity.
But simple does not mean easy. If you settle, you send a message that good
enough is good enough—which is the only truly contradictory notion when it
comes to Lean.
Mary Connor MTI
Growth Management Consultant
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