Lean is Everywhere!

One of the fascinating things about lean is that it is occurring everywhere, and many times without the knowledge of the person or organization doing it! How can this be? I recently visited a small sheet metal fabrication company, and during the course of a discussion with the owner the topic of lean came up. Ned, the owner, was more than eager to share his position that they didn’t feel the need for lean. He went on to explain that his company had been in business for over 50 years, and that the average employee tenure was 23 years of service. Ned was very proud to tell me that over the years this experienced workforce had honed their manufacturing best practices to the point that they felt no additional benefit would be gained with lean. I said “OK Ned, let’s take a walk”.

One of the first workstations we visited had a pegboard with all of the operator’s hand tools outlined and hanging from it. I asked Ned what this was all about, and he proudly stated “Rita noticed that her people spent a lot of time looking for their tools every morning before they could start work, so we decided it would be a good idea to place all the tools in easy reach, and give each tool a visual aid for where it belongs.” I subtly explained that they had embraced two lean concepts with this improvement; eliminating motion waste (one of the Seven Deadly Wastes) and the 5S methodology of Seiton, or to Set in Order.

At the next workstation I asked Ned why this process was setup in a horseshoe-shaped workflow. Ned said “Gunther here is my production manager, and he told me one day that a lot of time was being wasted toting product from one end of the plant to the other to different machines for processing. So we decided that it would make sense to physically relocate the machines closer together, in the exact sequence needed, to minimize this wasted time.” I gently suggested that the U-shaped cell concept exemplifies the lean goals of reducing waste and manufacturing footprint while increasing productivity and efficiency. Needless to say, virtually every “best practice” evidenced throughout Ned’s process had its roots in lean principles.

Lean is everywhere!