Evolving Excellence

Congratulations, David Hogg

By Kevin Meyer

I just learned that Dave Hogg, one of my oldest friends and mentors in the lean world, has received the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal for his work in promoting lean manufacturing.  A remarkable, and well-deserved, achievement for a remarkable person.

I first met Dave in the mid-90s when I was struggling with trying to figure out how to turn around a large medical device manufacturing facility and I discovered The Association for Manufacturing Excellence - and lean.  Through AME I almost immediately met Dave, and over the years he has instilled in me a passion for the human side of lean - the power of the oft-forgotten respect for people pillar.  I've asked him to help train some of the organizations I've been fortunate enough to lead, and has always been available to offer advice.  Dave is the person that encouraged me to start sharing my own lean experiences and knowledge, first through Superfactory and then through Lean CEO, Evolving Excellence, and more.

Dave Hogg is well known for the lean consortium model he created and implemented at the High Performance Manufacturing Consortium, which in 1998 was described by MIT's Sloan Management Review as a "leveraged learning network."  This model spawned dozens of other successful consortia in Canada and throughout the rest of the world.  In 2011 he was inducted into AME's Hall of Fame.

Congratulations Dave.

Let's put this myth in its own coffin already.

In this month's edition of the  Atlantic Monthly, there's a short piece on how Batesville Casket is using lean to remain competitive. It's a well-written article providing a nice snapshot of the challenges the company faces (Chinese imports, increases in cremation) and how lean is helping it compete.

But then there's the obligatory opposing view of why lean is bad for workers:

How such a lean refitting affects workers on the factory floor receives far less attention. Batesville’s management has guaranteed that no employees will lose their jobs because of a “kaizen event,” an activity in which workers are encouraged, through various exercises, to demonstrate how they themselves could be made superfluous. But Mike Parker, a labor writer who has described lean production as “management by stress,” told me the Toyota Way fixates on efficiency and productivity at the expense of workers. “There’s no place to consider whether some very narrowly defined, de-skilled job offers any satisfaction.”

Now, let me say first that I've never worked on an assembly line a day in my life (unless you count doing dishes at home). It can't be a day at the beach -- but of course, that's why it's called "work." However, I'm not sure that there are any jobs, anywhere, that are stress-free. Whether you're running your own small-town soda fountain or leading the global marketing team at Boeing, there's going to be stress. Pressure to improve performance is ubiquitous. If you or your company doesn't feel that pressure, you've either got a cushy monopoly or you're going out of business and you just haven't realized it yet. 

More importantly, though, Mike Parker's contention that lean leads to a "narrowly defined, de-skilled job" without any satisfaction is wildly off the mark. As near as I can tell -- and again, I've not worked in a factory -- by providing workers the opportunity to make the work itself better ((even expecting it), employers are also giving people the chance to use all of their experience and their creativity -- in short, their minds. That's hardly a "de-skilled" job. Yes, there's repetitive scut work, but there's also a very rich component of intellectual challenge. And most significantly, that intellectual contibution is welcomed and rewarded by management.

I'm not sure what Mike Parker think a better system might be. Hanging around the plant, working at your own pace, not allowing line workers the opportunity to contribute to the design of their own work? That sure turned out well for GM's Fremont plant before NUUMI, right?

Fitness Accessories for the Stand Up Desk

By Kevin Meyer

Last week's post on the health effects of standing, and how sitting long periods can more than offset the benefits of even regular vigorous exercise, generated a large number of public comments and even larger number of private comments.  As regular readers know, I switched from a traditional executive seated desk to a stand up desk over a year ago after visiting some companies in Japan and have been (annoyingly?) pushing the concept ever since.  In addition to the physical benefits of standing it also forced me to organize and 5S my workspace, which has paid off in improved efficiency and peace of mind.

Several readers wrote to suggest "accessories" that would take the stand up desk concept to a whole new level, so just for grins on this fine Saturday I thought I'd compile some of them for you.

First there's the most common accessory: the treadmill.  It's a bit difficult to put a motorized treadmill under a stand up desk like mine, but some of the flat manual treadmills would work.  However manual treadmills take quite a bit of work to get started, and coupled with wearing dressier  shoes most days, I doubt I'd use it very much. 

Another option would be one of those small stair-steppers, often seen in the cheesy late night TV ads, although this particular one got pretty high reviews on Amazon.  Although it looked simple enough, my concern was that it would prevent me from turning from side to side while working at the desk.

One reader was passionate about a mini-elliptical machine, which also got very high reviews on Amazon.  I'll admit - it's looks pretty cool.  But something about it makes me fear I'd have some serious sweat stains after just a few minutes.  A sweaty, smelly office isn't exactly the image I want to convey as a company president.

Then there were some rather, uh, unique accessories.  Take the balance board, which is basically a skateboard sitting on top of a single roller.    The surfers and snowboarders among us, and there are a lot of us here on the California coast, would probably love it.  But just like the similar "rug runner" contraption, I bet our safety guys would have a cow.  I can just see the safety incident report - manager fell off balance board while working at desk.  That's sure to cause an OSHA audit!

Finally I did come across one accessory that just might work: the bosu.  My personal trainer enjoys killing me on this simple device, often while doing something crazy like holding weights and doing single leg squats, but I have to agree that it has greatly improved my balance and core strength.  I'd have to raise my desk a few more inches in order for it to be at an ergonomically correct height, but that's easy enough. 

I can turn and twist, move if I want, but all the while the small and large core muscles are being exercised to create balance.  I often find myself standing and balancing on top of my small 6" foot rest anyway.  It's not inherently trying to throw you off like the balance board or rug runner, so the safety guys should be a bit happier.

So that's the plan.  I know another guy in the office is set on a treadmill, and we'll see what the other stand up desk converts will do, if anything.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Manufacturing starts to come home.

by Dan Markovitz

Kevin and Bill have written eloquently and often about the hidden costs and perils of outsourcing manufacturing. Now Booz & Company has joined this (very small) chorus and published an article on the benefits of "backshoring." (It wouldn't be a legitimate consulting firm article unless there was some new jargon in the title.)

As Kevin has written about before, higher transportation costs, rising wages, and higher raw materials prices in China have eroded the obvious cost advantages that seduced companies overseas in the first place. Better control over intellectual property is another big factor companies are considering.

But now there's a whole raft of new reasons for the return of manufacturing to the US that have nothing to do with cost. In The Case For Backshoring, NCR is cited as a company that's coming home. For years, the company had outsourced production of its ATMs to Flextronics factories in Asia and Brazil.

But recently, NCR has rejected this strategy — at least to a degree. In 2009, the company decided to reclaim responsibility for making one of its most sophisticated lines of ATMs from Flextronics in Brazil and instead manufacture the machines in Columbus, Ga., not far from the NCR innovation center, where its new technology is on display. The reason: The company was concerned that outsourcing distanced its designers, engineers, IT experts, and customers from the manufacturing of the equipment, creating a set of silos that potentially hindered the company’s ability to turn out new models with new features fast enough to satisfy its client banks.

What's most interesting in this story is that simple manufacturing cost wasn't the primary driver in the decision to bring manufacturing back to the US. NCR sees domestic manufacturing as key to increasing sales as well. It enables them to make higher value-added products that their customers want.

The ATMs being made in Columbus now are NCR’s most sophisticated, capable of scanning checks and cash and eliminating the need for the customer to fill out a deposit slip. This feature has provided a welcome revenue lift for NCR — bringing in as much as US$50 million a year, significant for a company with $5 billion in annual sales. But these machines likely never would have been developed had large customers like JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America not persistently prodded NCR to move in that direction. That type of potentially profitable interaction between NCR and its customers is difficult, and launching desirable new products is slowed considerably, NCR’s Dorsman says, when the manufacturing facilities are offshore.

And in a painful echo of Boeing's ongoing Dreamliner nightmare,

NCR also found that having Flextronics manufacture high-end ATMs in Brazil — and relying on the vendor’s third-party suppliers, many of which NCR was unfamiliar with — left important internal constituencies in the dark, further slowing and complicating new product launches. Hardware and software engineers, sourcing executives, manufacturing and operations staff, and customer service managers all had trouble applying their expertise throughout the many remote handoffs between separate organizations.

It's a hopeful sign that a consulting company has published this article, as they were often the biggest cheerleaders for outsourcing in the first place. (Lego, anyone?) But now we're reading about Innovation. Time to market. Increased sales. Better products for customers. Gosh, what reason will they come up with next?

Standing on the Road

By Kevin Meyer

Many of us are traveling this holiday, and I for one struggle to remain productive.  A break from work is good, but falling behind isn't relaxing either.  For those of us that have embraced the stand up desk, Jon over at Gemba Panta Rei provides a road warrior productivity solution.

Yes, a portable stand up desk.  Perhaps not the most elegant, but definitely functional.

One of the commandments of kaizen is "Instead of making excuses why something can't be done, think of ways to make it possible." So think I did. Looking around the room for a way to boost up the desk about 30 cm, I began opening drawers and doors.

Et voila! A light, portable, folding ironing board gave me the perfect platform for my stand up desk. But not quite. I am not a tall person, but the ironing board was still too low, causing me to stoop. The search continued. Luckily there was a wicker laundry basket of sorts in another drawer, the perfect booster to fit between my laptop and ironing board.

Nice job Jon!  But as is typical with his posts, there's a more fundamental lesson:

The lesson is that we need to stop making excuses and will ourselves to improve. Then we need to think positively about how to overcome each obstacle. And we need to turn each small improvement idea into concrete action. First engage the heart, then the mind, then the hands. I write these words from a road warrior stand up desk built from these principles.

Absolutely.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Stand Up to Learn

By Kevin Meyer

After my recent post with my thoughts after trying a stand up desk for a year, several readers wrote in to tell me about how the same concept is being used in education.  Yes, even with little kids.  It turns out that standing is a great way to eliminate fidgeting, which thereby improves the learning experience.  Some of the resources I was pointed to include this article in The New York Times.

Unlike children almost everywhere, those in Ms. Brown’s class do not have to sit and be still. Quite the contrary, they may stand and fidget all class long if they want.  And they do.

The children in Ms. Brown’s class, and in some others at Marine Elementary School and additional schools nearby, are using a type of adjustable-height school desk, allowing pupils to stand while they work, that Ms. Brown designed with the help of a local ergonomic furniture company two years ago. The stand-up desk’s popularity with children and teachers spread by word of mouth from this small town to schools in Wisconsin, across the St. Croix River. Now orders for the desks are being filled for districts from North Carolina to California.

With multiple classrooms filled with stand-up desks, Marine Elementary finds itself at the leading edge of an idea that experts say continues to gain momentum in education: that furniture should be considered as seriously as instruction, particularly given the rise in childhood obesity and the decline in physical education and recess.

Dr. James A. Levine, a professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic, advocates what he calls “activity-permissive” classrooms, including stand-up desks.

So standing up not only improves focus and learning, it can help decrease obesity.  That could help more than just kids.  Studies to obtain quantitative data are in progress.

Researchers should soon know whether they can confirm those calorie-burning and scholastic benefits. Two studies under way at the University of Minnesota are using data collected from Ms. Brown’s classroom and others in Minnesota and Wisconsin that are using the new desks. The pupils being studied are monitored while using traditional desks as well, and the researchers are looking for differences in physical activity and academic achievement.

“We can’t say for sure that this has an impact on those two things, but we’re hypothesizing that they may,” said Beth A. Lewis of the School of Kinesiology, or movement science, at the University of Minnesota. “I think we’re so used to the traditional classroom it’s taken a while for people to start thinking outside the box. I think it’s just a matter of breaking the mold.”

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel had a similar article.

Fifth-grade reading teacher Pam Seekel thinks maybe she did kids a disservice over the years when she told them to sit still, to quit fidgeting so they could focus.

“As a teacher, I never sit down,” said Seekel, who works in the School District of Somerset, near the Minnesota border. “I started to think: Why should I make the kids sit down?”

This year, many of Seekel’s students are using new, adjustable-height stand-up desks produced by a Wisconsin company, as well as a big, tall table that lets students work in groups while standing and shifting their weight, leaning, stretching, wiggling and generally doing everything but sitting still.

Even in kindergarten.

Since then, one kindergarten class even has them — at times when the students would normally be seated at desk chairs, Hamborg said, you can see pint-sized kids sitting on pint-sized balls, many of them slightly but continuously bobbing up and down.

Demand is kicking up.

Stand-up desks in the workplace have been a niche industry for years, but Skiba said that many companies like Sunway are suddenly starting to get a lot more requests for them. Former Wisconsin Sen. William Proxmire was known for using a stand-up desk, and the new dean of Marquette University Law School, Joseph Kearney, has a mahogany stand-up workstation on order for his university office.

There are even a couple of YouTube videos describing their use in the classroom.

Although this next one is in German and shows an interesting accessory.

So what can this teach those of us in the adult world?  Learning is important to any organization.  Should training be done sitting down at a conference table or behind rows of desks in a training room?  Or standing up?

Examples of Excellence - Small Improvements Board

This week's Examples of Excellence brings us a "Small Improvements" board (err... window), where small improvement ideas are posted and small improvements that were executed are celebrated.  A bunch of small improvements creates real change.

Incompetent in Your Own Way

For the past several months we've had a regular Saturday feature called "Examples of Excellence" with photos and other inspiring examples.  I'm changing it a bit to "Examples of..." as there are lessons to be learned from the other side of the coin.  Plus in some cases in might be more fun to poke at examples of the pathetic.

Every few weeks I get a piece of spam from a firm called Integrity Solutions.  Yes, I'm openly outing them.  The first paragraph is always the same:

I am hoping to open up the lines communications with you. My colleague Jennie Rondell has been trying to reach you by phone and through prior emails to schedule a "diagnostic" conference call and I wanted to speak with you about the advantages of performance improvement solutions. I am hoping you might have some time available within the next couple of weeks.

What does this company do?

Integrity Solutions is a performance improvement company that focuses on enhancing the effectiveness of sales and service teams to achieve measurable business results such as increased sales, member loyalty, and talent retention.

But I have a couple issues.  First, they resort to spam as part of their own presumably "integrity-centered" sales and marketing efforts.  I don't know about you, but that's not the image I want for my own company.

Second, the grammar in the email is rather poor... "open up the lines communications..." ok...

Third, and more importantly: no phone number is given.  If I reply to the email it goes to their spam sending system.  A marketing campaign without a phone number.  Who would have thunk it?

Initial impressions, even in spam, go a long ways.

Examples of Excellence: Visible NCMR/Rejects

Examples of Excellence is a weekly feature showcasing examples of operational excellence.  If you have an example you'd like to share, please email it to us.

This week we show you the "nerve center" of one operation, where the five minute meeting is held.  Metrics, visual scheduling, and training matrices are visible.  But most notably is the area right smack in front of the visual scheduling board where rejected material or material awaiting disposition is held... thereby creating the desire for immediate action.

Examples of Excellence: Another 5S Shadowboard

Examples of Excellence is a weekly feature showcasing examples of operational excellence.  If you have an example you'd like to share, please email it to us.

This week we have another example of a great 5S shadowboard.