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164 Cha pte r T e n

Sustaining the Gains

Maintained and
standardized
Gains

With losses

Time
FIGURE 10-1 Sustaining the gains.

nothing is forever. This can be said many ways, but they all mean the same thing: If
progress is your desire, then you need to fix it right, and fix it only once.
One of the real enemies of sustaining the gains is the rapidly changing world we
live in, as outlined in the following list.
• First, to survive we must have a culture of continuous improvement, which
means we need to change internally.
• Second, if our own internal efforts of improving OEE and reducing costs with
those resultant changes are not enough, customers will in addition forever ramp
up the required standards of their suppliers.
• Last but not least is the issue of employee turnover—the most difficult type of
change of all.
When all three change factors—internal changes, external changes, and employee
changes—act on a business, I cannot give a single example of even one firm that is
excellent at sustaining the changes needed to prosper.
The first two enemies to sustaining the gains are not avoidable, so as a business we
must manage the personnel in such a way as to minimize turnover. The issue of
employee continuity is crucial to being able to sustain the gains. I know of several firms
that are adequate at sustaining the gains, and they have one major item in common: a
high level of employee continuity. In terms of numbers, they have developed a culture
that holds on to the top management for an average of 16 years, supervisors an average
of 12 years, and hands-on workers an average of seven years.
Now look at the example of the House of Lean, and you will find that “Sustaining
the Gains” is a foundational issue. In fact, it is more than a foundational issue, it is the
foundation of all foundational issues. It almost seems infantile to point out that we
must continue to do the good things that allowed us to progress; however, it must not
only be pointed out, there must be an entire system of activities in place to assure that
we do continue to do those things that allowed us to progress. I often find it almost
insulting to discuss this with top managers, but it is the most basic of problems. I can’t