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What Is the Perspective of This Book? 7

be focused on one topic, which should be “How do we modify the culture so it not only
embraces change but encourages it as well?” The logic employed is the following:
• If we want to survive, we must improve.
• If we want to improve, we must change.
• If we want to change, we need a culture that not only:
• Accepts change, but…
• Embraces and encourages change as well.
As far as making improvements in the business, that shift of paradigms is the single
most powerful cultural shift I can think of. If this paradigm shift is achieved, it will
accelerate all progress beyond your most optimistic goals.

This Book Has a “How to” Perspective
This topic of “How To” is something that many will advise you to avoid. They say flow-
ery things like “The TPS is a roadmap, not a prescription,” or “Lean is a journey in
which everyone must find their own way.” Well, flowery those phrases are; helpful they
are not. Even if it is an accurate metaphor, every roadmap has a starting place and a
destination even if there are many routes to your destination. I just find that many peo-
ple are afraid to generalize, even when generalization is helpful. I wonder if they do not
use this as an excuse, maybe because they do not really deeply understand the concept
and the applications of Lean Manufacturing well enough. At any rate, I will describe
several “How To” prescriptive methods coupled with an occasional word of caution
that should easily carry your effort through the first three years of implementation.

The First Prescription—Four Strategies to Become Lean
The first prescription is “How to apply the four strategies to become Lean.” It is a pro-
cess that can be used for kaizen, a process of continual improvement. The prescription
can be used for point kaizen—that is, some local situation such as might be used to make
a work station or a cell leaner. Or this prescription can be used in value stream kaizen
(sometimes called flow kaizen), where an entire value stream is addressed. This covers
the diagnostic tools used and how they can assist you in your efforts to eliminate the
seven wastes in the production process. Once the four strategies have been addressed,
there is a large “to-do” list of kaizen activities designed to make your system Lean. This
prescription is described in detail in Chap. 7, and the application of this prescription is
further clarified in three case studies in Chap. 16.

The Second Prescription—How to Implement Lean… The Prescription
for the Lean Project
The second prescription addresses how to take all the information and resources and
apply them in a project format so your Lean design
will become a reality. This prescription starts with a
complex evaluation of the overall manufacturing Point of Clarity This book
system, goes into the specifics of the value stream is about the application of Lean
improvements and turns it all into an action plan. principles.
In fact, this prescription is more than an action plan.