Page 42 - How To Implement Lean Manufacturing

Lean Manufacturing and the Toyota Pr oduction System 23

Suddenly, much of what a typical plant does is now questioned if this concept is
truly employed. Of course, producing defective units is not a value-added activity, but
consider packaging and transportation, for example. We go through serious design
efforts to develop good packaging so we can transport the parts of an automobile, for
example, to the final assembly plant. We utilize design tools such as Failure Mode Effect
Analyses (FMEA) in the design of the packaging to assure we have no losses during
transportation, and that the end packaging is suitable for our customer. Now Ohno calls
not only the packaging we so carefully designed waste, but the transportation costs as
well. The customer does not care that the steel came from Brazil. He does not care that
the steel was packaged and transported to Mexico, where it was stamped into a wiper
blade holder and then packaged and sent to Detroit to be assembled into a wiper blade
assembly so it could be packaged and transported to the automobile assembly plant in
Tennessee, where it could be installed on a car, which was then prepped and trans-
ported to Seattle, Washington for sale to some customer.
The customer does not care that this wiper blade traveled 25,000 miles and went
through four packagings and four unpackagings, hundreds of handlings, and four tiers
of suppliers with all the associated costs, before it was even attached to his car. His
primary concern is that he gets good value for his expenditure.
This understanding and application of value is truly revolutionary.
Another way to look at this concept is by comparing it to what is called the Golden
Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” This is great advice and
quite frankly a real stretch for me and others to aspire to. It requires that you think care-
fully about a situation, and think about exactly what you would like them to do to you.
The question is, “How would you like them to act upon you?”—and then proceed to do
the same with them. This level of introspection and detachment is extremely difficult,
yet when followed it will lead to a higher level of awareness and a higher moral aware-
ness as well. It is then hoped that this awareness will lead one to a more appropriate
action on their part.
But I maintain that there is a flaw in this logic. It requires that you act on them as you
would like to be acted upon. Well, what about their wishes? Sometimes these things can be
reduced to simplicity for understanding. Apply this to something simple, such as buying
a present for someone. If you follow this maxim, you will end up getting them what you
want. Well, maybe that would be a good gift, but should we not get people what they
want? I think so. And that is what makes getting gifts so difficult at times: It requires a
high level of empathy—a quantity that is in increasingly shorter supply in our narcis-
sistic world. Therefore, I believe the Golden Rule should instead be, “Do unto others as
they would wish to have done unto themselves.” Then they get what they want, not
what you want.
This is what Ohno did, he put himself in the shoes of the customer and looked at
value. Well, you might argue that this is what most typical plants do. On this point,
I doubt this is the case, however. Plants look first to survive and second to prosper
financially. Concepts to the contrary make for good discussions, but in the end if the
place makes money, it stays in business. If it does not, it disappears. Not too compli-
cated. So the typical plant, while looking at production rates, cost, and quality—and
seemingly looking to the customer—are actually only looking internally, in order to
survive and prosper.
Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with surviving and prospering. After
all, the customer counts on and needs the product; the people need the jobs created by