Page 363 - The Toyota Way Fieldbook

338 THE TOYOTA WAY FIELDBOOK

performance indicators. For example, an inability to meet customer demand will
also be reflected in additional overtime, missed or late shipments, or increased
backlog. These corresponding indicators provide supporting evidence of the
validity of the problem and the merit of correcting it.
Toyota uses the corresponding indicators to support the process of focusing
on the most important issues. Problems are evaluated to determine which require
the most immediate attention using the following criteria:
◆ Importance. How important is the problem in the overall context of cus-
tomer satisfaction, departmental, or company goals? Safety problems are
automatically the highest-level importance.
◆ Urgency. What deadlines are dependent on the resolution of the problem,
and what is the consequence if the deadline is not met? The ability to meet
a change in a customer requirement deadline is considered a high urgency.
◆ Tendency. Is the problem getting worse, improving, or staying the same?
When comparing problems it is necessary to consider whether every prob-
lem should be addressed.
By showing the effect of a specific problem on customer service, quality, safe-
ty, or cost, it is possible to develop a compelling argument to correct this specific
problem versus other problems. This method of prioritization ensures that
resources are focused appropriately on the most important and valuable problems.
Following safety concerns, problems that negatively affect the customer
take precedence. This could include missed shipments, late shipments, and
quality problems. Cost issues can easily be compared to ensure that the larger
issues are being handled promptly. The Toyota Way necessitates building a
strong rationale for attacking any problem. If a strong rationale has not been
developed, the question “Why did you pick up this problem?” would surely be
asked. The format for showing the supporting indicators is the same as the
problem symptom model above.
A complete example of a problem statement is shown in Figure 14-11. Note
that the summary statements, along with the graphs, are sufficient to thoroughly
explain the problem situation and the corresponding issues. In this example the
pictures tell the story and brief explanatory statements are used. Here, the true
problem is the inability to meet the production requirement. As a result, overtime
is used to compensate for the problem (increasing cost), and customer service is
also declining. The problem with its supporting evidence allows us to “size up”
this problem and determine the benefit if it is solved (and also determine a sen-
sible investment to make in the solution that will provide a good return on the
investment of time and expense).
Now that the problem and the effect of the problem on other performance
indicators is thoroughly understood and a decision is made to correct the sit-
uation, it’s time to develop a deeper understanding of the causes of the
problem.