Another New Book Part 2

In this blog post, I will be continuing to present highlights from my newest book, Theory of Constraints, Lean, and Six Sigma Improvement Methodology: Making the Case for Integration, which was just released.  This series is taken from the Preface of this new book and I hope you enjoy this series.  In my first post in this series, I discussed some of my learnings gained throughout my career and in this post I will continue discussing my learnings.

I also discovered that excessive waste exists in every process and unless and until it is identified and removed, real process improvement will not happen.  But having said this, companies should not attack waste in every area within their systems.  The fact is, the focal point for waste reduction activities should be on that part of the system that is constraining throughput.  While there are many forms of waste the most obvious, and perhaps the two most debilitating types are the waste associated with waiting and over-producing.  Waiting and over-production both work to lengthen the overall cycle time.  Just like Six Sigma is at the heart of variation reduction and control, Lean is at the heart of waste reduction.

Another important learning is that how people and organizations are measured will significantly affect their behaviors.  For example, if a company measures operator efficiency and values high efficiency in every step in the operation, then predictably the organization can have very high levels of work-in-process inventory, low levels of quality, and a high incidence of late or missed shipments.  As a corollary to this, maximizing the efficiency of an operation that is limiting throughput is mandatory for maximizing on-time deliveries, revenue and profits!

Another conclusion I reached is that many companies don’t have a clue as to where to focus and leverage their improvement efforts.  While many companies have embraced both Lean or Six Sigma or a combination of the two, in doing so they have essentially attempted to solve world hunger by struggling to improve every operation.  When this occurs, the improvement efforts become prolonged and many times end in frustration. Don’t misunderstand, I am a huge proponent of both Lean and Six Sigma, but they are only one third of the improvement pie.

My final learning is that organizations that fail to involve their work-force, typically do not succeed in the long run.  Everyone within a company must know the goals of the company and how their individual and collective performance might be impacting these goals.  After all of these years, it is apparent to me that the shop floor workers have a vast array of information and ideas, both of which must be sought out, implemented, and harvested.

Unfortunately, many of the companies in the business world of today, don’t practice what I learned throughout my years.  Many companies still use unproductive performance metrics and outdated accounting systems.  Many companies don’t understand, recognize, and capitalize on the constraining operation that exists within their systems.  Add to this, many companies still don’t appreciate that waste and variability encumber their processes and that active involvement of the general workforce is required if they are to successfully identify and reduce it.

In my next post, I will continue to present details about my newest book, Theory of Constraints, Lean, and Six Sigma Improvement Methodology: Making the Case for Integration.

Bob Sproull