efficiency – From The Desk Of A Common Sensei

By volume 31 of this blog series which discusses the history of Toyota Industrial Equipment (TIEM) and as of recently, Toyota Material Handling, you might think that I have run out of content to write about. You would be wrong! This Common Sensei dug deeper into his archives and discovered even more to write about and content examples to convey.

In today’s volume, I have attached a copy of a simple one-page document that we used in the early TIEM days to help new associates better understand, in simple terms, the difference between “Other Factories” and “TIEM.” The message was targeted to convey essential differences between other factories and TIEM in the areas of:

Focus
Line/Staff Role
Data Collection
Source of Information/Action
Standard of Comparison
Role of Management

In a recent LinkedIn article entitled “Work Improvement before Equipment Improvement” (October 5, 2021 by Christoph Roser), the discussion of the importance of associate training and the changing of standards when needed, is an example that expresses the need for a shared focus on the above listed items. The journey from how “Other Factories” operate to how “TIEM” operated, is not an easy transition, but that journey has been and can be traveled with high success by the shifting of leadership mindsets to one that includes openness to associate inputs (you know, the people who actually do the job every day), and letting those inputs help shape improved standards and improved outcomes. Yes, the ”Role of Management” is still there to set direction, establish commitment, marshal resources, measure results, and encourage improvement, but do so through training and mutual/shared responsibilities. I was fortunate enough to be a part of TIEM form pre-startup and for approximately eight years of the buildup years. We used the approaches mentioned in the attached list to start the creation of a business that has turned out to be a world leader in the industrial equipment market. From these early beginnings, many businesses have benefitted from how Toyota culture and practices work. The organization does not have to be manufacturing (as in the example), The same concepts have helped banking, Wall Street trades processing, hospitals, multiple governmental organizations (State, Local, and Federal), where and when the leadership was/is open to diverse ways to improve the organization, they serve in. By this I mean when the leadership takes it on themselves to internalize the need and act on the solicitation and integration of ideas (at all levels) to better serve their customers, while improving the processes and quality, cost and profit benefits will follow.

If your organization is beginning the “LEAN Journey” or if you are having difficulty executing your Kanban ordering, perhaps this blog volume 20 will help you. These formulas for “standard/ordering” and “inter-process” Kanban were derived from work we did at Toyota Industrial Equipment (TIEM) during the early days of the 1990’s, but may also be relevant in your organization. As you might suspect, the standard Kanban calculation formula is generally meant for external ordering, and the inter-process Kanban calculation is generally used only when material is transferred (moved) internally. When reviewing these formulas to be used as guides, I have presented the suggested formulas and considerations. These formulas have been used in a variety of JIT and Kanban driven environments since I left Toyota (TIEM) and have helped create enormous value in the form of: shorter order lead times, shorter processing time, less inventory expense, less handling, less space, better quality, lower engineering costs, less overall waste, lower financial costs, etc. for those who choose to take deployment seriously. The use of Kanban must be executed with high discipline! Anything less is likely to result in errors and shortages of supply. The implementation of Kanban alone in an organization is not likely to produce the intended benefits mentioned above! This is where the culture of many organizations MUST be tackled at the same time (as discussed in our previous blogs). Every associate must understand the seriousness of their actions and the consequences of not performing their role in the overall process.

True value creation requires that every associate understand their role in executing to plan AND perform that role as intended!
Max Allway

As has been stated in other articles/blogs, this example of methods used or previously used at a Toyota operation are only meant as examples for consideration in your organization. Hopefully you will benefit from this and previous “ideas” we have included in our blog postings.