The Eight Major Plant Losses
- Shutdown
- Production adjustment
- Equipment failure
- Process failure
- Normal production loss
- Abnormal production loss
- Quality defects
- Reprocessing
Business may be slow now but before you know it you’ll be jammed again. Want to get more done with the folks you have? Things to consider:
Guest author Carmen Brickner of CLEARbrick, Inc.
©CLEARbrick, Inc. Carmen Brickner is an expert in culture change, specializing in organizations undertaking continuous improvement and team-based approaches.
Guest author Carmen Brickner of CLEARbrick, Inc.
“Managing change” is an oxymoron. And anything with ‘moron’ in it can’t be good for the bottom line! We can’t manage change because we can’t anticipate and control all the variables that are yet to present themselves. And we can’t make people change because each of us has the inalienable right to decide if and when and how we will react to any situation. But we do know why people do or do not choose to change. We can help them OPT for change by providing Outcome, Path and Tracking. OUTCOME People need to know where they are going if you expect them to get there. The difficulty many managers have when implementing a culture change such as Lean or Six Sigma, is that they don’t really know exactly what the outcome will be. Disciplines of engineering and accounting neither attract nor reward people who are comfortable with approximations. Yet there are principles, models and resources to help you imagine what your organization’s desired future will embody. Most managers share just the results such as bottom line or delivery impacts. That is great, but too high level and does not reduce the fear of the personal impact on them. In order to create an image in which people can see themselves participating, you have to describe what it will actually look like, how you will all work together, how your own job will change along with theirs, and why it is important. PATH Once the destination has been defined, you need to build the path for them to get there. This is the tactical level of change. Eisenhower said “Plans are nothing; planning is everything.” Plans can be helpful, but they must be flexible. I agree that the real power is in the process of planning. We refine our vision, we are forced to come up with answers for questions we had overlooked, and we have to face contingencies and risks. You need to define:
TRACKING Just as an airplane or ship constantly measures its position against plan to make small continuous adjustments, you need to have metrics and milestones to ensure desired progress and timely interventions. The key metrics for change are all easily tracked in simple logs. Again, I use an acronym to aid memory – KITE:
Tracking progress allows you to provide feedback, coaching, training, and plan changes. The real payoff, however, comes when this information is used by future teams or if it helps you identify areas and leadership that are rich in talent or resistant to change. It is hard to succeed if you don’t know the rules of the game. They feel unsafe, lack trust in you and become resentful if they think you will be evaluating their performance on some unspoken and fuzzy target. They feel sandbagged! If you let people know what a successful OUTCOME will look like, the PATH to get there and support them by TRACKING their progress and sharing constructive feedback, you greatly increase the chances of achieving change.
Well its getting to be that time of year again… What did I promise to deliver this year, what do we need to do next year?
The annual operating plan sometimes is developed and displayed using the X-Matrix. Establish the results of goals for next year, take the strategies and tie them to tactics, make sure the tactics can be measured (targets) and have individuals assigned ownership of tactics and targets. Little gets done without marching orders, i.e. a Charter. The basic document of the hoshin process is the team charter. The A3 format connects the targets (goals) to the tactics and provides another level of critical thinking about execution. The team charter is a contact between the company to provide support and resources and the team and team members to do the hard work of problem solving, applying the scientific method, and running experiments on the management operating system. What gets measured gets better, and so we set plans and track key performance indicators. Ready to make your hoshin for next year?
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