The Journey to Excellence: Successfully Applying Lean Thinking in Your Business

By James Lewis

Readers of The Journey to Excellence will empathize with the plight of Allison Manufacturing Services (AMS), a small manufacturer struggling to survive global competition and specialization to the point where it is trying to be everything to everyone. Its board of directors is disheartened with the downward spiral of profits, continuing loss of market share, and lackluster performance of flavor of the month initiatives. Looking for a way to save the company, the board hires Bill Watts, a Lean Business Philosophy consultant, as its new executive vice president. But the story just begins here. Knowing that a successful Lean journey requires a culture shift that must begin at the top, Bill must rally the support of the board members who are, of course, skeptical as to what Lean thinking will bring to the bottom line. But the change in culture required to make the Lean implementation successful is only the beginning. The Journey to Excellence will take you through the first three-years of the Lean transformation at AMS. But read the story for yourself, it doesn't end there either.

• Language: English
• Publisher: James Lewis
• Release date: Mar 2, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311599322

James Lewis

JAMES W. LEWIS is a novelist and freelance writer published in several books that include Zane’s Caramel Flava, Chicken Soup for the Soul (two series), Gumbo for the Soul, Truth Be Told: Tales of Life, Love and Drama and Don’t Forget your Pepper Spray. Magazine credits include 3AM Magazine, Eyeshot, Dare Magazine, Naptural Roots Magazine, Lucrezia Magazine, Circle Magazine, Rundu Bedtime Stories and an upcoming article in the fitness magazine AFAA. His debut novel SELLOUT will launch in July 2010. After spending twenty years in the Navy, James retired from active duty and now moonlights as a personal trainer while completing his studies in Kinesiology. In addition to writing, he loves to DJ and has a collection of over 300 vinyl records. He also does extensive volunteer work at a local veterans assistance center. James hopes to resume his role as a Big Brother in the Big Brothers & Big Sisters program soon.

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The Journey to Excellence - Successfully Applying Lean Thinking in Your Business

Previously titled Story of a Lean Journey

By Jim Lewis

Distributed by Smashwords

© 2015 Lewis.

Smashwords Edition, License Note

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Cover by Jason Blackburn

Previously published under ISBN 13:978-087263-855-6

Contact the Author at [e-mail]

Table of Contents

Acknowledgement

Introduction

Chapter One - Embarking on the Journey

Chapter Two - Setting the Stage

Chapter Three - Defining Performance Measurements

Chapter Four - Getting the Ball Rolling

Chapter Five - Mapping a Course of Action

Chapter Six - Planning the Future

Chapter Seven - Lean is Not a Piece of Cake

Chapter Eight - Dealing with a Mixed Deck

Chapter Nine - Measuring Success

Chapter Ten - Engaging the Supply Chain

Chapter Eleven - Keys to Success

Recommended Reading

About the Author

Sample Reading - A Testament to Lean - Cases for Change

Acknowledgement

I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the assistance of family and friends in compiling this book. My wife is a self-taught English guru so she made sure the material was grammatically correct. As an Eighth-Grade English teacher, my sister ensured sentence structure and punctuation was in good order.

Former business colleagues and industry executives read and critiqued each chapter, and I must say they were very complimentary of how the material was organized and presented. Special thanks go to John Miles, the Vice President of an automotive parts manufacturing company; Carl Swan, former CEO of a leading furniture manufacturing company; Jerry Kilpatrick, industry consultant and instructor for the MBA program at the University of Phoenix; and Tony De La Rosa, industry manufacturing engineer. Their critique helped define the flow and sequence of the presentation of the material.

How I attained the ability to communicate thoughts and ideas in written form escapes me. Maybe it was an outgrowth of all of the writing I had to do in college. Whatever the motivation, I recognize that my passion and talent for writing are gifts from God, and not to acknowledge His blessings would be self-indulgent. Thank you, Lord, for providing the wisdom, patience, and perseverance to complete this project.

Introduction

I had intended to write this book for a generic audience without association to a specific industry. After the first couple of chapters I realized that wouldn’t be possible because it would be more difficult for a reader to relate to the manufacture of fictitious widgets than to more familiar processes, even if those processes were not directly related to their industry. Why did I choose metal fabrication? My consulting, engineering, and operations management experience has covered a broad spectrum of industries including automotive; metal, wood and upholstered furniture; plastics; corrugated packaging; foundry; apparel; and printed circuit boards. In all those industries, I’ve found that most manufacturing people have been exposed to metal fabrication at some point in their academic or industry experience so I felt that the examples and terminology would be familiar.

As for the examples cited, they’ve been included to illustrate the use of various Lean tools only and are not intended to represent actual processes that may be encountered at any particular company. As you probably know, if you’re currently on the Lean journey, implementing the various tools is a phased process so I’ve covered the tools that are likely to be utilized by most companies during the transition to Lean. Although Kanban is an important tool, it isn’t as widely used as other tools so I don’t go into great detail on how to implement it. There are a couple of tools of particular importance for you to investigate beyond this book. They are Value Stream Mapping and Mixed Model Value Stream Mapping. Please refer to the reference section for recommended reading on all of the tools of Lean.

In all of the reading I’ve done regarding Lean, I’ve not found a book quite like this. Most books are so academic in their approach to teaching the Lean philosophy that it’s hard to visualize how each tool can apply to the varied situations that manager’s regularly encounter. Another consideration that most authors overlook is that a successful Lean journey requires a culture shift that’s difficult to express in academic terms. A Journey to Excellence is a blending of the necessary culture shift and the best academic practices from a variety of my consulting projects so you can be assured that the philosophy does work.

The story is a flashback to the beginning of the Lean journey at Allison Manufacturing Services, Inc. Charts and other data are intentionally dated to reflect the evolutionary process of change over first three years of the Lean journey at Allison. I hope you’ll find reading this practical approach to Lean an enjoyable and enlightening experience.

Please feel free to pass along your comments and suggestions so I can incorporate them in my next book. You can contact me at [e-mail].

I wish you great success in your Journey to Excellence.

Chapter One - Embarking on the Journey

"If you have the will to win, you have achieved half your success;

if you don’t, you have achieved half your failure."

David Ambrose

The final presentation of the evening is the annual Award for Excellence in Manufacturing. This award is presented to the company that exhibits unrelenting dedication and tenacity in implementing the Lean Business Philosophy. To be considered for this award, the company must be nominated by members of its own staff, and then the nomination has to be endorsed by at least twenty-percent of its suppliers and customers. The recipient of this year’s award has exhibited remarkable growth in an industry where domestic manufacturing is slowly succumbing to the pressures of off-shore competition. It has been a long journey for this company…(the moderator's words trail off as Bill's mind drifts back to the beginning of their journey).

***

Three Years Earlier-

Even though it has been a long journey, it’s turned out to be far more rewarding than any of us anticipated. I remember when I was contacted to lead the cultural and physical transition to the World-Class status we have now achieved. It was just over three years ago when, John, the CEO and Chairman of the Board of Allison Manufacturing Services, Inc. (AMS), and I had our first conversation regarding a genuine change in manufacturing philosophy.

I’m sorry to be calling so early, Bill, but the Board met last night to plan a new course for AMS and I don’t want to waste any time getting things underway, he said.

It must have been a high-energy session because John sure was fired up.

Oh, don’t worry about the time, John, was the only response that came to mind as I hastily rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and tried not to sound like a man who was just awakened from a peaceful rest. I’ve been up for a while. It was more like a minute rather than a while, but I didn’t want to stifle John’s enthusiasm with boring details.

Well, I’m glad to hear that, John said. I would like to meet you for breakfast and brief you on our meeting if you don’t have another engagement.

As a matter of fact, I just returned from a consulting project, so the timing is good. I don’t have any other obligations for the next few days. Why don’t we meet at the diner at 8th and Pine at 7:30?

That’ll work fine for me, Bill. I’ll see you there.

John and I have been friends since our college days. Since I had consulted for AMS on a few occasions I was familiar with the business. Maybe it was the abrupt awakening or the seriousness of John’s voice that made my mind run a mile a minute trying to figure out what could be so urgent, but he sure had me curious. I hoped the Board hadn’t decided to follow the path of some of the competition by moving operations out of the country. There had been some discussions about that option from time to time. On a number of occasions I had tried to convince John and the Board to allow me to develop a long-term continuous improvement program to ensure that AMS could maintain a competitive advantage, and a healthy market share. Although John had confidence in my proposal, Board members were hesitant to pursue the changes I recommended.

***

I arrived at the diner early and got us a table near the back. John hadn’t explained what we would discuss, but I assumed he might want some privacy. John walked in, glanced around the room, spotted me and headed right for the table without even greeting the hostess.

He greeted me with one of the firmest handshakes I’ve had since my father darn near shut off the blood supply at the news that he was a grandfather. Hello, Bill, I’m sure glad you were available to meet me this morning, he said in a rush.

It’s nice to see you, too, John. The wife and kids are fine. Thanks for asking, I said rather jokingly.

I’m sorry, Bill. I’m just excited about the outcome of last night’s Board meeting and I forgot my manners. How are Sue and the boys?

As I said, the wife and boys are fine. Bill, Jr. is doing well in college and Brian will be graduating from high school in a few days. I hope Mary and the girls are doing well also.

Yes, everyone is doing fine. Listen, let’s come back to the family updates after I fill you in on the latest at AMS, he said in a hushed tone, like a spy sharing a secret with another agent.

The waitress came to take our order before we could get further into a conversation. We ordered the special, scrambled with plenty of hot coffee.

Bill, do you remember the first time you came to talk to us about implementing Lean at AMS? He went on without waiting for a response, Your proposal fell on deaf ears because the majority of the Board members were comfortable with our market position, and overseas competition wasn’t able to meet the changes in customer demand or provide the special kinds of service that we had been successful in achieving. Do you also remember how you told me privately that the only way Lean could get the Board’s endorsement would be if a real or imagined crisis existed?

Yes, John, I recall that proposal and subsequent conversation well, I said with a questioning tone.

I thought to myself about some of the negative changes I had noted through some of my consulting work at AMS. I had the impression the belt had begun to tighten and production managers were becoming frustrated trying to meet increasing variety in demand with smaller and smaller staffs. To remain competitive, AMS increased the mix of product offerings to the point where they were considered a ‘high-mix, low-volume’ producer of parts for a variety of other manufacturers.

AMS has been a supplier to consumer-goods manufacturers for over thirty years. Their claim-to-fame has been their ability to get products to market faster than the competition by providing engineering expertise to companies that lack that resource. Sometimes they’re still engineering a product right through pilot build and into production. The employees understood that trait about AMS management and endeavored to ensure the company continued to grow and prosper in their niche market, no matter how much extra effort it required.

Last night the Board unanimously agreed that a crisis has landed square in our lap, and we’ll have to make some dramatic changes, not only to maintain market share, but to maintain market presence.

Now he had my full attention. I didn’t even realize the waitress had placed a meal in front of me, and was impatiently waiting for a response whether there was anything else we would like.

No, I guess we’re all set, I said to her, still absorbed in the message John had just dropped on me. I saw this coming, I said to John, but I didn’t think it would arrive so soon or so abruptly. Are the Board members making some kind of a knee-jerk response to a short-term situation, or are they genuinely looking for long-term gain?

This is genuine, John responded. I have been promoting your proposal behind the scenes for a few months, and the other Board members are finally seeing that adopting the Lean philosophy is the only real course of action we have. We’re not going to take our business off-shore, he adamantly proclaimed.

I appreciate your enthusiasm, John, but Lean is not intended to be a last resort measure for saving a business. Lean is not a quick-fix program. It’s a journey that, depending on how much support there is from the top, can take some time to complete, I said earnestly.

You’re right, Bill, I didn’t mean to make it sound like AMS is in such a desperate situation, but it certainly is uncomfortable, and that’s why the Board members asked me to talk to you.

Okay, how can I be of assistance?

I’m glad you’re sitting down, he started. The Board would like you to consider joining AMS as Executive Vice President. You’ll report directly to me, and will have full authority in the implementation of Lean.

Hold on, John, not so fast. I have a business of my own to run, with customers depending on me to help them be successful, too. I can’t just drop everything because the Board has decided to take up the mantle of change.

You’re right, Bill. I shouldn’t have been so presumptuous. I don’t expect you to drop everything to join AMS, but I hope we can develop some kind of win/win situation.

Another concern that comes to mind is that having full authority may not be enough to effect the culture change necessary for a successful Lean journey. Before I make a decision, I want to meet with the full Board. I have to be certain they understand the commitment required of them to support the transition.

I thought you might feel that way so I set up a meeting of the Board for 9am Monday, John said with a big grin. Now, let’s eat this breakfast. I’ve really worked up an appetite.

The waitress came with a fresh pot of coffee, and we spent the next hour talking about family, my recent projects, golf, and everything except AMS. That could wait until Monday.

***

When I got back home, I told Sue all about the meeting and the offer John had extended. Even though Sue doesn’t have a manufacturing or management background, she has been around me long enough to know that once a company starts down the road toward Lean, I won’t allow them to even think about turning back. She also knows a bit about AMS, which makes her somewhat apprehensive about me accepting the offer.

Bill, Sue said quizzically, after I laid out the details as I knew them to be, do the Board members know about the commitment that is required? Do they understand how long the transition will take or how many resources will be needed to be successful? Do they also understand what they are asking you to give up?

I doubt they have a full understanding of the required commitment, I replied. "I am meeting with the full Board on Monday morning to get an understanding of their perception of what they