Introduction

This programme is designed to develop your people as Lean Leaders, capable of leading and sustaining lean interventions throughout your organisation, including the supply chain. It has been developed in response to Lean guru Dan Jones' observation that many lean interventions fail to deliver results to the bottom-line, which means both effort and scarce resources are wasted in the very programmes designed to address waste.
This reflects a lack of focus for many Lean interventions, an inability to prioritise the sheer numbers of Lean projects many companies are trying to complete, and the fact that for many such projects, the results tend to wither and die after project completion.

Many practitioners of Lean recognise these problems and the impact they have. Many organisations are frustrated with the level of investment in both time and money in Lean but with little or no return on that investment. This is not to say that localised areas do not see some level of improvement, they do; but nevertheless the organisation as a whole does not gain from the level of activity. Consequently Lean can, and sometimes does, fall into disrepute. The other side of this same coin is that those larger organisations that have invested heavily into Lean have little or no choice but to continue, but they too are aware of the dangers they are taking. But it does not have to be like this.

So what should be happening?

This is where we see the combination of TOC and Lean having the greatest impact. This also has implications for the way in which DMAIC is implemented throughout an organisation.

The wheel above outlines the way in which we see Lean and TOC coming together, but first, a Lean refresher:

Lean Principles

We are all familiar with the key principles of Lean, but it does no harm to restate them -

1. Make value flow
2. Specify value from the perspective of the customer
3. Identify the value stream
4. Always pull from customer demand/market
5. Seek perfection, zero defect as a given
6. Address waste, but first define waste

So from the perspective of the Lean Leaders programme these remain as necessary conditions for any Lean intervention. Interventions that do not reflect the importance of the key principles have no place as Lean interventions. Part of our programme is to enhance these principles rather than to teach them from scratch, such that anyone with an understanding of what Lean is trying to achieve can apply lean successfully.
But in order to truly gain advantage from applying Lean there has to be a better way of knowing where and when to use it, and to know which tools will have the greatest impact on the top measures of the organisation. It is to address this that we turn to the Theory of Constraints toolset as contained under the TOC-Lean banner.

The TOC-Lean Focusing Steps

Developed from the ground-breaking work of Dr Eli Goldratt and refined by him and many others since then, the Five Focusing Steps are a powerful way of understanding just what is holding an organisation back. First outlined in the best-selling book The Goal, these five steps have been used in all manner of flow environments:

1. identify the constraint
2. exploit the constraint
3. subordinate everything to the performance of the constraint
4. elevate the constraint
5. once the constraint has been dealt with, go back to step one and address the next constraint in the system

The Lean Leaders Programme is aimed at both the senior team and shop floor lean practitioners. For the senior team, our programme gives the managers and directors of the business the strategic understanding and leadership skills required to drive a successful TOC-Lean intervention. For Lean practitioners, the programme will develop their skills in leading Lean events and ensure that they always address the right issues concerning flow within the organisation.

The Lean Leaders Programme focuses on four types of flow: Operations, Supply Chain, Project & Programme Management and New Product Development. Your Programme would concentrate on the area or areas most applicable to your particular flow environment.

~ Operations

This might be in a traditional manufacturing environment, or perhaps Maintain and Repair organisations (MRO), or perhaps a service industry such as a hospital. The key indicator here is that flow is taking place, that there are a number of dependent events taking place in the production of the product, the repair of the product or the provision of the service. Leading Lean interventions in this field needs a clear understanding of how to apply the Five Focusing Steps.

Our programme will take your lean leaders through a deeper understanding of flow using the combination of Lean and TOC tools and knowledge. They will learn how to prioritise Lean interventions in such a way that they always have a direct impact on the financial measurements and the key delivery measures of lead time and due date performance. They will be able to lead Lean interventions, and also develop mechanisms to ensure that the results gained are not lost over time, in other words the intervention is sustainable.

~ Supply Chain

This focuses on the observation that making the product takes a short time, ordering the product takes a short time, even in most cases shipping the product takes a short time, so how come lead times for deliveries in many supply chains are measured in weeks if not months? Using the combination of TOC and Lean in the management of any supply chain makes great sense; being able to lead such improvement is often vital in companies who rely on national and international suppliers, hence the importance of developing Lean Leaders in this aspect of flow. So as with Operations your people will follow a similar path with similar outcomes.

This is where the importance of delivering the project, or projects within programme, on time, in full, to budget, and with zero defect as a given is uppermost – sounds easy really! In fact we have experienced many clients who have needed to implement Lean tools into the project arena yet suffer from most if not all the same problems and issues as those in Operations or Supply Chain. Again the same approach is used, based around the Five Focusing Steps and the goal is to develop Lean Leaders in the project environment who can both lead projects and at the same time know how to make the best use of scarce resources. The development of Lean Leaders in this area comprises much the same path as above, encompassing an understanding of the systemic nature of projects, the need for integration across many different resources and departments, and finally the ability to sustain improvements into the future.

This is a specific application under project management yet is different in one important aspect, the need for integrating the project element with the manufacturing element. Many new products are brought through the NPD environment quite quickly, but then fail when it comes to manufacture, final integration or test. Once more the problems of scarce resources have a dramatic effect on the ability of the product development team to deliver, and yet at the same time many Lean projects appear to cut into departments and resources already under severe pressure. We are back to the need to understand the wider implications of the system which lies at the heart of any TOC-Lean understanding.

There are many applications under the Lean banner. Some of the most powerful include the following: 5S; TPM; SMED; Analysis tools such as 5 Whys and much more. The Lean Leaders Programme does not set out to teach these tools, although we can do so if required. It is assumed that the people attending the programme will already be engaged in the implementation of lean and may even be leading lean interventions. We can say however that we will enhance their current knowledge of a range of Lean tools and techniques.

Herein lies the greatest value of this programme: developing Lean Leaders - people who may, as noted above, already have a range of lean tools and techniques with which they are familiar, but who need to develop their ability to both lead and sustain Lean interventions throughout their organisation. They may need some updating in their knowledge of Lean tools, but this is not the primary focus of the Lean Leaders Programme.

We focus on enabling your people to lead and encourage Lean interventions within their organisation, and perhaps into the supply chain. We define an intervention as a change programme that addresses a source of blockage in the flow from the start to the end user. A blockage is defined in terms of the constraint methodology taught as part of the programme itself. Any intervention must successfully overcome the blockage, and be maintained in order to prevent performance slipping back to the previous level. Hence the need to be able to both lead and sustain interventions.

The Lean Leader must be capable of prioritising the bank of Lean projects waiting for attention; there will be those that are deemed urgent and there will be those that are important and the Lean Leader must be able to see the difference between the two. He or she must be able to guide and lead the efforts of other members of the team, and those affected by either the problem or the Lean solution, or indeed both. This is about recognising the role of team dynamics and ensuring that there is a buy-in to the Lean intervention from all parties. In many cases the use of A3 story boards will form the background to both determining progress and reporting outcomes.

The ability of the Lean Leaders to do just that – lead, is determined by the outcomes. There must be an improvement to the bottom-line from any Lean intervention, and indeed any DMAIC intervention as well. They must also be able to recognise others within the organisation who can be developed for this role and help them to become the Lean Leaders for the future.

Coaching and Developing the Lean Leaders

A key part of any development programme for leadership is in the on-going coaching. This is where direction can be given, gaps in knowledge identified and addressed, new knowledge shared and the internal ability to create new Lean Leaders enhanced. A core part of our approach is to spend time on-site to ensure progress is being made in terms of both the intervention itself and the leadership capability of each participant of the programme.

The Lean Leadership Mind Map

Our Lean Leaders Programme is the only UK Lean Leader course to combine both Lean and TOC. The Programme spreads over three months and is a combination of training, coaching and on-going internal support. We would expect to train your Lean Leaders in small groups, and always with internal projects for them to use as the training vehicle. In other words there should be a bottom-line result from the programme itself.

The training element of the Programme will run either in-house or at our training centre in Melton Mowbray for one day per week over five weeks. It will involve presentations, computer simulations, video case studies and practical workshops covering:

1. Understanding the critical link between Lean interventions and the goals of the business
2. Creating fast flow within the manufacturing environment
3. The importance of understanding what prevents fast flow throughout the organisation and the role of the weakest link as the key focal point for any improvement
4. The correct use of measures in a flow environment
5. The application of the TOC Five Focusing Steps
6. Learning how to lead and sustain Lean interventions
7. Why TOC-Lean must be implemented in an holistic manner

The second part of the Programme comprises 5 days of in-company support and coaching to consolidate the training, assist with Lean interventions and ensure that the skills learned are themselves sustainable.

The fee for the full 10 days is £8,000 per person, excluding VAT and expenses.

Benefits

Those attending will learn:

• How to develop and foster the right culture for a TOC-Lean organisation
• The business requirements for TOC-Lean implementation
• Where to focus TOC-Lean interventions for the greatest bottom-line impact
• How to lead and sustain change within the organisation in a win-win manner
• How to develop a TOC-Lean strategy model for the organisation
• How to calculate the potential business-wide benefits of a TOC-Lean strategy
• The critical success factors in TOC-Lean implementation projects and how to avoid the common reasons for Lean intervention failure

There is also a Lean Leaders Advanced Programme for those seeking to develop the internal capability to train and develop others within the organisation and make the whole process self-sustaining. This is an intensive training programme, again with post-training support and is undertaken over three months. The training element takes twelve days with a further ten days' support and coaching. Candidates must have attended the Lean Leaders Programme and led at least two major interventions within the organisation as a pre-requisite for this advanced course.

If you are interested in the Lean Leaders Programme or would like further information, please contact us by telephone or e-mail:

TEL: 01664 502860
E-MAIL: tedh@toc-lean.com

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