|
|
|---|---|
Strategic Transformation Program
No one really understood what was going on. No one seriously and systematically solicited input from the floor. Many of the “improvements” could have been far better and a number of them are causing resentment. Few people in the organization learned anything. The experts floated teasers on additional tools that could be implemented, but no one understands them, whether they would work, or, for that matter, why they weren't put in place already. Future changes will wait for the experts to return (and will be accompanied by another hefty invoice). In the meantime backsliding starts, the numbers slip, the culture worsens, and people start tagging lean as just another program-of-the-month aimed at cutting costs. After six months, it dawns on management that their lean program just hasn’t had the impact they had hoped for. The ILS ApproachLean transformation cannot be done for or to organizations by external consultants; it must be done by the organization itself. The Institute for Lean Systems has developed a highly effective strategic transformation program to enable rapid, successful and sustained transformation to The Lean Way. Under this program, integrated education and strategic action builds a knowledgeable, capable, and motivated work force who, with our leadership and support, concurrently transform key operational value streams. We also provide follow-up assistance, including training systems and coaching, to insure that these value streams continue to improve and that transformation spreads across the entire organization.
Subsequently, we begin operations transformation. This begins with an Assessment Visit (typically 2 days) by members of our team to your facilities. During this visit we will tour your operations, define priority targets and model lines for lean transformation. A schedule and plan will be developed.
About a third of the way through the Certification, the focus of the transformation shifts from learning of basic tools to major strategic improvements at the system level. Your teams learn systematic approaches to restructuring value streams, eliminating waste, establishing flow, and putting lean operations management systems in place. They take a model line and apply what they have learned by creating a future state vision, built upon a careful process for obtaining input and buy-in from everyone on the floor (or in the office, as the case may be). They lead the implementation of that vision, getting everyone involved. A major Learning and Improvement Focused Transformation (LIFT) event is held focusing on overcoming major technical barriers to change. (Additional events would be scheduled as needed and in general we recommend holding two such events for a given cohort of students.)
Like the consulting approach above, machines are moved, workplaces are cleaned up, changeover times are shortened, cells are put in place, visual boards are installed, batch sizes are brought down, pull systems are made operational. Before and after numbers are generated, indicating major performance gains. We get results, results that generally pay for the training many times over. But there is something more than what consulting-based approaches can deliver. Your people did it themselves, they are totally bought in and they have built tremendous skills. They are proud that they have earned the ILS Lean Operational Excellence Certification, a credential that will advance them in their future careers. They have become teachers and coaches and have taken on the role of educating your entire workforce. They start working on second generation improvements … on their own! Other folks are asking to be involved in the next Operational Excellence Certification Program, not wanting to wait.
Through this process you have created a culture of internal entrepreneurs, a culture of lean thinkers. Meanwhile the key leaders, managers, and lean champions within your organization are deepening their understanding of lean through Lean Managerial Excellence Certification. They use this learning to put in place the systems needed to support effective lean operations… employee selection, HR, daily operations management, role-based management structures, strategic planning and policy deployment, transactional systems transformation, etc. We also provide additional assistance in helping you build internal Lean Training Systems for your front line personnel, for Executive Coaching to assist your key leaders in supporting the transformation process, for Internal Auditing Systems to insure you sustain your gains over time and keep moving forward, and for technical consulting in resolving complex issues that need to be addressed.
Typically, we recommend scheduling the transformation sessions one a month, allowing time for completion and documentation of project work between sessions. All employees who attend all sessions and complete their projects will receive an ILS Lean Operational Excellence Certification. ILS personnel work closely with your lean leaders throughout this process in selecting and managing projects, addressing technical issues, and improving their coaching and leadership skills.
|
Schedule & RegisterProgram Structure and ScheduleExecutive Excellence Training – Pre-planning Visit Transformation Session 1 Transformation Session 2 Transformation Session 3 Transformation Session 4 Transformation Session 5 Managerial Excellence Training |
|||
|
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Does this story sound familiar? The lean experts are called in. Based on their extensive experience, they size up your operations and zero in on the low hanging fruit. Current and future state maps are developed. An intense, demanding schedule for change is developed. Machines are moved, workplaces are cleaned up, changeover times are shortened, cells are put in place, visual boards are installed, batch sizes are brought down, pull systems are implemented. Before and after numbers are generated, indicating major performance gains. Results! A hefty invoice for services is generated. Things look a lot better, but… 
In launching this program it is recommended that the top leaders of your organization obtain the Lean Executive Excellence Diploma. Upon completion of this diploma, your executives will see lean as a total business system with far greater impact than a collection of improvement tools. They will recognize their critical role in establishing a value-creation focus in the business and will understand how to set the proper architecture for a lean organization and culture through proper structure of their operational, managerial, and financial systems. They will understand why tools-focused lean implementations lead to minor and short-lived gains, whereas genuine lean transformation leads to phenomenal, sustained, and increasing performance gains. This Diploma can be obtained through our public offerings of this program or through on-site delivery. The latter approach is popular. It enables the program to be customized to your needs and is generally far less expensive. It is often complemented by a program to develop a lean rollout strategy.
Next, transformation teams are formed and the education process begins through a special version of the ILS Lean Operational Excellence Certification. This is not an ordinary certification program. The classes are held on site. The curriculum is interactive, hands-on, engaging, and customized to the specific needs of your organization. As soon as a topic is learned in the classroom, it is taken to the shop floor and applied through facilitated action events. Lean tools are implemented by your teams through a series of coordinated and facilitated projects that are launched during the action events and carry on between subsequent certification sessions. These projects are carefully planned and mentored and everyone is held accountable. You reap immediate benefits, the learning is strong and your organization’s lean capabilities grow at a rapid pace. Enthusiasm for change starts to build. 
Throughout the process, the ILS educator/coaches are there. They see the low hanging fruit, the medium hanging fruit, and the high hanging fruit, but they know their job is to get everyone in your organization to see it, to understand it and to keep them aggressively moving forward in completing the strategic transformation plan that will harvest it. All along the way, whether as part of a formal certification session or part of the action sessions, they teach. On the shop floor, the teaching is “just-in-time”, pulled from their large repertoire of educational modules and exercises and customized to make the connection to the local circumstances and needs. 
To complete the process, we just do it again with new transformation teams and watch it spread across the entire enterprise. No back-sliding, just continued improvement in your people, your systems, and the value you provide your customers. Everyone is learning and a passion for personal development, growth, and discretionary contribution to improving the organization builds. Everyone wants to get their projects posted on your Wall of Fame, showing their newfound capabilities and their contributions to your organization’s success.
Everyone who has seen a true lean organization in action wants that for their own business. The transformation process may seem complex and foreboding. But it really is not that complicated or difficult. As our program illustrates, you just focus on building great people first. Then you tap in to their intrinsic desire to build great systems for building great products. The ILS Strategic Lean Transformation Program builds their lean knowledge and skills. It systematically and strategically empowers, guides, and facilitates their efforts to transform your operations. It also builds your internal lean leaders who put the needed organizational architecture in place. The ILS approach – education linked with strategic action – realizes genuine, sustainable lean transformation in a rapid manner and is a uniquely effective and affordable approach to genuine lean transformation.