The Lean Management Systems Handbook

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Lean Management Systems

You have to manage a system. e system doesn’t manage itself.

W. Edwards Deming

When a good person meets a bad system, the bad system always wins.

Frank Voehl

IN A NUTSHELL

e purpose of a Lean management system is to deploy and sustain a Lean

production or fulllment system because without a Lean management

system.

1

Lean implementation oen falters, sometimes fails, and virtually

never lives up to its long-run promises. e one universal element in a

successful Lean management system is leadership. Leaders are the driv-

ing force that can motivate employees at all levels to achieve and sustain

a Lean management system. is applies no matter what the actual posi-

tion is called, whether a leader who is responsible for a team or depart-

ment, a value stream or plant, or a business unit or the organization as a

whole. Expectations for processes and the ability to compare actual versus

expected are the threads that connect the elements in a Lean manage-

ment system culture. e person at the top of the unit, however dened,

is in the position to set expectations and, more importantly, to follow up

on them. e higher in the organization Lean leadership extends, the bet-

ter the chances for success.

94 • e Lean Management Systems Handbook

OVERVIEW

No one exemplies the rise and failure of a Lean management system

better than Toyota. Early in this chapter, we consider some recent chal-

lenges at Toyota that we believe unequivocally demonstrate this assertion.

Recently, around the time of the recession, the famous auto giant was in

chaos and some were calling for its imminent collapse. e world famous

Toyota Production System (TPS) was under true re: gas prices were high

and getting higher; the recession was taking full hold of the American

economy; Toyota’s inventory of gas-guzzling small utility vehicles was

increasing (even as demand was decreasing); and a media scandal regard-

ing mismanagement, product quality, and massive recalls was threatening

to be the downfall of Toyota. When all the dust settles and the nal analy-

sis is made, who knows exactly how history will describe these days. I can-

not help but wonder if this time could be remembered as one of the nest

hours in Toyota’s history. e strength of their Lean management system

came to the rescue and saved their company when most other companies

facing the similar challenges would have folded. Time will tell.

First, we present an overview of Toyota over the past few years. We dis-

cuss some of their challenges and shortfalls; but, more importantly, their

response to adversity was a testament that even the best companies at Lean

management can lose their way from time to time and bounce back from

thenegative eects of weak management. My father once said to me: “Life has

a way of knocking down even the best of us from time to time; it’s what we

do aer we are knocked down that ultimately denes our character.” Toyota’s

response during this challenging time speaks volumes and demonstrates its

commitment to the Lean management system for which it is famous.

e main focus of this chapter is on a basic and fundamental high-level

Lean management system model based on the indivisible concepts of

education, application, and communication of all things Lean. We pres-

ent these as emanating from a prism, much the same way that light is

dispersed into its component parts of the spectrum. Your dened Lean

management system is at the center of the prism. We discuss a few com-

mon complementary management/assessment models in this chapter as

foundations on which to build your company-specic Lean management

system. e house of Lean management, along with all subsequent chap-

ters in this handbook, contains components to consider integrating into

your Lean management system.