As businesses begin their lean journey, they often struggle with how to sustain the improvements that they have begun to see. The concepts of 5S, Set up Reduction, Visual Management, Kanban, and TPM are all examples of lean tools that can easily improve the business both short and long term. However, many businesses experience difficulty when it comes to setting up processes for long term success. Usually a factory will set up “audits” of a new process or system and believe that this will ensure sustainability. This can and will help with sustaining that process if done correctly, but usually the audit process consists of “supervisors” auditing “operators.” A process is set up, standardized work job instruction sheets are created to show in detail how the process is to be done, the supervisors train the workers on the new process using the job instruction sheets, and then an audit system is put in place for the supervisors to audit the operators to verify that they are doing that process correctly. This scenario plays out over and over, setting up many lean (and beneficial) systems. Many processes can be set up within this format using lean tools. However, at some point, someone in the factory will realize that something is missing. That something is accountability. Who is auditing (and holding accountable) the auditors? Who is checking the supervisors, area managers, plant managers, directors, Vice Presidents, and above to make sure they are doing their part?

There is another tool that can be used to build accountability into this sustainment process, called “Management Kamishibai Cards.” Many of you are probably familiar with Kamishibai cards as they relate to 5S, Quality, or TPM. Just in case, I’ll briefly describe standard Kamishibai cards as I learned them from 7 years working at a Toyota manufacturing facility. Kamishibai is a term that means “telling a story with visual picture cards.” In fact, if you were to google the words “kamishibai card” just a few short years ago, you would have found websites that were for elementary school aged Japanese children, and nothing relating to factories. At one point, this systems management tool was a closely guarded Toyota secret. Only within the last few years have American companies started to realize the potential of using kamishibai boards and cards to manage a system in a factory. Let’s take 5S as an example (Sort, Set, Shine, Standardize, and Sustain). If we were to set up a 5S kamishibai system for an area in a factory, we would first gather the operators together and have a kaizen event to determine which items were needed and which were unneeded. Then we would “sort” out the unneeded items. The items that are left we would “Set” in their home positions. In other words, we would brainstorm with the team to determine the best locations for these important items, make home position squares with yellow tape, and label what goes in the squares (tape first, then paint after a few weeks to make sure it is in the correct spot). This step would also include identifying needed tools, jigs, holders, storage, etc that is needed in this area, and making sure the operators have them. If not, design them or order them. The next step is to “Shine” the area until it sparkles (if possible). This step sometimes involves paint, sometimes just extensive cleaning of the area and the machines. Next comes the hard part. Standardize and Sustain. I mention these together, because they go hand in hand. We must standardize what we have just done in order to be able to sustain the improvements. This involves writing 5S Kamishibai Cards that tell the actions that must be completed to keep the area in this “organized, clean” condition. This will also require writing Job Instruction Sheets that tell exactly how to use the system. One way to do this is to have a whiteboard with one half showing the layout of the department. The other half is broken up into 3 sections. One section has vertical time card holders filled with individual 5S kamishibai cards. On the front of each card is a number (that corresponds with a matching number on the layout), and the tasks required to be completed in that area. The back of the card shows a picture of “exactly how that specific area should look in a good 5S condition.” The next section has the Job Instruction Sheet document posted showing how to use the board and the cards. The third section contains both a schedule (showing who is assigned to which area), and a sign off sheet for the operator to record any issues / comments / suggestions, as well as a sign off for the supervisor. The sustainment phase comes with audits by the supervisor, or a team leader….combined with our next topic, which is getting back to “Management Kamishibai Cards.”

Up to now, I have spent the most time discussing standard “5S Kamishibai cards” in case there are some that haven’t had experience with Kamishibai systems. These can also be used effectively for; Pokayokes (error proofing), TPM, Safety compliance, Environmental compliance, and quality checks to name a few. Now…how do we use kamishibai cards to not only standardize management activities, but also to hold the entire leadership team accountable for doing what needs to be done with respect to Lean Management of the business? This is a step that is often missed in Lean Implementations, but it is critical to long term success.

Let me describe the basics of a Management Kamishibai Card. It is an 8.5 by 11 sheet of paper (not laminated) that is intended to be very flexible and changeable. First, fold the paper lengthwise down the center, so that you have one 4.25 by 11 sheet of paper, then open it back up so that the crease is on top (like the roof of a house). This is the “front” of the card. On the left side of the front, you should divide it into 4 or 5 quarters. Each quarter represents a time of the day. First quarter is the first few hours after you arrive at work. The 2nd quarter is the hours before lunch. 3rd quarter is the few hours after lunch, and the 4th quarter is the few hours before you go home. You can also have a quarter for either overtime, or weekly / monthly tasks. In each of these quarters should go the “systems” that have been set up as part of your lean implementation. For example, if you have set up a 5S system, you might have during one of your quarters, “Audit 5S Kamishibai Board.” This would entail getting one of the cards that has been done by an operator, checking to make sure that the area looks the way that it is supposed to per the card, verifying that the operator has recorded any issues properly on the board, and then telling the operator that they did a good job with their 5S card. If they didn’t do a good job, this is the time to “coach, counsel, and mentor” that operator on the proper way that the area should look. This way, you are “calibrating the operator’s” eyes with yours. You are making sure that the operator understands your expectations as the front line supervisor. Now, this is extremely important. Turn the page over, and on the back side of the card (on the left side), write down the results of the audit, and the corresponding discussion that you had with the operator explaining the importance of performing proper 5S. You should also write down the operator’s comments if any. This will become a historical document that shows you how the operator’s attitude is progressing, and can guide you in the direction that you need to go for mentoring. Also, it can be used as an accountability tool (if the operator has several negative comments, poor performance, not responding to positive mentorship and coaching, etc). Worst case scenario is that you as a supervisor are not able to coach the operator to proper behavior, and they must be elevated into the disciplinary process, which could eventually (but hopefully not) lead to termination. If this occurs, then the management team has failed (because we were unable to correct, coach, mentor this operator to improve).

If you are a manager, you should have on your card “audit supervisor’s card.” This would entail going to the supervisor, asking to see their card, and picking an item to audit. For example, the manager would approach the supervisor and say, “Ms. Supervisor, I would like to audit your Management Kamishibai Card, can I please see it?” The supervisor would hopefully have it with them (always), and be able to show the manager the card. The manager would look at the card, hopefully see that the card is halfway completed (if this is occurring in the middle of the shift). The manager would then pick something off of the card. For our example let’s say that the supervisor has on her card, “audit the visual management boards in one area.” The manager would then turn over the card to the back left side, and see what comments the supervisor has written. Hopefully she has written a few sentences regarding what she saw on the visual management boards. Maybe she has also needed to coach an employee on the proper way to fill out the boards. This should be written on the back of the card. The manager should then say, “Looks good, let’s go out and take a look at the boards that you audited.” The two would then go out to the visual management boards and the manager would look to see that the supervisor has done the audit the way that he would have done it. This is a chance for the manager to coach, counsel, and mentor the supervisor as well. The manager should make sure that the supervisor’s eyes are calibrated to his eyes. In other words, Is the supervisor doing the Visual Management Board audit the way that the manager wants it to be done? This is designed to promote dialogue between the manager and the supervisor, as well as to promote dialogue between the manager and the operators. Many managers end up getting “stuck in the office” doing paperwork, and don’t spend enough time on the factory floor. A Management Kamishibai card forces them to spend time on the floor. If they don’t then this will be noticed when their boss (the plant manager) audits their cards, and goes through the same process. When the director (or whatever level you have in your company) visits the factory, they should also have a kamishibai card that they use to manage their work. They will develop this before the visit, including items that they intend to cover, as well as items that the plant manager tells them are important to see. This should be done all the way up through the CEO. The CEO and executive board develop and deploy the policy (Hoshin Kanri). This flows down through the ranks to the VP’s, Directors, Plant Managers, Managers, and Supervisors. Portions of this policy deployment should show up on everyone’s Management Kamishibai card as needed.

I mentioned earlier that a Management Kamishibai card needs to be flexible. This is because as a supervisor, manager or above, you need to be able to add items to your card as needed, and remove items from the card once you feel the process is under control. Or, once you feel the process that you are auditing is under control, you might reduce the frequency of the audit from every day to once a week. However, if you are a manager (for example), and you see that there is a process that is having problems, you should ask the supervisor responsible for that area to add that item to their card. If someone above you (on the organizational chart) asks you to add something to your card, then you need to add it in italics. This means that you need to continue this activity (whatever it is…audits, confirmations, checks, etc) until you feel that the process if back under control. Once you feel it is under control, you need to request an audit from whomever told you to put it on your card, have them audit it, go over the reasons that you feel it is under control (usually involves showing them how you performed a root cause investigation, used the 5 why method to drill down to the root cause, and put in place permanent countermeasures that have been sustained for a period of time). At that point, they could tell you to continue the audits, or they could say to reduce them, or they could say that you can remove them from your card completely.

Many people think that a management kamishibai card is just a “to do” list. Actually, the front left portion of the card could be thought of as a “to do list that focuses on advancing lean implementation.” However, this leaves out one of the most important reasons for this list, and that is the creation of dialogue between members of management and the operators. This dialogue is critical to the success of lean implementations. A manager could be discussing something from their card with an operator, and stumble upon a great idea by that employee. In this case, the manager should document it on the back of their card, and do whatever they can (if cost effective and within reason) to implement that idea….using that operator to help if possible. Also, it is extremely important that the operator gets the reward and recognition that he or she deserves from having the great idea. This could be as simple as a “well done” while talking to the entire department, and explaining the operator’s idea and how it will help the business, or possibly even a $25 gift card to a local restaurant, presented in front of the department (also explaining the idea and how it will help).

We have only talked about the front left side, and the back left side (to record the details from the front left side). Now let’s discuss the front right side. This side is extremely flexible. You can use it as a place to document projects that you need to perform follow up activities on an infrequent basis. If you use it for this, then you would have project #1 on the front, “work on identifying root cause for case defects from machine 567” If you perform some work on that project during the day, it should be recorded on the back right side of the card. This might read something like, “Worked on case defect root cause identification. See fishbone diagram on excel document titled case defects. This is stored on the ‘R’ drive.” Since this side of the card is completely flexible, it should be customized to fit the individual user’s needs. Perhaps one supervisor is having difficulty forming relationships with his team. He might want to list every employee’s name in his department. His goal might be to talk to every one of them throughout the day about something related to (or not related to) business. His conversation might go something like this…”Joe, how is everything going? Are you having any pains or difficulties with this job? These things are heavy. No? Okay, let me know if things get more difficult. By the way, I heard that you just bought a new motorcycle. I’m thinking of getting one, but can’t decide what kind to get. Any advice?” After the supervisor has this discussion, he walks away, goes somewhere private, and briefly documents on his card that he spoke with Joe, and that he is not having difficulty with lifting the cases, and that he recommended going with the Harley Fat Boy with the Beach Handle Bars and Leather Saddle bags. The supervisor might then go and have a similar exchange with another member of his team, again documenting it privately for his own reference if needed later.

At the end of the day, the supervisor should three hole punch the 8.5 x 11 sheet, and place it in a binder (then store it in a secure, locked location….usually desk drawer). At any time, someone above them can ask to audit the history of their cards, so they need to be able to pull them out and show them. Also, before the start of their next shift, they should pull this binder out, and look for any items that might need to be moved over to the next card. Maybe a follow up item or two from a previous Gemba Walk that was on the front left side of the card from the day before.

Now….how does this add ACCOUNTABILITY into the system? First of all, EVERY member of management has to do this. Second, there has to eventually be a consequence for action items not completed. If I’m a plant manager, and I audit one of my manager’s cards, and he does not have it on him, or items are not done…..I document it on my card. Then I immediately coach, counsel, and mentor that manager on the importance of the Kamishibai card, and my expectation as his boss that he use them as intended. Then I go on. A few days later, I might audit him again. Once again no card, or actions not completed. This time, my conversation should be a little bit more severe. I am still (and always) respectful, but I am letting him know that he is not meeting my expectations, and that this has got to change. A few days later, I audit him again….once again, no card. At this point, I would explain to him that his poor performance has got to be addressed with Human Resources, and I would fold him into whatever Performance Improvement or Disciplinary process that your company has existing. Our goal is to coach, counsel, and mentor everyone to perform up to our expectations. However, at some point, if this is not working it becomes a performance issue that needs to be addressed at a more serious level. This same accountability system needs to be in place from the front line supervisor all the way up to the CEO. The CEO is usually accountable to a board of directors, so their Kamishibai card will obviously be much different due to their job requirements, BUT, they should still work to improve themselves, and hold themselves accountable by asking specific people to audit their cards.

So far, we haven’t talked about the role of the lean coordinator, or lean manager at the factory. What is their role? They have a card that is auditable by anyone above them, but they can also audit anyone’s card. They can also add something to anyone’s card, but should do so only after discussing it with that person’s superior. They are the “lean experts” in the company, and as such, they will at times be required to audit their plant manager or director’s cards, and educate, coach, and counsel them. This is usually a delicate and difficult thing to do, but if done with respect, humility, and a coaching attitude, will hopefully be received by the plant manager or director as intended. The lean coordinator will likely have received lean training that the plant manger or director might not have received. So if the lean coordinator sees that something is being done that goes against what should be done with respect to lean, it is their job to coach “up”, and discuss whatever the issue is with their superior.

There are many reasons to implement “Management Kamishibai Cards” in a business. Some of the important ones are; to begin to standardize a manager’s work, to add accountability into the system, and also to establish much needed, positive dialogue between members of management and the operators that actually DO the work. All of this greatly helps sustain Lean Implementation. Also, they are not that difficult to set up, but they do require self discipline by the management team to use them correctly.

So we’ve begun this culture change to transform our business using lean tools…..now how do we sustain it???  Sustainability is always an issue in any lean journey.  One problem with “going lean” is that there is no “one right way” or “one perfect tool.”  Many companies don’t understand this.  They see successful lean companies, like Toyota, and want to “just do that!”  It doesn’t work that way.  In order for lean to truly take hold in an organization, there has to be a culture change.  People need to understand that they are a valuable, needed, and important part of the business…no matter what their job is.  Their opinions, contributions, and support are critical to the success of lean.  Kaizen (or continuous improvement) events are just one example of lean.  Toyota uses Management Kamishibai Cards, Teamwork and Development Circles, Jishukens, and Kaizen Forms as just a few tools to promote and manage continuous improvement.  During this article, we are going to briefly outline Management Kamishibai cards (Mgmt K-cards), and how they are used to Organize Management Standard Work to help sustain “Processes and Systems.”

Successful use of Management Kamishibai cards is one tool that can manage standardized work for leaders.  Most likely, as a successful manager, you already have a “daily to-do” list.  This is something that you probably review when you first arrive at work, periodically throughout the day, and then also before you go home in the evenings.  This list probably includes action items that you need to take care of (i.e. “schedule meeting with someone to discuss something” or “follow up on a specific project”).  A Management Kamishibai card can be thought of as a “Lean” or a “Process” to-do list.  These are things that might need to be done on a regular basis (daily, weekly, or monthly) to ensure that a specific process or system is doing what it is supposed to be doing.  As the operation changes and improves, the Management K-card should change as well.  For example, on a Management K-card, you would expect to find things like, “Audit hourly metric board.”  This is assuming that you already have an hourly metric board in place as part of a system to track the hourly performance of your department, and that someone is responsible for filling in the numbers, as well as the reasons for why the targets were not met, and what action is being taken to address this variance.  If you don’t have some type of hourly visual management board, then you might have on your Management K-card something like, “Meet with supervisors to develop hourly metric tracking board.”  So, you would need to develop the system first, and then once the system is developed, you would add to your card to “audit” that system.  Initially, you would audit it every day.  As you see that the system is working, you could alter your K-card to reflect a weekly audit, or even longer (once the system is completely stable).

It is important that a K-card is flexible.  It is up to the supervisor and the supervisor’s manager to decide what specifically should go on that supervisor’s K-card.  The supervisor should conduct daily walk-through’s that include auditing processes and systems.  They should be able to see on their own the areas that are working or not working.  If a system or process is not working, then they should add to their card to work on identifying the root cause of the problem (hopefully with a team of people that are actively involved in that process).  After the root cause has been identified, they need to put in immediate short term countermeasures to correct the problem, while at the same time getting in motion a long-term, permanent fix.  At this point, they should also add to their K-card to audit the process, including short term countermeasures, and long term countermeasure progress.  They shouldn’t wait until the long term countermeasures are in place before they add the audit piece to their cards.

Often, a supervisor might view their area through rose colored glasses.  It is for this reason that a supervisor’s manager needs to perform frequent audits (using their own K-cards) of their direct report’s areas.  The purpose is so that the manager can “calibrate the eyes” of their direct reports.  In other words, the manager needs to make sure that the supervisor is following the systems and processes the way that they should be following them.  If they are not, then the Manager’s audit is to be used as an opportunity to mentor, coach, and counsel their direct report.  If a Manager finds a process that a supervisor is not following correctly during one of their K-card audits, then the manager would discuss the proper way to do it, and then make sure (through follow up questions) that the supervisor understands.  The Manager would then ask the supervisor to add an audit of that process to their own K-card.  The supervisor would add “audit (whatever that process is)” to their own daily K-card.  They would add this in italics.  If it is in italics, that means that it was put there by someone above them on the food chain, and cannot be removed until permission is given by whoever told them to put it on their card.  So, the supervisor would audit that specific process for a few weeks, each day making sure that it is being done exactly the way that it is supposed to be (from their manager’s mentoring, coaching, and counseling on the correct way to do it).  After several weeks of the process or system being done correctly, the supervisor can ask the manager to re-audit the area.  If the manager feels that the process or system is being done correctly, and the supervisor can prove (through their previous several weeks k-card audit sheets WITH notes) that the system or process is being sustained, then the item can go from italics to regular font, and then perhaps go from a daily audit to a weekly audit.

It is also important to print out a new K-card daily.  The front side should be divided into 4 “quarters” of the day (first few hours when you get to work, first few hours before lunch, first few hours after lunch, last few hours before you go home).  You can name them Qtr1, Qtr2, etc.  Process or system audits, as well as action items that help the factory run lean (or accomplish lean goals and objectives) should go on this side.  There should be several blank spaces to allow the supervisor space to add items to their card that they see during their K-card audits, and Gemba walks.  The back of the card should be reserved for Projects, items to review throughout the day, focus items, important metrics or information that you need to keep an eye on, etc.  The card should be completely flexible, and should be designed by the user to accomplish their own personal / departmental goals.  For instance, let’s say that you have noticed an increase in ergonomic related injuries over the past few weeks in your department.  You might want to have each employee’s name listed on the back of the card, with a space for a check mark.  Throughout the day, you could ask each employee how they are feeling, and if they are noticing any pains in their arms, wrists, hands, etc.  If they are, then you should put an X next to their name, and then document the detail on the inside of the card, as well as any of their ideas on what is making them hurt, and how they think it can be fixed.  At this point, you might want to send them to a plant nurse, or recommend stretching, or possibly even take them off that particular job until you can countermeasure the reason for their pain.  If you aren’t having ergonomic problems in your department, maybe you have many projects that you are responsible for overseeing.  You could use this space on the back of the card to list each project, and who you need to talk to throughout the day to follow up on the details of each specific project.

The inside of the card should be used to record detailed notes about audits from the front.  For example, let’s say the front of your card says that in “Qtr1 you need to observe a shift handover meeting”.  As part of this observation, you would be watching how the supervisor interacts with their employees, what their reactions are, how well the supervisor communicates information, etc.  You might want to wait until later, when you are alone, to write down your thoughts on the inside of the card, or you might jot down a few key points on the inside of the card as you observe.  After the job brief, you would briefly speak with the supervisor to either mentor, coach, counsel, or to let them know that they did a good job, and are giving the job brief exactly how you believe they should be giving it.  When you walk away from the supervisor, then you should spend a minute or two capturing on the inside of the K-card some detail that will help you remember what occurred if you need to refer back to the briefing at some point in the future.  Also, if you have to have a “serious” coaching session with someone, the inside of the K-card is a good place to document it.  Let’s say that the supervisor (or one of the unionized employees) says something inappropriate during the job brief.  As a manager, it is your responsibility to respectfully and appropriately address the comment.  After discussing it with the supervisor or the employee, then the manager should write a detailed sentence or two about what was said, and the action that was taken.  This becomes a document that can be referred to later if any more inappropriate comments or actions are made by the same person.  Your K-cards should be filed in a locked location for at least a year.  This way, you can refer back to specific instances if necessary.

If this is a tool that your company decides to use to help manage standardized work for managers, then it is critical that ALL members of management use the tool.  The front line supervisor has a K-card, and he/she uses it to manage the systems in their individual departments, and those systems that attach to both ends of their departments.  Their manager has a K-card, and they use it to manage the systems from a larger standpoint (assembly to machining to material control, etc).  The Plant Manager has a K-card, and they use it to manage all of their departments, including their suppliers, and their customers.  This goes all the way up to the CEO.  The CEO should have a K-card that he uses in his day-to-day strategy / planning for the company.  When he visits an individual factory, he would either ask the factory manager to develop a K-card for him to use during the tour, or ask the VP that is over that factory to develop it.  Once he has the card sent to him, he would then add things onto it that he wants to see (since obviously the plant manager and the area VP are probably only going to put the “good” stuff on the K-card that they give to the CEO).  When the CEO makes his visit, he wants to see both the good and the bad.  In other words, he wants to see reality.  This is not so that he can smash heads, but so that he can act as the mentor / coach / teacher to help get the people under him back on track, and to “calibrate their eyes” with his.

I’m interested to hear if any organizations are using Management Kamishibai Cards as a tool to manage their “Management Standard Work.”  Any comments?

As the economy starts to crunch more and more businesses, business leaders are looking for ways to cut costs and increase profitability.  Many of these leaders are looking for innovative ways to do this.  Some cut retirement and benefits, some try to cut inventory, most look for any creative way to cut costs, and some spend time and money learning about lean.  Learning as much as possible about lean is a good thing, but if you don’t learn how to apply it to your organization, it can be dangerous.  Let me tell you a story about one of my first experiences with lean.  Several years ago while working at GM, my boss told me he wanted me to “go lean.”  Having never heard about lean, I was initially insulted, thinking he was telling me to go on a diet!  After some more discussion though, I realized that’s not what he really meant.  In fact, even after talking with him about it for 10 minutes, I still didn’t think he knew what lean was.  I was a manager of a large machining department that made pistons.  We made 12,000 pistons per shift, in a three shift operation.  Assembly used everything we made, plus a little more.  Due to the current customer demand, assembly worked 6 days a week.  Due to this, my machining department had to work 7 days a week!  Obviously this left Zero time for preventive maintenance (which we will discuss in a later article).  Back to my bosses discussion about going lean.  He said, “Scott, we’ve got WAY to many pistons in inventory between machining and assembly.  You need to cut your inventory by half.”  At this point, I’m thinking….”What an idiot.”  However, what I said was, “Sir, you are right, we do have a lot of inventory between machining and assembly….we have about 7 days worth.  The reason for that is if the LaSalle (one of the machines) goes down, it has historically taken 6.5 to 7 days to get it back up again.”  His reply was, “I don’t care.  I just went through a lean manufacturing class, so I know what I’m talking about!  We’ve got way too much inventory between machining and assembly, and lean says that inventory is bad.  So cut it by half.  That’s an order.”  Then he walked away.  At this point, you can probably all guess what’s going to happen, but I’ll tell you anyway.  Over the next several weeks, I bled our inventory out until we had about 3.5 days between machining and assembly.  Sure enough, a few weeks later, the Lasalle went down.  It was down for almost 6 days (which was a record getting it fixed that fast by the way!).  Assembly ran out of parts after 3.5 days, and the automotive plant ran out of finished product shortly thereafter.  The cost to the company was staggering (several million dollars!).

The point of this story is that my boss had good intentions, but he didn’t know where to start!  You can’t go through a lean class, or read a lean book, and then all of a sudden transform your company to lean.  A thorough analysis of the plant would have revealed that there were serious issues in the maintenance department.  Since most machines were run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, except for a one week shutdown, ALL maintenance was reactive, not planned.  A more logical start to a lean implementation in this facility would have been to focus on fixing the root cause of the machine downtime, improve 5S and, then go from there.  Fix the TPM, improve the 5S, initiate setup reduction, productivity improvements, etc.  Then the inventory would naturally drop.  The critical takeaway from this article….”A thorough analysis of each facility needs to be done to understand the issues.  This gives the lean sensei a starting point in which all lean transformation will stem from.”

Does anyone else have any examples of transformations that have failed due to starting in the wrong place?

Standard Work is one of the foundations upon which Toyota’s success is built. Job Instruction Sheets (JIS) are tools to help manage standard work. A JIS lists the step-by-step tasks that are done in order to complete a job, and provides a picture for each task. For example, if I wanted to write a JIS on drinking a beer while I was watching a football game, I cold break the actions necessary down into steps. Step 1 – Get lazy butt off the couch by standing up.  Step 2 – Walk to the fridge. Step 3 – Open fridge door. Step 4 – Get beer from 2nd shelf. Step 5 – Step back as you close the door. Step 6 – Walk to the drawer next to the fridge. Step 7 – Open the drawer. Step 8 – Dig through the sharp utensils (without cutting yourself on your girlfriend / wives cooking knives) until you find the bottle opener. Step 9 – Open the bottle. Step 10 – Drop the bottle opener back into the drawer. Step 11 – Shut the drawer. Step 12 – Walk to the trash can. Step 13 – Throw away the bottle cap (Note – Steps 12 and 13 are optional if you have a seriously understanding wife / girlfriend….if not, then make sure you follow these two steps). Step 14 – Walk back to the couch. Step 15 – Sit back down again. Step 16 – Empty beer bottle into mouth. Step 17 – Repeat until the football game is over….or you fall asleep.

The next step in creating a JIS for this activity, is to have someone photograph each and every step. This detail is critical, since a picture leaves less room for interpretation than words. When making a JIS, I typically have only 6 tasks and pictures together on a page.

Now, on to kaizen (continuous improvement). Thinking about the above example, how could we turn this into a much more simple JIS, and still accomplish our goal? By the way, what is our goal? Simply put “Beer…..in my tummy…..with as little effort as possible.” So, what simple improvements could we have made to accomplish this goal with out getting my lazy butt off the coach? First, we could buy one of those tiny fridges that fit conveniently next to the couch. Second, we could have a magnetic bottle opener attached to the tiny fridge. Third, we could face the fridge toward my seat on the couch, so that I didn’t have to move to open the door. Okay, now what would our JIS look like? Step 1 – open fridge door as I grab the bottle opener from the front of the fridge. Step 2 – remove lid from bottle. Step 3– place bottle opener back on front of fridge as you are closing the fridge door. Step 4 – stuff the bottle cap under the couch seat (Odds are she’ll find them eventually, but probably not while you are watching the game….so don’t worry about it now).

So we’ve taken a 17 step, dangerous Job Instruction Sheet, and turned it into a 4 step JIS, by improving the 5S just a bit. We will discuss 5S in more detail in one of the next articles.

What are some other reasons to make make JIS’s? Good question. There are 4 main answers.

1. Safety. Having detailed JIS’s ensures safe work practices. If we document (with extreme detail and pictures) exactly how we want someone to do a job….then the likelihood of them hurting themselves or others is lessened. If we have shown that following these specific steps is safe….then those that are trained on this JIS should also be safe.

2. Quality. If we know that by following these actions, quality product is made, then our quality will be better. In other words, human error is taken out of the equation. This does not mean that you will never have quality problems. But it does mean that the likelihood of a person (who has been following the JIS) causing that problem is very minimal.

3. Information Transfer. Every company has a “Moe.” Moe is the guy that has been there for a million years, and knows how everything works. As a supervisor, if I’m having a problem with a specific machine, I want to go call Moe. That’s great, but what happens when Moe retires….or gets hit by a bus! Hopefully never happen, but it’s possible. The point is, Moe won’t always be there. Job Instruction Sheets capture as much information as possible from the “Moe’s” of the company, and put them into an easy to follow, easy to train from format. In fact, Moe should be one of the guys that is working to write these things.

4. Accountability. This is another one of the big reasons for JIS. During every implementation, I run across people that are doing things “the wrong way.” When I question them about it, I hear, “I was never told to do it that way.” Or “I like doing it this way better.” Whenever a team decides that this is the one, best way of doing a specific task, and then when it is verified by others (management, engineers, experienced employees, etc), then that becomes law. When different people are doing things different ways, then you introduce back into the equation the possibility of human error (which as we’ve discussed above, leads to safety and quality problems). So, we work to coach, counsel, and train the individuals who don’t want to follow the JIS. If they continue to not get on board, maybe we work to coach, counsel, and retrain them some more. If they are still not following the JIS’s, then they need to be held accountable. Period. Every organization has a disciplinary structure. Not following the standardized Job Instruction Sheets should be rolled into this policy.

Now, all that being said, that doesn’t mean that a JIS can’t change. Far from it! JIS’s are living, breathing, flexible documents. If a better way is found to do something, then great! The employee that comes up with that better way should bring the suggestion up to their supervisor, who will fill out a kaizen form (that I will discuss later in the weeks), the new method is verified by a team of experienced employees, supervisors, and engineers. If all agree that the new way is better, and doesn’t cause any safety or quality problems, then the JIS is changed, and becomes the new stadard. Very quickly after this, all the affected employees (that perform that job) must be retrained to the new standard.

One of the first mistakes that my clients usually make when starting a JIS program is to not put in enough detail. Put more detail than you think is necessary! Leave no room for someone to do something different, that could cause a problem. I’ll give you an example. When I first worked on the team that started up a Toyota plant, we started with just a few people. I was the Group Leader, and I had 7 team members that worked for me. We were responsible for getting many of the materials that we would need to ramp up production. So, I ordered 6 trash cans out of an office supply catalog. They looked like they were good, durable trash cans from the pictures in the catalog. When they arrived, I saw that these things were monsters! Obviously too big to lift. They did have wheels though, so we could wheel them to the trash dumpsters. The problem was that once we wheeled them over to the dumpster, we couldn’t lift them up into the dumpster. So, we ordered portable steps on wheels to be located in a home position close to the dumpsters. Whenever you wheeled the trash to the dumpster, you wheeled it next to the steps. Then, you walked up the steps, pulled the plastic bag out of the monster size trash can, and into the dumpster, and then wheeled the trash can back to its home position. Worked great for several months. Then, we started hiring more people…..lots more people. One day, I asked one of the new employees to take out the trash. I pointed out the trash can, and pointed to where the dumpsters were, then I went about my business. About twenty minutes later, I found a gathering of people around this guy, who was laying on the ground next to the dumpster. He had tried to lift this monster size trash can over his head, and threw his back out. It ended up keeping him out of work for over two weeks. Now, obviously this was my fault as his manager. I hadn’t trained him on taking out the trash, I didn’t show him what the stairs on wheels were for, and he was injured because of it. Immediately, my team and I wrote (with pictures) a JIS for taking out the trash, and trained everyone on it within a day. A few weeks later, someone was taking out the trash, and he sprained his ankle because he was pulling the trash can backwards through the factory. So, we had forgotten to add, “push don’t pull” in the Job Instruction Sheet. So, we added this detail to the Job Instruction Sheet on taking out the trash, and quickly retrained everyone.

Just to reemphasize this point, “The more detail in a Job Instruction Sheet….with pictures….the better! I would like to hear any Standardized Work stories from others.

Let’s talk about 5S.  This is usually what one of the things that people think of when they hear about lean.  5S is just one of the tools to a successful lean program.  It stands for 5 Japanese words that all start with the letter “S”.  Seiri (Sort), Seiton (Set), Seiso (Shine), Seiketsu (Standardization), and Shitsuke (Sustain).  So in English, 5S stands for; Sort, Set, Shine, Standardize, and Sustain.

Simply put, “Sort” is just putting things in order, keeping only what you need, and getting rid of things that you don’t need.  Think about the attic in your house.  Odds are, if it’s anything like mine, you’ve got Star Wars action figures missing arms and legs stored in a box up there.  Or maybe a dozen cans of half full bottles of oil on a shelf in your garage.  The “Sort” of 5S tells us to get rid of these things.  If they are needed, then put them in some sort of easily reached order.

“Set” takes these things that we’ve determined are actually needed, and puts them in an efficient order.  “A place for everything, and everything in its place.”  Home positions should be created for these items.  In a factory setting, an example of designated home positions, is painting (or taping) yellow squares around everything on wheels, and then labeling the square.  For instance, If there is a cart that has material on it that is periodically used, there should be a designated home position for that cart.  The position should be close to the point of use.  The floor where the cart sits should be painted with a yellow outline square, and the square should be labeled with whatever is going in the square.  So in this case, the label might say, “Materials Cart.”  The cart should always be in that square, unless it is actively in use.  Whenever it is not being used, it should be put back in this square.

“Shine” is just what it sounds like.  Making things shiny!  This should be a daily activity of sweeping, scrubbing, mopping, cleaning, etc.  This helps prevent problems by keeping things clean, and it helps improve morale.  No one wants to work in a dirty environment.

“Standardize” and “Sustain” are the two 5S areas that most companies miss.  They are also the two most important areas.  If there are no standards in place, then there is no way to hold people accountable for not following the standards.  How can we say to an employee, “You didn’t 5S your area well enough!”  if we don’t define what “well enough” actually is!  Standards can be communicated through 5S keypoints.  These are pictures of an area that has been thoroughly organized, ordered, and cleaned.  These pictures are then laminated, and posted at that area.  The employee now knows what the standard is.  The supervisor can then hold them accountable for not “making it look like that.”

“Sustain” is perhaps the most difficult.  How do we keep it on track?  Once we get the areas looking perfect, once we get the 5S key points posted, how do we keep it from looking bad after a month?  Well, there are several ways.  One is a 5S kamishibai system, which I will spend a lot of time discussing in a future post.  Another is a 5S audit system.  Once the area is cleaned and organized, we can make a checklist of various items in the area that would need continuous work to keep it looking good.  This should be an audit document that also has pictures on it, so that they auditor can pull a sheet, and walk from area to area looking at their sheet, the picture, and then the actual area.  The auditor then grades the area on a grading scale (I usually use 1 to 5, with 5 being…it looks just like the picture, and 1 being…..”what the heck happened?”

I mentioned accountability above, and I will discuss this a lot more in a later post as well, but I want to make sure that everyone understands some of the true purposes of 5S.  If things are clean, problems stand out much more clearly.  If a machine is spotless, an oil leak, even if small, will be quickly noticed.  Also, it tools are located exactly where the employee needs them, in an efficient, and ordered manner, they will be able to accomplish their tasks much faster, and with a higher degree of satisfaction.

I have worked in some areas that could use some “serious” 5S!  I’m interested to hear others’ 5S stories, positive, or negative.

Hi, and welcome to my Blog.  I’ve been practicing Lean now for many years, and love to not only share what I’ve learned, but also to learn from others.  I try to learn something new each day.  My hope is that I might be able to share some things with others that are going through a lean journey, as well as learn from everyone’s comments.  A little bit about me.  For the past six and a half years, I’ve been a Consultant with a company that specializes in Lean Implementation.  Prior to that, I was a Group Leader with Toyota Motor Manufacturing West Virginia for seven years (which is where I learned about lean, or as Toyota calls it, The Toyota Production System), and a supervisor with General Motors / Delphi Automotive (in a NOT lean facility!) for two and a half years.  Before getting into manufacturing and lean, I worked in the Criminal Justice field.  I have been an investigator for the State of Ohio, a juvenile detention counselor, and a private detective.  I’m looking forward to sharing my experiences, and learning from yours.