TPS is more than a management model. You must start with its philosophy first.
Yamazaki Tetsuya, who always offers us a different perspective and reflects the Kaizen philosophy in every area of his life, learned from Taiichi Ohno not only the techniques of TPS but also its way of thinking, and over the years he himself has become a strong practitioner of this thinking. According to Yamazaki, for management to succeed in lean transformation practices, it must first hold the following principles. Let us examine below these principles, which act as a compass for every manager.
Kaizen must be based on need.
It must be believed that kaizen will eliminate problems and bring new gains. Since kaizen is the most effective tool for the company’s development, it must always be needed and applied especially on the floor.
The goal of “Achieving the Ideal” must never be abandoned.
Yesterday’s success should not count as success today. Once the ideal state is reached, it is now simply the current state. Therefore the conditions of the new current state must not be accepted either; something better must always be sought.
Fight not only to “do what we can” but to do what “must be done.”
Never give up in the face of difficulties. By challenging what is hard, develop your problem-solving ability and fighting strength. Spread this thinking to every team member.
You must dedicate yourself to Genchi Genbutsu.
There is no place with as many problems as the production floor. That is what makes it enjoyable. Since the problem is on the floor, the actions must also be on the floor. Do not try to solve problems from behind a desk. Solve problems as a team together with production staff.
See the people – product – equipment factors in the gemba with your own eyes and do kaizen
Apply daily floor management. Always try to be present in production and observe. See operator behaviors and machine problems with your own eyes and identify waste. The kaizens you do will give results faster.
Catch the root cause by asking “5 Whys.”
There is a root cause underlying every problem. Reaching this root cause is not difficult. If you identify the correctly ordered
causes behind problems, you can reach the root cause easily. Teach your root cause methods to your floor workers. After a while floor workers will come to you not to report problems but to propose actions.
Action first; implementation is essential.
Don’t think about where to start the action. Roll up your sleeves and get moving. What matters is that effort is visible. If one person starts the struggle, they will find the support they want beside them.
Kaizen gives birth to new ideas.
The new problems you encounter while doing kaizen, and the steps you take to preserve the current state after doing kaizen, will bring you new ideas with new methods. Once you reach the ideal state, standardize that ideal. The standardized ideal state is now your new current state.
Kaizen is done fast and quick, not slowly.
If you waste time in kaizen practices, you reach the result that much later. This damages belief in kaizen in your team and business organization. So put your plans into practice right away and check their results against the plans you made.
Rather than spending a long time doing it perfectly, it is better to move straight to an implementation that meets the need and start trying.
As long as problems exist, waste in the process will also continue to exist. Kaizen actions should be taken in two ways: “temporary actions and permanent actions.” Until waste is eliminated with a permanent action, first try to reach a result with temporary actions. So that this result is not temporary, put permanent actions into effect immediately and do not waste time.
Operation kaizen is superior to equipment kaizen.
For machine efficiency, do not look for problems only on the machine. Examine the whole process. Follow the path the value takes for efficiency and do not limit kaizen to machines only. Examine especially the human and method dimensions.
Occupational safety and quality must be seen as more important than everything.
Focus on the quality of the process rather than the quality of the product. Build a safe process for quality process management. Occupational safety and employee motivation are very important for the quality of the process, that is, quality in place. Occupational safety activities are the most important activities that develop teamwork. Turn to lean approaches in occupational safety. Teach shop floor management by teaching your team these techniques.
Respect for People
“Respect” is one of the two main headings of the “Toyota Way,” which everyone following TPS work now knows very well: respect for the employee, respect for the employer and respect for the customer who lets us exist as a business. Since field workers in particular take on the hardest part of the work, managers and office staff should be thinking about easing and facilitating field workers’ jobs. Never forget that you are a team and that this team is made up of psychological structures, that is, people.
