Fire-fighter or Problem Solver. Is Lean the Answer?

In 2010 I had the opportunity to visit a number of printing sites in the United States to learn more about Lean manufacturing and the opportunities it provided.

During my tour experience at Quad Graphics' Sussex plant there was an obvious absence. This was the absence of the frantic activity or 'fire-fighting' that is so often part and parcel of a manufacturing operation.

Quad's Lean Enterprise Manager, Todd Marino, said this wasn’t always the case. His remarks were consistently reiterated by numerous staff we spoke to over the course of the tour.

What exactly was the difference here? The notion of team leaders and supervisors frantically running around dealing with the same issues over and over is something we have to contend with when implementing operational excellence programs. Team leaders and supervisors have become accustomed to being the 'fire-fighters' of the organisation with little time to do anything else. This unfortunately, only impedes progress because most of the problems continue to arise because root cause is never identified.

The businesses that engage their workforce enough to enable a workforce of problem solvers are the ones that can slowly turn their attention to a focus on process as well as a focus on results to really drive continuous improvement.

When working with a site recently we stumbled across the same sort of thinking that leads to the frantic activity that I had become accustomed to in my own leadership journey. That is, that the role of the supervisor was primarily there to solve all of the problems. Not only were the supervisors trying to solve all of the problems, they didn’t actually ever know whether they had a problem or not. Why?

• The supervisors didn't fully understand their own measure of success.
• They had no idea of whether all of the work they were doing was actually making any difference at all.

The reason for this is because the metrics for business performance have never been cascaded down to a department level, or a team level, or an individual level. Whilst businesses want their people to take “ownership” and “responsibility” too often the very thing that allows them to, knowing what they have to achieve, is overlooked.

Collaboratively setting challenging performance targets and supporting teams to manage them is a critical step in developing problem solvers at all levels of the organisation. Making them visual and seeking team and individual input into removing barriers to achieving these goals is the logical next step. Once problems are visualised and managed we slowly see an ownership shift where problem solvers at all levels start to relieve supervisors and team leaders of a heavy burden!

Give a man a fish he eats for a day; Teach a man to fish he eats for a lifetime...

How did Todd Marino and his team stop being 'fire-fighters' and focus on solving problems?

• They created a visual factory workspace.
• Their performance measurements and goals were easily understood.
• Therein, they developed a platform for very strong communication links between the shop floor, management and production support.

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Like to discuss how Operational Excellence can assist your business? Reach out to @GraemeBarrett or call on 1800 333 270 www.thinkperform.com.au