Coming out of Covid: An Opportunity
Companies that have attempted a lean approach and failed to achieve standard work or ongoing improvements are ripe for the people side of a systems approach. Now that pandemic restrictions are easing, manufacturers have a unique opportunity to jumpstart their lean programs by focusing on their people and their approach.
Where do lean implementations fail?
Many have written about where classic lean implementation holes exist. Common failures with classic lean implementations are:
It tends to be led by offering a set of tools.
Actions are focused on fixing people versus processes.
The leader teams lack a shared understanding for prioritized actions.
Standard work is either missing in important places, or there’s not a way to keep it in place.
A systems approach to implementing a Lean approach casts a wide net, and looks at solving-problems where the work occurs and in a way where the problem description takes into account multiple views. A systems approach promotes a collective way to sort and solve issues and put forth ideas, so there’s an organized way to prioritize improvements.
What are some common challenges?
Many midsized processing plants and facilities that make stuff, have been in a typical squeeze pattern for years. Its tough to develop people and systems when you’re occupied with the day-to-day firefighting and the attention it takes to deliver product as promised. Legacy/family run businesses have management systems that have been working well enough, but many do not account for the complexity and hastening change that characterizes today’s marketplaces, especially in the food and beverage sector, where consumer preferences change quickly and often.
And, now post-covid we have a “labor problem.” The idea that people don’t want to come to work is multi-factorial and hyper-local. In other words, there are a confluence of reasons why workers are so dis-engaged that even a wage and a promise of consistent work won’t lure line-workers. Better Jobs are needed, along with employer attention to training and education. The Skills Gap still exists. (I’ve been watching this gap since the 90s and can say with certainty, we understand the interrelationships and the levers that have the best chance to positively impact organizations that do hands-on work.)
What is the opportunity?
Stressors like a global pandemic and the economic shuffle that followed lockdown, challenged traditional ways of working and highlighted where we can do better. Coming out of Covid, people need—really need—supportive work environments that help people get regulated after such a hard period. This glaring need presents a unique opportunity for manufacturers to address the whole human side of their business systems.
Our people-forward approach ;-) is about organizing, focusing, and leading your frontliners and staff in a direction so that the whole organization can buy in, so that everyone—employees, the company, and your stakeholder community—has something to gain. Now, that’s motivational.
