Ruth Kasul, CIRM
Managing Consultant, IBM Lean Master
IBM Global Business Systems
rkasul@us.ibm.com

Background:
When Toyota surpassed the big three in sales this year, all manufacturing companies took notice. How Toyota manages their factories and their overall success made them a hot topic in articles and webinars with good reason. They were an efficient and flexible company with products brought to market in a fraction of the time of their competitors.

Most American manufacturing companies are familiar with the Toyota Production System (TPS) tools. And most companies believe that these tools hold the key to efficient management and high profitability. They aren’t completely wrong. The components of TPS, listed in the chart below are fairly comprehensive.

This article seeks to explain one component of the Toyota Production System that American companies can use to move toward a similar style of management as enjoyed by Toyota. Specifically, I am going to discuss Leader Standard Work, what it is and why it is useful to a company on the road toward true North.

First, let’s talk briefly about implementation. Most TPS implementations follow a similar successful path. They start with establishing standards (Standard Work and Training Within Industry / Job Instructions or TWI / JI). The importance of starting here is to establish a standard to measure improvements against. TWI / JI insure that operators are following the established standard. Most of the related tools of lean depend upon the data that comes from this effort. Tools like line balancing depend on cycle time data and Kanban calculations need cycle time, takt time and set up data to effectively establish a material withdrawal Kanban. Pull systems and one piece flow, also need to be based on these standards.

Discussion:
My experience is that every implementation is different in the selection of phase I tools. By the time a pilot has gone live, the entire lean team members are thinking about moving on to the next area and there is an unexpressed expectation that leaders will just change their day and support this TPS transformation.

This is where the real TPS implementation begins. Managers may have just learned about the new system put in place and are unsure of their new role. They may understand the tools and what they do but they probably don’t know how this affects their own daily routine. Leaders have probably been involved directly in some part of the implementation, but it is rare that a plan to roll out a Toyota Production System that includes "leadership" was considered. Most managers have heard about TPS in smatterings of involvement that lacks a comprehensive vision.

Leader standard work is one tool that can help fill this gap. Just as standard work is the first tool to establish an operator standard, leader standard work (LSW) does the same for managers.

This chart of Toyota Production System Components is meant to be comprehensive. It could be argued that all of the TPS tools require management support and I agree. The underlined items are the critical ones to change a leader’s daily routine. These are the items that require new behaviors from leaders, not just new understanding. When these tools are implemented, it becomes the perquisite for LSW.

It is important to understand what a day in the life of a manager is currently like. What we find is that there is MUDA (waste) in their tasks and it varies by function and personal style. We approach this daily "process" like any critical operation. Identify what is in their current day, identify MUDA that can be eliminated, and prescribe new tasks that support lean. We like to make this a check sheet sort of document that can show progression as MUDA is eliminated and the frequency of support tasks increases.

The steps to implementing leader standard work are:

1. Collect data on the tasks in the current state (once at the pilot)
2. Label or classify the current tasks as Muda, value add, and necessary non-value add. Share this information with the leaders.
3. Create a template for each manager (they create their own at a guided workshop) include any valuable coursework to insure success.
4. Roll out the new template with follow up from the lean team doing the TPS implementation
5. Seek elimination of MUDA by investigating if any tasks can be eliminated (think meetings).
6. Monitor the transformation (we usually have the daily leader standard work templates turned in so we can observe the progression to more frequent support of TPS).
7. Continuous improvement of the process.

The key is to prepare the leaders for new roles and responsibilities such as structured problem solving, Gemba walk around, coaching and mentoring employees, and responding to the visual systems of Lean.

One of the most hidden facets of Lean at Toyota is the emphasis placed on employee development. Many American Managers will struggle with how to do that effectively. It is not widely taught in schools but is one key to Toyota’s success and culture. It can be learned but it takes time. Like all things, it is done one person at a time, with small steps toward a new culture that needs to exist for lean to be sustained - and institutionalized.

We recognize that Leader Standard Work (LSW) is just another tool and can fail. We have had many trials at implementing this without top management support and inclusion of it as a yearly metric. The most success came from the expanded use of LSW as a communication vehicle, and many leaders were surprised to be held accountable for eliminating the waste in their own day. Learning comes from doing. In this regard, it is a powerful tool.