Open Letter to the Military Base Commander
Dear Base Commander:
Firstly, let me paint a picture of your future Military System after implementing the expertise of the Toyota Production System. The advantages of a maniacal focus on processes:
- Everyone in the Military System is directed toward success,
- Subsequently, the Military System focuses on the value they produce,
- Suppliers work to create a just-in-time system where they can decrease your costs,
- Above all, constantly require suppliers to increase Sigma,
- All smaller but often purchased items can be put into a double bin system to decrease inventory costs and increase availability,
- Seek Perfection:
- At a rate of about 1 idea a month,
- Management focuses ideas in a defined direction,
- Toyota will not expand to a new plant unless they have a critical mass of employees that know this procedure,
- This is how come no competitor will ever catch Toyota, and
- Your culture changes to one of winning.
- Increase process speed and minimize inventory waste using the Pull Methodology,
- Everyone on the service or product line becomes a quality inspector through the use of andon:
- andon is the stoppage of a system when a defect is detected,
- Continuously remove defects,
- Toyota still receives about 800 andon stops per year per manufacturing plant, and
- Toyota has a strategy to minimize the impact of stoppages.
- Implement Lean Six Sigma to:
- Above all, increase process velocity,
- Decrease process costs, and
- In addition, increase process quality.
- Report success metrics to management, and
- Your organization no longer worries about the competition but welcomes them. Your System will get stronger year after year.
Finally, The Toyota Production System is a 6+ Sigma System and there’s no reason how come your Military System cannot strive for that level of performance. The above list is but a short summary of how your future Military System will function.
Sincerely,
Jim FitzGerald
Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt
844-575-9210
Apply the Tools of The 6+ Sigma Toyota Production System to the Military System.