Dear Manufacturing CEO:
Adopt the Toyota Production System for Manufacturing Excellence
“You have got to be prepared to take those risks or you … are never going to make that leap in life that you need to make to be a great leader” – Retired Admiral William McRaven.
Firstly, let me paint a picture of your future organization after implementing the expertise of the 6+ Sigma Toyota Production System. The advantages of a maniacal focus on process and system improvement.
- Everyone in the Manufacturing System is directed toward success
- The Manufacturing Organization Has Profound Knowledge of its System with Value Streams
- Everyone on the assembly line becomes a quality inspector through the use of andon:
- andon is the stoppage of a manufacturing process when a defect is detected,
- Use it to 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 andon stoppages.
- How come with andon, does Toyota not reduce defects to zero:
- Kata Continuous Improvement, Policy Propagation, and Realization:
- 11 Ideas per employee per year,
- All ideas in a Manufacturing System-controlled direction
- This creates a winning culture, and
- All this change leads to unintended defects.
- Kata Continuous Improvement, Policy Propagation, and Realization:
- Adopt Kanban or Toyota’s Pull Methodology
- Use Kanban to implement Lean Production
- Integrate with your Strategic Suppliers for Kanban linkages leading to Just-in-Time deliveries
- Using Toyota Production System tools utilizes 12 Competitive Advantages, and
- so on
Lean Six Sigma
- Consequently, implementing Lean Six Sigma to:
- Above all, increase process velocity,
- Decrease process costs, and
- Subsequently, increase process quality.
Get Credit for the Effort Performed
Apply for a Baldrige Performance Excellence Award for Process Excellence. Part of this process is self-reflection and part is to get feedback from the Baldridge Organization.
In Summary
The Toyota Production System is a 6+ Sigma System and there’s no reason a Manufacturing Organization cannot strive for that level of performance. Think about making progress toward a Malcolm Baldrige Award (indicating the realization of Operational Excellence, a competitive advantage). The above list is but a short summary of how your future Manufacturing Organization will function. The time to start is today.
Sincerely,
Jim FitzGerald
Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt
844-575-9210
Apply the Tools of The Six Sigma Toyota Production System to Manufacturers.
Build Your 6+ Sigma Manufacturing System.