Open Letter to a Manufacturing CEO

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:
    1. andon is the stoppage of a manufacturing process when a defect is detected,
    2. Use it to continuously remove defects,
    3. Toyota still receives about 800 andon stops per year per manufacturing plant, and
    4. 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.
  • 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:
    1. Above all, increase process velocity,
    2. Decrease process costs, and
    3. 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

www.BuildYourTPS.com

www.LeanBusiness.co

www.World-Innovators.com

Apply the Tools of The Six Sigma Toyota Production System to Manufacturers.

Build Your 6+ Sigma Manufacturing System.