How to Make The JIT/(Lean) Manufacturing Journey in a Change-Resistant Company

by Jim Cammarano, Certified Professional Consultant

"Unless you change direction, you will end up where you are headed." There are always obstacles to overcome whenever you implement change of any kind. You have to overcome the "inertia" factor which is the tendency to keep using the same methods even though they are no longer effective or efficient. In general, people get in their "comfort zone" and don't like to move out of it. Certainty is valued more than trail blazing in a new direction by many companies. Company "X" was in business more than 120 years and had a severe case of inertia. Little progress had been made in more than 40 years. The equipment was ancient and there was a kind of reverence for tradition that precluded any type of innovation. The management seemed to be caretakers of an artifact rather than actively pursuing continuous process improvement (CPI). Sometimes to accomplish something big, you have first start with something small. One of the first things I did was to save articles about JIT success stories and circulate them to managers on all levels. I did this over a period of months. Some people commented to me that they were intrigued by the idea of implementing JIT, others had a negative reaction to the articles. I then knew the potential allies in this venture and who were the skeptics. I worked to get the continued support of potential allies by answering their questions and keeping them updated with new information about JIT. The skeptics were divided into two groups; those that would never consider the JIT way because they thought it would invalidate the way they had run operations for 30 years and those that could be won over. I thought that the best way to convince the latter group was to show them through a pilot project how JIT would work with our products. We chose an area that was far out of the mainstream that was supervised by a foreman who was willing to give JIT a try. When you consider a pilot project, you should select one that you think has the best chance of being a quick success. The attitude of the foreman, and his staff are critical. If they are gung-ho, they will overcome many obstacles on their own. When I approached the pilot group that would launch our JIT journey, I called a brief meeting and told them they had been singled out as "hard chargers" who were known throughout the company. I explained to them that the future of the company was in their hands and that I had all the faith in the world in their abilities, so much so I was betting my job on it. That really inspired them. I found that this approach worked well. Even though the pilot project was a success and did shore up our support, some senior managers did not give backing to the effort including the Vice President of Manufacturing. One of the impediments I found was that JIT was perceived as a "Japanese" phenomenon. A few of the senior managers were against doing anything "Japanese." I pointed out to them statements by prominent Japanese JIT practitioners where they acknowledged that they were merely emulating Henry Ford's system of manufacturing! This swayed a few more folks to jump on the JIT bandwagon. A principle that I found invaluable, was "it is better to ask forgiveness than to ask for permission." Many JIT changes were implemented at the outset without senior management knowledge. I found that the ability to get things done, rested with line foremen, maintenance workers, and factory employees. Senior management rarely even visited the factory. Once in a while they would notice a change that they hadn't approved and would make a comment about it. They would also find that the foreman and the factory employees were happy with the changes. The departmental productivity increased greatly too and that was hard to dismiss. Senior management didn't ever reverse a single one of our changes. Working behind the scenes, definitely had its advantages. Within the JIT inner circle we called them "covert" operations. We implemented small changes slowly so no one really noticed what we were up to until it was too late to reverse our course. I made it a point to talk to everyone on all levels of the company. I asked factory personnel about "their problems." I realized that by solving "their" problems, they would give me support solving "my" problems. Often, their problems and mine were closely related. I took a tour through the plant at least four times a day just to observe the operations first hand and I spoke to over thirty people a day asking them how we could make their jobs better. I took notes of anything they told me on the spot. It showed them the importance I placed on their expertise and I took immediate action on their suggestions.

I progressively pushed the envelope of my authority to see what I could accomplish on my own. I enlisted others to do the same. I decided that since I would be held for responsible for my performance whether I followed management mandates or used my own ideas, I decided that I'd rather risk my future doing what I thought was right. Once we got the ball rolling, we followed a three-step process to initiate change: 1. We implemented a rigorous housekeeping program. We cleaned up the area so it sparkled like a jewel. Everything was organized and put away. There is nothing like a new white paint job to send the message that this is a new beginning. We fixed everything that was broken and got rid of anything that was extraneous. If we did not know if something would be needed "someday" it was stored in sealed packaging marked with a disposition date. 2. The second tool we implemented was "Kanban" to control work flow. Using Kanban immediately made a vast improvement in reducing work-in-process inventory and drastically cutting down product lead times. Revising the physical layout of each area was a major key to our success. We used "white" boards to communicate the daily schedule and hourly production for each work cell as part of our "visible systems." 3. I did train foremen in JIT but most of it was done on the job. If you train someone on a theoretical level, they may understand it but not how it applies to them or their operation. I would go into their department and work with them to implement change. After a while they were able to do this on their own. In fact, some of them really changed from being timid to being bold. I empowered them to make changes without asking me. I made a rule that if the change cost $100.00 or less, they could just do it. The foreman also began trading "war stories" and many times a solution developed in one area spread to several others. The key was to get people on ALL levels of the company to support JIT and to help them handle any obstacles that arose as a result of changed methods. One thing I heard over and over was "we always did it this way, why change it." The strategy I used was "this is just an experiment, if it doesn't work out we can always try something else or go back to the old way." I also made sure I was available to smooth out any problems. Another thing I did was to always incorporate the ideas of the factory personnel into the project. I treated them as collaborators and colleagues whereas before their ideas were not listened to and rarely tried out at all. Since I really listened to them, they became more and more receptive to my ideas. If they were reluctant to talk to me, I would say "you're the expert on this, I need your opinion. "I have found that this methodology of handling changes eliminates much of the initial resistance to new ideas. We adopted two main principles to promote process improvement. The first was the "Grinding Theory." We chipped away at problems, grinding away at them daily on a continuous basis. In this manner we made many small changes frequently rather than making large changes occasionally. By controlling the rate of change it was easier to gain acceptance of them. The second precept we utilized was the "Roughly Right principle." If an idea seemed roughly right, then we tried it. If it did not work out, we refined the solution or tried something else. We kept the action oriented spirit alive at all times. I had found that in the past, many problems had persisted for years because it took a mountain of "proof" and reports to be assembled before anything was given an honest try. We also became very sharp at keeping the costs of the changes down. We became world class scroungers and were very creative. I remember we traded in an old fork lift truck and rented a clamp truck with the proceeds. This move alone improved our material handling operation by more than 50% and reduced scrap. It is important not to raise any red flags by going over the budget. If you overestimate your projected expenditures and spend less, you will be a hero. If you underestimate and spend a dime more you will have to answer for it. I learned that when dealing with senior managers that the "packaging" of the idea is important. At my company their core belief was that improved on-time delivery of products would increase business. The senior management was against JIT, so I repackaged the idea as a way to increase on-time delivery of products. I also decided to sell the idea in increments. Instead of trying sell senior management on JIT as large, sweeping, company-wide projects, I first sold them on the idea of revising the layout of a small, relatively obscure production area. You have to find out what senior management will support and sell your ideas as complementary to theirs. If I had originally packaged JIT as the "operation on-time delivery" it would have gained acceptance much faster. To get you started, we offer a FREE initial consultation and project proposal to all prospective clients.

We never had an "official" implementation team, but I did have a small cadre of warriors who were very committed to JIT. I reasoned with them, either we make these changes and risk getting fired or we keep doing the same old things and the company will go under. Union problems did crop up. I stayed in close contact with union representatives and they came to trust me. I was sensitive to their perspective, and built a partnership with them. The union leader though was always trying to stir up trouble. Eventually the "bottom up" approach worked as it had with senior management. The factory personnel and the second level of union representatives came to support the changes. One thing to consider is that whenever you make a change, people will always ask "what's in it for me?". I told the union that due to JIT the employees would be greatly cross trained. This would not only make them more valuable to our company, they would become more marketable if they wanted a job from another company. The purpose of the cross training was to increase the flexibility of the employees to move from one area to another yet it did produce more skilled employees too. At one point, I was told I had 90 days to turn around the whole plant or the division would go out of business. One thing this did for us, was to create a real sense of urgency. We didn't have the time to form task forces, make elaborate implementation plans, and test out our ideas 100% before implementing them. Our only option was to work on the problems on a priority basis, take our best shot at it, and then smooth out the bumps as they came up. We couldn't afford to slow production down in the least while all of the changes were taking place. We did our best to anticipate problems and became very adept at putting out fires. The teamwork we had was extraordinary. Many of the changes happened on the fly. On Friday we were doing production one way and Monday morning, we were using an entirely new approach. We were always pushing the envelope to do better. In retrospect, our focus was on "getting the job done." We focused our energy entirely on the obstacles before us. This was a great advantage. In the past, we had sat in meetings for hours discussing problems but precious little time was spent in solving them. Problems had been pigeon holed as belonging to maintenance, engineering, or quality etc. I formed cross functional teams that solved problems as a group. Once I became the plant manager, I made all the foremen move out of their offices and onto the factory floor. They became more accessible to their work force and by working in the trenches they were no longer insulated from the reality of their departmental operations. Problems that had lingered for years were solved quickly. We installed trouble lights and the employees were instructed to turn them on. When there was a work stoppage, a revolving red light went on with a blaring siren. An entire crew of engineers, foremen, planners and mechanics rushed to the scene and worked on the problem until it was solved. I believed this worked on many levels. It made problems extremely visible and the employees were given reinforcement that we were now a team. Previously, anyone who brought up a problem was viewed as a "trouble maker." The reason I specifically wrote Lessons To Be Learned Just In Time was to help managers implement JIT even in a "change resistant" environment. I would encourage people not only to read my book, but to join organizations like the Institute of Industrial Engineers, to utilize the publications by Productivity Inc., and to build a network of "supporters" who can help you cope with the inevitable rough spots you will encounter. Visiting other plants is always a great way to learn. Even though the first few months were extremely tough, our jobs actually got easier over time. As we solved major problems of all types, previously ineffective production operations that had sapped our strength, were running smoothly and no longer required as much of our time. We were able to expand our horizons and continually refine our aggregate process rather than get beaten up by the same problems week after week. Lessons To Be Learned Just In Time 304 Pages, hardcover, 1997 ISBN 0-89806-162-8 Click here to order via Engineering and Management Press (Type "Lessons to be Learned" in the search box, then click on the GO! button) * IIE Member discount available only for orders placed with Engineering and Management Press OR Click here to order via Amazon.com