PDCA – Plan, Do, Check, Act…link Problem Solving to it for World Class

As western thinkers, we sometimes have trouble understanding how cycles apply to execution.  When we think execution, we think: start, do, finish. We are linear thinkers.  Yet, we all know how cycles work in practice:  seasons come, go and come again; trips start with us going and end with us coming.  With the disparity between what we know and what we apply, how can we western thinkers begin to develop muscle memory for PDCA?

Little pDCA: Weak Planning? Or Weak Perception?

I often ask people where the PDCA cycle starts.  It’s a trick question! Cycles don’t start or end.  They are. We can simple become aware of where we are in the cycle.  Once aware of where we are in the cycle, we can control a few things…we can slow things down.  This is where planning for PDCA comes into play.  Let’s illustrate this by example.  I make oatmeal every day for breakfast.  Depending on where I am in time and space, I can determine my coordinates in the PDCA cycle.  I’m writing this at about 15:48 EST. The hours have elapsed since I made my porridge.  Where am I in the PDCA cycle? I’m somewhere between DO and PLAN. Maybe I am CHECKING or maybe I am at ACT or ADJUST.  My standard for oatmeal is simple:  hot, sweet and salty, and must not drop from my spoon when I turn it upside down…ever.  Truthfully, I don’t really think about today’s oatmeal until tomorrow, when I am preparing it.  I remember that I added too much salt, or too much honey or too much water.  I am checking.  I am adjusting.

Adding a Pinch of Problem Solving to my PDCA

Imagine if I did some problem solving one day; imagine if I linked my problem solving to my PDCA cycle.  When I check and I find it out of standard, what if I asked why five times?  Why is it too sweet? Too much honey.  Why was there too much honey? I use my semi-calibrated eyeballs and not a measuring spoon.  Why? There is no measurement to make.  Why? Because there is no standard recipe. The next day I can experiment with a standard measurement of honey.  Then check again. And adjust.

The power of the PDCA cycle is elegant and simple, yet we miss it frequently.  For example, note that the problem solving in my example is a form of the PDCA cycle.  Now I have two PDCA cycles linked at the CHECK. This creates a strong bond between the human and the operational functions of an organization.  The improvement and the problem are where people and process come together.

Here are a few tips to develop your PDCA muscles:

1. See the PDCA cycle in the System components: problem solving, suggestions, daily meetings, monthly meetings…all cycles.

2. Start with Problem Solving to learn PDCA.  Your eyes will open to the applications all around you.

3. Focus on Checks: are they missing, weak, or lack standards? See more on broken PDCA Cycles.

4. Learn to perceive your coordinates in the System by perceiving where you are in the PDCA cycle.

Online Institute for Operational Excellence

An introduction to KCOE’s Online Institute

KCOE has developed an Online Institute for Operational Excellence that will provide users with:

• access to KCOE’s material and resources
• the ability to connect with others
• shared learning
• information about Institute events held on campus at Saint Vincent College

When?

Where?

Cost?

Cultural Change Workshop

Date: March 13 & 14, 2012

Purpose of Cultural Change:

The purpose of this 2-day Cultural Change Workshop is to introduce attendees to the first phase of the KCOE System of Operational Excellence: Engaging People, Cultural Change.

Who should attend?

If you’re a leader (top level or middle management) that understands culture is the key to success for both your continuous improvement efforts and business as a whole, AND you want to learn KCOE’s cultural change model and system, this event is for you.

What will you learn?

During this workshop you will learn cultural change tools that will help you and your team build a continuous improvement framework to sustain results.  Another ways to think about it: you need to build a foundation on which your lean system can work. Our framework is that foundation.

Agenda:

Cultural Change Day 1

• Introduction to Operational Excellence
• Mission, Values and Vision
• Balanced Scorecard
• Daily Meetings
• Problem Solving

Cultural Change Day 2

Cost?

A sticky situation

Have to Fire People who are “Poor Performers”?

Look in the Mirror First

I’ve been in the midst of a Twitter debate over the past day because I posted a Business Week article by Liz Ryan that posited, “Real Leaders Don’t Fire People.”  Many people agreed with Ryan’s principle.  I am in that camp.  I’ve heard my mentor who taught us how to change culture to get lean to work say hundreds of times, “I never had to fire people.”  Our perspective on this issue is two fold.

Fire People or Fire Yourself?

First, acknowledge who’s in charge.  If you have the authority to fire people, you probably have the authority to create a culture for success. If your team isn’t succeeding, it is your fault. If someone on your team isn’t succeeding, it is your fault. We tell our teams that the key leadership questions are, “Where do I need to be today?” in order to answer the second question, “How can I help you succeed?” If you are looking for blame in a situation, start with the person you saw in the mirror this morning. Ryan opines, “If we didn’t hire them, we inherited them from another manager or got them into our crews by way of acquisition, and we’ve kept them on the payroll through the current day at our own discretion. In other words, we own them.”[1]

Fire People: the Dissenting Majority

I looked hard for a dissenting opinion on this point.  Using a simple web search, I found a blogger who went as far as saying that if you never fire people, “Then you’re not leading.”[2] In fact, this blogger’s title is the exact antithesis of Ryan’s.  His title is: Great Leadership: Real Leaders Fire Under-performers. Using the “underperformance” argument, the blogger applauds terminations and the old adage, “Hire slowly. Fire people  quickly.”

Interesting thought: how are you measuring performance?  How do you know someone who is worthy to be fired? Criminal acts are a reason.  Gross negligence of safety rules might be another. But even with “gross negligence”, a wise leader has to ask himself how things like that happen.

Fire People or Get Rid of Blaming

Our second perspective helps leaders understand where to focus their efforts. When we teach problem solving we coach first individuals then teams to focus on the process, not the person. Blame is endemic among most organizations.  I’d go one step further.  It is endemic in all organizations.  The threat of blame is a great fear among many people.  What if the process was to blame?  Who would be responsible for the process?

 Another look in the mirror should do it.  Thanks.

Peter Drucker once said, “So much of what we call management consists in making it difficult for people to work.” Agreed.  Don’t fire people; instead, lead.

Lean 101 Workshop

Date: January 10 & 11, 2012

Purpose of Lean 101:

Who Should Attend:

Any member of the organization, both team leaders and team members, who are currently or will be using lean tools.

Agenda:

Lean 101 Day 1

• Culture and Leadership
• Stability
• Value and Waste
• Continuous Flow
• Kanban
• Teamwork
• Standardization
• Visual Management
• Lean and Pull Production

Lean 101 Day 2

• Problem Solving
• Error Proofing
• Setup Reduction
• Total Preventative Maintenance
• Value Stream Mapping
• Andon
• Kaizen

When?

Lean 101 is January 10 & 11, 2012 from 8:00am – 3:00pm

Where?

Lean 101 is held at the Fred M. Rogers Center at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, PA.

Cost?

The Institute Workshop is $495 per person.

Last Lean 101 workshop.

Click here to register for the event. For questions or more information, please visit www.operationalexcellence.com or call the office at 724.805.2142

Dr. Richard Kunkle Presents at Lean Education Academic Network

The 6^th annual Lean Education Academic Network in association with MIT and the University of Alabama in Huntsville was held in Huntsville, AL from 29 Sep-1 Oct, 2011.  Dr. Richard F. Kunkle delivered two presentations and was selected to a panel of colleagues to discuss Integration of Lean across Curricula.  Organizations including MIT, Univ. of Alabama-Huntsville, Ohio State University, University of Michigan, Auburn University, University of Kentucky, Old Dominion University, Loyola Marymount, University of Southern California and many others including participants from China and Mexico were in attendance.

Dr. Kunkle delivered a presentation entitled, “Teaching Cultural Change at the Graduate and Undergraduate Level.”  The presentation described the pedagogy involved in teaching students how and why to lead cultural change in an organization to develop a culture of Mutual Trust and Respect between leaders and front line employees.  This class has been very successful with doubling of class enrollment over the last year.

Dr. Kunkle also presented a program on the, “Success of the Cultural Change First Model in Healthcare.”  This presentation described the implementation of the cultural change first model in a Cardiovascular Surgery Value Stream.  Both the techniques and the outcomes were elucidated which resulted in this “Greenfield Initiative” being selected as one of the top fifty Cardiovascular Surgery groups in the nation within 2 years after initiating the program and consistently performing well above the Society of Thoracic Surgeons’ Database means.

The Panel Discussion on which Dr. Kunkle participated was entitled, “Integration of Lean across Curricula.”  Dr. Kunkle was joined on the panel by members from Ohio State University and University of Alabama at Huntsville.  Dr. Kunkle shared the integration of Operational Excellence content that we have been able to achieve at Saint Vincent through the dedicated and enthusiastic support of fellow Saint Vincent faculty including Mark Abramovic, Jeff Goodwin, Bill Hisker, Tom Cline and Bob Markley as well as others.  We have integrated Operational Excellence into our MIS courses, Finance and Accounting, Marketing and Strategic Management.  We continue to expand our integration to proposed courses including, Advanced Statistical Process Control, and Advanced Quantitative OE and Simulation.

Dr. Kunkle has been elected to the Planning Committee of Lean Education Academic Network for next year.  Our next meeting will be held in Norfolk, VA at Old Dominion University in Sep 2012.

For more information about Dr. Kunkle’s participation in the conference or either the graduate or undergraduate academic programs, please give KCOE a call at 724.805.2142 or by email.

The OE System| Infrastructure Strategy

Click to Register (Details at bottom)

After your organization has shifted from the current culture to a culture of Operational Excellence – it’s time to begin planning for the Implementation Phase.  The Implementation Phase of the Operational Excellence System includes lean tools such as one-piece flow, kanbans, andons, and standard work.  Now that your organization understands the surface of operational components such as kanban and andon, as well as human components such as team work and problem solving – you should begin to plan your strategy for organizational structure and infrastructure.

The two Operational Excellence System components that pull an organization from Phase 1 to Phase 2 of Operational Excellence include Infrastructure Strategy and Organizational Strategy.

About Infrastructure Strategy

The objectives of infrastructure strategy include being a world-class organization, supporting and meeting operational objectives, and meeting the planned business case.  This is done by meeting or exceeding the balanced scorecard objectives, achieving a culture of mutual trust and respect, and being recognized by all customers as a benchmark.  Infrastructure strategy is supported by earlier OE components in that there should be process stability, manpower stability, increased productivity, one piece flow, and a continuous improvement culture.

When planning the infrastructure strategy there are a few business considerations.  Developing an infrastructure strategy should help your organization reduce space utilization, turn inventory more frequently, solidify material flows, and increase asset utilization.  It is required that an organization must have a business strategy that supports long-term objectives by having a clear understanding of the core business, business closely related to the core, non-core business, and customer required non-core business.

About the Deep Learning Forum on Infrastructure Strategy

During this Deep Learning Forum attendees will learn key components of infrastructure strategy, including master plans that must be developed, considerations before, during, and after infrastructure strategy, and how your company can begin developing your infrastructure strategy.

DATE: November 16, 2011
TIME: 8:00AM – 12:00PM
LOCATION: Fred M. Rogers Center, Saint Vincent College
TOPIC: ”Infrastructure Strategy”
COST: FREE to Institute Members & $50 to non-Institute Members

Click to Register

Infrastructure Strategy

On Tuesday October 18, KCOE held its 8th annual North American Operational Excellence Summit at Saint Vincent College.

The topic of this year’s conference was “The Spark: Igniting an Excellent Culture.”

The Summit began with its traditional Pre-Summit Dinner which was held the evening before and featured Eric Kulikowski of Philips Respironics. Tuesday’s keynote presentations featured Scott Becker, the CEO of Conemaugh Health System and Dany Paradis, the VP of Change Management and Supply Chain at Fibrek.

Breakout speakers at the Summit included Brian Wilmoth and Dewey Ice of Fibrek’s Fairmont division, David Marshall the Lean Development Manager at Signature Healthcare, Peggy Hayden, and KCOE’s own Rodger Lewis.

Photos from the Summit

Video from the Summit

Photos from the Pre-Summit Dinner

Community Leadership Award

The Saint Vincent College Center for Operational Excellence Community Leadership Award recognizes an individual whose leadership has made a significant impact in his / her community.

The mission of KCOE is engaging organizations to help them achieve world-class performance. Our core values are:

1. People matter, a lot (mutual trust and respect, all around)

2. Make it better than you found it (constant improvement is part of my job).

Boniface Wimmer

To whom is the Community Leadership Award awarded?

The award is for an individual who exudes mutual trust and respect and who believes that “continuous improvement is not only a part of my job, but a part of my life.” This individual is leading his or her organization not only to a profitable bottom line, but to profit the community, serve the community, and make the community a better place to live and work.

Why the Community Leadership Award?

Our vision is to start and sustain a movement that causes every person in every organization to feel like world champions.

The Community Leadership Award showcases individual excellence in leadership as demonstrated by outstanding initiative, impact of work, and inspiration of others. With each award, KCOE, through the Institute for Operational Excellence, publicly affirms present achievements, seeks to encourage further work, and hopes to motivate others to follow their lead by empowering individuals to be a community of world champions.

When will the first Community Leadership Award be given?

The Community Leadership Award will be granted at KCOE’s North American Operational Excellence Summit Dinner on October 17, 2011.  The Summit Dinner is an Institute-only event where great minds and great steering committees who are implementing operational excellence system will convene prior to the North American Operational Excellence Summit to take place on October, 18, 2011.