Progressive Lean: The Overall Idea of It, Part Three
In my last two posts, I laid some of the foundations for this discussion of Progressive Lean. This time I'm going to talk about what I see as the benefits of Progressive Lean.
The first advantage is that it provides companies with a step-by-step, "here's what you do first, here's what you do after that" approach. Now, I now that sounds kind of like a sales pitch but a problem I've seen with most lean literature and presentations is that they cover a lot of ground but don't do a good job of answering the question, "OK, but how do I get started? What do I do next Monday to get it off the ground? Then what will I do next? And after that?" Progressive Lean answers those questions. It doesn't throw a bunch of Japanese terms at you, then figure you know everything you need to know to be an effective "sensei". (Geez, does that term bug me.)
Further, it starts with basic, comparatively easy methods, then works it's way toward the harder ones. (I say "comparatively" because the culture change required to sustain the deployment of even the most straightforward of the methods will be a challenge.)
Another advantage is that it locks in the gains from each phase before moving on to the next. (That said, as we'll discuss, the phases have flexibility; there's no "We can't get to that problem yet because we're not to that phase," aspect to all this.)
The Progressive Lean approach can be applied in pretty much any manufacturing setting, however large or small, whatever the product. Different tools and methods will be applicable in different setting but the phases that contain them stay pretty much the same. (I haven't tried Progressive Lean in non-manufacturing settings but I'd imagine it would work there as well. I'm just not sure how "pull scheduling" translates.)
The approach is also flexible with respect to the tools that it incorporates. It does lean heavily on 5S, especially at the start, and assumes that visual controls, leader standard work, operator standard work, value stream mapping, and team problem solving will be a part of any implementation. As for Six Sigma, poka yoke, kanban, heijunka, etc., etc., it definitely allows and encourages their use but doesn't require it.
The primary advantage, in my view? It uncovers and addresses culture change challenges early in the process, when the company is working on the simpler methods. If you've attempted to implement agile/lean methods, you know that culture change is the most difficult part of it. If you haven't made the attempt, you'll learn that this is the case. It's far better, in my experience, to be addressing culture change issues while implementing Sort and Shine before you get around to, say, pull systems and cell creation.
Does Progressive Lean have any disadvantages?
Honestly, none in particular that I've run into so far.
A client that was especially eager to use one method or another out of phase ("When are we going to get to do value stream mapping?" "What about this Six Sigma I keep hearing about?") but there's nothing that says you can't do that sort of thing. At a present client, they're doing value stream maps and kaizens at the same time they're doing sort and shine.
The first advantage is that it provides companies with a step-by-step, "here's what you do first, here's what you do after that" approach. Now, I now that sounds kind of like a sales pitch but a problem I've seen with most lean literature and presentations is that they cover a lot of ground but don't do a good job of answering the question, "OK, but how do I get started? What do I do next Monday to get it off the ground? Then what will I do next? And after that?" Progressive Lean answers those questions. It doesn't throw a bunch of Japanese terms at you, then figure you know everything you need to know to be an effective "sensei". (Geez, does that term bug me.)
Further, it starts with basic, comparatively easy methods, then works it's way toward the harder ones. (I say "comparatively" because the culture change required to sustain the deployment of even the most straightforward of the methods will be a challenge.)
Another advantage is that it locks in the gains from each phase before moving on to the next. (That said, as we'll discuss, the phases have flexibility; there's no "We can't get to that problem yet because we're not to that phase," aspect to all this.)
The Progressive Lean approach can be applied in pretty much any manufacturing setting, however large or small, whatever the product. Different tools and methods will be applicable in different setting but the phases that contain them stay pretty much the same. (I haven't tried Progressive Lean in non-manufacturing settings but I'd imagine it would work there as well. I'm just not sure how "pull scheduling" translates.)
The approach is also flexible with respect to the tools that it incorporates. It does lean heavily on 5S, especially at the start, and assumes that visual controls, leader standard work, operator standard work, value stream mapping, and team problem solving will be a part of any implementation. As for Six Sigma, poka yoke, kanban, heijunka, etc., etc., it definitely allows and encourages their use but doesn't require it.
The primary advantage, in my view? It uncovers and addresses culture change challenges early in the process, when the company is working on the simpler methods. If you've attempted to implement agile/lean methods, you know that culture change is the most difficult part of it. If you haven't made the attempt, you'll learn that this is the case. It's far better, in my experience, to be addressing culture change issues while implementing Sort and Shine before you get around to, say, pull systems and cell creation.
Does Progressive Lean have any disadvantages?
Honestly, none in particular that I've run into so far.
A client that was especially eager to use one method or another out of phase ("When are we going to get to do value stream mapping?" "What about this Six Sigma I keep hearing about?") but there's nothing that says you can't do that sort of thing. At a present client, they're doing value stream maps and kaizens at the same time they're doing sort and shine.
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