79. Long term impacts of Lean - Resilience of the Toyota Way

Feb. 20, 2018
Great blog today, "The Toyota Way or Entropy?" by David McKenzie, an economist at the World Bank, on the World Bank Development Impact blog. McKenzie takes the most typical criticism of any training, which is that it won't stick, and tests it. Specifically, McKenzie and co-authors Nicholas Bloom, Benn Eifert, Aprajit Mahajan, and John Roberts test whether an intensive management intervention in Indian textile weaving plants can be shown to have staying power. The simplified, contrasting possible outcomes are the“Toyota way” , with systems in place for measuring and monitoring operations and a continuous cycle of improvement vs. the alternative of entropy, or a gradual decline back into disorder. "One estimate by prominent consulting firm Boston Consulting Group, is that two-thirds of transformation initiatives ultimately fail." Fortunately, McKenzie et. al. find different results.

The study results shared in their new paper are somewhere in between the two outcomes described above. There is some entropy, but some improvements are "sticky", and even 8 years later are still in practice. In short, there was more persistence in management practices than the researchers anticipated. We (at Artisan) were most interested to see which practices were the ones that had staying power. They relate very closely to improvements in quality and inventory levels:

1. recording quality defects in a systematic manner (defect-wise); 
2. having a system for monitoring and disposing old stock; and 
3. carrying out preventative maintenance.

We're excited to see this list, as #1 and #3 have been key success areas in the Lean at Origin two-year pilot project carried out at washing stations in Rwanda and Burundi.
#1 - recording quality defects in a systematic manner: In a washing station in Rwanda, the first "big KAIZEN" a work team addressed was to devise a way to measure the defects coming out of the depulping machine. At the very least, monitoring the level of defects alerts the machinist as to when he needs to adjust the discs. In an advanced scenario, the level of defects after the depulper can be an indicator of the overall quality of the cherry the washing station is receiving. This has important implications for farmer education and washing station profits to the extent that revenue is dependent on quality.

#3 preventative maintenance: At a dry mill in Burundi, the operations manager recognized right away how impactful a program of regular maintenance could be for the depulping machines at the 30-some washing station delivering parchment to their mill. No doubt, he also recognized how the quality of the parchment from these 30 washing stations would be improved if machine down-time became less of an issue.

#1 - photos of recording quality defects in a systematic manner at KOPAKAMA:

Devising the "3 cup metric" for depulper defects.

Basin of A3 beans - machinist wants to know when the % of cut beans spikes.

Devising the "3 cup" metric for depulper defects.

Three samples taken each night - beginning, middle and end of shift.

#3: HOROMAMA dry mill plans to implement preventative maintenance at washing stations like Dusangirijambo and 29 others.

Giving Dusangirijambo a new digital scale.

66. Leat at Origin Training in Kayanza, Burundi

Jan. 31 - Feb. 3, 2017
COCOCA is an umbrella organization of about 32 cooperatives in Burundi. Dusangirijambo is one of the most innovative and energetic among the group. The Dusangirijambo president is Rémége NZOBIRINDA.

They are a warm and friendly people, welcoming me on the day I arrived with an awesome performance by a drum & dance group! Some of the drummer/dancers were boys, maybe 12 years old. Very talented! And most of them, I was told, are coffee farmers.

Dusangirijambo organized a fantastic drum & dance performance for my welcome!

I enjoyed my week with this cooperative so much. The first day we scoped out how I would teach in their "reception building", the concrete block pavilion where farmers bring their cherry in bags to have them weighed, and then the bags are emptied into big, waiting concrete tanks. Fortunately, I had been warned there would be no electricity at this location, so I was not expecting to be able to use a powerpoint projector. I had printed key slides onto flipchart size paper and John (my husband) had rigged up a special hanger for the flipcharts that only required one, or if possible, two nails to hang!

One-room school house.

Leadership Training: The first two days were with the leadership of Dusangirijambo. The leadership training went well. We covered the concepts of Lean, like "Lean is not Mean", "flow" and the all-important, "9 wastes." The group enjoyed the practice exercises like "6S scoring" and an airplane production simulation.

Leadership Training, Jan. 31 & Feb. 1

Supervisor Training: The second two days were with the supervisor level and more of the workers. I gave a brief introduction to the key concepts, like the 9 wastes, and then we jumped into preparing to implement their first KAIZEN. Most of the second day was spent in their teams, working on the following three projects:
Team 1. Increase space on drying tables for coffee by 10%
Team 2. Increase skill of management of the drying tables (this area has the most employees)
Team 3. Double the space where the dry coffee is stored (warehouse).

Supervisor Training, Feb. 2 & 3

Results of KAIZEN events
The results of these "first time" KAIZEN projects were modest. Despite my over-emphasis and constant reminders that KAIZEN is about action, not talk, it is not easy to break through the cultural barriers of "who does which work." And, unfortunately, we really did not have much time. They had about 2 hours instead of a full day to work on implementation.

For example, team 1, tasked with increasing capacity of the tables, recommended a place where 70 more tables should be built. All around us on this day there were teams of builders re-building the current drying tables and these workers had been hired to do that job. So it just felt too strange to my Lean class members to start doing the same job these others were being paid to do, right along side them.

But, in this case, there was also a break-through moment. A senior leader said, "what if we just make sure we remove the coffee from the tables at exactly the right time?" It was brilliant! Everyone agreed and suddenly everyone was understanding what we meant about improving the "flow" of material. It was agreed that the cooperative would save about 700,000 BUF (the cost of 70 tables, about $440) if the improved timing worked as well as they hoped.

Team 2 did an excellent job discussing the metrics that a manager of the drying table staff could implement to monitor and control capacity and quality.

Team 3 made a checklist for the area (a big improvement) and included concepts of safety (one of the 9 wastes) and straightening (one of the 6S areas). Overall, though they were  too much "thinking in the box," though, proposing to raise the roof of the warehouse 8 meters to make more space at a cost of 10 million BUF (~ $7,000). When I reminded them, "there's no budget", then a breakthrough idea came! "Maybe we could have the trucks come to pick up the coffee more frequently. We own the trucks, so it is not very expensive." It was a "eureka!" moment.

Most of them understood how important this lean concept was, of keeping the flow going, eliminating the "waste" of stoppage and waiting. But to drive it home I said, "how many would like to have 10 million BUF more in the cooperative budget when it comes time to pay bonuses at the end of the season?" Everyone raised their hand with enthusiasm! I believe we then had 100% comprehension of why the cooperative should implement Lean.

KAIZEN Team 1 - Increase space on drying tables by 10%.

KAIZEN Team 2 - Increase skills of management of drying tables area.

KAIZEN Team 3: Double the space where the coffee will be stored.

Ruth and Jean Bosco NKURIKIYE (translator) co-teaching

Class in session.