Norman Bodek

We never know where the next great idea will come from, thus the challenge of management is to utilize everyone. This is a primary role of management: to challenge and help people find within themselves the creative ideas that will inspire them and move the company forward. In Japan there is a saying, “Can't we make things even one yen cheaper?” Although a yen is worth less than one penny, we need to squeeze our brains to make things cheaper because even one yen is important. However, that doesn't mean to buy cheaper materials, it means we need to focus our attention on the area around us and find ways to improve and make it better for ourselves and your fellow workers. Where to start—with you, of course!

In 1960, Toyota and other Japanese companies were noted for making junk. Americans laughed at the products coming from Japan; they were cheap, poorly made, and not at all a threat to American industry. It came time for the Japanese to make a choice. They had to set a long–term vision on improving the standard of living for their people, more importantly, they were willing to sacrifice the short–term for the long–term. They needed something to inspire their people to continually improve. With very little money, the Japanese sent tens of thousands of managers, engineers and workers to America to carefully study what American manufacturers were doing.  When they went back to Japan, they copied, almost literally, what they saw in America. By persevering through continuous improvement and making small changes every single day, they slowly rebuilt their society to where it is today. Yes, the secret is working hard and improving every day without letting up—without resting on your laurels. America was the world’s leader in innovation and productivity, but the Japanese, like the story of the tortoise and the hare, worked every day to improve while America fell asleep at the side of the road. Now is the time to wake up, because China, India, and other Asian countries are now making the same decision that Japan made years ago and we cannot stand by and watch.

Today, Toyota is the most successful manufacturing company in the world. Despite this, Mr. Okuda, the former chairman of Toyota, said, “Failure to change is a vice. I want everyone at Toyota to change and at the least to not be an obstacle for someone else who wants to change.” Ask yourself, are you changing something every single day? Are you willing to change something around you every day? Change means doing something better; can you look around your company and find one thing, one small thing, that you can change to make things better for yourself and for your associates? Look for small things and remember that even one penny is important. If you start with yourself and change every single day, your work will become much more interesting and exciting. Once you begin to consciously change, you encourage your fellow employees to do the same.

Here is a great story about innovation at Gulfstream Corporation in Mexicali, Mexico. In February, 2005 over 1000 people were asked to submit improvement ideas and only 16 of those ideas were implemented. After being introduced to a concept called Quick and Easy Kaizen, Gulfstream employees have submitted and implemented over 27,000 improvement ideas in the last 12 months. This is an example of what I call the Gateway to Innovation. Let us look at two more specific improvement ideas:

    * One worker had to spray paint one side of a metal plate. She would place a cardboard template on top of the plate and apply spray paint to it. Once in a while she would unthinkingly place the cardboard template upside down on the plate and spray it incorrectly. Being earnestly involved in the Quick and Easy Kaizen process, she thought about how to make sure  she would never repeat the same mistake. After a little thought she simply wrote the word “UP” onto the template. Now, when she placed the template onto the metal plate, the word “UP” stared her right in the face. She never made that mistake again.

   * In another example, two technicians would spend seven days wiring a single airplane. Standing in front of a large panel the size of the airplane’s wing, they would meticulously layout out all the wires. After seven days they would have to bend down and pull out 40 plugs or so from underneath the panels. At that point they would connect plugs to the test panel to make sure the wiring was correct. This process alone took over four hours. One of the women thought carefully about how she could make their work easier when a very simple but brilliant idea occurred to her. She simply took all the plugs with their wires attached from below the panel and hung them on top of the panel. Now, she and her colleague could easily and quickly pull the plugs onto the panel. The testing procedure was reduced to one hour. This idea saved 240 hours per year. Since there were 40 panels in the plant, the company could potentially save 9,600 hours from this one small idea.

This Gateway to Innovation rests upon management's ability to reveal the latent creativity lying within each worker. Ask yourself, how can you overcome your resistance to change and do as Gulfstream has? This innovation is so simple; Gulfstream only has one person leading their Quick and Easy Kaizen process. A worker identifies a problem and comes up with a solution that they can implement on their own or with a team member. They check with their supervisor and make the changes necessary—no bureaucracy at all.

How can management lead their Gateway to Innovation and inspire people to find the greatness within them? This is management’s main job, isn’t it—to inspire people to grow to their unlimited capabilities? Great leaders do this on the sports field by encouraging players to rise to the occasion and bring out the best that lies within them. Taiichi Ohno said, “Every manager should wash their hands at least three times a day,” meaning get on the shop floor to help people discover how to continuously improve. I'm not saying that you shouldn't be looking for that silver bullet. The good book says, “ask and thou shall receive,” the trick is knowing how to ask.

A few months ago I watched an interview of Tiger Woods after he won a major tournament. “Tiger, what do you plan to do now?” Tiger said, “I will go out and hit some more golf balls.” Even the greatest in the world doesn't stop practicing and looking for opportunities to improve. Great leaders need to inspire their employees to become their own Tiger Woods; every one of us should pick one thing and become the best in the world at doing that one thing.

The average Japanese company receives 24-implemented ideas per year, per employee and saves on average, $4,000 per year, per employee. American managers must find a way to establish a similar process in their company. Sure, Kaizen Blitz and Six Sigma are great but they are processes that only involve a limited number of people and are not done every single day. What you need is a mechanism that will inspire and encourage every worker to get on the “bandwagon,” and to look daily for ways to improve their work areas. Collectively, finding and implementing small improvement ideas will add up to your silver bullet.

A Great Discovery

A few years ago, I visited Mrs. Shigeo Shingo at her home in Fujisawa, Japan and she revealed a hidden treasure written by Dr. Shingo in 1958.  I scanned the book looking at the figures and made a commitment to publish the book in English.  With the encouragement of Collin McLoughlin of Enna Products Corporation, we moved forward to have the book translated and published in English.

When you read Kaizen and the Art of Creative Thinking, it reveals Dr. Shingo’s magnitude and influence he had as an architect to Toyota’s success. He set the foundation and mindset of the Toyota Production System by providing a clear understanding of processes and operations, the SMED system, Poka-Yoke (Mistake Proofing), and his ability to teach others how to correctly identify and solve problems.

A month before Dr. Shingo died we had lunch in a restaurant near his house. I asked him, “Who invented TPS/Lean, you or Ohno?” Without any hesitation he said, “I did, for I was Ohno’s teacher.” Mrs. Shingo confirmed this when she told me that it was Taiichi Ohno who called and asked Dr. Shingo to come and teach at Toyota. I am certain you will thoroughly enjoy the charm and wit of Dr. Shingo’s stories. He provides the models and frameworks to allow you to follow Toyota’s highly effective problem solving process. 

Note: On April 18th to 26th I, with the Institute of Lean Systems, will be leading a study mission to Japan—guaranteed to be a powerful learning experience.  Join me! Call me at 360-737-1883 for information.