The “Soft-Side” of Lean Manufacturing: Ignore it at Your Own Peril!
by Thomas C. Walsh, PhD, President, Grenell Consulting Group

Attempting to implement lean manufacturing principles without investigating whether the organization’s structure, culture and design can and will support them is much like throwing grass seed on hard-pan soil; you may get some growth but the roots will not sink deeply and the lawn will not be lush. Not only that but you will need to pour extensive resources into the process to keep it going thereby reducing much of the benefits gained by the effort.

As an organizational consultant with numerous manufacturing clients and no technical background, I quickly discovered that I needed to have a rudimentary understanding of current manufacturing trends, including lean. I found the proponents of these trends fervent in their beliefs, systematic in their approach, and compelling in their data. I wondered why all manufacturers were not strong adapters of these powerful and proven methodologies. In my journey to become knowledgeable I learned some things I would like to share:
There is a hard side and a soft side to manufacturing. The hard side has to do with engineering, production, delivery, etc. This is the “core” work of manufacturers, what they are trained to do, like to do and are good at. Most lean initiatives lie in the “hard” category and many fail or derail due to this singularilty of focus.

The soft side has to do with organizational strategy, design and culture. There are thirty five key elements in these three areas that any company desiring to thrive long-term must pay attention to. (I will list only some of these in this brief article).

• Strategy refers to the future direction of the company, how it fares against competitors, how well it accomplishes goal setting, performance management, customer identification, service and retention. In all there are fourteen critical elements in strategic evolution
• Design refers to the overall infrastructure of the company and how easy it is to get things accomplished. Among the eight key drivers in this category are alignment of structure to meet the strategic goals, clarity of responsibilities and duties, required technology and others.
• Culture has to do with the feeling and tone of the organization. Is it a great place to work? Is it functional or dysfunctional? There are thirteen key variables in the culture assessment, including values credibility, management role modeling, team building, empowering, and change management.

These three dimensions, Strategy, Design and Culture, are usually not emphasized and focused on in most manufacturing companies. Seen too often as “soft and squishy,” versus doing the “real” work of production, they are ignored to company’s detriment. They are, we believe, central and critical to long-term success. Without attention to these, lean initiatives will not be rapidly adopted and executed, momentum will be lost and management will often be at cross-purposes with employees. In short, the lean initiative will not develop deep and lasting roots and much of the potential will be lost.

Lean manufacturing is scientifically based and about measurements and outcomes. It seems a pretty universal belief among lean manufacturing experts that the major deterrent to the successful implementation of lean manufacturing has to do with non-technical issues that cannot be “trained” out of the system; the “softer” issues of strategy, design and culture. Much progress has been made in quantifying the “softer” side and quantifying these thirty five key drivers and comparing the performance of organization against best practices of other companies. In other words, to become a truly effective, sustainable and lean manufacturer it is critical to measure your strategy, design and culture as well and create methodical improvements in these areas. Fortunately, we not only have a keener understanding of these issues but have ways to measure where any given company stands on these issues.

For further information on measuring and improving the strategy, design and culture of your organization, contact Tom Walsh.

Thomas Walsh, PhD, is President of Grenell Consulting Group, a regional firm specializing in maximizing the performance of organizations and their key contributors. For more information please visit www.grenell.com or email Tom at tcwalshphd@grenell.com