Introduction to Lean

Thinking

Glenn Ballard

Project Production Systems Laboratory

University of California, Berkeley

Glenn Ballard – a brief CVExperience

Pipefitter, Foreman, Construction Engineer, Productivity & Quality Specialist, Internal Management Consultant for Brown & Root and Bechtel

Independent Management Consultant. Clients include Petroleos de Venezuela, U.S. Dept. of Energy, Pacific Gas & Electric, Koch Refining, BAA (Heathrow Terminal 5), Channel Tunnel Rail Link (St. Pancras Station), Aera Energy, & Hess Oil

Current Position

Director, Project Production Systems Laboratory, UC Berkeley

Education

M.B.A. (Operations Management)

PhD (Civil Engineering)

Co-founder

International Group for Lean Construction (1993)

Lean Construction Institute (1997)

Project Production Systems Laboratory (2005)

What is

Lean?A management philosophy

defined by the ideal it pursues,the principles followed in pursuit

of the ideal, and the methods

used to implement the principles.

The Lean

IdealGive customers, internal and external, exactly

what they need to accomplish their purposes,

with no waste.

Paying Customers

Stakeholders

The next person in line

Customer Value

The Planet

What is “Value” in the Lean Ideal?

That has value for customers which enables them to achieve their objectives—the means to their ends.

What is “Waste” in the Lean Ideal?

The Japanese identify three types of waste:

• Muri: unevenness

• Mura: overburdening

• Muda: unnecessary

Ohno’s 7 Wastes (muda)• Overproduction

• Excessive Inventory

• Overprocessing

• Waiting• Workers or Equipment waiting for Work

• –Work waiting for Workers or Equipment

• Unnecessary Transport of

materials

• Unnecessary Motion

• Avoidable Defects

“Necessary waste”?

Sometimes what you would eliminate if you could, cannot be eliminated because it is ‘necessary’ at this moment for delivering value.

Several of the types of waste can be ‘necessary’ in this temporary sense; e.g., inspections, approvals, moving, earlier delivery than desirable to avoid the risk of late delivery, and so on.

Waste necessary at this moment is to be attacked and rendered unnecessary going forward—often by reducing the variation (unevenness) for which buffers of time, inventory or capacity are needed.

Principles that may

apply universally1. Base management decisions on long-term philosophy even at the

expense of short-term financial goals

2. Create continuous process flow to bring problems to the surface

3. Build a culture of stopping to fix problems to get quality right the first time

4. Standardized tasks are the foundation for continuous improvement and employee empowerment

5. Grow leaders who thoroughly understand the work, live the philosophy, and teach it to others

6. Go and see for yourself to thoroughly understand the situation

7. Make decisions by consensus, thoroughly considering all options; implement rapidly

8. Become a learning organization through relentless reflection and continuous improvement

9. Respect your employees and suppliers by challenging and helping them to develop their capabilities

From Jeffrey Liker’s The Toyota Way

Lean Methods for

Improving Processes

We do work through processes—

making proposals, collecting

money, paying bills, designing

bridges, constructing buildings,

judging legal cases, etc.

Following the lean ideal,

processes are improved by

increasing customer value and

by reducing waste.

From Evans, et al. 1998

Swimlane Diagram of the RFI Process for Placing Drawings

Prepare Architectural

Drawings

Prepare

Engineering

Drawings based on

Loads

Modify

Engineering

Drawings

Subcontract Detailing

to Fabricator

Subcontract Detailing

To Detailer

Prepare Details

Check details

& modify as

appropriate

Check details

& modify as

appropriate

Check details

& modify as

appropriate

Check details

& modify as

appropriate

Return modified

details to fabricator

Structural

Engineer

Architect

General

Contractor

Fabricator

Detailer

© 2005 Z.K.Rybkowski All rights reserved.

RFI Process for

Placing Drawings

Check RFI

& modify drawing as

appropriate

Structural

Engineer

LEAD

TIME

Question?:

What is the percentage of actual

processing time of an RFI

compared to the amount of time it

sits in someone’s In Tray waiting to

be processed?

PROCESS

TIME

© 2005 Z.K. Rybkowski and I.D.Tommelein

All rights reserved.

Sample

entry:

Lead

&me

(LT)

Time spent

to respond

to RFIs

(VAT)

Assumptions:

8 hour work days (weekends not deducted)

Sections of RFI log where time spent was not recorded

are not included in the calculation.

© 2005 Z.K. Rybkowski and I.D. TommeleinAll rights reserved.

TouchTime:

Cycle Time:

Resources

Expended:

Observe and Gather

Data• Walk the process

to see the flow

of items and

information.

• Record:...

VALUE STREAM MAPPING

•W hat it is—a way of making waste in a process

‘visible’

•W hy do it—to eliminate waste

•How do it—use swimlane diagrams for processes in which material or information bounce back and forth between workers. Use the circle format for processes in which material or information move forward through a series of steps without returning. Document touchtime, cycle time & resources expended in each process step.

Courtesy of Southland

Industries

Improvements

(sunbursts)• Work with supplier to package gasket kit with

porcelain toilet, not with carrier. Eliminates time wasted storing and searching for a part delivered long before needed.

• Coordinate use of man-lift to reduce waiting.

• Set up tool cart with all needed tools and parts

to reduce motion.

• Produce a Daily Work Checklist to reduce avoidable trips.

• Order adjustable nipple on toilet carrier to

eliminate measuring and cupng.

• Use cardboard box to prevent toilet use before plumbed. Ask supplier to stamp DO NOT USE on box.

Courtesy of Southland

Industries

Cycle Time:

Value-adding-Time:

From To

81.5 minutes 42.5 minutes

25% 39%

Measured Results

Cycle

Time:

Value-

adding-

Time:

From To

81.5 42.5minutes minutes

25% 39%

Measured Results

Small Group Break Out• With 3-5 people near you, discuss

the question: What processes in

your work could benefit from value

stream mapping?

• Write them down to share with the

group.

• I will check in with you after 3

minutes.

• Hold your questions for now.

Small Group Break Out

With 3-5 people near you, discuss the

question: What questions or

concerns do you have about applying

value stream mapping to your

processes?

Write them down so you can share. I

will check in with you after 5

minutes.

Learning from

Breakdowns and

ExperimentsGlenn Ballard

Project Production Systems Laboratory

University of California Berkeley

LearningLean organizations have the discipline

to impose artificial necessity upon

themselves, without waiting for

demands from customers or

challenges from competitors. This

capability, at the heart of continuous

improvement, is well expressed in

Taiichi Ohno’s advice to ‘Lower the

river to reveal the rocks’ (Ohno,

1988), another way to state the lean

principle: Create continuous process

flow to bring problems to the surface.

Suzuki’s Yets

Fast and smooth

ride

Super quiet

Elegant styling

Warm

Great high-speed A pleasant ride

handling/stability

Low fuel consumption

Light weight

Great aerodynamics

Functional interior

Walter Shewhart’s

PDCA Cycle

Plan

Act Do

Check

Plan 1. Form a testable hypothesis in the form

If A, then B.

2. Specify a current standard; i.e., a

basis of comparison.

3. Describe how and when the

experiment will be conducted.

4. Specify a follow-up plan; how the

experiment will be evaluated; what

will count as evidence that the new

method is superior to the previous

standard.

Plan-an example• Problem: I spend lots of time searching for documents

in my office.

• Hypothesis: If I organize my paper files and keep them

organized, I will spend less time looking for things.

• Basis of comparison: I have previously listed my paper

file folders, but have not kept the list updated. There are

piles of unfiled papers on various surfaces in my office.

I guesstimate that I spend 20 minutes a day searching

for documents.

• How the experiment will be conducted: 5S the office,

including file folder organizing. Complete by the end of

the day Sunday, July 27.

• Follow-up plan: Perform the experiment, then measure

how much time is spent each day searching for things.

Breakdowns…are deviations from target outcomes

…provide learning opportunities: Our

knowledge regarding <If A, then B> is

inadequate.

Types of breakdowns:

• Near misses, accidents, injuries

• Errors, defects, rework

• Broken promises, plan failures

A PDCA Cycle for Learning

from Breakdowns

Prevent

Analyze Detect

Correct

Prevent

Preventive action depends on our

understanding of causation; what causes

various types of breakdowns.

When breakdowns occur despite our

efforts to prevent, that tells us we have

something more to learn about cause and

effect.

Detect

When breakdowns do occur, we

want to detect them as close to

their point of origin as possible,

to contain the damage.

That is one of the good

arguments for small batches and

for self inspection.

Correct

Once detected, the first step is to

take corrective action.

For example, if we have an error

in a document, we correct the

error, retrieve previously

distributed copies, and replace

them with the corrected

document.

Analyze

But corrective action is not

enough if we want to prevent

reoccurrence.

We must analyze the breakdown

to understand why it happened in

order to understand causality and

find countermeasures—ACTions

we can take to prevent

reoccurrence.

Composite PDCA Cycle

Do

Act

Plan Detec

t

Correct

Check

Prevent

Analyze

What Key Points Did

You Hear?Arrange yourselves in 4 person groups, select a spokesperson to report out for the group, and first share and record on your flip charts the key points you heard in the presentation. I will check in with you after 3 minutes. When all tables are ready, report out.

What Questions Do You

Have?Working in the same groups, share and

record on your flip charts your questions

about the presentation. I will check in

with you after 5 minutes. When all tables

are ready, I will try to answer your

questions.