Introduction 1.4: Heavy Lean Principles

The practices of Heavy Lean were developed to address the specific process constraints associated with heavy parts and heavy machines.  However the primary principles of Heavy Lean are universal across all types of processes.

1.    Maximize value.

Any process converts inputs into outputs.  Inputs are the raw material of the process.  Outputs are the products or services created by the process.  Heavy Lean has an unrelenting focus on maximizing the value from the outputs of a process.

2.    Minimize waste.

Waste is the opposite of value.  An activity of a process may create any combination of value and waste.  Reducing waste is one method to achieve the first principle of Heavy Lean.  Minimizing waste also lowers costs by not paying to produce what no one wants.

3.    Achieve continuous flow.

The outputs of one activity of a process flow to become the inputs of the next.  Outputs flow to inputs across functional boundaries and even organizations.  One of the primary inventions of Heavy Lean is how to achieve continuous flow while maximizing value and minimizing waste.  Continuous flow produces more value faster with less waste.

4.    Pursue perfection.

Another invention of Heavy Lean is that perfection is possible.  New methods to increase value, lead to new methods to reduce waste, which in turn lead to new methods for achieving continuous flow.  Any enhancement resulting from the first three principles creates new opportunities to apply the other principles in the ongoing pursuit of perfection.

Figure I.1:  Spiraling in on Perfection

 

The definition of perfection cannot be known in advance.  It takes a journey.  Applying the principles of maximize value, minimize waste, and continuous flow defines each today what is possible tomorrow.

None of the Heavy Lean principles listed above specifies a practice for how to realize those principles.  Toyota developed practices based on the principles of Heavy Lean in the pursuit of perfection over the last 50+ years.  Those practices not only allowed Toyota to maximize value, minimize waste, and achieve continuous flow.  They also allowed Toyota to increase both employee and customer satisfaction, improve quality, reduce cost, and increase revenue year-after-year.^[i],[ii]

If only Heavy Lean practices weren’t so heavy.  The opportunities and constraints of heavy manufacturing processes are greatly different than those found in information intensive environments.  Information workers do not have the same operational characteristics as heavy machines or their operators.  Information does not have the same flow characteristics as heavy parts.  A different approach is needed to apply the principles of Heavy Lean to information-centric processes.

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[i]    James P. Womack, Daniel T. Jones and Daniel Roos, The Machine that Changed the World, HaperCollins  (1991) pg. 80

[ii]  Jeffery K. Liker, The Toyota Way, McGraw Hill (2004) pg. 5

Introduction 1.3: Heavy Manufacturing Constraints

There are constraints associated with any process that involves heavy machines and heavy parts.  The practices of heavy manufacturing must operate within those constraints.

1.    Heavy parts are hard to move.

Because heavy parts are hard to move they don’t have complex flows.  They follow a serial process where each activity is performed one after the other in sequence.  It is not easy to move heavy parts back and forth around the plant.  Nor is it possible to make copies of heavy parts. 

2.    Heavy parts are hard to misplace.

It is pretty easy to spot a heavy part.  They are very visible.  They don’t go missing very often.  It is obvious if a heavy part is not where it is supposed to be and because of its weight if it is not where it belongs chances are it didn’t get very far away.

3.    Heavy machines are hard to move, but once in place they stay there.

No one likes to move heavy machines around a plant.  It can be done but change is hard.  However if a change is necessary, heavy machines will move as required.  And once moved a heavy machine will not try to move back.  It will stay in place and do its job.

4.    Heavy machines just do what they are told.

The operation of a heavy machine is linear in nature.  A heavy machine does not care what changes are made to it or its surroundings.  Heavy machines are predictable.  For every action that occurs with a heavy machine there is a probable reaction.

5.    Heavy machines do only one thing at a time.

Heavy machines have a specific purpose.  They are poor at multi-tasking or doing multiple tasks at the same time.  It can be difficult for heavy machines to quickly switch from one activity to the next.  Once it is working, getting a heavy machine to perform a brand new task can be very challenging.

The constraints of heavy parts and heavy machines provide both advantages and disadvantages in the adoption of Heavy Lean practices.  The lack of complexity of heavy manufacturing processes enables current and future state improvement analysis to be performed in less than a week due to.  Many process enhancements can literally be done overnight.  Process changes can be performed without warning because the machines don’t care.

The disadvantage of a process with heavy parts and machines is the lack of flexibility to adapt to changes in the operational environment.  It is difficult to rapidly handle changes to the mix and volume of work or to the resources available to perform that work.  The multi-tasking of ad-hoc parallel processes by multiple independent interchangeable resources is not an option with heavy manufacturing. 

Heavy manufacturers perform well given the constraints of heavy parts and heavy machines.  The relative simplicity of that operational environment over one that includes primarily information intensive processes has its advantages.  But the opportunities and constraints associated with information processing are not the same as heavy manufacturing processes.  There is much to be learned in principle from manufacturers, but care must be taken to avoid the application of heavy manufacturing practices where they don’t fit.