Tackle it
There may be plenty of ideas about what to improve but only so many resources to devote. To set priorities — which Morey identifies as his primary objective — he takes a few approaches.
“One is obviously to try to get some early wins so that people gain confidence in the process,” he says.
First, he looks for problems that come with quick, easy fixes. That’s a good way to begin a process as detailed as lean because it acquaints employees with the specific methods and tools used to analyze problems.
After you get a few successes, you can look for weaknesses that need improvement most. Using the theory of constraints, Morey visualizes the company’s operations as a steel chain stretched between two points.
“Think of each of the links in that chain as some process that you need to perform in order to turn an input into an output,” he says. “Eventually that chain will break. There is, by definition, only one weakest link that’s going to break first. The objective of theory of constraints and a lot of what we try to do when we are trying to implement lean is to identify: Where is that weakest link in our company? If we can identify and strengthen that weakest link, that then allows us to strengthen the overall performance of the company. Strengthening any link other than the weakest link does not strengthen the overall chain.”
One way to identify weak links is to look for substantial capital drains.
“Typically, the money and that weakest system are tied together very closely because that’s where your leaks are,” Morey says.
Tackling those improvements goes deeper than just looking at numbers.
“Much of that has to do with understanding your business, understanding your customers and understanding your people,” he says. “There’s no substitute for intimately understanding your business and what you do.”
Again, it goes back to your employees. Morey asks interdisciplinary teams to discuss solutions around a particular process. Internal experts with experience and knowledge in that area meet with people outside of the process that are affected by it — like employees from other departments, customers and suppliers.
If everyone gets a chance to share his or her varied perspectives, Morey has found that general consensus around a direction usually falls into place. But the ones he really cares about getting on board are the front-line employees who handle the process.
“It’s most important to have the people who are actually responsible for the system or the process and for implementing it, they’re the ones that really have to believe in the solution,” he says. “If they don’t believe in it, you’re not going to get very far.”
Fortunately, those same employees may even envision the solution. You just have to be open to the suggestion.
“Generally, they know how to fix it,” he says. “You just have to be willing to ask the question. You have to be willing to accept the truth. Sometimes it’s difficult to accept that your baby’s not necessarily as cute as you think it is, but that’s OK. The objective isn’t to be perfect; the objective is to continue to get better.”
HOW TO REACH: The Morey Corp., (630) 754-2300 or www.moreycorp.com
Read Morey Corp.’s lean blog: www.moreycorp.com/lean-into-it-blog
