In November 2024, I went on my first Lean study trip to Japan. In my luggage, I had the question of why so many lean projects get derailed. Over the course of the trip, I collected three possible answers and published them on LinkedIn.
1.
Yesterday I think I found the first part of the answer. Imagine if Lean was counterintuitive. That would mean that adverse forces would slow it down. Like friction stopping a car. Then you need energy to keep moving. And now comes the quote of the day:
Motivation is another word for energy.
So if that were true, the key to success would be to have an engine that keeps everyone motivated. And whenever a Lean project fails, you better check the engine.😉
2.
I have probably found a second answer in that we in the West do not place enough emphasis on improving together. Or in seeing “work as training” as Ishida Baigan would have said. In Japanese culture, the pursuit of self realization by becoming a better self of oneself is considered the ultimate happiness. Perhaps this is the missing piece of the puzzle when we are trying to develop a lasting interest in continuous improvement.
3.
In my search for the reasons why so many lean projects derail, I have noticed something in the last few days that was not entirely obvious but seems important to me: All of the companies we visited, especially Toyota’s direct suppliers, have a very manageable number of technologies and a correspondingly homogeneous machine park. You could even say that they each have only a minimum of technologies and a limited scope of added value.
Why is this so important? Because in the western world we tend to do all operations ourselves – as it seems easier to control than external procurement – or because our engineers are extremely enthusiastic about looking for the next machine they can buy.😉 The result is a great deal of technological diversity, which is why products take very different paths, respective utilization fluctuates greatly, and the lack of transparency as well as the control effort skyrocket.
This means that largely waste-free lead times of 1-5 days cannot be achieved and the incentive for improvements decreases because the frequency of every abnormality is low, not to say singular. Companies whose menu does not fit on one page should not forget to focus and to reduce variety in order to really achieve shorter lead times and finally spot the results of their Lean activities in their bottom line.
