In a world of finite resources and increasing demand, the need for businesses to adapt to and implement lean business strategies is more imperative now than ever. While some may have general knowledge of cutting out monotonous tasks and increasing operational efficiency, not all companies establish the right core values to fully take advantage of lean business strategies
The wood pallet industry is no exception to the benefits of lean business principles. With such a heavy reliance that supply chains place on wood pallets and the ubiquity of wood pallets, it is important to differentiate your operations by effectively using lean strategies. But to do so, one must establish a strong foundation in the form of guiding principles.
Developing these guiding principles gives employees and management a sense of “why” and the significance behind what they do. Furthermore, these tenets can serve as a reference to whether or not certain lean business ideas are worth adopting. In a recent interview with Pallet Enterprise, lean business expert Damon Baker, president and CEO of Lean Focus, explored the benefits of developing the right “Guiding Principles” when developing your lean approach.
Ginn: How did your consulting business establish these guiding principles? Were they agreed upon in discussion by higher-ups or were they brought about by all of your employees?
Baker: I can describe it like a potluck. People bring to a potluck supper different dishes. When you have all of them on the table, you have a complete meal. It started with our own experiences as a team, the Lean Focus team. We asked each other ‘Why were our previous organizations so successful?’ ‘What was the framework of the business that applied to how they made decisions, regardless of how well or poorly they were doing?’ We organized our ideas and stripped them down to ‘must haves’, ‘nice to have’, and ‘doesn’t apply’. What we were left with were the 14 ‘must haves.’ See the 14 critical principles in the sidebar on page 64.
Another criteria these 14 had was that regardless of industry and whether or not the ideas came from backgrounds of manufacturing or service business, would they still hold true in our current business? The principles had to cut across geography, culture, and business [type]. I like that these established principles are true all the time. I can observe them as behavior in all different sectors of business and ask ‘is leadership or frontline living this principle? Yes or no, and here are some examples.’ This creates a strong culture where all departments are thinking the right way and taking actions and behaviors that align with that thinking. In many organizations, there is a lack of awareness of these principles, leading to poorer decisions being made by not aligning with those principles.
Ginn: I took an interest in the Create Pull principle and attracting customers to come to you. What is the basis or reference for this principle? How do you create this pull to entice consumers?
Baker: We do not do any outreach. I don’t pick up the phone to call others and inquire if our clients know about lean and want to pursue a lean journey. That would be ‘push’. ‘Pull’ would be educating the market as to what lean is, talking about the problems that it solves and examples. On our LinkedIn page, we are trying to be thought leaders and show how improvements can be made using these [Lean] tools and thinking.
The first post on our company profile was one page about Heijunka, which is about leveling your production. We’re trying to inform and educate potential clients to react to our post with ‘Huh, I have that problem. It seems that Lean Focus knows how to solve that problem. Let’s reach out to Lean Focus.’ This would work better than me reaching out to customers, trying to figure out what their problems were with their individual business. They’re both just marketing tactics, Push and Pull.
Another example would be reaching out to existing clients with ideas that have worked with other customers or applications. What I tell people is that each lean transformation is different and is unique to each business we serve. Trying to go in with a cookie-cutter recipe may miss out on key aspects of the client, like company culture or priorities. Every one of our transformations is tailored to our client’s needs; that is Pull vs. Push. I am meeting you where you are, and I have established priorities based on the problems your business has at this point in time.
Ginn: Are these principles subject to change? Could some principles become obsolete with evolving technology and culture while others remain in place?
Baker: One of the criteria for our selected principles was that they had to be timeless. We had to imagine our business world in 25 years and ask ourselves, ‘Would any of these principles go out of style? Would something change in the world that would make these things unnecessary?’ I struggle to look at these 14 principles and imagine a time where a principle like ‘Mind vs. Wallet’ and ‘Standardize the Work’ would ever go out of style. The work is always improving; therefore, you need to keep standardizing it.
You can look at those 14 Guiding Principles and see all of them remaining applicable as time goes on. The only change that we have made is that we continue to build out the descriptions. We have PowerPoint presentations detailing all 14 of those points for people in sales, production and marketing. Having these presentations allows us to standardize and implement rules that are universal across all sectors of our work. In my eight years with the company, we haven’t had to change or alter any of the 14 principles.
Editor’s Note: Looking to motivate and educate your team on Lean Business Practices? Schedule Damon for a lean consulting or speaking engagement. Find out more at www.leanfocus.com or call (630) 800-8519.
14 Guiding Principles of Lean Focus
These are the 14 key values that Damon Baker and his team developed to guide his approach. How would these do in your organization?
- Kaizen Mindset – Small, incremental changes can lead to significant advancements over time.
- Continuous Flow – Emphasizes the uninterrupted movement of work through a process, aiming to minimize delays, bottlenecks and waste.
- Create Pull – Aligning production and delivery with actual customer demand rather than just pushing certain products.
- Level the Work – Seeks to balance and distribute the workload across teams or processes to achieve optimal efficiency and effectiveness.
- Stop & Fix – Promptly addressing issues and problems as they arise, rather than allowing them to escalate or persist.
- Standardize Work – Establishes clear, consistent, and documented processes and procedures within an organization.
- Visualize Problems – The guiding principle of “visualize problems” underscores the importance of making problems and challenges visible within an organization.
- Mind vs. Wallet – Advocates for a mindset that prioritizes frugality and resourcefulness over lavish spending on large-scale projects.
- Leaders Teach – Underscores the critical role of leadership in fostering a culture of learning, growth, and development within an organization.
- Develop People – Recognizes the critical importance of investing in and nurturing the capabilities and potential of individuals within an organization.
- Respect Others – Realizes the importance of treating all individuals with dignity, empathy and consideration.
- Go See Yourself – Prioritizes firsthand observation and direct engagement with the realities of a situation or process
- Eliminate Waste – Lean organizations seek to systematically identify and remove inefficiencies, redundancies, and non-value-added activities within processes and systems.
- High Expectations – Centers on setting ambitious goals, challenging the status quo and continuously striving for excellence.
Source: Lean Focus, www.leanfocus.com
