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My guest for Episode #520 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Bill Remy, CEO of TBM Consulting.
Bill is both an accomplished business executive and leader who is frequently called upon for his credible voice, honesty, and pragmatism — and for his ability to leverage operational excellence and continuous improvement for long-term profitable growth.
As former president of Thayer Aerospace, Bill doubled revenue in six years, expanded into Mexico, improved profitability, and increased inventory turns. He integrated the supply chain into a web-based pull system, consolidated divisions, and implemented an ERP system.
Earlier in his career, Bill held progressively responsible roles in operations, including Vice President of Continuous Improvement at Invensys, Vice President of Operations at Learjet/Bombardier, Production Manager at Lockheed Arizona Missile Facility, and Materials Manager at Allied-Signal Aerospace.
Bill holds both a Master of Science and Bachelor of Science degrees in Industrial Engineering from Oklahoma State University. He serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors for Pancon Corporation and on the Oklahoma State University /deans Advisory Board for the College of Engineering. He has over 25 years of leadership experience in general management and manufacturing operations.
In this episode, we discuss the transformative power of Lean leadership and operational excellence. Bill shares insights from his extensive career, including how he first encountered Lean principles at Allied Signal and the dramatic improvements achieved through lead time reduction and flow.
We explore the critical role of communication and employee involvement in overcoming resistance to change, the deep connection between safety and quality, and the importance of leadership in both driving transformation and sustaining long-term improvement.
Bill outlines TBM’s four-phase framework for turning around operations, emphasizing the need for a holistic evaluation of people, processes, and performance metrics. Finally, we reflect on how organizations can leverage Lean as a strategic advantage to drive growth and profitability while fostering a culture of continuous improvement.
Questions, Notes, and Highlights:
- What’s your Lean origin story? How did you first learn about Lean, and what drew you to it?
- Can you describe the initial transformation you led at Allied Signal, focusing on lead time reduction and flow?
- How did you address resistance to change when implementing the model line at Allied Signal?
- How did you ensure communication and involvement during that transformation?
- Can you elaborate on the connection between safety and quality and how improving one supports the other?
- How do you help leaders recognize that safety performance can improve significantly, even if zero injuries seems aspirational?
- Have you seen Lean improve relationships between management and employees, especially where trust was broken?
- What have you learned over time about the cultural and technical aspects of standard work?
- How do you balance moving toward one-piece flow without overwhelming a system that isn’t ready for it yet?
- How do you distinguish between a one-off performance issue and a sign of deeper trouble? How do you address it?
- What qualities or mindsets do leaders need to lead both Lean transformations and long-term sustainment?
- What’s the difference between leaders who are effective in transitions versus those who excel in sustaining improvement?
- How does TBM Consulting evaluate the state of a plant during a turnaround? What does the assessment process involve?
- Can you outline the four phases of turning around operations and share an example of how this approach was applied?
- How do you prioritize improvement work when constrained by resources, like capex or time?
- What warning signs indicate a plant is in trouble, and how do you help organizations prevent further decline?
- How does TBM Consulting differentiate itself in helping businesses use operational excellence as a strategic advantage?
- What insights have you gained about Lean from your career as both a practitioner and a consultant?
- What’s the origin story of TBM Consulting, and how has its focus evolved over time?
- How do you integrate leadership development into Lean practices for long-term success?
The podcast is brought to you by Stiles Associates, the premier executive search firm specializing in the placement of Lean Transformation executives. With a track record of success spanning over 30 years, it’s been the trusted partner for the manufacturing, private equity, and healthcare sectors. Learn more.
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Automated Transcript (Not Guaranteed to be Defect Free)
Mark Graban:
Hi, welcome to Lean Blog Interviews. I’m your host, Mark Graban and we’re joined today. Our guest is Bill Remy. He is the CEO of TBM Consulting. Bill is an accomplished business executive and leader who is frequently called upon for his credible voice, honesty, pragmatism, and his ability to leverage operational excellence and continuous improvement for long term, profitable growth.
Mark Graban:
Bill was previously president of Thayer Aerospace. As president, Bill doubled revenue in six years, expanded into Mexico, improved profitability and inventory turns. He integrated the supply chain into a web-based pull system, consolidated divisions, and implemented an ERP system. So, Bill, before I tell everyone a little bit more about you, welcome to the podcast. How are you?
Bill Remy:
Good, good, thank you, Mark. It’s great to be here.
Mark Graban:
I got tripped up. As a former manufacturing guy, I know the letters ERP, but working in healthcare a lot now, my, my lips wanted to stop after er.
Bill Remy:
Yeah, understandable.
Mark Graban:
But Bill has also held progressively responsible roles in operations. He was VP of Continuous Improvement at Invensys, VP of Operations at Learjet Bombardier, production Manager for Lockheed’s Arizona Missile Facility, and was a Materials Manager at Allied Signal Aerospace. Bill has both a Master’s of Science and a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from Oklahoma State University, and my father-in-law’s alma mater is also, by the way, Bill. And he serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors for Pancon Corporation and is on the Oklahoma State University Dean’s Advisory Board for the College of Engineering. So again, Bill, thanks.
Mark Graban:
Thanks for being here. Were you also born and raised in Oklahoma?
Bill Remy:
No, I wasn’t. I was born and lived a good part of my life in Kansas City, but then moved all over the country. Before I went to college in Oklahoma, I was sort of an army brat. My dad worked for General Motors and we got transferred every 18 months. So kind of fairly nomadic for a while.
Mark Graban:
Yeah, well, other than the nomadic part, there’s something else we have in common. My dad retired after 40 years at General Motors. As an engineer, he sometimes listens to these podcasts. So we’ll say, hi dad, if he’s, if he’s tuned in, great for him.
Bill Remy:
And I’ll say, Go Pokes to your father-in-law.
Mark Graban:
Yeah, so there’s a lot we can talk about here, Bill. You know, I think an opportunity to talk about some of the work that TBM consulting has done and kind of go through a bit of, you know, a verbal case study. But as I tend to do here, you know, we learned a little bit about some of your early days. But I always love to hear, you know, people’s Lean origin story, if you will. What’s your story of the where, when, why, how you learned about lean?
Bill Remy:
Sure. You know, it goes back, oh, 32 years now. 32, 33 years. When I was working at Allied Signal in the engine business and I worked on the propulsion engine side of the business. And, you know, we had some really thoughtful leaders in the business at the time who really started to recognize that we needed to think differently about how we made product.
Bill Remy:
Right. How we made all the components. And so we spent some time collectively with a group of them and a group of managers, which I was part of. I was a manager of an engineering group at the time. And thinking about, what’s that look like?
Bill Remy:
And we were at the time, you know, we had read The Machine that Changed the World. We were reading, you know, some of that early literature that was talking about the Toyota production system. So we’re talking 91, 92, right about the same time TBM was founded. What we landed on is, look, lead time reduction speed is the answer. Making things flow better and faster through production is really the answer.
Mark Graban:
Yeah.
Bill Remy:
And what we recognized is things like rework and setups and, you know, all that stuff is today we’d call it non value added in a lot of ways. But yeah, it was the speed bumps that kept you from going faster. When you say, why can’t I make a component in one week or in three days? Well, what keeps you from doing that? Oh, I’ve got, you know, I always have these reworks, have these long inspections, so on and so on.
Bill Remy:
And so we also looked at. But we needed to look at the routings and how things flow and begin to think about grouping common flows, if you will, cellular-type manufacturing. And so we did that. We split the entire facility into like, flows, common flow of equipment, and then could really focus on how do you streamline that lead time. Right.
Bill Remy:
Where do we need to change, reduce setups? Where are the quality of problems? What are the things again today we’d call non value added to really get that lead time compression and then think about how do you connect it to now, how you release material and how you move things. So pull, if you will.
Mark Graban:
Right.
Bill Remy:
And we had just tremendous gains the first two years. We removed tons of work in process, standardized a lot of things. Our quality got dramatically better, our delivery to the assembly line got dramatically better, and the productivity overall was better. Right. And so we, you know, there was still a lot we didn’t know.
Bill Remy:
You know, we didn’t fully understand the concepts of standard work. As I would know it today. We weren’t as formal with pull and material replenishment systems as you might think today. But you know, for 30 years ago it’s like, okay, we, we were on the path and, and I know the people that work there have still gotten better. And then my journey, I went on to work with TBM a few years later when I was at Learjet and got the insight that TBM brought from true Toyota coaching and TPS perspective.
Bill Remy:
And again, we made some dramatic gains in terms of how you really do parts presentation. Subsequent we applied that when I went to Thayer and we implemented, we used it as a lever to win business. Because what we demonstrated with customers, because we were a make the print shop, we were a contract manufacturers. Right. We were tier one, tier two.
Bill Remy:
We learned how you could do short, fast throughput lead times, dedicated production and then even extended into customer facilities where we’ll manage the finished goods and do kitting and point of use delivery to your line. So we take all of that off your shoulders and simplify how you get from where we either buy or make the parts to where you can now convert them to the assembly. And we had a lot of success with that. And it just. And that’s where we did the web based pull and we started implementing some better replenishment systems both with the customer we had that was doing a lot of the kitting as well as others.
Bill Remy:
And it was, you know, this was in the 2000-2005 timeframe. And then I went to work for TBM in 2005 as a consultant and really was able to hone my craft and further develop my skills. But it’s also, you know, so a pretty good run over the years. But I would tell you, and I think you, you know this well, you never really know at all. It’s a constant journey of, you know, okay, but, but if you stay focused on the principles and the fundamentals with what you’re facing, you can usually find a way to improve it, make it better and bring people along with you, which is really key.
Bill Remy:
Right?
Mark Graban:
Yeah, yeah. That starting point I’m kind of picturing, maybe you can fill in some of the detail. The starting point and allied signal. I’m picturing like the old functional layout where all the machines of a certain type were together. A lot of batch and queue mrp schedule driven, kind of classic starting point.
Bill Remy:
Exactly. In fact, what we, what we. It was, it was like, you know, all the engine layers are over here and the CNC laser over here and the CNC mills are over here and grinding and so on. What we did as an early part of the issue is we built one cell around one family of parts as a pilot and said let’s make that fly. Right.
Bill Remy:
And let’s learn. So it was, it was our, you know, it was our initial value stream, if you will, that was the model line or the model flow that says let’s build this first, use it to experiment, learn, engage people. And we learned a lot from that. And you know. Yeah, we learned so much that it got me from leading the team of how to implement all this to down running one of those lines.
Bill Remy:
Good job designing. Now you get to go try and run the animal you created.
Mark Graban:
Yeah, yeah.
Bill Remy:
Which it’s more fun. That was a lot of fun.
Mark Graban:
Yeah. I mean how controversial was that model line? I mean I’m sure there were some people who were nervous to say the least about making a change like that.
Bill Remy:
Right. Or you know, a little bit. There was a lot of questions and the one thing that I will say that the team did a phenomenal job of is we held plant wide meetings with every organization. All of the operators on the floor and supervisors, all the material control people, manufacturing, engineering of. Here’s what we’re working on, here’s where we’re at, here’s what it’s going to look like.
Bill Remy:
Answer questions. And we spent significant hours every week communicating, communicating, communicating so people knew what to expect. They still didn’t fully answer all the questions when we put the first one in place. But there wasn’t the shock and awe like what the heck are you guys doing over there? We’re like oh, okay, I see.
Bill Remy:
And then as we slowly implemented common eyes, some things was like. And they, the guys in the cell that I worked with closest really started to understand this is not about just yelling work faster. This is making us it easier. It’s solving problems. We’re getting the support we’ve been asking for and now this is, hey, this is more fun to work in.
Bill Remy:
Yeah, right.
Mark Graban:
Yeah.
Bill Remy:
So it was a, it was a home run in that sense. But that, but everybody that was involved in that process just did an outstanding job of having the vision, laying the groundwork, communicating, involving people and you know, let’s go see. We knew that very well of look, argue all you want in the conference and we’re going to go downstairs and go see what you know, let’s go look at it. Yeah, right.
Mark Graban:
Yeah, yeah. And it’s what I mean some people would refer to as change management. It sounds like just a lot of two way communication, not just saying, hey, here’s what’s coming. Brace yourself. But I love to hear about that, you know, opportunity for people to ask questions.
Mark Graban:
And to me, you know, kind of jumping back to broader Lean principles, to me, that’s, that’s part of, you know, that respect for people or respect for humanity, however you want to phrase it.
Bill Remy:
Sure, it absolutely is. I mean, you know, I even said earlier, you have to bring everybody with you. You can’t, you know, not everyone will want to come on the journey and that’s okay. But you have to give them a chance. You have to give them an opportunity and then, you know, let them decide whether they’re really willing to try or not.
Bill Remy:
And if they are, then give them the Runway to try. If they’re giving you an honest try, you need to do that. Right. That’s just fair. Yeah, and, and there will be people that that journey might be too hard.
Bill Remy:
And so you have to respect that and help them and work with them to help them find a better place, whatever that might be.
Mark Graban:
Yeah, right. Yeah. You’re also making me kind of reflect, you know, think about that time frame, you know, 32 years ago as an industrial engineer. You know, I think my early education, even in my undergrad operations class about Lean or the Toyota Production System was about things like production scheduling, inventory management and flow. Like, it was all really good, useful stuff, but it was sort of, you know, an incomplete view of Lean.
Mark Graban:
And I think you can only teach so much in a course. And the professors were focusing on some of those basics of why, you know, a flow based pull system could outperform MRP scheduling any day. And, you know, the challenge wasn’t to get better at MRP scheduling, but, you know, I appreciated that, really. Introduction. But then I think as we all learn more about this over time, you brought up the point about quality is a speed bump and how quality and flow are so intertwined.
Mark Graban:
I was wondering if you could share either some of those early reflections or some of the things that were learned and reinforced over time through other roles that you’ve had.
Bill Remy:
Yeah, that’s a great point. Quality is, you know, is the, one of the first things you have to get right. The way we think about it today, it’s really safety then quality. Because what I’ve learned over the years is if you walk into a facility and you first get an observation of, you know, what’s their safety system and their safety performance look like, what’s the environment look like, you generally can get a. There’s A corollary or a correlation to what’s their quality like?
Mark Graban:
Yeah.
Bill Remy:
And so you can you, if you see a lot of safety and in unsafe conditions and things, you can now quickly go, let me go look at your quality data and you’re going to find a pretty good correlation. Yeah. And those are all things that you’ve got to get right first before you can really push the pedal down hard. Right. Because there’s no good.
Bill Remy:
You know, mulligans and do overs are not good. They don’t help you.
Mark Graban:
Yeah.
Bill Remy:
And the other thing that’s, that’s interesting, in some industries, Mark, you have a tough time getting people to sometimes see embedded rework. It’s like. Well, no, that’s just, that’s okay because we can do that. A common one is in molding operations where if the, if the injection molded parts aren’t good, you can throw them in the grinder and re grind the material and remold it. Yeah, well, but guys, that’s rework.
Bill Remy:
If you get it right the first time, you wouldn’t use the time and the energy to regrand and re deliver it and so on. Right. Any way you slice it, you’re using extra machine hours and labor to get the product. And sometimes it’s hard for people to get their heads around that. Yeah.
Mark Graban:
I mean, I think it’s interesting whether it’s manufacturing or even in healthcare where people kind of assume the way it is is the way it’s got to be, whether it’s rework or injuries or patient harm. And you know, I love, I mean I learned the mantra working in General Motors. Sqdc.
Bill Remy:
Right.
Mark Graban:
Safety, quality, delivery, cost and how it’s all intertwined. And you know, safety quality and delivery improvements or flow improvements lead to better costs. But, but I guess throw it back to you as a question. Do you have experience working with leaders to kind of open their eyes, let’s say around safety, that the safety systems and the safety performance can actually be a lot better. Is that a sticking point sometimes or do you find enthusiasm for.
Mark Graban:
Yeah, let’s focus more on safety performance.
Bill Remy:
I think sometimes yes, sometimes, yes. We run into cases where sometimes people will gravitate to. Well, the industry norm for our business is this and we’re just a little bit better than that. So we’re okay. And it’s like, no, you really have to be the number zero.
Bill Remy:
You have to say, well, it might feel aspirational in this moment. The answer is I can’t send anybody home worse than when they came to work.
Mark Graban:
Exactly. Yeah.
Bill Remy:
You can’t measure how many people did I hurt today? And say, well, it was less than yesterday, so it’s okay. Yeah, it’s not. It doesn’t fly. Right.
Bill Remy:
You can’t have that mindset which is accepting that industry norm or an industry standard. So sometimes that, that discussion is hard and it takes some work to get people to really stretch and kind of take away the blinders, if you will, or the lens they look through.
Mark Graban:
Yeah.
Bill Remy:
And also, what would it mean? What does it now make possible for you if no one gets hurt? How does that help your business, your. Your production and your people? If you got to a point where no one gets hurt.
Mark Graban:
Yeah.
Bill Remy:
Then you go, oh, well, I have less call outs. Oh, I’d have this. And it’s like, okay, so that’s why we want to do this. It’s good for your people, it’s good for the business, and there’s real money attached to it and you get better performance. So, you know, let’s, let’s go down that path.
Mark Graban:
Yeah, yeah.
Bill Remy:
It. But, but people don’t fundamentally disagree that being safe is a bad idea. They just, you know, if they’ve never seen zero, it seems too foreign.
Mark Graban:
I agree with you and I’ve run across that a lot. And yeah, it’s not the theoretical. It’s not that they want anyone to get hurt. It’s this question of believe there’s a path to zero.
Bill Remy:
Yeah.
Mark Graban:
And, you know, I. Paul O’Neill passed away a couple of years ago, had been, you know, a guest on this podcast a long, a long time ago, I think, really inspirational story of his leadership at Alcoa. You know, we’re really, you know, the things that we need to do to bring safety closer to zero will lead to, you know, what he called habitual excellence and quality delivery cost, all aspects of the business. And I think this comes to culture where, you know, I’m sure, you know, part of your evolution and you know, the case study that, that I’ve read kind of points to, it’s not just technical methods or tools, but it’s a matter of culture. And I think engaging people on safety helps people feel so much more committed to the company as partners.
Bill Remy:
It does. I mean, it becomes behavioral and cultural. Right. Of how people think about how leadership and how teams think about what they do at work every day, how they think about what actions they take and what the conditions and adherence do. I mean, this is where you link workplace organization and standard method, standard work together with safety that says, look, part of the reason we do this is because it’s safe.
Bill Remy:
Right. And we avoid accidents and we avoid people being injured and then it rolls over into quality of, well, if we’re going to be safe, we can also really focus on getting everything right the first time.
Mark Graban:
Yeah.
Bill Remy:
And as you build that culture, it’s like all change. Once you get critical mass, it kind of becomes, it takes over and you get enough inertia. And now it really does fundamentally change how people think about their days at work. Right. And it’s less of a, well, I’m in for the paycheck.
Bill Remy:
It’s like, no, no, you know, you’re, you’re in, you know, you’ve got skin in the game, if you will. You’re part of the team. We need you.
Mark Graban:
Yeah, yeah. I mean, in, in your travels as a leader or even as a consultant, have you seen situations where, let’s say the starting point was a really combative relationship between employees and management, whether labor was part of it or not. You know, where lean contributed to, you know, a more collaborative relationship that way?
Bill Remy:
Yeah, we’ve seen that. It’s not uncommon really. You find in some organizations, some facilities, that the relationship has just broken down. Right. It’s, it’s, there’s not, there’s a lack of trust.
Bill Remy:
There’s not as much two way dialogue and listening and true being involved, you know, and, and because of what we ask leaders to do, when you roll lean out and some of the things around daily management, they have to be visible, they have to be involved. And, and so you remove that reluctance and you, you really start rebuilding the trust. Because you know, I remember in some cases early Kaizen teams and earlier those deployments and the team would at first be going, well, are we really going to be allowed to make these changes? Like yes, yes. They’ve empowered you.
Bill Remy:
You’ve got to believe, you know, trust that we’re going to jump out the door together and the chutes are all going to open. We’re going to go and we’re going to make the changes. And once you get some of those under your belt and you start the daily management, then people like, okay, one of the most common things I always hear is we’ve been telling people we needed to fix this for years. This is the first time anybody listened.
Mark Graban:
Right.
Bill Remy:
You know.
Mark Graban:
Right.
Bill Remy:
And I found those early Kaizens to be so really easy in a way because you get a cross functional team of people together around a process or, you know, improving something. They come with so many solutions, you can’t even do them all they already know what the issues are deeply, usually. And you just really are guiding them through a process. And they get there, they’re like, oh, this is awesome. Right.
Bill Remy:
We actually get to do something and it’s better. So. Yeah, but it’s not easy. Make no mistake. The whole process is not easy.
Bill Remy:
And you know that. Well, it’s. It’s hard. It’s. It’s not a spectator sport.
Mark Graban:
Yeah. One other thing I wanted to follow or go back to before kind of talking about, you know, some methodology around turning around operations. You talked about how over time you developed a better understanding of standard work. I was wondering if you could share a little bit more there of, let’s say, you know, templates and engineering analysis versus some of the cultural elements related to the standard work. What have you learned?
Bill Remy:
Yeah, I think there’s clearly the part that I got smarter about. I don’t even know if I’m smart. Just a better understanding. I’m not smarter by any means. But as an industrial engineer, we were talk work measurement and methods.
Bill Remy:
Right. You know, we all took that class and we’re very disciplined. Time studies and so on.
Mark Graban:
Yeah.
Bill Remy:
And what you learned is. Yeah, that. That isn’t as relevant of an approach anymore, but if you can balance the work and it’s reasonable and it’s not overly burdensome and you can really document it over time with steps by time and the right tools and methods to use to do the work and get everybody to do that. The single biggest thing takeaway I think I had from all of it is, you know, and this relates a little bit to turn around a plant or improving operations fundamentally. You know, if.
Bill Remy:
If you are getting variation in performance, both in output and quality and things in a given workstation or a given line, the first thing I want to see is, well, how is everybody doing it? In any given step, how many flavors of doing the work do we have? And if it’s Baskin Robbins And I got 31 flavors, then, you know, look, first thing I’m going to do, I don’t need to make and I don’t need minitab yet. I want to get some standard work and methods in place, and I want to see everybody do it consistently. So I know what I have, and then we can improve it, then we can do something with it.
Bill Remy:
But until I get everybody to do it the same, I have no idea what you guys are doing, and I can’t pinpoint why did we get what we got. How do we get these results? I don’t really know. Whether they’re good or bad, you really have to do that. I worked with a gentleman who used to teach black belt certification.
Bill Remy:
He was really good and he’s a crack up, you know, and he’d say, look, if you, if the answer is that obvious, you don’t need no stinking mini tab. Just go fix the problem. Right. And he was great. He was, he’s really knowledgeable.
Bill Remy:
But I always enjoyed his humor around that.
Mark Graban:
Yeah, yeah, let’s not overcomplicate things. Or if, yeah, if there’s this obvious countermeasure, let’s go test it as opposed to, you know, don’t force everyone to go through the motions of an A3. That just gets to the point they wanted to be at anyway. There are enough cases where the, the, the countermeasures aren’t obvious and we have to go through all of that rigor. But sure, I found sometimes that that can be overused or, you know, it’s, it’s intimidating to people instead of drawing them in.
Bill Remy:
Yeah, yeah, it can be. I mean, it’s back to using the right approach and right methodology tools, if you will, to solve the problem. And what you really after is be clear about the problem you’re solving and what’s it really required to solve it. And can I do some quick obvious things while I maybe do some longer term things to keep it going right and to make it easier and safer and so on? You just.
Bill Remy:
Yeah, well said. You don’t need to overcomplicate things for the sake of it, that’s for sure.
Mark Graban:
Yeah. Well, again, our guest today we’re talking with Bill, Bill Remy, CEO of TBM Consulting. And you know, there’s a case study that you shared with me and I think it’s probably something we can share with the listeners, kind of go through, you know, some method. And I think this is an interesting, I love a good framework, you know, this framework around four phases of turning around operations. If you could kind of walk us through that and then, you know, kind of maybe talk about an example that, that featured as I was reading through there, Kevin Meyer, one of the co founders of Gemba Academy when he was still in manufacturing leadership.
Mark Graban:
Kevin’s been a guest in the podcast, so Kevin was a part of that as well. But you know, kind of walk through if you would, you know, these, these four phases, maybe just kind of at a high level and we can dig into some detail.
Bill Remy:
Yeah, so, so we had, there was a client that. And like many through Covid and Post Covid for a while was struggling with the issues of their manpower, their supply chain issues and leading to just productivity in the plant. Right. And it had degraded substantially from where it been prior to Covid and some of the disruption. And we really stepped back and we took kind of a four step approach and said first step is let’s just evaluate where everything’s at.
Bill Remy:
So let’s, you know, if you will, let’s get a very clear picture of the current condition, current performance, what are the issues, potential root causes, where are we at against KPIs, both current and prior performance? To understand, you know, a clear state of where we at, what’s the real current condition that we have? What are the, what are the labor and staffing issues? What’s the leadership team? Do we have everybody in the right roles to know that we’re positioned to now make this better.
Bill Remy:
Right. And so I think, you know, anything as you’re evaluating the current condition, you’ve kind of got to take a 360 view that says, you know, where are we at with people, leadership, right Roles, right. Staffing, where are we at with assets, equipment, good performance, needs help? You know, where are we at with raw materials and material supply? And then where are we at with just our KPIs around safety, quality, delivery, cost and try and line that up, and line up root causes or drivers with that.
Bill Remy:
So you now have. Okay, we’ve got it, right. We think we know what we understand. You probably don’t know it all, but you have a pretty good view, right?
Mark Graban:
Yeah. And how long, I mean, that’s abroad. It’s on three dimensional 360 evaluation. How long does that generally take to take a deep dive into, let’s say, a facility?
Bill Remy:
I think it depends on the size and complexity, but it could be two to four weeks typically to do that. And some of that can be done quickly through. Just give us some of your data. Let us get some baseline data. Let’s get baseline performance.
Bill Remy:
Let’s go validate some of that. Let’s do a lot of time out in the plant validating data with observations. Let’s get some interviews in place. Right. Let’s go hear from people, what do they see and what are they feeling.
Bill Remy:
And there’s two parts about it too. You’re kind of also assessing what’s the general state of the people’s, you know, how are they thinking about things, are they down, are they frustrated, are they, have they kind of given up, if you will, in some cases and say, look, you know, this is, this is too hard. I’M just going to ride it out. And so because that’s important as you get onto the subsequent work. Right.
Bill Remy:
Of what do you have to do to engage everybody to bring them with you to bring it back. Right.
Mark Graban:
Yeah.
Bill Remy:
So it’s, it’s a two to four week kind of process. And then you say, all right, now let’s, let’s, if you will, stop the bleeding or stop the degradation. So let’s go into. We’re going to stabilize, we’re going to try and normalize, stabilize everything. Make sure we, if we need to adjust people and staffing in certain areas, make sure that if we need people in different roles that we work on that and get everybody lined up and make sure there’s a clear mission and call to action of here’s what we’re trying to get done in this part so they understand what we’re trying to do with that.
Bill Remy:
And it’s, you know, it’s never to them. But here’s, here’s what we’re trying to get to everybody. And we’re going to do this for a while. It could be a month, it could be a couple of months. We may bring in some additional resources to deep dive into known issues.
Bill Remy:
Right. That we identified before that. Need more help. That could be more A3 type work or real focused deep work to get to some of the root causes and issues that we can now fix. Some are longer term, some you identify.
Bill Remy:
Look, there’s a chronic, you know, asset care problem that you’re not going to fix overnight. So you have to put some things in place and say over the next few months we’re going to work this out. Even with some extra resources, it might take some months to get equipment condition backed up to where you’d like. Right?
Mark Graban:
Yeah.
Bill Remy:
And you could be constrained by both resources and just capex or expense money to do that. Right. You can only, you can only spend so fast. Right. And you know, in that piece you’re now also starting to work on how do I get a rhythm back into the facility, how do I build a rhythm of flow, make things.
Bill Remy:
So, you know, I learned this from one of my mentors from tbm, gentleman named Sam Sawyer. And he was, he was one of our founders. And I just had a tremendous amount of respect for him. He’s now retired, but, but his first, forget one piece flow, just make it flow. Yeah, get flow.
Bill Remy:
And once you have it flowing, then we can work on the other stuff. But you’ve got to make it flow first. Right. And I took that to heart. Long time.
Bill Remy:
And that makes sense. So that’s what we try to do is make it flow, just get things to flow, get it to move, start to fix the obvious things. And now once we have some flow, now we can start to say, all right, when we’ve got people with us and we’re stabilizing and you spend some amount of time in that period and then you go on to, all right, now let’s drive improvement, life or recovery, if you will. We’re going to recover back to the previous condition, the previous level of performance and what do we have to do to that? And that’s going to require another round of what needs to be better, what needs to be improved, what barriers need to be eliminated, what speed bumps, like, you know, what’s in our way.
Mark Graban:
Right, yeah.
Bill Remy:
And, and then, and so that starts to look more of like a continuous improvement environment. So you’re, you’re doing, you know, improvement focused Kaizen work. You’re doing daily management rollouts. You, you’ve implemented leader standard work, you’ve got the layered audits going on, those kinds of things that now you’re leveraging that momentum from stabilizing into really improvement cycles until you get back to at least that level where you were and hopefully better. Right.
Bill Remy:
And then you move them into sustain. All right, now you reinforce the short interval management daily management system of rigorous leader standard work, rigorous auditing and follow up standard work audits and follow up, rigorous quality and problem solving, your daily board reviews of truly not reading the news, but driving actions.
Mark Graban:
Yeah, yeah, right.
Bill Remy:
And that, that will hopefully go on forever. Right. Because that’s, you’ve got things on the path and that’s up. That now becomes a leadership challenge that they have to hold on to that. Right?
Mark Graban:
Yeah, yeah. I wanted to go back and dig a little more into some of you talked about evaluating leaders. Are they the right leaders? Are they in the right place? Do they have the right capabilities or mindsets?
Mark Graban:
How much of that evaluation is a question of who can lead the change versus who can lead in a lean way, if you will, or elements of both.
Bill Remy:
Yeah, I think, and I’ve seen this in different leaders, you know, I think there’s leaders that can, can lead transitional change, but they’re not as effective with the sustain and forever, you know, the incremental. So, so you may have to think about interim leadership in some cases for some parts of this until you transition to more permanent leadership that can take it all the way home. Home. But leaders that can lead in a lean way have to Be we think about, you know, like, they have to have a high bias for action. They have to be willing to try.
Bill Remy:
And that sounds simple, but you have to go out on that shop floor, you have to engage, and you have to rigorously follow up and ask questions and rigorously hold people accountable. That doesn’t mean being brutal, but it does mean being rigorous around. We had action items. Did we get them done? If not, why not?
Bill Remy:
What do you need? Where do you need help?
Mark Graban:
Yeah.
Bill Remy:
And because oftentimes in some of these organizations you’ve seen people have asked for help and they didn’t get it, so they quit asking.
Mark Graban:
Right.
Bill Remy:
And so when you raise your hand or you put an action item on the board to help someone, you’ve got to deliver on that. You’ve got to make that accountability for everybody tantamount to what we do every.
Mark Graban:
Day right Now, I, I like hearing about those questions of accountability with support or, you know, digging into the why, how can I help you? And we’ll get that help as opposed to, I’m having flashbacks. My, my first year at General Motors. Under the old regime, it was accountability followed by basically, what the hell is wrong with all of you? Which was, did not feel good and was not a real, not real.
Mark Graban:
But that’s part of why we ended up with a, a new plant manager that was more of that style of, you know, we’re going to win together. What, what support do you need? And, and you’ll get it.
Bill Remy:
Yeah, yeah, it is. I mean, you know, we’ve both seen that, you know, in the early days, if you go back to the 70s and 80s, you were like, you know, yeah, I want you to do this and I’ll get you the help. But you know, then later on it’s like, well, how come you didn’t get this done? Oh, you were supposed to give me some help. Oh, well, I figured out you just need to get it done.
Bill Remy:
Okay. If I would have known that in the first place, I would have gone and figured it out. But I was, you know, and so you do have to, you know, have to realize there’s a two way commitment. Right. You have a commitment as a leader to facilitate, remove roadblocks or help get the support and make investments where you need to, to get people, you know, the help and the resources they need.
Bill Remy:
And, but at the same time, people have to understand we don’t have unlimited resources. So, you know, but you have to communicate that, yeah, I’m going to get you the help, but it’s going to be in this time frame because we’ve got to get this other thing done first.
Mark Graban:
Yeah. Somebody may have to prioritize and make sure people know it’s not a, it’s not a no, but a not right now.
Bill Remy:
Right.
Mark Graban:
Kind of situation.
Bill Remy:
Yep. But you get tons of credibility with people as that builds and you continue to deliver. Right. I mean there’s the analogy about relationships and those things, they’re like bank accounts. Right.
Bill Remy:
And when you deliver and you do what you say you’re going to do, you’re making deposits, trust is building, credibility is building. And when you miss, then that’s a withdrawal. And we all know you just can’t have more withdrawals and deposits.
Mark Graban:
Right.
Bill Remy:
So, you know, it’s, it’s not hard. You just have to. But it is hard work because it typically is different than how people have been trained, educated and operated in the past.
Mark Graban:
Right, right. Also wanted to dig a little bit more into what you’re saying about moving, moving toward one piece flow. And you know, I think of the, you know, it’s a cliche, the analogy of lowering the river, lowering the water to expose the rocks. When you think about, you know, inventory levels and whip and you know, there, there are organizations that have gotten themselves in trouble by draining the river too quickly and then they’re crashing into all the rocks. You know, if trying to go to that ideal of one piece flow before machine reliability and quality and things are, you know, before the system is even close to being capable of flowing, I mean, you know, trying to do make too big of a leap too quickly causes problems.
Mark Graban:
And I, I’m kind of reading into it. Sounds like you’re warning against that or you’ve, you’ve learned to not get people in trouble with the rocks.
Bill Remy:
No, and it’s a, it’s, you’re spot on. I mean, it’s, but it’s kind of a fine line. Right. There’s a small, there’s a very small gap between pushing the envelope a little bit, having that bias for action, trying working with it and pushing with not only to speed of product, but speed to implement, speed to make change versus well, let’s not go too far because we still got to deliver at the end of the day. And you.
Bill Remy:
Yeah, you can’t, you can’t say I didn’t deliver because we were too busy changing the line. Well, okay, that’s not going to work. Right. And so there’s a fine line there. But I think people underestimate, I think their teams and what, what, what’s possible a lot of times, I think many times people, the vast majority of the time people on teams will rise to the occasion, they’ll step up.
Bill Remy:
If you give them the support, they will step up and they will make it work. And there will be some workarounds and you may have to, you know, we’ve got one now where like you might have to overwhelm it with some resources up front, support people to just solve the little glitchy things that come up while we’re trying to run it. But do that, but make it run, run it at rate and, and the closer you get to that, the better you’ll be. And because you’re, you’re uncovering those things but at a rate, it’s not too slow, but not too fast. You’re kind of right in that comfortable discomfort of this is a little scary.
Bill Remy:
But. But we’re working it, we’re doing it, but I don’t know.
Mark Graban:
Yeah, yeah. And it seems like, you know, exposing some of the rocks means. I’ve never done this with a kayak, but I’m trying to picture like having some rocks exposed means you could steer around them as opposed to smashing into a wall.
Bill Remy:
Yeah, that’s right.
Mark Graban:
Yeah. Challenge versus catastrophe. Where’s that sweet spot?
Bill Remy:
Yeah. And it’s, you know, it’s the number, it’s the size of the rocks, it’s what you render sometimes it’s just a lot of little things and you just have to, you know, get some help. You, you hope you. Before you really try to move to the one piece or running attack that you need to, you’ve uncovered all the really big rocks, the things that are going to just clobber you and you’re down, down to the smaller ones and you can navigate and course correct quickly to do that. But yeah, it is, I mean, and you don’t ever want me in a kayak on a fast moving river with a lot of rocks.
Bill Remy:
Yeah. I’ll be visiting your healthcare friends.
Mark Graban:
Yeah. One other thing I was really interesting, Bill. In that case study document was a section about warning signs. You know, warning signs that a plant is in trouble. You know, if you’ve got let’s say a data point and I know two data points are not a trend, but let’s say there’s, there’s a blip in performance.
Mark Graban:
How do you evaluate? Okay, is that something sort of temporary and fixable or is there more trouble where that data point is maybe the beginning? How do we prevent that from being the beginning of a really bad trend or shift in performance? How Would you look?
Bill Remy:
You know, I think a lot of that has to do with how well are you working to KPIs and performance measures in things at the point of impact versus you know, plant level KPIs that you look at monthly. So if, and so it’s back to I guess the timeliness and granularity with which you’re looking at the numbers and combining that with going out and seeing what’s really happening and, and getting some, if you will, inside your organization domain expertise and experts and people on the floor to say, all right, what’s going on here? And also be very careful of accepting, oh, it’s okay, it’s a one off. And then next month, yeah, it’s okay, it’s a one off. Too many one offs are a trend.
Bill Remy:
That’s start, that’s not one offs anymore. That’s repeatable history. Yeah but I think if you, and it may require that you ask to look at the data deeper and go probe deeper to really understand. I’m seeing smoke, I’m really trying to figure out if there’s a fire there or not or is it was it a little thing and we put it out and that’s the legacy. And you know, you can put, the other thing you can do is I think, you know, get drive some accountability for people.
Bill Remy:
It’s like, okay, can you go look at that and let’s frame a problem statement for you to go understand what this issue was and then look around the plant and do we have it in other places? Because it seems like it might be common, especially with a problem with a common piece of equipment that now is across multiple lines, those kinds of things. So there could be indicators that you say well I don’t trust this yet. Let me go see. You have to be a bit of an optimistic skepticism that makes sense.
Bill Remy:
It’s like I believe we’ll always do well, but I just don’t, I, I don’t trust that there’s one offs. I don’t trust this was just a blip. Prove it to me. Get data, give root causes. Prove to me it really was a blip.
Bill Remy:
We’ve solved it and we’ve put a permanent fix in place that I’m not going to hear about this again.
Mark Graban:
Yeah, yeah. So I think being an optimistic skeptic helps us be comfortably uncomfortable.
Bill Remy:
Yeah, something along those lines.
Mark Graban:
Food for thought on.
Bill Remy:
Yeah, but, but there, there is amount of, you know, if you’re really comfortable. I was talking about this with a colleague at another firm today. You know, the thing about manufacturing. You rarely ever get these windows where things are all clicking and the plants running really good and you’re like, wow, we’re really hitting it.
Mark Graban:
Yeah.
Bill Remy:
It’s like that’s when you should be afraid because something’s probably about to change on you and you need to have your eyes and ears open to like, okay guys, because those things just don’t last forever. Right. And you have to take, you have to take advantage of that momentum. You can’t wish for things to go wrong, but generally things will change on you and something will. And so you have to be really rigorous around.
Bill Remy:
If you do see things happening in the plant, you see things in metrics, you, you start to pick up on indicators. It’s like, hang on, let’s not, let’s not, you know, ignore this, let’s not downplay it or let’s really go understand what’s going on here, guys.
Mark Graban:
Yeah, yeah.
Bill Remy:
Because I don’t. That’s how you get in trouble in a way, right?
Mark Graban:
Yeah. So Bill, you know, I have been with TBM almost 20 years now and exposure to them in previous roles. How long have you been CEO now?
Bill Remy:
12 years.
Mark Graban:
12 years, yeah. So every. What’s TBM’s origin story? I’ve heard of TBM for a long time, but I either don’t know, I’ve forgotten like what are some of the origins of the firm?
Bill Remy:
The origins. We had four founders and TBM actually stands for time based management. And we were founded with the principle that time is your most important asset. Because once time’s gone, right, once the day is over, I can’t go back and redo that day. So I’ve got to manage my time and what happens, you know, to make sure I get the best performance I can.
Bill Remy:
And once I’m done, I can’t again, you can’t go back and do it over. And combined with that lead time reduction, amazingly, you know, coincidentally with where we started, where I started 30 years ago, is that’s the focus. It’s like, so how do you create velocity in the business and then how do you leverage that to really grow sales and earnings? We really start with the business view of how do you drive performance through lean operational excellence to drive sales and revenue and not as much of a cost savings type approach. Right.
Bill Remy:
You obviously get better cost performance because you get better productivity over time. But. But it really is about driving sales and earnings because if you create capacity and now can say, you know, we tell operations leaders, it’s like, look, we want to create enough capacity and capability that now we put this all back on the sales team that says you’ve got to go sell product, you’ve got to innovate, create product, we can support you, we can deliver everything you need, go sell it. And what you find is those sales fall through at much better incremental performance. Right.
Bill Remy:
And you end up growing earnings faster than sales in terms of percentages. And that was our core premise. We were linked with early days Shingajitsu and some retired Toyota executives. That was our roots. We were the US arm of Shinkajitsu.
Bill Remy:
We worked with them for a number of years before we each went on our own ways. Yeah. And since then we have been, you know, on this journey and we stay, remained true to staying in manufacturing and supply chain distribution businesses. We think that’s our sweet spot. And then trying to build out just how do we engage more deeply?
Bill Remy:
I think the last few years on the human capital and the, the leadership and people side of it, as well as different things in supply chain and practices around asset care and things to just continue to help find ways to make productivity in a facility.
Mark Graban:
Yeah.
Bill Remy:
You know, we’re really now trying to back away and say if I, if I looked at a helicopter from a helicopter, looking over the whole plant, where’s everywhere, what’s every opportunity that I can find to make that facility more productive? It could be clearly in the material transformation process, it could be in transactional processes, it can be how we, you know, leadership roles, how effective is our leadership? It can be in energy waste and sustainability opportunities. Like go look at what you’re throwing away. Right.
Bill Remy:
Why do we do that? Can we find ways to be more energy efficient? Which, that, that helps all kinds, you know, and some of that can be operationally driven. You know, if we have like a lot of heat tree furnaces, how we run them, how we run cycles, but then you, you know, there’s other things you can do. And so it all drives productivity in some form.
Mark Graban:
Yeah, yeah. So you talk about, maybe a final question for you. You talk about that helicopter view and, and seeing a facility or a business. You know, your, your career seems to be split in pretty equal parts between being in industry and then being a consultant. At some point, do you have sort of a, I don’t know if it’s a satellite instead of a helicopter, but you have some sort of view across an industry or across manufacturing.
Mark Graban:
I’m curious what, what you see or what you’ve, what you’ve learned about lean that’s become more clear as an outsider Looking in and helping people.
Bill Remy:
I think that’s a great question. I think, you know, for me there’s a differentiator of how organizations think about, we’ll call it lean or operational excellence or just continuous improvement. If they think it’s, if they view it as a way that in their operations, their supply chain, it can be viewed as a weapon to drive their performance in the market and drive business performance, they do better. Those organizations typically outperform if they view it as a kind of an add on. It’s another thing we do.
Bill Remy:
It’s a program, but we don’t really tie it to month over month, year over year performance improvement. And we don’t tie it to how we serve markets and customers, then it’s a lot less effective. You know, you’ll get some small incremental wins, but you’ll have a tough time tying it to the bottom line. Right. I’ve seen some, we’ve had some great clients over the years.
Bill Remy:
We’ve had some for some very long term tenures. And I’ve seen the ones that embrace it as a weapon, embrace it as a, as a strategy, as a weapon to drive that revenue and earnings and their place in the market.
Mark Graban:
Right.
Bill Remy:
And they recognize that it’s also not a short term journey. This is like a forever journey. There’s no finish line on this stuff because of all the changes that come at you. Right, right. And so I think for me that’s the differentiator of really, where do you lie in that spectrum?
Bill Remy:
If you’re more viewing it as this is my key strength, strategic weapon. And, and I do mean, you know, weapon sounds harsh or strong, but it is, it’s a, it’s my, my responsiveness, my ability to perform at quality, delivery, safety levels, lead times really becomes a differentiator for my organization as opposed to not.
Mark Graban:
Yeah, yeah, that’s very well said. So, yes, it’s, it’s not doing lean to do lean. It’s solving problems and strengthening the business. Yeah. Not just now, but positioned for better performance down the road and saving jobs instead of slashing jobs in a cost cutting mode.
Mark Graban:
And that, that’s one thing I love about Lean. You know, as you were saying, it leads to lower cost, but that’s different than quote, unquote, cost cutting.
Bill Remy:
Right? Yeah, yeah. I mean, if you think about consulting with the one thing I, you know, because of the roles I’ve had, I’ve had to make those decisions about, you know, do we let people go and what do we. And I hate that. That’s the part of, you know, when you look back on your career, those are the things that’s, like, that’s just brutal.
Bill Remy:
They just. That is the worst thing in the world to have to deal with because you know how you’re impacting people’s lives and it’s horrible.
Mark Graban:
Right.
Bill Remy:
And. And, you know, so you’d much rather find a way to look, how do we make this work and not have to, you know, end up with. In a position to let people go.
Mark Graban:
Right. Yeah, yeah. Let’s. Let’s fix the business and not just recover, but grow.
Bill Remy:
Yeah, that’s right.
Mark Graban:
The best situation.
Bill Remy:
Absolutely. And that can be a hard nut to crack at times. But it. People get there.
Mark Graban:
Yeah. I mean, I got to visit a factory recently. I don’t get to do that as much as I would like. But, you know, they were talking about how they, you know, they increased throughput, they improved quality, they got the backlog down, and they could go to sales and say, you know, hey, you sell it, we can build it. We’re not.
Bill Remy:
Yeah, exactly. We’ve made it your problem.
Mark Graban:
If the bottleneck shifts from production and supply chain to sales, hopefully they’re. They’re going to continue growing and taking market share.
Bill Remy:
So. Yeah.
Mark Graban:
But yes, it does make a big difference. So I want to thank again our guest, Bill Remy, CEO at TBM Consulting. I’ll put links in the website to Bill’s bio, the TBM Consulting website. I’ll invite people to go check that out. So, Bill, this has been a really nice conversation.
Mark Graban:
Thanks for sharing some of your experiences, some of the TBM approach and perspectives. It’s been great.
Bill Remy:
Yeah, I appreciate it, Mark. And you know what? I will give you an open invitation. If you want to go see some plants of ours that we’re working in, always welcome to come along.
Mark Graban:
All right. I’m going to take you up on you.
Bill Remy:
All right. Appreciate your time today. It was a joy.
Episode Summary
Leveraging Lean Principles for Operational Excellence
Introduction to Lean Principles
Lean principles are fundamental to achieving operational excellence and continuous improvement. The journey towards understanding and implementing these principles often begins with recognizing inefficiencies and addressing the obstacles that hinder productivity and growth. This article explores the practical applications of Lean principles through the experiences of Bill Remy, a seasoned business executive whose career has been shaped by his deep understanding of Lean methodologies.
The Journey to Lean Transformation
Early Influences and Initial Success
Bill Remy’s journey with Lean principles started over three decades ago when he was working at Allied Signal. It was during this time that the company began exploring ways to improve production processes. Influenced by seminal works like “The Machine that Changed the World,” Bill and his team focused on reducing lead times by eliminating non-value-added activities such as rework and lengthy inspections.
“Lead time reduction speed is the answer.” By reorganizing their production setup into cellular manufacturing systems and focusing on streamlining the flow of materials, the team achieved significant improvements in quality, delivery times, and overall productivity. This initial success set the stage for Bill’s continued advocacy for Lean principles.
Extending Lean Principles Across Roles
Following his successful stint at Allied Signal, Bill transitioned to Learjet before eventually joining TBM Consulting. Each role allowed him to further refine his understanding and application of Lean principles. At Learjet, with guidance from TBM, Bill was able to implement targeted improvements in parts presentation and production processes.
When Bill later joined Thayer Aerospace, he leveraged his Lean expertise to secure new business by demonstrating the company’s capability for fast throughput and efficient production. By integrating better replenishment systems and web-based pull systems, Bill ensured that Thayer Aerospace could meet customer demands promptly and effectively.
Implementing Lean: Key Practices and Outcomes
Cellular Manufacturing and Flow Enhancement
One of the cornerstone practices in Bill’s Lean journey was the transition to cellular manufacturing. This approach groups machines and processes in a way that aligns with the production flow of a specific product family.
“We split the entire facility into flows of common equipment and focused on streamlining lead times.”
This restructuring led to the significant reduction of work-in-process inventory and improved overall production smoothness. Such targeted efforts invariably resulted in improved quality rates and delivery reliability, demonstrating the practical benefits of Lean principles.
Focus on Quality and Safety
Quality and safety are integral to the successful implementation of Lean principles. Bill emphasizes that achieving high safety standards often correlates with superior quality outcomes. In environments where safety is prioritized, the data typically shows a corresponding improvement in quality metrics.
“Safety systems and performance are closely linked to quality.” Addressing safety first creates a foundation for improvements throughout the production process. By fostering a culture where safety and quality are non-negotiable, organizations can unlock significant performance gains and reduce the likelihood of costly reworks and defects.
Overcoming Challenges and Change Management
Introducing Lean principles often involves significant change management efforts. Bill’s experiences highlight the importance of thorough, transparent communication with employees at all stages of the implementation process. By holding regular plant-wide meetings and engaging with all stakeholders, Bill and his team were able to effectively manage transitions and alleviate concerns.
“We spent significant hours every week communicating, so people knew what to expect.”
This commitment to consistent communication helped smooth transitions and allowed employees to become active participants in the Lean transformation, thus minimizing resistance and fostering a sense of ownership and engagement.
Long-Term Impact and Continuous Improvement
Integration of Technology
Bill’s expertise also extended to the integration of technology to support Lean principles. Implementing web-based pull systems and advanced replenishment methodologies allowed for better synchronization of supply chains and reduced inventory levels.
The use of technology provided real-time insights and improved decision-making capabilities, which are crucial for maintaining momentum in continuous improvement efforts. Such integrations underscore the adaptability of Lean principles to evolving business environments and technological advancements.
Lifelong Learning and Adaptation
One of the enduring lessons from Bill’s Lean journey is the importance of continual learning and adaptation. Lean is not a one-time fix but a perpetual process of refinement and improvement.
“You never really know it all. It’s a constant journey.” Bill’s perspective emphasizes that by staying focused on fundamental Lean principles and remaining open to new ideas and methods, organizations can continue to improve and achieve sustained success.
Lean principles, when implemented properly, have the power to transform organizational performance, driving improvements in safety, quality, delivery, and cost-efficiency. Bill Remy’s experiences serve as a testament to the practical benefits and enduring impact of Lean methodologies. Through strategic vision, dedicated communication, and a relentless pursuit of improvement, organizations can embark on their own Lean journeys and achieve remarkable results.
Cultural Transformation for Sustained Success
Embedding Safety as a Core Value
One of the critical aspects Bill highlights is integrating safety into the core values of an organization. At Alcoa, safety was viewed not just as a regulatory requirement but as an intrinsic part of operational excellence. This paradigm shift not only reduced workplace incidents but also paved the way for habitual excellence. This term encapsulates a state where meeting high safety standards organically improves other facets like quality, delivery, and cost.
- Behavioral and Cultural Integration: When safety becomes a habit, it influences behavior at all levels. Employees begin to see themselves as partners in a shared mission, which nurtures a culture of accountability and engagement.
- Linking Safety to Quality: A safe workplace often translates to a high-quality product. The principle is simple yet profound: if a process is safe, it is likely well-understood and controlled, reducing the likelihood of defects.
Overcoming Trust Deficits
Implementing Lean methodologies in environments with strained labor-management relations can be challenging. However, Bill’s experience demonstrates that Lean can indeed be a bridge to rebuilding trust.
- Visible Leadership: Lean demands that leaders be visible and engaged. This presence is crucial. Regular frontline visits and open dialogues show that management is listening and willing to act on employee concerns.
- Early Wins through Kaizen: Initial Kaizen events can serve as powerful trust-building activities. By involving cross-functional teams in problem-solving, employees feel valued and heard. These early successes can create a ripple effect, leading to more collaborative and less adversarial relationships.
Enhancing Consistency with Standard Work
Standard work is fundamental in achieving consistent quality and performance. The absence of standardized processes often leads to significant variation, which can be detrimental to operational efficiency.
- Balancing and Documenting Work: It’s essential to balance workloads and ensure tasks are not overly burdensome. Documenting processes meticulously–outlining exact steps, tools, and methods–is crucial for consistency.
- Reducing Variability: When there’s variation in how tasks are performed, it’s difficult to pinpoint and address the root causes of issues. Standard work simplifies this by ensuring everyone follows the same procedures, making it easier to identify and rectify deviations.
Holistic Turnaround Strategy
In detailing a successful turnaround, Bill articulates a structured approach that TBM Consulting advocates. This involves:
- Assessment and Baseline Establishing: The initial step involves a thorough evaluation of the current state. This encompasses performance metrics, staffing adequacy, leadership effectiveness, and equipment conditions.
- Stabilize and Normalize: Before attempting substantial improvements, it’s vital to stabilize existing operations. This phase focuses on normalizing processes and halting degradation. Often, this requires reallocating resources, adjusting staffing, and ensuring everyone understands the mission.
- Rebound and Improve: Post-stabilization, the focus shifts to driving performance back to desired levels. This involves eliminating barriers, addressing root causes, and initiating continuous improvement cycles.
- Sustain and Standardize: Long-term success hinges on sustaining improvements. This phase embeds rigorous daily management practices, such as leader standard work and layered audits, ensuring that improvements are maintained and further refined.
The Role of Leadership
Effective leadership is critical throughout this process. However, different phases may require different leadership styles and skills.
- Transitional vs. Sustaining Leadership: Some leaders excel in guiding an organization through significant change but may not be as effective in maintaining and incrementally improving operations. It’s important to identify leaders who can navigate both realms or transition leadership roles accordingly.
- Bias for Action: Leaders must demonstrate a high bias for action. This means engaging actively with frontline workers, following up rigorously on action items, and maintaining accountability. This action-oriented approach helps instill a culture of continuous improvement and problem-solving.
Drawing on Practical Examples
Bill’s pragmatic approach and real-world examples illustrate the benefits of Lean principles in various scenarios, from manufacturing to consultancy. His focus on practical, actionable steps rather than overcomplicated tools or theoretical concepts underscores the accessibility and effectiveness of Lean.
By building a culture of safety, fostering trust, and implementing standardized work practices, organizations can achieve sustained operational excellence. The structured turnaround strategy, coupled with steadfast leadership, ensures that improvements are not only achieved but also maintained, setting the stage for long-term success.
The Critical Role of Accountability
Creating a culture of accountability is fundamental to a successful Lean transformation. Accountability isn’t just about following rules; it’s about making and keeping commitments that drive the organization forward.
- Two-Way Commitment: Leadership must facilitate and remove roadblocks while ensuring resources and support are provided. However, leaders also need to communicate the limitations and set realistic timeframes for assistance. This builds credibility and trust within the team, slowly but surely making deposits in the “trust bank.”
- Optimistic Skepticism: Leaders should adopt an optimistic yet skeptical attitude, balancing belief in their team’s capabilities with a need for thorough validation and proof. This approach ensures that issues are genuinely resolved and not merely deferred.
Transition Benefits and Risks
Transitioning organizations towards Lean and One-Piece Flow methodologies can yield substantial benefits. However, it comes with its own set of challenges that need to be managed meticulously.
- Uncovering Rocks: Lowering inventory levels to expose inefficiencies (the “rocks” in the river) must be done cautiously. Too rapid a transition can lead to significant disruptions, while a well-paced approach reveals manageable inefficiencies that can be addressed systematically.
- Steering Clear of Catastrophes: It’s essential to differentiate between manageable challenges and potential operational catastrophes. Navigating this “sweet spot” ensures a sustainable pace of improvement without jeopardizing delivery and performance standards.
Warning Signs of Trouble
Proactive monitoring and interpreting Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are critical in identifying and addressing issues before they escalate into full-blown problems.
- Timeliness and Granularity: The timeliness and detailed analysis of performance data at the point of impact (rather than a high-level, periodic review) are crucial for early issue detection.
- Root Cause Analysis: Rather than accepting recurring problems as anomalies, a deep dive into the root causes ensures long-term resolutions. Establishing detailed problem statements and cross-referencing issues across the plant can help in identifying systemic flaws and preventing future occurrences.
Time-Based Management and Core Philosophy
TBM Consulting’s foundational principle places time as the most critical asset. This principle underpins strategies that seek to maximize operational efficiency and business performance.
- Lead Time Reduction: Central to TBM’s approach is the reduction of lead times to create business velocity. By decreasing lead times, organizations can better respond to market demands, drive sales, and enhance overall earnings.
- Sales and Earnings Growth: Shifting the focus from pure cost savings to driving sales and revenue through effective Lean practices leads to more significant, sustainable financial improvements.
Holistic Operational Review
A comprehensive, helicopter view of an organization’s operations can help in identifying numerous areas for productivity enhancement.
- Material Transformation to Transactional Processes: A holistic review encompasses all aspects–from production processes to administrative functions and leadership efficacy.
- Sustainability Opportunities: Exploring energy efficiency and waste reduction can further boost productivity and has the added benefit of aligning with broader environmental and sustainability goals.
Effective Lean as a Strategic Weapon
Organizations that view Lean as an integral part of their strategic arsenal tend to perform better compared to those that treat it as an add-on program.
- Integration with Business Performance: Lean principles need to be tightly integrated with broader business strategies to drive significant performance improvements. Organizations that use Lean to enhance responsiveness, quality, and delivery tend to outperform those that don’t.
- Long-Term Commitment: Lean is a continuous journey with no finish line. Organizations that embrace this philosophy can better navigate changes and remain competitive over the long haul.
The Human Element
Incorporating human capital strategies into Lean transformations acknowledges that people are at the heart of sustained operational excellence.
- Leadership Effectiveness: Regular evaluation and development of leadership roles ensure that leaders are equipped to drive continuous improvement.
- Engagement and Empowerment: Deep engagement with staff at all levels fosters a culture of continuous learning and problem-solving, essential for a successful Lean transformation.
Conclusion
By embedding accountability, careful monitoring, and leveraging Lean as a strategic weapon, organizations can achieve long-term operational excellence. Lean isn’t merely about cost-cutting; it’s about enhancing overall business performance while fostering a culture of continuous improvement and sustainable growth.
Real-Life Examples of Lean Success
In reflecting on their careers, many industry veterans highlight the profound impact of Lean transformation on people’s lives and business outcomes. Minimizing job losses while enhancing business performance is a challenging yet rewarding endeavor. The ultimate goal isn’t merely survival but thriving–fixing business issues and fostering growth.
- Balancing Acts: Lean transformations can sometimes lead to tough decisions, such as layoffs, but the focus should always be on finding solutions that benefit both the organization and its employees. By identifying and resolving inefficiencies, companies can avoid drastic measures and position themselves for sustainable growth.
- Enhanced Throughput and Quality: A visit to a Lean-transformed factory revealed significant improvements in throughput and quality, effectively reducing backlogs. This means that production capabilities are no longer a constraint, allowing the sales team to capitalize on new market opportunities confidently.
Breaking Down Bottlenecks
A critical aspect of Lean is identifying and addressing bottlenecks within the production process. Successfully shifting the bottleneck from production to sales is an ideal scenario, resulting in continuous growth and increased market share.
- Production vs. Sales: Once production inefficiencies are ironed out, the focus shifts to empowering the sales team. A well-oiled production process means that any constraints now lie within the sales pipeline. This dynamic ensures that as the sales team brings in more orders, the production team is well-prepared to meet demand without delays.
- Market Responsiveness: By eliminating production bottlenecks, companies can react more swiftly to market changes and customer demands, thereby capturing greater market share and fostering long-term growth.
Continued Learning and Adaptation
The journey of Lean transformation is continuous, demanding constant learning and adaptation. Ongoing visits and audits to Lean-developed plants provide invaluable insights, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and operational excellence.
- Open Invitations: Collaborating with consulting firms and industry experts, and visiting other Lean-centric plants, provides fresh perspectives and learning opportunities. This facilitates the discovery of new strategies and best practices that can be implemented within one’s own organization.
- Adaptation and Innovation: Lean encourages a mindset of perpetual adaptation and innovation. By remaining open to new methodologies and technologies, businesses can continuously improve their processes and stay ahead of the competition.
Engaging Leadership and Workforce
Leadership effectiveness and employee engagement are critical components of a successful Lean transformation. Ensuring that leaders are equipped to guide their teams through Lean initiatives and that employees are fully engaged and empowered to contribute to continuous improvement are essential.
- Empowered Leadership: Leaders must possess the skills and mindset necessary to drive Lean transformations, including the ability to make strategic decisions and inspire their teams. Regular training and development programs can help leaders stay updated with the latest Lean practices and techniques.
- Employee Involvement: Engaged employees are more likely to contribute to process improvements and share innovative ideas. Involving staff at all levels fosters a sense of ownership and accountability, making Lean initiatives more effective and sustainable.
Conclusion
By continuously improving and adapting Lean practices, organizations can achieve remarkable growth and operational excellence. The journey of Lean transformation is ongoing, requiring robust leadership, engaged employees, and a commitment to constant learning and innovation.
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