by Lee Fried, on 16 Oct 2007 07:07 am
The Journey
Setting the Context
Hi everyone. I am back from a wonderful trip to Italy and trying to ease my way back into work and sort through an incredible backlog of emails. Thanks to Ted for holding down the fort while I was gone.
I thought I would take today’s post to set some context. As I mentioned before I left on my trip my job has changed. As a result a lot of what I will be discussing and seeking advice on in this blog will also change. I have been asked to support the senior leadership team and the organizations Lean champion in the process of implementing a Hoshin Kanri (Policy Deployment) system to replace our current budget driven planning system. This is a big change for me having spent the last year “starting up” and helping drive the work in our Model Line area which has been the primary topic of my blog entries. I have mixed emotions about this change having developed a lot of ownership for the Model Line work, but overall it is the right move for me and hopefully the organization.
In reality, I believe that this work is far broader and more exciting then just implementing a new planning system. As most of you know, you cannot implement a Hoshin System without simulatiously embedding Lean thinking into all employees. Without both you will simple create a system of management by objective, which is more of what we already have as an organization. Thus in order for us to be successful in putting in an effective Hoshin system it is my belief that the organization is going to be forced to make a decision about the definition and future of Lean.
- Is Lean simply a set of tools and methods or is it a management system?
- Will we effectively be able to integrate Lean thinking and behaviors at all level of the organizations?
- Will the rest of the organization follow the Model Line’s lead and drive toward enterprise level Lean transformation?
I have no idea where the organization will end up on these questions, but I do believe that we have the right process in the mix that will lead to an answer in the near future. As readers I hope you can help provide guidance as we move into our next Lean chapter as an organization and I hope our journey helps others that are on similar paths.
on 02 Nov 2007 at 12:38 pm 1.Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog » Management Improvement Carnival #22 said …
[...] Setting the Context by Lee Fried - “As most of you know, you cannot implement a Hoshin System without simulatiously embedding Lean thinking into all employees. Without both you will simple create a system of management by objective” [...]