DailyKaizen

I wanted to take the time to respond to a recent post that Jon Miller at Gemba Research (http://www.gembapantarei.com/2008/01/the_pros_and_cons_of_model_lines_for_lean_implemen.html) made discussing the pros and cons of starting a Model Line.  This is an excellent and accurate description of Model Lines.  I think I might be able to add some insights in this area having spent the last year and a half working in our organizations Model Line, which by the way was very successful.  Hopefully these insights will help others that are considering using this tool within their organizations.

For those of you unfamiliar a Model Line is a tool organization uses to take a part of an organization and apply Lean thinking, tools and principles deeply in order to increase the rate of transformation.  If done correctly the Model Line then becomes the learning laboratory for the rest of the organization.  Tools can be tested, refined and taken to the larger organization.  Employees can be reassigned to deepen their knowledge and expertise.  And most importantly in our case the organization can learn how to develop a disciplined management system that can then be replicated across the rest of the organization. 

Here are a couple of my insights that we learned along the way that may be helpful to other based on the categories that Jon called out in his posting:

• Building a Model Line:At our organization this was a challenge, because we have a lot of value streams, but they are very different.  Thus we knew that we had to take on a large enough part of the organization that we were able to impact operational, service and professional teams.  Our Model Line included over 85 teams and 650 employees, which is the size of many large companies.  In our case this was necessary, but I would not recommend it for others.
• Resources:When we first kicked off our Model Line we had to make a significant investment in Lean and supporting resources to get it going.  But we approached the Division we were working with a teach to fish philosophy.  We asked that they put skin in the game and give us a couple of their top manager to be trained as Lean consultants and over time integrated this model into their leadership development track.  Thus, they are now almost completely self-sufficient.
• Problem Identification: As we began the planning process for our Model Line we quickly realized that most of the problems that we were going to run into were systems problems and the cause would not be within the control of the Division we were working with.  Thus we knew we needed to have active sponsorship as well as active participation from supporting services like HR. 
• Commitment: When we began the Model Line work we did not have senior leadership commitment for organization wide Lean transformation.  This is exactly why we formed the Model Line.  For a couple of years our leadership struggled with whether or not Lean could be successfully adopted in Healthcare and if it would be a good fit for our culture.  Thus we knew that we needed to transform a large enough part of the organization to show that Lean would work.  At the same time we needed to have a way to educate leadership in an environment that they recognized.  Nothing is more powerful then going on a site visit to your own organization and seeing the difference in employee engagement, member satisfaction and hard business results.  Over time our executive leaders became drawn to our Model Line and spent more and more time learning from the Gemba. 

In conclusion, without having had the Model Line we would never have been able to get to where we are today with a commitment for organization wide Lean transformation!  It has also given us a huge jump start in learning about what works and does not work in our organization’s culture and management system.

A couple key recommendations for those of you considering a Model Line:

• In selecting the area make sure it is contained business unit with a P&L or a value stream.  Do not select a department.
• If you don’t have top leader sponsorship make sure you select an area that has a leader that is willing to take risks, stay the course and open to learning.  Additionally, make sure you have at least a minimum commitment from a senior executive that they will come and check the work personally on a regular cadence.
• Thoroughly capture the current condition before you begin.  Take lots of picture and capture the baseline data.  You will want to promote the success and it will come. 
• Get your communications, HR and Finance groups involved from the beginning.  Without them on board you will have an uphill climb

Good Luck!

 Lee

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