FITT Facts: Take the Waste Out of Lean

Take the waste out of Lean???  What!  Did I just say that???

Before all the Lean professionals out there get all worked up, allow me to explain myself.  If I ask you what jidoka is, can you give me the answer?  How about poka yoke?  Can you give me the definition/translation of heijunka?  Okay, let’s try an easy one with genchi genbutsu…  Unless you’ve been studying lean or are a certified lean professional you won’t have any idea what I’m talking about.

Here lies the waste in Lean, technically we’re over-processing by making something more complicated than it needs to be.  These terms can prove to be a barrier of entry for newbies to the Lean world and can make learning about Lean harder, not to mention make the learning process longer.  Not only do you have to learn about Lean methodologies, values and principles but you also need to learn Japanese.

Think about the last time you used assembly instructions to put something together…  What if some of the critical words in the instructions were in a different language?  Wouldn’t that make understanding the instructions harder than it needed to be? 

It's a little bit ironic, don't you think...  Lean teaches us to simplify processes, cut out waste and make things flow.  Lean teaches us to use simple SOPs with minimal words to make training and learning easy for anyone.  But then as you're trying to keep it simple you're hit with Hoshin Kanri, which is not an easy concept to learn even if I gave you the definition.

What if, in the beginnings of Lean teachings, instead of using the Japanese words we simplify everything by using the translation/definition only?  Then, once the understanding of Lean grows, we can start to introduce the Japanese words.

Instead of jidoka, say automation that detects defects.

Instead of poka yoke, say error-proofing.

Instead of heijunka, say load levelling.

Instead of genchi genbutsu, say go and see.

Originally I used all the Japanese words in my lean training but have since smartened up.  I have now tailored my own training around this concept of keeping it simple (in the beginning) and had great results with people no longer having to remember what that “pokie yokie” thing was. 

Be FITT!