CONSULTING · TRAINING · COACHING
Being able to read the numbers matters in management. But assuming we understand what is happening on the shop floor simply by looking at figures can also take us further from reality.
Some managers I meet on the shop floor have reached their positions within a traditional management system. Even when they see the problems in the system they know, changing it may not feel easy.
Many managers regard lean manufacturing as something potentially useful, but as the responsibility of teams other than themselves.
More importantly, many managers see lean as a method specific to the automotive industry and believe it does not suit their own complex, dynamic working environment.
Busy schedules widen this distance. Between reports, meetings and approvals, visiting the place where the work actually happens is easily postponed.
Under these conditions, the difficulties faced by shop-floor employees can remain invisible. Nor can we judge the contribution of maintenance, planning and engineering teams solely by the number of reports they produce. We need to understand on site how each activity serves the customer’s needs.
When a delivery indicator deteriorates, let us not settle for requesting another report. Let us go to the gemba—the place where the work happens—and follow an order to see where it waits, compare our observations with the data and identify who will take responsibility for the solution.
The numbers can show us where to look. To see reality, we need to go there.
