Let us make this "Common Knowledge" - Part 1

I heard that Dr. Deming has once said, “If you emulate Toyota you will always be less than Toyota.”  This is because in order to understand and the creation of the tools Toyota developed over the decades, you would have had to have gone through their struggles.  TPS (Toyota Production System) did not happen overnight.  It began in the late ‘30s, and TPS was framed by the mid ‘70s.

Over the recent decades manufacturing began to focus on ways to improve.  Programs like TQM, APQP, Lean, Six Sigma, TPS, and Outside-In Thinking came about.  A few books that I have read (which I cannot recall the specific titles) have claimed their way of looking at manufacturing is the only way to look at it if you want to be successful.

To claim a cure all for anything begins to boil my blood.  They can only speak from their experience and those perhaps close to them.  They cannot speak for all.  If you attempt to emulate anything without understanding the problem, you are most likely applying the wrong solution.

We are all problem solvers and to different degrees.  We view current situations based on our experience, clarity of thought, and self developed philosophy.  How clear we view the problem depends on how open we are to new ideas, challenges, and to the desire to improve.  We choose what clothes to put on in the morning (sometimes challenging for me), which way to drive to work, what to eat for lunch, when to go to sleep, and many more choices in between of various difficulty (difficult based on our experience).

So I propose to those in manufacturing, service, and information, that any label you believe to be the solution, whether TQM, APQP, Lean, Six Sigma, TPS, Outside-In Thinking, or anything else you can come up with, are all the same.  The difference is the degree of emphasis on a specific need.  They all speak of customer focus, advanced planning, quality, elimination of waste, controlling the process, and more.  However they do it in different degrees. This is how consultants “shift” the flavor of the month to make it appealing to the problems that face you now.  Generically, perhaps the problem is the same day-to-day when you look at your business from the 10,000 ft level.  However as you drill down dynamics form, move, slide, into problems that can present themselves differently many times during that day with each requiring a different solution.

So why do we have to assign a label such as TPS or Six Sigma?  Why can we not make the aggregate “Common Knowledge”?  This is day-to-day problem solving, driving root cause, and implementing permanent corrective action.  Understanding the problem is the first hurdle.  Understanding how it affects your customer so that it can be prioritized is another.  By taking the label away and focusing on identifying and solving problems, you can excel your business beyond bench marking and the mere adaption of business models.  Set the bar high.  Do not accept the solutions put in place by others, for you will always come up short.

Let us educate and make this "Common Knowledge".


(Common Knowledge - Part 2)    (Common Knowledge - Part 3)