Region: Germany

Delivering Process Improvement

Posted on by Ailsa Carson

We all want to improve the way that we work. Process improvement (digital or otherwise) doesn’t just happen though, someone has to drive these projects. Whose responsibility should this be? Should we ask our divisions to improve their own processes or do we create a transformation team to do it for them.  

 

To start, let’s quickly recap S A Partner’s Improvement journey:  

SA Partners Improvement Journey 

The model explains that to reach excellence, you need to: 

  1. Standardise the way that work is done 
  2. Optimise your process by removing waste  
  3. Use technology to scale your processes  

While there are more nuances, at a high level it really is that simple. The question then becomes, how, or rather who, needs to support this journey.  

There are three approaches that you can take when it comes to improvement:  

Centralised 

Under a central model, a central team is formed of skilled and experienced people whose day job it is to deliver improvement. These central resources may be employees of the organisation itself, external consultants, or a combination of the two. The division will remain involved; however, they will be stakeholders rather than being responsible for delivering projects.  

Decentralised 

Under a decentralised model, the responsibility for process management and improvement will sit with the division themselves with limited, if any, central support.  

Hybrid 

Under a hybrid model, a central team exists however the delivery work is shared with the division. The role of the central team can vary, and be anything from providing centralised planning and oversight, all the way through to doing the lion’s share of the delivery work.  

As you might imagine, there are advantages of each approach.  

A centralised approach:  

  • Helps ensure that the quality of development is consistent and in accordance to the established standards  
  • Accelerates the development of solutions by providing dedicated resources 
  • Reduces the time and cost of development through specialisation and economies of scale 
  • Helps to prevent shadow IT  
  • Minimises the duplication of work through the creation of reusable assets  
  • Allows the business to focus on their day job  
  • Ability to implement strong governance frameworks  

A de-centralised approach:  

  • Empowers Process Owners and Participants to improve their own processes  
  • May result in higher adoption from the business for solutions that they build  
  • Uncovers use cases that would otherwise have not been known 
  • Reduced the need to wait on a central team to become available  
  • Has lower central resource overhead requirements  

Clearly then there is no one best approach. In making the decision there are a few things to consider:  

  • Your strategy. Is there a business benefit for your division to diverting time from their day job to work on process improvement?  
  • Capability. Do your people have the skills needed to successfully deliver improvement themselves?  
  • Capacity. Do your people have the time to be able to deliver improvement projects while continuing to perform their day job?  

 

Again, while there is no one answer, I can offer some best practice guidance depending on the type of improvement work being done. Broadly speaking, we can split improvement work up into two arms, process management and process digitisation.  

Process Management  

Process Management involves documenting as-is processes, standardising the way that work is done, and improving these processes by removing waste. My recommendation is to decentralise this work.  

There is a huge strategic benefit of the division doing this work – they are the ones with their boots on the ground and therefore have the best understanding of where the process can be improved, what pain-points exist, and what the root cause of the underlying issues are. I would argue that asking your team to do this work is not taking time away from their day job, it is their day job.  

This of course does not mean that there is no need for a central team. You may have some large strategic projects that are too complicated to ask the division to deliver themselves, so you still should have access to central, highly skilled and experienced resources to deliver these projects as well as to support the division as they deliver projects themselves.  

Having agreed that there is a strategic benefit to decentralising this work, we now need to consider capacity and capability.  

Starting with capacity. There’s no point asking your divisional team to perform improvement work if they are already working at 110% utilisation. Something will need to change and overtime you need to ensure that everyone has time formally built into their performance plans to focus on improvement.  

Capability is much easier. Everyone across your organisation should have some amount of process management, improvement, and problem-solving skills; the level to which will depend on the extent to which they are expected to participate and lead improvement initiatives. As a starting point, here is our guidelines for the skills required:  

 

Process Digitisation 

The second arm of process improvement is digitisation and automation. This involves using technology to improve processes which may be as anything from implementing an off the shelf tool, automating process steps, or building custom applications.  

These activities do not necessarily have a strategic benefit of being performed by the division. Once we identify that our process has a step that can be automated for example, there is no strategic benefit for the division to build the automation itself. In this case, you would be better off leveraging experienced, competent professionals to perform the technical build and testing while the division focuses on their day job. There is however a benefit in the division receiving basic training on process digitisation and automation as, by understanding the art of the possible, they will then be well placed to flag where there are opportunities to incorporate technology in their processes.  

In summary then, as obvious as it sounds, if you want to improve your processes you need to consider who is going to perform the improvement work. This decision needs to be anchored in strategy and supported by realistic capability and capacity planning. Finally, this decision needs to be fluid, as your organisation and the environment in which it operates evolves, so too should your execution model.  

 Please do reach out if you would like to discuss this in any way. 

Ishan Sellahewa 

ishan.sellahewa@sapartners.com 

The SHINGO© Model that drives Enterprise Excellence & the focus on Culture & Behaviours that matter

Posted on by Ailsa Carson
By John Quirke, Author

In 1988 as a recognition for his work across a broad range of industry sectors, Shigeo Shingo was awarded an honorary Doctor of Management from Utah State University.  Over the course of his life Dr. Shingo wrote eighteen books on the improvement of work and the processes that support the effectiveness of work.  Many terms we use widely today such as ‘single minute exchange of die’ (SMED) and ‘go see activity’ or ‘going to Gemba’ originated in Dr Shingo’s writings.  The adoption and expansion of Dr. Shingo’s thinking and philosophy led to the development of the Shingo Enterprise Excellence Model, and the formation of the Shingo Institute, within the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University.

The Shingo Institute

has drawn on a wide range of expertise and research to expand the philosophy behind the original model to include a critical focus on the quality of leadership, organisational culture, and the critical link between desired behaviours and the impact of business system on these behaviours.

The outcome of the majority of business activity is based on a human behaviour and the actions that result for that behaviour.

The behaviours that count, are the ones that result in an action that we could see or hear.

  • An employee may see a problem but fail to raise it as an issue.
  • A leader fails to react to an obvious breach of agreed standards of work or safety protocols.
  • A supervisor may angrily chastise a team for poor performance.
  • A quality engineer develops a poor corrective action without seeing or ‘touching’ the process.

All the above are behaviours that will result in possible customer dissatisfaction, loss of trust, or loss of integrity.  At S A Partners we refer to these behaviours as ‘NIBs’, ‘Not Ideal Behaviours’.  Consider all the NIBs in your organisation.  How many have a direct impact on your bottom line?

I like to use the ‘two click rule’ to get serious about dealing with NIBs.  If that employee allows the damaged product to pass their workstation (click 1), and that part is missed during quality sampling (click 2), there will be an impact on the bottom line and the integrity of our product in the marketplace.

As an example, we regularly see a focus on generating improvement ideas in organisations.  This is seen as key behavioural indicator.  The idea being, that incremental ideas add together as marginal gains to improve overall performance.  This is a fine a laudable approach when process is stable, and we are seeking incremental improvements.  But when the process is in the red zone of variation and firefighting there are many KPI’s, alarms and often customers screaming at us to tell us what the problems/opportunities are now!  Yes, we need improvement ideas, but these ideas must be focused on the issues and problems at hand.  They require strong direction and good leadership to ensure teams are not distracted and get the time and support to implement their ideas effectively.

So where should focus behavioural measures in the above example?  Good implementation of employee ideas?  Well maybe.  But initially the behavioural measures must focus on the quality of leadership.  Are leaders spending time with their teams to support and understand their issues?  Are leaders appropriately recognising effort and exemplar behaviours within their work teams?  Are leaders actively involved in supporting and facilitating cross functional problem solving.  Gaining control and exiting the ‘red zone’ is dependent on the quality of leadership not on the random improvement suggestions of employees.

The point is organisations can spend a lot of effort measuring behaviours that do not have a direct impact on the effectiveness and efficiency of the work that needs to take place to meet customer expectations.  At the end of the day, it is about delivering measurable results.

The Shingo Model’s focus on culture and behaviour is there so that organisations become laser focused on the behaviours necessary to make the difference between winning or losing.

Systems Thinking

An important insight brought by the Shingo Enterprise Excellence Philosophy is that expressed behaviours (actions or conversations) whether they are good or bad are a result of the quality of the systems within the business, or the absence of them.  The employee who passes a defective part may be measured for the most part on units produced per minute.  The quality engineer is driven by a corporate quality system that focuses on corrective action closeout rather than effective problem solving.

“If you need to change behaviour you must consider the systems and processes that drive the behaviour you need to change.”

S A Partners Improvement Journey Model

The power of the guiding principles

Many companies speak to high level values.  But very few connect these values to what is important for business success.  Even fewer translate values into observable effective winning behaviours. The ten guiding principles within the Shingo Enterprise Excellence model give organisations ‘lenses’ through which to view the work that they do and give insight into the necessary ideal behaviours necessary to support sustainable excellent performance.  The principles can be backed into’ set organisational values yet give a firm guide as to what aspirational values need to look a feel like where the value adding work gets done.

Taking some examples:

Does everyone in your organisation feel respected as an individual? Are they are listened to?  If their concerns or ideas are not listened to, if they are not developing as individuals or the organisation is not keeping them safe physically and psychologically, then they are not being respected.

If leaders spend their time telling teams what they should or should not do they are not leading with humility and the team will become dependent.  There will be no organisational learning, and poor leadership habits at senior level will be amplified as we travel down the organisational layers.

Equally if we consider some of the principles within the Shingo dimension of Continuous Improvement, do you see a true Focus on Process within your teams where standards are clear current, understood and regularly reviewed and improved by those who use them?

Or how about Flow and Pull?  Do we have a clear line of sight as to how you flow customer value through all aspect of work?  From sales to delivery and receipt of payment?  Do processes really flow or are they overly complex, bound up in compliance culture and continually prone to error and delay?  The flow of value in response to the pull or demand of the customer, thrives on elegance in process and work design.  It requires detailed knowledge of the work and the factors that impact the speed and reliability of the work.  The individuals who discover and cherish this knowledge are those individuals who are closest to the work. These individuals have incredible leadership who are excited by these discoveries and actively celebrate the constant improvement of the work by the team.

I encourage the reader to read their definitions along with the remaining principles in the freely available Shingo Handbook from the Shingo.org website.

While the Shingo Enterprise Excellence Model is an incredibly powerful approach to developing sustained levels of excellence in an organisation it does bring challenges.  It requires real and genuine commitment for a site leadership team.  They as a team must own it.

Another challenge we see arises from the complexity within corporations and their approach to enterprise excellence.  Often, we see sites who have gone on a ‘solo run’ having gained initial approval for the approach but then find themselves in a sea of confusion as attempts are made to align the Shingo Model with corporate values, improvement systems even branding!

Personally, I see the Shingo Enterprise Excellence model as providing an extremely powerful framework to develop a holistic approach to sustainable organisational excellence.  Many existing programmes and systems can be aligned to a clear unambiguous focus on excellence.  A focus that is supported by leadership skills that enable their teams to be brilliant at what they do.

It is a tough journey, but it can also be extremely rewarding.

Please do, get in touch or join us at an upcoming Intro to Shingo Workshop

Best

John

John.Quirke@sapartners.com

About John Quirke

John Quirke is a partner with S A Partners and is a Shingo Examiner.

John holds a BSc, MSc and BCL degrees and has over twenty five year experience in the area of operational excellence.

John co-authored the Shingo Prize winning Publication TPM a Foundation of Operational Excellence with colleagues Peter Wilmott (RIP) and Any Brunskill.

John has recently published Deep Excellence – Seeing and Hearing a Culture of Deep Excellence, with contributions for colleagues Juliette Packham, Bryan Cutliff and Simon Grogan.

For more information please visit www.sapartners.com and www.shingo.org

 

 

Achieving Excellence: How to leverage process optimisation & automation

Join us for this two part workshop with industry experts Ishan Sellahewa (Digital Transformation Manager, S A Partners); Robin Jaques (Partner, S A Partners) & Justin Short (COO, Synergi) to find out how you can firstly optimize your processes and then automate.

According to BCG, 70% of Digital Transformation projects fail to meet their objectives. While a portion of this may come down to poor implementation, more often than not the problem arises when organisations attempt to automate all of their problems away. While less obvious, the reverse of this equation holds true – organisations who fail to consider process digitisation and automation will be left behind in an increasingly digital world.

Why attend? 

In this webinar you will:

  • Learn how process optimisation can significantly reduce costs and improve operational performance.
  • Gain insights into a tried and tested process improvement methodology.
  • Understand how to combine both optimisation and automation for the best results.
  • Discover how to ensure your process automation is successful.
  • Explore real-world case studies of successfully implemented automation.
  • Develop the skills to ensure both digitisation and automation can deliver results.

Attendees will also be provided with a free assessment and the option of a free consultation with our industry experts.

Align, Engage, Improve with Effective Tiered Meetings

Posted on by Ailsa Carson

By Sonja Allen Image of Sonja Allen

Have you ever considered…

  • How many meetings you have a week?
  • How many of these meetings could be an email?
  • How many of these meetings have few or no results?
  • How many rabbit holes do your meeting conversations go down?
  • How regularly do you talk about what really matters, in a focused fashion?

And more importantly have you asked if there is a way to ensure you and your team leave every meeting feeling it had value and purpose and moved you forward.

Getting the right team together to make the right decisions at the right time is hard. Often it’s made harder by the fact that we don’t naturally approach communications and decision-making in the same intentional and systematic fashion as we would other business processes.

To sustainably deliver great customer results all organisation must align their business systems and processes to deliver on the organisation’s purpose…

⇒ engage all their people into that purpose

⇒ and into continuously improving the business processes they are responsible for

In the world of Enterprise Excellence, we achieve this by deploying a Management System – a structured, interlinked set of measures, meetings, actions and decisions which allow us to run today’s business and shape tomorrows. It provides a right time, right place, right focus, right pace decision-making focus at every level of an organisation, or, as we call it at S A Partners: The Align Engage Improve System (AEI for short).

AEI brings all of the elements together to make your improvement journey successful. It aligns teams on the organisational purpose, engages everyone in delivering towards it and surfaces opportunities to improve, which is why embedding AEI into a transformation journey means rooting it in the culture and behaviours that will sustain it.

You may think “HUH?” at this point. How practical is this? The answer is simple – management systems really are at their core just a better way of organising our meetings.

To be effective Meetings need to visually focus on the things that are most important to each team.  To do this we use a few basic principles:

  • Make organisational goals / purpose clear and visual.
  • Help your team understand their personal contribution to goals and track the actions required to achieve them.
  • Show where you are winning and where you are losing.
  • Help your team understand the expected behaviours.
  • Create a standard approach for all meetings across the business.
  • Define clear escalation & feedback pathways.​

Organisations embed AEI or any management system, to align to & deliver on strategic priorities, speed up problem solving and escalation, reduce time spent in meetings, reduce fire-fighting, shape organisational culture in an intentional fashion and engage and empower the whole organisation to become part of their Enterprise Excellence journey.

After you have stabilized your meeting structure you can focus on taking a holistic view of the organization. In this phase you will create a schedule of meetings, also known as an inventory of meetings. This is where you hold information on all regular pulse meetings, attendees, frequency, purpose and  how the effectiveness of the meeting is reviewed. As with all other processes – meetings should be subject to review and refinement. Redundant meetings can cease, duplicate meetings merged – by holding this information in one place the senior leadership team have complete oversight of how the various meetings contribute to the companies objectives.

If you want to find out how we can help you develop and deploy an effective tiered meeting system please do contact me..

Sonja.Allen@sapartners.com

Lean Management System – LEVEL 1 – Japan Study Tour

Study Tour

13 – 21 January 2024

Due to new restrictions we can advise on flights but not book on your behalf, pricing has been adjusted accordingly.

Join the leading Lean Training Programme in Japan this January for an experience of a lifetime.

We are proud to offer you this unique opportunity to gain practical knowledge and experience studying with Toyota gurus for one whole week in Japan.

The Lean Management System study tour covers a comprehensive view of Lean leadership and the Lean Production System. The tour provides you with an opportunity to study in Toyota’s own training centre with direct access to Toyota trainers and Toyota  production facilities.

This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to boost your leadership and management skills by learning from the very best in the world. You will also obtain your Certificate directly from Toyota. We have created a study week that combines intense learning with both fun and cultural immersion!

Understand Why and How to use LEAN

This Study Tour will provide you with a deep understanding of how to make the best use of Lean. This is a unique opportunity to visit Japan, Toyota, and some of their suppliers to train in Lean through seminars, Gemba visits, and participating in practical training at Toyota’s own training facility. The objective is to dig deep into the WHAT, WHY and HOW of Lean Thinking. What are the elements needed to run a successful Lean system? Why is it so popular in current thinking and How can it influence your own organization and support growth.

By understanding  the whole lean management system you will get an insight into what these leading Japanese companies are doing to compete in today’s fast changing environment.

You will learn to identify the tools and elements of Lean Methodology that can be applied to your own business to support profitable growth. The week in Japan will also provide an insight into Japanese culture and values.

Study Tour Package Includes:

  • Workshops and seminars
  • Study visits
  • Hotel Accommodation for the entire duration of the study visit
  • Local transfers in Japan
  • Full board Sunday – Friday
  • Farewell dinner

Costs & To Book

  • £6,500 plus VAT, due to new restrictions we can advise on flights but not book on your behalf, pricing has been adjusted accordingly.
  • Onsite Host Companies: 10% Discount on all Bookings
  • Group Discount: 10% Discount on 4 or more places

Need Help or Advice?

To book or for more Information:

For full terms and conditions and for details of our Company Insurance Policy please do contact us.

Any questions regarding the training, the travel to or within Japan – please do give us a call on +44 (0) 23 9246 8978.

The study tour is being delivered by SA Partners LLP and Onsite Insights in partnership with C2U Group.

The Programme

The training week will provide an invaluable insight into lean thinking. You will see it in action at Toyota and other leading-edge companies, where it originated and has matured over the last 100 years.

Learn the original thinking directly from former senior executives at Gifu Autobody, a Toyota-owned minivan manufacturer.  The Japanese sensei’s

(guru’s) will only teach based on real experience.

Time will be divided between the classroom, Gemba and practical workshops. The tour starts in the Nagoya region and ends in Tokyo, going from countryside to one of the largest cities in the world.

Day 1
Departure Europe

We depart from Europe and fly to Nagoya, Japan.

Day 2
Arrival and Tour Opening

Pick up/arrival in Nagoya and since it is a Sunday, we will take the opportunity to recover from jet lag and relax after the long flight by visiting the Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology where we also will have lunch. In the museum we can follow the Japanese industrial history from looms to robotics. After the visit we take the bus to travel to the destination of
the day, Kakamigahara, where we will stay until Friday. The day ends
with a common dinner and introduction of the week.

Day 3
Classroom Training

The first day of training introduces the Production System by our host for the week. A Japanese senior manager will lead us through Toyota Production System from a manager perspective. From values, mindset to specific tools and methods. This session will prepare the group in what we can expect from the study visits, from the practice and from the following sessions. Your overall
picture of the production system will be confirmed or completed. In the afternoon we go for a first study visit, guided by our sensei. Q&A.
Group dinner will follow.

Day 4
Plant Tour and more Training

Next day, we continue to dig deeper into aspects of the production system and the Toyota way of managing and leading. How are all the puzzle pieces connected? How is Kaizen work organized and performed? Etc. After lunch, we go for another study visit and if time allows, we will also end with a visit to a traditional knife maker. Group dinner will follow.

Day 5
Training

The fifth day we spend in the Training Center where Toyota train their own people. We will increase our knowledge of Kanban when the group take part in a Kanban Role Play and we will train in how to perform a productivity improvement task following the Toyota methods. Group dinner will follow.

Day 6
Study Visit and further Training

The sixth day will start with a study visit before spending the rest of the day with a final Q&A and concluding the learnings for the week. Presentation by all participants. Followed by our group dinner.

Day 7
Conclusion

The last day ends with a study visit. We do final reflections before we board the bullet train that will take us to Tokyo. Free evening in Tokyo.

Day 8
Sightseeing Day in Tokyo

You will end the tour with a Free day in Tokyo where we will support you with travel advice and sightseeing recommendations. This will be followed up by a team farewell dinner.

Day 9
Departure from Tokyo

Who will you visit?

We have an extensive network of world class companies and for more than 10 years have been bringing managers to Japan. Our host sites embody World Class Manufacturing and include:

  • Toyota Motors
  • Denso
  • Calbee Foods
  • Asahi Breweries
  • Sekisui Heim
  • Gifu Autobody
  • Nissan Motors
  • Ishii Food Corp.
  • Asahi Motors
  • Mitsubishi Electric
  • Mazak
  • Pfizer
  • UD Trucks
  • Honda
  • Yamaha Marine
  • Mizawa Home
  • Suzuki
  • Isuzu Tokai

To find out more, you can email Ailsa Carson.

Your IT department might be unknowingly undermining your culture

Posted on by Jim Brydon

We all know humans are inherently lazy – we tend to take the path of least resistance. This makes sense; both mental and physical activity takes a lot of energy, something that was scarce at the time when we had to hunt and gather for our next meal. For a more recent example, if you put more bins out in the street, people are less likely to litter.

The Shingo Model© reinforces this thinking. The second Shingo insight states that system design influences the behaviour of individuals operating within a system. The model also states:

“Cultural transformation requires a shift in behaviours and systems drive behaviour. In the end, an organization will most likely need to adjust old systems, create new systems, and eliminate systems that no longer drive desired behaviour or are misaligned.”

Harvard Business Review suggests culture “guides activity through shared assumptions and group norms.” (Groysberg, Lee, Price and Cheng, 2018).

Shingo would say that these group norms are heavily influenced by the systems of work that exist within organisations.

However, a neuroscience study published on eLife online suggests that theory could go one step further. It suggests our decision-making abilities can be swayed by the level of difficulty involved in reaching the result. That doesn’t mean we knowingly settle for less because it’s easier – we see the easier result as being more desirable in the first place.

The study explains:

“Imagine you are in an orchard, trying to decide which of the many apples to pick. On what do you base your decision? Most research into this type of decision-making has focused on how the brain uses visual information – about features such as colour, size and shape – to make a choice. But what about the effort required to obtain the apple? Does an apple at the top of the tree look more or less tempting than the low-hanging fruit?” (Hagura, Haggard and Diedrichsen, 2017).

So, what on earth does this have to do with your IT department?

Most IT departments will play a central role in selecting and configuring digital systems deployed in organisations. These systems are having increasingly wide-reaching impacts on businesses, creating rigid frameworks and workflows that inform how teams can work. However, these digital systems can also contain loopholes.

Say, for example, that you have a system through which you manage the procurement of parts. The ideal employee should log the purchase by entering information such as part number, part name, and quantity, which then becomes a purchase record in a database, over time this builds a history of purchasing patterns. This part number should in theory be the individual part number, but the part number isn’t always easy to identify, there’s no system to look-up the part number, and their manager is currently pushing to minimise the time to place the order.

This leads someone to create an umbrella code for miscellaneous parts. There’s no control against this and no guidance in the system to advise against it. Now, despite a fixed system, you have a workaround that allows the purchasers to place the order in half the time. Only problem is, three years down the line, you have no record of what was purchased, severely restricting your ability to make informed decisions.

There are two things happening here.

Firstly, the lack of available solution for easily and rapidly identifying the part number is creating a challenge for the end-user to overcome – it’s making the standard process hard to execute. Secondly, the lack of control within the digital system is providing the option for the end-user to bypass the standard. The human mind is generally not capable of consistently selecting the harder option when an easier option exists, particularly in the face of pressure, stress and other challenges. You have now created an implicit behaviour where the team is favouring efficiency over data integrity.

Now, imagine this is happening in other processes. In other systems. There are implicit behaviours being created in all corners of the business, influenced by challenges and loopholes in digital systems. We are now building a set of behavioural responses and group norms, which brings us neatly back to our definition of culture. The cherry on top of this cake is that all those difficult processes might actually be impairing our ability to make accurate judgements about what our customer values most.

So, what can we do about this?

Leaders and managers should communicate priorities, take time to understand challenges and have open conversations with teams to truly understand the way work is working in their areas. These are opportunities to surface problems and opportunities to improve. By asking genuinely curious questions about ‘how work works’ they should encourage an environment where it is safe for team members to surface frustrations and corner cutting.  It’s also important to map and understand the workflows that flow through digital systems. Once standard processes and expectations are in place, governance and improvement meetings should be wrapped around these workflows, enabling teams to provide feedback where there are challenges.

It’s important to engage the IT department – and any other teams that are responsible for maintaining and controlling digital systems in the business – in the improvement meetings and related activities that work teams use to act on problems and opportunities. This should create a healthy tension, connecting IT service providers with the reality of work, and work teams with the potential and constraints or unintended consequences of IT based changes.

These challenges can then be addressed by optimising, removing waste and simplifying those processes. Automation and specific digital solutions can be applied to remove work from teams or solve complex challenges.

Continuous improvement should be a continuous and open conversation, which delivers results when leaders mobilise teams to identify and address challenges as they are encountered. It’s more important than ever that the IT department is onboard and engaged with these efforts as they now hold the keys to more doors than ever before. It might be time to take your CIO for a coffee…

 

Jack Worboys

Analyst Consultant

jack.worboys@sapartners.com

 

Nobuhiro Hagura, Patrick Haggard, Jörn Diedrichsen (2017) Perceptual decisions are biased by the cost to act eLife 6:e18422 https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.18422

Harvard Business Review 2018, The Leader’s Guide to Corporate Culture, accessed 26th April 2023, < https://hbr.org/2018/01/the-leaders-guide-to-corporate-culture>

 

Lean Management System – LEVEL 1 – Japan Study Tour

Study Tour

7 – 15 October 2023

Due to new restrictions we can advise on flights but not book on your behalf, pricing has been adjusted accordingly.

Join the leading Lean Training Programme in Japan this November for an experience of a lifetime.

We are proud to offer you this unique opportunity to gain practical knowledge and experience studying with Toyota gurus for one whole week in Japan.

The Lean Management System study tour covers a comprehensive view of Lean leadership and the Lean Production System. The tour provides you with an opportunity to study in Toyota’s own training centre with direct access to Toyota trainers and Toyota  production facilities.

This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to boost your leadership and management skills by learning from the very best in the world. You will also obtain your Certificate directly from Toyota. We have created a study week that combines intense learning with both fun and cultural immersion!

Understand Why and How to use LEAN

This Study Tour will provide you with a deep understanding of how to make the best use of Lean. This is a unique opportunity to visit Japan, Toyota, and some of their suppliers to train in Lean through seminars, Gemba visits, and participating in practical training at Toyota’s own training facility. The objective is to dig deep into the WHAT, WHY and HOW of Lean Thinking. What are the elements needed to run a successful Lean system? Why is it so popular in current thinking and How can it influence your own organization and support growth.

By understanding  the whole lean management system you will get an insight into what these leading Japanese companies are doing to compete in today’s fast changing environment.

You will learn to identify the tools and elements of Lean Methodology that can be applied to your own business to support profitable growth. The week in Japan will also provide an insight into Japanese culture and values.

Study Tour Package Includes:

  • Workshops and seminars
  • Study visits
  • Hotel Accommodation for the entire duration of the study visit
  • Local transfers in Japan
  • Full board Sunday – Friday
  • Farewell dinner

Costs & To Book

  • £6,150 plus VAT, due to new restrictions we can advise on flights but not book on your behalf, pricing has been adjusted accordingly.
  • Onsite Host Companies: 10% Discount on all Bookings
  • Group Discount: 10% Discount on 4 or more places

Need Help or Advice?

To book or for more Information:

For full terms and conditions and for details of our Company Insurance Policy please do contact us.

Any questions  regarding the training, the travel to or within Japan – please do give us a call on +44 (0) 23 9246 8978.

The study tour is being delivered by SA Partners LLP and Onsite Insights in partnership with C2U Group.

The Programme

The training week will provide an invaluable insight into lean thinking. You will see it in action at Toyota and other leading-edge companies, where it originated and has matured over the last 100 years.

Learn the original thinking directly from former senior executives at Gifu Autobody, a Toyota-owned minivan manufacturer.  The Japanese sensei’s

(guru’s) will only teach based on real experience.

Time will be divided between the classroom, Gemba and practical workshops. The tour starts in the Nagoya region and ends in Tokyo, going from countryside to one of the largest cities in the world.

Day 1
Departure Europe

We depart from Europe and fly to Nagoya, Japan.

Day 2
Arrival and Tour Opening

Pick up/arrival in Nagoya and since it is a Sunday, we will take the opportunity to recover from jet lag and relax after the long flight by visiting the Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology where we also will have lunch. In the museum we can follow the Japanese industrial history from looms to robotics. After the visit we take the bus to travel to the destination of
the day, Kakamigahara, where we will stay until Friday. The day ends
with a common dinner and introduction of the week.

Day 3
Classroom Training

The first day of training introduces the Production System by our host for the week. A Japanese senior manager will lead us through Toyota Production System from a manager perspective. From values, mindset to specific tools and methods. This session will prepare the group in what we can expect from the study visits, from the practice and from the following sessions. Your overall
picture of the production system will be confirmed or completed. In the afternoon we go for a first study visit, guided by our sensei. Q&A.
Group dinner will follow.

Day 4
Plant Tour and more Training

Next day, we continue to dig deeper into aspects of the production system and the Toyota way of managing and leading. How are all the puzzle pieces connected? How is Kaizen work organized and performed? Etc. After lunch, we go for another study visit and if time allows, we will also end with a visit to a traditional knife maker. Group dinner will follow.

Day 5
Training

The fifth day we spend in the Training Center where Toyota train their own people. We will increase our knowledge of Kanban when the group take part in a Kanban Role Play and we will train in how to perform a productivity improvement task following the Toyota methods. Group dinner will follow.

Day 6
Study Visit and further Training

The sixth day will start with a study visit before spending the rest of the day with a final Q&A and concluding the learnings for the week. Presentation by all participants. Followed by our group dinner.

Day 7
Conclusion

The last day ends with a study visit. We do final reflections before we board the bullet train that will take us to Tokyo. Free evening in Tokyo.

Day 8
Sightseeing Day in Tokyo

You will end the tour with a Free day in Tokyo where we will support you with travel advice and sightseeing recommendations. This will be followed up by a team farewell dinner.

Day 9
Departure from Tokyo

Who will you visit?

We have an extensive network of world class companies and for more than 10 years have been bringing managers to Japan. Our host sites embody World Class Manufacturing and include:

  • Toyota Motors
  • Denso
  • Calbee Foods
  • Asahi Breweries
  • Sekisui Heim
  • Gifu Autobody
  • Nissan Motors
  • Ishii Food Corp.
  • Asahi Motors
  • Mitsubishi Electric
  • Mazak
  • Pfizer
  • UD Trucks
  • Honda
  • Yamaha Marine
  • Mizawa Home
  • Suzuki
  • Isuzu Tokai

To find out more, you can email Ailsa Carson.

Deutschland, Österreich und die Schweiz (DACH)

Mit einer Gesamtbevölkerung von über 100 Millionen Menschen liegen Deutschland, Österreich und die Schweiz sowohl physisch als auch wirtschaftlich im Herzen Europas.

S A Partners Deutschland unterstützt Unternehmen aller Branchen dabei, Spitzenleistungen zu erzielen. Wir tun dies, indem wir mit Organisationen zusammenarbeiten und transformative Veränderungen entwerfen, um ihre Ambitionen zu erfüllen und ihre Erwartungen zu übertreffen.

Wir lösen unser Markenversprechen “Together, the power to improve” ein, indem wir definieren, wie Erfolg aussieht, und dann die entsprechenden Systeme, Fähigkeiten und die Kultur mitgestalten, um ihn zu erreichen.

Wir konzentrieren uns auf die Bedürfnisse des Kunden, um die Ziele der Organisation zu entwickeln, ihre Prozesse auszurichten, ihre Mitarbeiter einzubinden und nachhaltige Verbesserungen zu erzielen.

Von unserem Büro in Dresden aus werden die Geschäftslösungen in deutscher Sprache von in Deutschland ansässigen Beratern geliefert, die natürlich auch in englischer Sprache liefern können. Wir verfügen über eine unübertroffene Expertise in der Unterstützung von Führungskräften und Organisationen bei der Erschließung von Potenzialen und der Umsetzung von Verbesserungen. Wir bieten Beratungsleistungen an, um Ihr Unternehmen wachsen und gedeihen zu lassen, und Schulungen, um Ihre internen Fähigkeiten auszubauen.

Wir sind Europas größter SHINGO-Partner und unsere Schulungen sind von der LCS und der Cardiff University akkreditiert.

Implementierung

Unser Beratungsansatz basiert auf dem Enterprise Excellence-Modell und seinen sieben Elementen, und wir haben ein Beratungsteam, das unsere Kunden weltweit zu Enterprise Excellence führen kann. Mit einer sorgfältigen Analyse verstehen und bewerten wir Ihr Unternehmen und erkennen so mögliche Tätigkeitsschwerpunkte. Daraus wird ein Implementierungsplan entwickelt. Wir begleiten die Umsetzung des Plans, – durch Training und Coaching Ihrer Mitarbeiter werden wir so nachhaltige Verbesserungen erzielen. Enterprise Excellence bietet uns einen Rahmen für nachhaltige, erfolgreiche Veränderungen, indem es sowohl die Umsetzungs- als auch die Organisation ertüchtigen.

In Verbindung mit dem Journey-Modell (Implementierungsplan) hilft es uns zu verstehen, wie die Verbesserungen genau aussehen sollten. Diese setzen wir dann gemeinsam mit Ihrer Organisation um. Auf diese Weise sind wir in der Lage, Transformations- und Roadmaps auf der Makroebene der Organisation bzw. des Systems zu erstellen und umsetzen.  Ein gezieltes Change Management zur Transformation wird die Veränderungen mitarbeitergerecht begleiten.

Wir haben diese Überlegungen in unserem Umsetzungsmodell zusammengefasst, das die folgenden vier Kernelemente kombiniert

  1. Schulung, Unterstützung und Akkreditierung von Führungskräften
  2. System-, Prozess- und Aufgabenberatung
  3. Schulung, Unterstützung und Akkreditierung von Prozessbegleitern
  4. Programmdurchführung und -steuerung

Führungskräfte auf allen Ebenen sind sich ihrer selbst bewusst, verstehen, was von ihnen verlangt wird, und sind in der Lage, ihre Teams zu motivieren und zu führen

Weiterlesen

Systems Consulting Model

Die aktuellen und zukünftigen Anforderungen an Systeme, Prozesse und Aufgaben sind klar definiert und es gibt Pläne zur Optimierung der organisatorischen Leistung

Weiterlesen

Mitarbeiter auf allen Ebenen sind in der Lage, ihre Arbeit im Einklang mit den aktuellen und zukünftigen Bedürfnissen der Organisation zu verbessern.

Weiterlesen

Es gibt ein Programm, das sicherstellt, dass sowohl der aktuelle als auch der zukünftige Bedarf der Organisation gedeckt wird.

Weiterlesen

Hier sind einige der Kunden, mit denen wir in Deutschland, Österreich und die Schweiz zusammengearbeitet haben

Treffen Sie unser Deutschland, Österreich und die Schweiz-Team:

Kevin Phelan

image of sonja

Sonja Allen

Rachel Doyle

Image of Armin

Armin Gruber

imagge of Werner Hintzen

Werner Hintzen

image of Katrin

Katrin Dunker

Egbert Boersma

Werner Hintzen

Katrin Dunker