为什么有一位精益老师很有必要?(上)

By Art Byrne

作者：阿特伯恩

February 23, 2022

2022年2月23日

Lean veteran Art Byrne explains how having a lean sensei helps leaders and organizations succeed in their lean transformation.

    经验丰富的精益专家亚特伯恩解释一位精益老师是如何能够帮助领导者和组织成功进行精益转型。

Art Byrne

Lean management is the polar opposite of the traditional approach, which is why traditional managers rarely understand why the necessary lean changes make any sense at all.

    精益管理与传统方法截然相反，这就是为什么传统管理者很少认为必需要做的精益变革是有任何的意义。

Converting from traditionally run batch-and-queue type operations to lean flow-and-pull processes requires an entirely different way of thinking.

    从传统的大批量处理和排队类型运营转型为精益流程和拉动流程需要一种完全不同的思维方式。

Traditional managers, for example, have been trained to believe that producing in large batches results in the lowest cost per item. They also think that organizing by functional departments is the most efficient approach.

    例如，传统管理人员接受过培训，认为大批量生产会使得每件产品的成本最低。他们还认为，由各职能部门进行组织工作是最有效的方法。

But, of course, organizing by function exacerbates the batching and forces companies to produce according to a forecast.

    但是，当然，按职能部门组织会加剧批量处理，并迫使公司根据预测进行生产。

Then along comes a lean leader who says, “get rid of the functional departments, stop producing in big batches, and only build to the customers’ orders” — which makes no sense to a traditional manager.

    然而一位精益的领导者说，“取消职能部门，停止大批量生产，只按客户的订单生产——这对传统管理者来说毫无道理。

And even if they could grasp the theory behind lean thinking, they would have no idea how to make the operational changes required in finance and accounting, sales tactics and terms, product development, IT, strategic planning, and human resources.

    即使他们能够掌握精益思想背后的理论，他们也不知道如何在财务和会计、销售策略和条款、产品开发、IT、战略规划和人力资源等方面进行所需的运营变革。

In my 40 years of implementing lean in various companies, I have never seen a company leader buy into lean and adopt its practices on their own using existing resources.

    我在不同公司实施精益的40年里，我从未见过哪个公司领导者使用现有资源自行导入精益的做法。

They need help at first obtaining the knowledge of what lean is (the thinking and philosophy, if you will), and then with guidance and the hands-on experience of how to go about making the change.

    在开始阶段，需要帮助他们获得精益的知识（思想和哲学，如果你愿意的话），然后在精益老师的指导下学习如何做出改变的实践经验。

They need help answering questions such as: Where should you start? What obstacles can you expect? What is leadership’s role? What is even possible?

    需要帮助他们来回答以下问题：你应该从哪里开始？你会遇到什么障碍？领导者的角色是什么？什么是可能的？

The lean sensei answers these questions and provides essential help by bringing the knowledge and experience to show how to transition from traditional management to lean management. Without this help, you cannot successfully transform to lean.

精益老师来回答这些问题，并通过老师的知识和经验对企业如何从传统管理转型到精益管理提供必要的帮助。如果没有这些帮助，你就不能成功地进行精益转型。

You have many options for obtaining the required lean knowledge. You can engage a lean consultant to bring it to your organization. You could also hire someone who has implemented lean in a couple of other companies to lead your lean conversion.

    你有许多选择来获得所需的精益知识。你可以聘请一位精益顾问到组织中，也可以招聘一位在其他几家公司实施过精益的人来领导企业的精益转型。

Or you could train some of your existing employees by sending them to lean seminars and boot camps and having them form a Kaizen Promotion Office (KPO).

    或者，也可以培训企业现有的员工，派他们参加精益研讨会和精益新人训练营，并让他们成立一个改善推进办公室（KPO）。

In my experience, the approach that works best is to hire a great lean consultant and plan to have their guidance for the next ten-plus years. The key is to pick the right one.

    根据我的经验，最好的方法是招聘一位优秀的精益顾问，并计划获得他们未来十几年的指导，关键是要选择正确的精益顾问。

There are many available candidates but few worthy ones. Avoid the large traditional consulting firms that focus on strategy and have a “lean team.” They will charge you a lot of money in return for many fancy PowerPoint presentations and the advice of bright young associates with little hands-on lean experience.

    有很多精益顾问候选人，但真正有价值的（值得选择的）精益顾问却很少。避免使用那些专注于战略并拥有“精益团队”的大型传统咨询公司，他们会向你收取很多咨询费，换来的只是许多花哨的PowerPoint演示和没有什么精益经验的年轻顾问给出的建议。

Focus instead on finding a firm with direct experience in the Toyota Production System. Ensure that their bona fides include working for Toyota or being trained by ex-Toyota experts. Select only the teachers with hands-on experience helping companies convert to lean and achieve demonstrated financial and organizational benefits.

    而应该专注于寻找一家在TPS（丰田生产系统）方面有直接经验的公司，确保他们的诚意包括为丰田工作或接受前丰田专家的培训，只选择那些有过帮助公司进行精益转型且取得被证实的财务和组织收益的实践经验的精益顾问。

I say this from personal experience. As a group executive at The Danaher Corporation, I and one of my group presidents, George Koenigsaecker, decided to turn around Jacobs Vehicle Equipment (Jake Brake) using the Toyota Production System, known at the time as “just-in-time.”

    我是基于我的个人经历这样讲的。作为丹纳赫公司的一名集团高管，我和我的集团总裁之一乔治·科尼塞克（George Koenigsaecker）决定使用TPS对捷可勃斯汽车设备（捷可刹车）进行精益转型，当时称为“准时化”（JIT）。

We started out using Arthur Andersen’s consulting arm. Lots of PowerPoint presentations, lots of young associates, and lots of money. It was slow going, but they did help some.

    我们一开始选择了安达信的咨询部门( Arthur Andersen)，他们有很多PowerPoint演示，很多年轻同事，还收了很多咨询费。虽然进展缓慢，但他们确实给予了我们一些帮助。

Unfortunately, while they helped us create a couple of cells and made some progress, most of that came from aggressive behavior from George and me.

    不幸的是，虽然他们帮助我们建立了一些单元生产线并取得了一些进展，但其中大部分都来自于乔治和我的突破性行动。

下周将更新：为什么有一位精益老师很有必要？(下)