A look at traps that cause Lean Implementations to struggle and fail.

1. 8 TRAPS:
Why LEAN
implementations
sputter, stall, and FAIL

2. Created by Tom Curtis 2010
Blog: www.onimproving.blogspot.com
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3. LEAN Implementation
Lean implementation is more than teaching concepts
and using tools. It is harder than it sounds and seems.
Many enterprises and individuals have started the
path only to sputter, stall, and ultimately fail. There
are some major traps that drive this result. This deck
highlights those traps so that understanding, planning,
and mitigation may help managers to improve both
their results and experience with LEAN.
- Tom Curtis 2010

4. Traps to avoid in LEAN implementation
Confusing simple concepts for easy execution
Unrealistic expectations of time and resources required to implement
Focus on short-term cost savings
Insufficient tangible management support
Implementation without maintenance plan
Neglect of required culture and thinking change
Lack of systematic planning and execution
Underdeveloped understanding of need for change

5. Confusing simple concepts for
easy execution
Lean is conceptually simple. This often allows its
pursuers to misunderstand that it is simple
because of refinement not because it is easy to
implement. That may also be true for certain
aspects, but not all. We must recognize that
simple does not equal easy. If we do not we will
fail. Beware of this trap. It leads to most of the
other traps. See simple correctly.

6. Unrealistic expectations of time
and resources required
This is a trap that waits in all human planned
activities. It is amplified in Lean. The amplification
comes from the combination of the traps. Lean is
not free, it if to be sustained. There are aspects
of Lean that happen quickly and cheaply, but
that is not true for everything. Under resourcing
and expecting results too soon creates a situation
where success cannot follow. Invest enough.

7. Focus on short-term cost savings
It is tempting to try to harvest early. There will be
some results and savings that will come early. The
trap is to begin focusing on short term savings at
the expense of the overall implementation. This
focus erodes support below the management
level, damages trust, and ultimately hampers what
the implementation provides at full maturity.
Enjoy the early fruit, but remember that harvest
rarely comes right after planting. Wait for harvest.

8. Insufficient tangible
management support
Support is more than a sign-off. Support is more
than funding. Support is barrier clearing,
focusing priorities, and participating. Many Lean
implementations die from lack of nourishment
(provide resources) or lack of sunlight (be there
enough, but provide space for change)or harsh
storms ( provide protection). A signature and a
smile will rarely be enough. Figure out what
support is needed and provide. Be supportive.

9. Implementation without maintenance plan
How we will sustain and maintain is many times an
afterthought. Sometimes we only think of it after
we have seen erosion from the gain we made.
Decay is a slow and silent enemy. The
destruction is not done with aggression or malice,
but taken through the natural forces of entropy,
time, forgetting and wear. Regardless of how
slowly or silently it comes, it is real, painful, and
preventable. The answers are to plan, implement
the maintenance mechanism, and to audit and
protect. If not, only failure can follow. Maintain.

10. Neglect of required culture and
thinking change
A Lean Culture and Lean Thinking are different from
how most businesses are run. The thinking and
culture change do not naturally happen, they
require planning, training, retraining, and
management. To not change is like planting good
seeds in bad ground. They may sprout, but rarely
bear real fruit. This is part of the new operating
system that must fully replace the existing. Left
neglected, failure and regression will win out. Create.

11. Lack of systematic planning
and execution
Lean Implementations must move forward in a
systematic and planned way. To do otherwise weakens
the overall roll out. It is easy to grab isolated concepts
and tools and get started--you may even see some
results, but many of these concepts only work for long
when supported by the structure of the operating
system. The other issue that often arises is continuous
changes in focus and method. Such changes hamper
and ultimately smother Lean progress. Plan well.

12. Underdeveloped understanding
of need for change
Without a why, the will runs dry. There must be a
developed understanding in the organization of
the need for change. It must permeate the whole
group. A few people are not enough--they will
fatigue from having to face additional opposition
and carrying extra weight. It is often taken as a
given that everyone sees the way we do and
recognizes the urgency and requirement. To
assume is to likely doom. Educate constantly.

13. What Traps do
you need to get
out of?