The Gift of Kaizen
It was shortly after Thanksgiving, late one afternoon on a cold day in November. I had just gotten home from what I thought was my last business trip of the year. I was tired and wrung out from all the travel, not to mention all of the hubbub of gearing up for the holiday season with friends and family, dinners and parties, and you get the idea. I had just sat down in my favorite comfy chair and put my feet up and closed my eyes when a call came in to the Process Improvement Partners Hotline. The voice was deep, full of life, and familiar. “Adam!“ It wasn’t a question, it was a statement. It was as if he knew me and somehow, I knew him. I had spoken with him before, but I couldn’t put my finger on when and where it might have been. “Speaking,” I said. “This is …aah… Mr. C., we’re having some trouble at our Northern toy factory. If we don’t get all of our orders out in December, we’re going to have some really disappointed customers. Can you help us?” he asked. “Of course, just tell me when you need me, Mr. C.” He let out a big belly laugh and said, “Right now!”
When you get an urgent call like that, you do whatever it takes to respond. So, I packed a bag, my extra socks and my warm hat just in case, booked a flight, called an Uber, and got ready for my adventure in the North. Twenty minutes later a long red car pulled up with the oddest-looking driver I ever saw. He had pointy ears, said his name was Brucie, and that he would be taking me directly to the factory. I told him I had already booked my flight, but he said I wouldn’t need it, he had a way of getting me there sooner.
We started talking and he told me how the workers had been getting behind at the factory due to more issues than they could handle. As we talked, I felt myself drifting off to sleep. When I woke up, I was at the North Pole. “Holy Smokes, the North Pole! Glad I packed my extra socks and hat, I’m going to need them,” I thought.
Assessing the Situation
Brucie took me to the Big Guy’s office. We embraced like old friends. He told me I was on the Naughty List for a few reasons I won’t elaborate on here. If I could help them resolve their issues, I might wind up back on the Nice List. I told him I would do my best, but first we would need to take a walk through his factory to see what was going on.
Brucie led the way. It turns out he was the operations manager, and he wanted to see what I might be able to offer. As we walked through the factory, I saw piles of work in process inventory. I could barely see the workers themselves. They could see me, however. Every time I passed a worker, I would hear a giggle. Apparently, I looked a bit out of place in their factory. My ears weren’t pointy, I didn’t have bells on the ends of my safety shoes, and they seemed to know why I was on the Naughty List.
Brucie told me his workers were making mistakes and when they asked for help, no one could hear them, because all of the piles of inventory muffled their voices. He also felt he needed a way to see progress during the day and assess whether or not he was on track to meet all of the orders. The Big Guy looked concerned. He didn’t want to disappoint any of his customers and he felt that his workers were losing hope that they would be able to complete all their work in time.
I spoke with a number of the workers on the tour. To a person … no, to an elf, they seemed worried. They knew they had to complete their work, but didn’t know what to do about it. They wanted to help, but didn’t know how. They were working as hard as they could, but just didn’t know if it would be enough to be ready for the big delivery. There was also something somber about the atmosphere in the plant. It seemed like elves should be having more fun doing their work, but the energy level and joy was not there. I was hoping they weren’t considering striking.
After the tour, we sat down for a lunch of milk and cookies to discuss what could be done. I told Brucie and the Big Guy that I could facilitate a session with 6 of the production workers, Brucie, Kittie from HR, and two maintenance workers that would solve the problem in three days. They looked skeptical, but were willing to commit the time and resources. This was way too important to shortcut. We had to solve the problem.
The Kaizen Begins
The next morning, the Big Guy kicked off the session with inspiring words of encouragement and faith in his team. He knew his team wouldn’t fail and that I would be able to help them do what needed to be done. It’s great to have such outstanding leadership and support and also knowing that my sponsor could get me off the Naughty List.
The Big Guy left, and I spent a few hours teaching Lean principles and techniques to the team. Instead of Power Point slides, I used Flipcharts made of taffy. Once we finished with a sheet, I’d hand it to the team to munch on. Elves are little, but they really like the sweet stuff. And boy can they eat! Early in the discussion I got some pushback from Kittie, who said, “We’ve been doing things the same way for centuries, what makes you think you can help us solve our problems with this Lean stuff?” I assured her and the rest of the team they would look at their situation differently using Lean principles and I had confidence in their spirit, enthusiasm, and creativity. I also told them I believed in them and knew we were going to do the right things to win. Plus, I had to get off of the Naughty List!
After that they asked many good questions and were able to make a connection to the problems they were facing in the factory. They realized some of these principles might help and translated some Lean terms into Elfish, so that the others in the factory would understand what we were trying to do. We then took a walk through the factory to generate ideas to improve the situation. The team members were really getting into it, even Kittie. They started to understand how to apply what they learned in the classroom to their situation. When the team returned to the meeting room, we took a break to have some hot cocoa and peppermint sticks. I don’t normally eat like this, but it seemed like the right thing to do and it was really yummy!
After our break, the team prioritized all of their ideas into three major categories:
1. Improve the flow of work
2. Visual management to assess progress of the production lines
3. Managing systems to provide help immediately to anyone who needs it
I broke the team into three sub-teams and they got to work in the afternoon. I have worked with many Kaizen teams in my career, but I have never seen any team get as much work done in a few hours as Team Elf. It was almost by magic. By late afternoon, each sub-team had put together some really solid work plans and were ready to implement their solutions the next morning.
That evening, we had a team dinner at the most beautiful and coldest restaurant I had ever been to. The Big Guy and his wife joined us, along with some of the other staff, including Dancer, Rudolph, and Olive, the other Reindeer. During dinner we talked about all we had done that day and what we hoped to accomplish by the end of the Kaizen event. There was much laughing and toasting. Stories were told about me I had forgotten about from my early childhood. How did they know about my adventures at the Rolling Stones concert or that my first-grade teacher used to love my piano playing or that her name was Mrs. Simonds?
I must have gained ten pounds that evening, as nothing I ate could have been healthy. After dinner, I was shown to my room for the night. It was cozy and small, but I felt right at home. It’s very cold at the North Pole, but there was a warm fire in the hearth. Good thing I packed my favorite footie PJs. After a cup of the best hot cocoa I ever had, I drifted off to sleep. That night I dreamt about Lean Toy Delivery, figuring out ways the Big Guy could get down chimneys in a safer, more efficient manner.
Implementing Solutions
We kicked off the morning of the second day with a few Christmas carols and other elf favorites. Rudolph came in to see what was going on and used his nose to act as percussion. You could feel the team’s optimism, energy, and excitement. I reviewed some Lean concepts then set the team off into their working groups to implement their ideas. I reminded them that it was helpful to get others’ input and even utilize their help, just in case it would be needed. Everyone in the factory was a Kaizen team member, they just didn’t know it. We were going to do everything possible to win.
In the middle of the morning, I noticed the “Improve Flow” team had rearranged the workstations in the factory. Instead of one elf building hundreds of the same toy assemblies before moving it to the next elf, he or she would build one sub-assembly and pass it on to the next elf to do their part. This improved flow, identified quality issues more quickly, and reduced the piles of inventory. Everyone could now see each other, help each other, and hear each other. They looked so much happier and started singing Elfish songs – the type of songs that stay in your head and can’t escape until another song takes its place. I’m hearing one now, I kid you not!
The “Visual Management” team put together some large display boards, made out of white chocolate. These boards showed the hourly production results with targets and actuals listed. Each line leader was responsible to post his/her team’s results. If they met the hourly target, they put a green spearmint candy on the board. If they missed the hourly target, they put a red cinnamon candy on the board. I noticed that the first time a line hit its hourly target, there was a spontaneous cheer, laughter, and dancing from the workers. It was contagious, and I found myself dancing with them. I hope no one filmed it and put it on their social media site, Elfbook. It would be too embarrassing!
The “Managing Systems” team installed pull cords at all of the work stations. If someone was falling behind or had a question, they could pull their cord and a yellow Gummy Bear light would flash at their work station. They would get help immediately to get them back on track or answer their question. The team also created an hourly, daily, and weekly audit to ensure everyone understood and followed the new process. The line leader was to do the hourly audit, Brucie was to do the daily audit, and the Big Guy did the weekly audit. They made the audit fun by giving out random treats to the workers as they walked around the factory.
By the end of the second day, I could see the team was well on their way to solving the problem and making all of their customers happy. The team was energized and excited about what they were doing. They had a few more things they wanted to do, but I sent them home for the evening, confident they would get it done on day three. I went back to my room and tried to relax. It was happening so fast and there were so many customers to serve. Would we make it? Would I get off of the Naughty List?
On day three, the team came in and got right to work. They put together a training plan for all of the workers in the factory. Instead of writing work instructions, they wrote songs to sing while the elves were working. Each song contained the information they needed to make all of the toys in the safest, most efficient, and highest quality manner. Elves love to sing, so this was a brilliant solution to an age-old problem. I don’t know if my other Kaizen teams would be willing to use this method in the future, but you never know what might work. Kittie even admitted she was impressed by the solutions of the team and really believed these improvements would work and save Christmas.
The Report Out
After filling ourselves with snickerdoodle cupcakes and chocolate milk for lunch, the team went out into the factory and presented their efforts to the rest of the elves. The Big Guy spoke first. He started by telling everyone what a great job they were doing and how important their efforts were to their customers. He then gave his support to the team who had worked so hard for these three days and handed the presentation to the team. The team reviewed and demonstrated all of the changes they had made. Finally, they sang the songs they had written and invited the other elves to sing along. There was a joyous sound throughout the factory as everyone started singing and following the musical work instructions. After the singing was over, the team high-fived, hugged, danced, and clapped for each other. The Big Guy even gave me a hug. He could have crushed me, but I felt warm all over. It was the nicest recognition I ever received.
I was relieved and exhausted when it was all over and I was ready to go home. My Uber showed up, with Brucie as driver again. We talked about all of the great work of the team as he drove me back, and once again I drifted off to sleep. When I woke up, I was home in my bed. Was it all just a dream?
On Christmas morning, I came downstairs to get breakfast and saw a candy cane taped to an envelope with my name on it on the kitchen table. I ate the candy cane and opened the envelope. Inside was a note that said, “Adam, thank you for your help at the factory. We were able to make all of our deliveries this year and think we should be OK for years to come. Love, the Big Guy.” This was great news, but I was still wondering about one more thing. I walked into my office and on my white board was a note that said: “And yes, you’re off the Naughty List … for now!”