Going Lean –
Can It Work for Universities?
Keith A. Willoughby, Ph.D.
Senior Operations Research Specialist
Health Quality Council
Saskatoon, SK
kwilloughby@hqc.sk.ca
© Health Quality Council 2008
Denis Caron
Provincial Dean of Industrial Training
Saskatchewan Institute of Applied
Science & Technology (SIAST)
Saskatoon, SK
caron@sasktel.net
Part I
• Lean 101
– History, principles, tools
• Success stories
• Lessons learned
© Health Quality Council 2008
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What we hope to accomplish
• Acquaint you with the concepts of Lean
• Introduce some of the language
• Answer the questions, “What is it? What’s in it for me?”
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More information on Lean systems
• Womack JP, Jones DT, Roos D. The Machine That
Changed the World, 1990.
• Womack JP, Jones DT. Lean Thinking, 2003.
• Some valuable websites:
– www.lean.org (Lean Enterprise Institute)
– www.leanUK.org (Lean Enterprise Academy)
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Pop Quiz
• Who started this whole notion of Lean
principles, and when did they do this?
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Answer A?
• Jim Womack (1990)
• 5-year, $5 million study of
global vehicle production
– International Motor Vehicle
Program
• Co-authored “The Machine
That Changed the World” with
Dan Jones and Dan Roos
• Coined the term “Lean”
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Is it…Answer B?
•
Taiichi Ohno (1912-1990)
•
1950’s: Toyota Production
System
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Continuous Flow Production
Just-in-Time (JIT)
Eliminate defects
Top management commitment
Employee participation
1969: Established the Operations
Management Consulting Group
–
“Trainers” commissioned to promote
Lean thinking within Toyota and the
firms in its supplier group
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Or, how about… Answer C?
• C.R. Dooley
• Helped to develop the
“Training Within
Industry” program
(1940s)
• Infiltrated into Japanese
industry by the Allied
forces after World War II
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Could it be…Answer D?
• Henry Ford, 1920s
• Continuous Flow
Assembly
• Reduce wasted time
– 1913-1914: doubled
production with no
increase in workforce
– 1920-1926: Cycle time
from 21 days to 2 days
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But maybe it is…Answer E?
• Eli Whitney (1700’s)
• Quick production of
high-quality muskets
– Standard interchangeable
parts
– Minimal product variation
– Ordered and integrated
workflow
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Another choice…Answer F?
• The Venetian arsenal
• Republic of Venice, early
16th century
• Could produce nearly one
ship each day
– Standardized parts
– Production-line basis
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What does this show us?
• This is not new stuff
• So why all the buzz today?
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What is “Lean”?
• Providing value with less waste
• Making common sense common practice
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Lean definitions
• Providing exactly what the customer needs, safely, when
needed, in precisely the right quantity, and without waste
• Providing value for the customer
• A set of quality improvement tools and philosophy
designed to eliminate the sources of waste in a system
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The 8 sources of system waste
Correction (defects)
Waiting
Overproduction
Inventory
Motion
Overprocessing
Material movement
(transportation)
Underutilized human talent
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What Lean is NOT
• Layoffs
• Customers = widgets
• Making people work faster
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Lean principles
• 1. What is value from the customer’s
perspective?
• 2. Understand your process
– We’ll say more about this later
• 3. Smooth the flow
– Eliminate congestion
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More principles
• 4. Pull
– Supplier doesn’t produce
until the customer signals
a need
– Is there smooth
communication between
process steps?
• 5. Pursue perfection
– A continual, never-ending
journey
© Health Quality Council 2008
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Lean tools: A quick survey
• Poka-Yokes (Failsafes)
– Eliminates or reduces the opportunities for mistakes
• Check John Grout's PokaYoke Page on
www.mistakeproofing.com
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Vehicles
• Arrow to indicate
location of fuel tanks
(driver/ passenger side)
– Great for rental
vehicles
• Gas cap tether does not
allow the motorist to
drive off without the cap
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European streets
• Tourists used to righthand side driving
need some help in
London
• Instructions are
printed right on the
asphalt
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At the airport
• If your bag fits in the
size-wise unit it will
fit in the overhead
compartment
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Visual control systems
• Labels, colour-coding to:
– make it easier to find items
– quicker ability to detect
abnormal from normal
• Examples:
– Surgical shadowboards
– Diagonal stripe along the
fronts of binders
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The philosophy of 5S
• “5S” stands for 5 Japanese words each beginning with
the letter “S”
• Translated into English as:
– Sort, Set, Shine, Standardize, Sustain
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Exploring 5S
• “A visually-oriented system
for organizing the workplace
to minimize the waste of time”
• “Clears the clouds”
– Eliminates the waste of
motion/ looking for things
• Makes the abnormal visually
obvious
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Does this look familiar?
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Some more on 5S
• It is NOT simply cleaning up!
• Following 5S principles helps
provide the disciplined habits
necessary for further phases of
Lean implementation
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5S: Five Hills Health Region (before)
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5S: Five Hills Health Region (after)
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More from Five Hills
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Process mapping
• Obtain clearer understanding of how the process
currently operates
• Helps “learn to see” and “develop eyes for
waste”
– Redundant processing, unnecessary movement or
wait time
• Assist with identifying and planning
improvements
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Process mapping in practice
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Facilitating communication
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Lessons learned
• Culture, culture, culture
– Top-down vision
– Front-line enthusiasm
• Build your own capacity
• The first pass through a process map can identify
obvious sources of waste
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Lessons learned
• Let your data tell the story
• There is a difference between a good idea and the right
idea
• Imbed improvement events within the day-to-day
operations of your organization
• Start with maintenance or purchasing
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Part II
• Lean Application in Post-Secondary Institutions
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Words of Wisdom
• "Any intelligent fool can make
things bigger, more complex, and
more violent. It takes a touch of
genius - and a lot of courage - to
move in the opposite direction."
Albert Einstein
© Health Quality Council 2008
• "Anyone who has never made a
mistake has never tried anything
new."
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Strategic Thinking
Old Mind
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Develop strategic plans
Operate independently
Lead with authority
Cope with technology
Delegate financial
management
Communicate facts and logic
Manage risk
Become an expert
© Health Quality Council 2008
New Mind
• Plan, think strategically
• Lead with vision & teams
• Leverage technology
• Develop personal business
acumen
• Uses metaphors, stories, images
• Balance risk and reward
• Remain a learner
Strategic sense
Get on the Balcony
1
Leadership
Management
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Heifetz, R.A & Laurie, D.L. (2001)
Strategic Planning Model (Traditional)
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Strategic Thinking Model
Strategic Planning
Supporting
Objectives “What”
“What and Why”
Evaluate
Plan in Action
“How”
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Why Lean?
Public sector perspective - Finance stewardship
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Why Lean?
Public sector perspective - Human resources and capacity
© Health Quality Council 2008
SIAST’s Approach (How?)
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SIAST and division strategic plan
Business case
Survey
Strategic direction
Lean program pilot
– Industrial Mechanics Labs and Classrooms
© Health Quality Council 2008
Leaning Industrial Mechanic’s Program
“Pursuing Excellence”
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Leaning Industrial Mechanic’s Program
“Pursuing Excellence”
© Health Quality Council 2008
Leaning Industrial Mechanic’s Program
“Pursuing Excellence”
© Health Quality Council 2008
Leaning Industrial Mechanic’s Program
“Pursuing Excellence”
© Health Quality Council 2008
SIAST - Lessons Learned
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Plant the seed early
Find and support champions
Don’t go it alone
Find quick wins
Leverage success
Communicate effectively and frequently
Educate, educate, educate
Remain focused and determined
© Health Quality Council 2008
SIAST - Future Direction
• Industrial Division
– Expansion of lean practices
– Self sufficiency
– Education and training (Green belts)
• Registration Services
– Registration process
– Student transcript process
– Waitlist management
© Health Quality Council 2008
Potential Post-Secondary Applications
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Facility maintenance
Care-taking services
Food services
Finance, procurement and inventory control
Student registration and transcript processes
IT processes (student and staff course management,
libraries)
• Classroom scheduling
• Research and publications
© Health Quality Council 2008
Q&A
• Keith Willoughby, kwilloughby@hqc.sk.ca
• Denis Caron, caron@sasktel.net
© Health Quality Council 2008