4 principles of Japanese governance that will pump your life
Miscellaneous / / December 18, 2021
What is Lean Manufacturing
This is the Japanese approach to enterprise management, which is designed to reduce all possible losses. For the first time such a model was used at Toyota factories in the middle of the last century. The term "lean manufacturing" itself was invented by the American top manager John Krafchik and described by James Wumek and Daniel Jones in the book of the same name.
Lean Manufacturing helps:
- determine what is valuable in the product for the client,
- remove unnecessary stages of work,
- forecast demand,
- constantly improve processes.
What principles can be applied in work and life
1. Get rid of unnecessary actions that you do mechanically
In companies, everything revolves around value - the benefit of a product or service for a customer - and loss, that is, a waste of team resources. Allocate eight types of waste: defects, overproduction, waiting, large inventory, excess movement, additional processing, unnecessary transportation, unused talent. In ordinary life, all these losses are also possible. To find them, you need to evaluate your routines and change what does not create value.
For example, to eliminate overproduction - not to buy new furniture instead of tidying up the existing one. To remove unnecessary movements - do not reach out to the top shelf every time to get the spices, but keep them close at hand. Checking large stocks - do not take up space with unnecessary things: remove unread books from the shelf, get rid of clothes that you have not worn for many years.
2. Keep Improving Everything You Can
Lean is not a one-off action. For processes to work properly, they need to be constantly improved. This philosophy is called kaizen and focuses on the continuous improvement of all production processes. Let's say you collect regular feedback from customers and make the product even more convenient, even when everything is already working great.
In life, too, you do not need to be satisfied with what has already been achieved. For example, if you already have a cool job, it is important to keep an eye on the job market, pump knowledge in related fields, and not miss out on career opportunities. You can reserve half an hour a day in your diary and spend it reading professional literature or learning new tools. Kaizen suggests that you take small steps towards improvement, but you do them all the time. In the end, this can lead to impressive results.
Lean manufacturing methods have long gone beyond Japan and spread throughout the world. For example, they formed the basis of the national project “Labor productivity». He helps Russian entrepreneurs develop their businesses and better manage teams and enterprises. Here you can undergo professional retraining and become a leader who confidently leads the team to success. The national project also provides access to financial and non-financial support measures, tax incentives and helps to export.
Get to know the initiative3. Clean up the 5S system
It is a method of organizing a workspace that helps to keep things clean and tidy. It was conceived for more efficient production, but its principles can be adapted to intelligently clean the apartment.
5S has five steps:
- Divide things into necessary and unnecessary. It is better to throw away, donate or sell the things that you do not use. If it's hard to decide if you need a thing, you can ask yourself how it might be useful. If the answer is not found, then it is better to part with the thing.
- Get organized. Each item should have its own place. Keep the things you use often in plain sight. Others - put on shelves or in drawers. In production, things like screwdrivers, pliers and scissors are sometimes placed on a board and outlined. When an employee picks up an item, its absence is immediately visible on the board. You can do the same without losing your tools.
- Maintain order. Return the items you used to their places so that they are not lost.
- Enter the rules. For example, washing dishes right after meals, sorting trash, or watering flowers every Tuesday. The rules will work better if everyone in the family sticks to them.
- Improve yourself. Even if you come up with great rules, it can be difficult to practice. Analyze what went wrong and what needs to be changed. Look for weak spots in your apartment - for example, you can hide books in closed cabinets or remove carpets from the most walkable places so as not to constantly clean them.
4. Identify the mistakes you frequently repeat and figure out how to prevent them
Lean manufacturing uses the "poka-yoke" method - error prevention. It is designed to eliminate defects caused by the human factor: inattention, forgetfulness, fatigue. In life, you have probably already met such people - for example, you thought that you had started the wash, and the machine remained standing with the door ajar.
Try to track down what mistakes you make in everyday life and prevent their occurrence. For example, if you constantly forget your wallet at home, put it in a strictly defined place or stick a reminder sticker on the door. If you can't remember when you fed your pet, install a smart feeder that will add fresh food at a specific time. The main thing is to continue to track your regular mistakes and test new solutions.
If you like the principles of lean manufacturing, the National Project "Labor Productivity" will help you introduce them to your enterprise free of charge. Experts from the Federal Competence Center will visit production, find weak points in the technological process and tell you how to eliminate them. Almost 80,000 employees have already been trained in lean tools. It helps businesses operate without loss or downtime, make work more comfortable, and improve the end product.
Participate in the project