Toyota Production System Analogy

by Gembutsu Consulting

What is Value Added?Meeting or exceeding customer expectations at the lowest possible cost is an objective of any successful company. In both manufacturing and services industries, this is often measured by how much value is being created for the customer.
In manufacturing environments, activities are considered value added when a product’s fit, form or function changes.
In service organizations, the acid test is whether or not the customers are willing to pay for a particular activity.

When Taiichi Ohno, the father of TPS, was faced with this value added activity dilemma, he found that looking at a hospital’s operating room offered many useful analogies. Ohno’s conclusions, which we now call the Toyota Production System (Lean Manufacturing), were not groundbreaking, silver bullet solutions to age-old business challenges. Instead, they offered solutions through a simplified, almost childlike looking glass. But it is this very simplicity that gives TPS so much of its strength. If for no other reason, by using simple techniques to explain complex challenges, even the least experienced employee can begin to not only ‘see’ new problems on the production floor, but begin offering solutions as well.

Treating the Operator as a Surgeon
Let us consider the role of a surgeon in an operating room. How does a surgeon work?

To begin, each operating instrument is prepared in advance and set on a tray or cart in the order it will be used during the operation. For example, if open heart surgery is scheduled, only the items required for this type of operation will be present. Also, instruments used at the end of a procedure will be close at hand only when needed and items required at the beginning of a procedure will long be out of the way by the time the patient is being stitched up.
Nurses ensure that all this happens smoothly.

A few other noteworthy work methods of a surgeon:

1. The surgeon never leaves the operating room or the patient’s side.
2. The surgeon is responsible for the outcome of the surgery.
3. The surgeon’s equipment is monitored by nurses, who immediately let him know if there is a problem.
4. The surgeon controls the pace of the operation; the nurses adjust their work based on this pace.

In addition, the surgeon himself is a seasoned professional who is well trained. The operating environment in which he works is clean, uncluttered and only has the necessary equipment in it (you won’t ever see an operating room being used as an overflow stockroom).

As we begin to consider the concept of “value added” and the surgeon, we could argue that this person is actually the only hospital employee who provides value to a patient. After all, from the patient's perspective, the mountains of paperwork, never-ending tests and hours of sitting in waiting rooms mean nothing without the actual surgery.

Where are the Doctors in My factory?
At this point, you may be wondering how doctors and hospitals have anything to do with your shop floor. Let us explain.

In a factory, TPS teaches us that the individual operators who make physical or functional changes to products can be viewed as surgeons. These “wrench turners” have commonality with surgeons because in their shop floor environment, they are the ones adding value to a product by bending, stamping, painting, screwing, etc…

To illustrate this point, we examine the strong similarities between surgeons and operators as identified in the afore mentioned list:
1. Ideally, operators would never have to leave their work stations because everything needed to “perform the operation” is brought to them. If an operator has to leave his or her workstation, product is not being built and consequently customers needs are not being met.
2. Just as a surgeon is given the instruments to perform a quality task, operators should be provided with the required tools and equipment.
3. Since we would like the surgeon to focus on the value added task, equipment monitoring and maintenance should be someone else’s responsibility. How many times have we seen “surgeons” making adjustments to equipment?
4. Since operators are responsible for quality, they should have the ability to stop the process if a defect occurs.

Surgeons and NursesMuch like in the case of surgeons, operators need the support of their nurses. These are the material handlers, maintenance personnel and front office staff that ensure smooth production. After all, it is most likely not the operators fault if material is delivered late because pull based material replenishment systems have not been maintained, or a preventative maintenance program is not in place or an invoice for a wrench was not submitted within the supplier’s lead-time.
If nurses meet the needs of their surgeons, everybody will be taking care of the end customer.
Next Steps: Your Task
The concept of treating Operators as Surgeons is a powerful one that can very quickly change the way Supervisors, Engineers and Managers see value added activities and combat waste on the shop floor. To be clear, like any Lean concept, this concept does not replace the traditional fit, form, function or “willingness to pay” views. What it does offer however, is a simple, easy to understand and very effective technique in viewing value creation

Very often, when our clients first look at their operations with this surgeon-nurse mindset, they immediately develop “eyes for waste”. Often it is nothing short of an epiphany as they suddenly see waste that has been in front of them all this time, but remained obscure because it was being examined through the wrong lens.
We encourage you to stand up right now and go out to your shop floor. Go to an area of the plant that is giving you the most trouble, find a spot to stand in and do not move until you are satisfied with your learning. Try to observe as much as you can without moving a single step. What is going on? Where are your surgeons? Where are your nurses? Why do surgeons have to leave their stations? Remember, you are not looking to find any person at fault. Instead, search for the root cause behind what is driving the behavior.