Solving problems is human, ignoring the solution is evil
Credit to Author: REY ELBO| Date: Mon, 07 Oct 2019 16:17:41 +0000
HERE’S an insight business puzzle. Many of your workers are suffering from constant body ache after two hours of working. After coffee and meal breaks, they would resume working, but most of the time, they can’t cope with the demands of the day’s schedule. Many of them shrug the issue and would habitually resort to Red Bull or other available energy drinks during and after each work schedule.
When you invited a Kaizen consultant, he told you of a simple observation. All of your workers doing similar work, walk a lot of times from one machine to another and other work stations, which are located about several meters from one another.
The consultant proclaims it could be the one of the reasons for the workers’ complaint. You balked at the idea because your factory management is using the same old work system and procedure. They have not changed anything since last year when they installed the new machines. The consultant was firm with a terse reply: “Any excuse is not part of the solution.”
Question: How would you solve this recurring problem?
Think about this problem for few seconds. After a minute or so, write down all the possible root causes, using a Fishbone Diagram, which calls for a systematic classification according to 6Ms (Manpower, Material, Machine, Method, Measurement and Milieu). Forget about the 4Ms commonly used in QCC (Quality Control Circle) activities. They’re incomplete.
Consider using Measurement and Milieu, a French word for (employee) Morale and Mother Nature for a comprehensive analysis. With my background in human resources, I can’t help but to factor in the workers’ satisfaction level and their working conditions when solving a similar problem like this.
Use 6Ms. It’s better, if you can involve your team to help you discover the reasons for this recurring body ailment of the workers. One caveat though. Agree that there should be no criticism of one’s ideas and no snickering as well. Everyone must be serious even if the ideas presented by some people border on stupidity and falsity.
When this same problem was presented in the September 23-26, 2019 International Convention on QCC in Tokyo, one company came out with a case study called “Ergonomics Kaizen” boasting of a complex high-tech solution appropriate for both short and tall workers. I was confused with their solution, no matter how effective and costly it was for the factory. That’s because I remember a similar case that was part of a decades-old publication by the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers (JUSE), sponsor of the Tokyo international convention on QCC.
The JUSE solution was very simple. There’s no need to tinker with the physical make-up of the machine, other than making another layout of different inter-related machines to minimize the extensive walking of the operators. In case of short workers, the solution is to provide them with a sturdy, wooden stool that could be fabricated out of scrap materials. Imagine a reinforced pallet to avoid tripping the workers.
In other words, there’s no need to spend for something that is not needed in the first place. This is the basic message of my 2016 book “Total Quality by Maximization” — problem solving is not progress, if you’ll spend money for the solution. The book gives many local, real-life stories on how to operationalize the time-tested lesson of Taiihi Ohno who said “use your brain, not the company’s money” in solving problems.
It means that all solutions must be practical, low-cost and common sense. So, why does this company, in its desire to present a Kaizen case study called “Ergonomics Kaizen,” missed a simple theoretical framework? Precisely, that was my question to the presenter who gave me a brief reply: “No, we didn’t consider such solution.”
I didn’t press for “Why not?” as all simultaneous QCC presentations were strictly managed to conclude in 20 minutes or less. And precisely, we don’t want to embarrass people. Anyway, I’ve made my point clear. That in our journey toward problem solving we tend to forget, if not deliberately ignore some basic things in life.
This same topic on forgetfulness was tackled by Ashmede Asgarali in Quora: He speculates that: “You may be too intelligent and become absent-minded with reference to the mundane things in life.” On the other hand, I believe that many of us have become confident with our success and with all the money that comes with it that we tend to miss there are simple, easy and inexpensive way of doing things. It’s another reason that adds up to the long-standing belief that really, “common-sense is uncommon.”
I’m not sure if the company that presented such expensive solution to the “Ergonomics Kaizen” case study would be courageous and humble enough to go back to their drawing board to heed my observation. Maybe not. Otherwise, it could be an admission of a fatal mistake.
That’s what major companies do when they’re earning a lot of money while unmindful of the underlying invisible wastes that continue to reduce their profitability. Or maybe, they’re practicing “egonomics” and would refuse to eat their humble pie.
Rey Elbo is a business consultant specializing in human resources and total quality management as a fused interest. Send feedback to elbonomics@gmail.com or via https://reyelbo.consulting