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Lean University --
Lean Articles
Lean
manufacturing: The new impact on MIS
by Chris
Christensen
We are
beginning to see a change in how we are implementing our
newer systems. For years we have been implementing lean
concepts in all areas of our operations except one
major area. We have never implemented the concepts of the
lean organization in our information systems group. We have
been downsizing, rightsizing, implementing SMED, reducing
staff and installing the theory of 5-S in all areas of our
business except one. Here is the question:
When was
the last time your company downsized your IT or MIS
department or department costs? Note that I added the word
costs in the question because downsizing doesn’t mean that
you outsource the function. Costs are costs now matter how
you spend the money, internally or externally. Go back to
the question and again ask yourself: “When has your
organization ever downsized the MIS group or function?”
Remember
these folks who tell you to downsize are the ones that have
been buying new systems, hardware and software to help you
downsize your group and reduce your costs. But who ever
thought about implementing the concepts of lean on the MIS
function. We are beginning to understand this, and if you
are not now considering downsizing your MIS function, it
will be a part of your future.
We have
been spending millions of dollars on our operating systems
and some have been successful but others have not. We spent
mega bucks fixing something that in all probability wasn’t
a useable tool in the first place. We spend thousands of
dollars controlling bolts and washers in production. In
maintenance, we spend an immeasurable amount of money
tracking the maintenance history on $200 motors because we
want to optimize the use of that piece of equipment. We do
this because we can. Did anyone ever think of running that
$200 motor until it breaks and then replace it with a new
one and throw the old one away? No, because we have systems
that were able to track this, so we did, and in the process
lost sight of the costs involved in tracking the item.
Our problem
is that we only measured one side of the equation: the
cost-saving side on managing our equipment. We forgot to
track the side of the equation that calculated the cost of
tracking. While we were tracking the cost side of the
business we misunderstood the critical part of the equation.
We tried to apply computer power to the one part of the
whole equation that we cannot measure. We tried to digitally
overpower one unmanageable part of our business to establish
control. And we just couldn’t do it.
That part
that cannot be controlled, you ask? It’s variation. And it
is unpredictable and you can’t plan for it. No matter how
hard you try, you just cannot forecast variation and no
matter how much money and computer power you throw at
variation, you just can’t
master variation.
Therein
lies the problem. Computers work in only known environments.
It is a binary system. Ones or zeros. Black or white. Yes or
no. Positive or negative. You give a system variation and it
cannot manage it.
We tried to
solve the problem. We looked at the worst case situation and
did maintenance long before the part could fail; we carried
more inventories that needed to guard against a machine
failure or part shortage. We did this in all instances where
we had so much stuff available that no matter what happened,
we had enough stuff to get the job done. And we had our
systems set to work at the maximum because they can’t
handle variability.
But here is
where we are at now. We are beginning to realize that there
is no reason to have bigger, better, faster, more detailed
computer systems because we just can’t predict
variability.
We are now
beginning to realize the costs and futility of trying to
solve the problem with money and computer power. We are now
looking at visual management systems. We are thinking about
what it is we are trying to do and using simple prompts and
visual cues to manage the business. In maintenance, we are
beginning to understand that it might be cheaper to consider
items as expendable and treating them as throwaways. We are
beginning to find that through noise, infrared, vibration,
oil analysis, we can in fact predict our maintenance needs
and failure time without the computer system and can buy the
parts when the telltales are triggered and just through the
worn stuff away.
Consultants
in the field are beginning to walk away from the high costs
of maintaining the computer system. You just might want to
do the same. The bottom line is what is the cheapest way of
getting the job done. If the answer doesn’t include the
MIS department in the solution, just maybe they too need to
be downsized to be more cost effective.
R.T. "Chris"
Christensen is the director of the University of Wisconsin
School of Business' operations management program. If you
have an inventory management question, contact Coach
Christensen by phone at 608-441-7326 or e-mail cchristensen@execed.bus.wisc.edu.
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