Lean & TPM: beyond the hype, delivering sustainable results
The trend started several years ago, but nowadays everybody is talking about “Lean”. Not denying the benefits of this approach, which from my maintenance point-of-view is nothing but a generalization of the TPM principles, I am by nature very wary of today’s over-hyped concepts… I also tend to deeply distrust anything that involves gurus.
Although “Lean” (and its cousin “Green”) seems to be able to generate a never-ending stream of consulting fees to an increasing number of companies, to me it is simply common sense applied in a systematic manner, i.e. exactly what Siveco has been doing with maintenance improvement for so many years. With a catch: how do you implement both the “common sense” and “systematic” aspects in China? Let me explain.
In a recent interview on the subject, the journalist must have caught me in a bad mood, as I delivered a few mean punches on lean practitioners. This is what I said:
“The consulting business is flourishing these days: while a number of manufacturing executives who lost their job in the crisis have improvised themselves Lean Management consultants, foreign training firms have also set up offices in China.”
“In spite of the all the recent marketing hype, experience has proven that training, organizational changes and other good advices provided by consultants often fail to produce sustainable results: this is especially true in China where maintenance technicians lack related experience and companies face high turnover rates.”
“In sharp contrast with these fly-by-night consultants who are still discovering the Chinese market, Siveco has for many years been delivering tangible results.”
Tough words, and certainly an over-generalization, but I believe this statement is an accurate description of what I have observed around me.
In 2006, I wrote an article for Shanghai Business Review entitled “A contrarian approach to maintenance” that touched on all these subjects already (the article is reprinted in this newsletter). Lean consultants are making all the same beginner’s mistakes, which prevent them from delivering sustainable results. On the other hand, here lies perhaps the very secret of their business: making customers dependent on consultants, year in and year out. Yesterday: MRP and TPM, today: Lean and Green, tomorrow: some new concept, with its gurus, books, workshops and consultants.
There are signs that the frenzy is feeding on its own failure to deliver: the fact that most projects fail to bring results has become the key topic at most Lean Manufacturing and TPM events in China! One of our customers, leading Sino-American pencils manufacturer Axus, presented a paper on their experience with Lean at the Global Lean Summit in Shanghai on June 11. The catchphrase for this event was that among companies that apply lean tools, “most of them have a tough time to sustain what they had obtained”! On June 18, yours truly and Siveco will take part in another conference, the China TPM Summit, also held in Shanghai. The organizers listed the following as the key reason for attending the event: “Every second attempted installation of TPM results in failure”! We see this summit as an opportunity to showcase our difference!
Indeed, we believe that we have at least some of the answers, backed by a long experience of “maintenance with Chinese characteristics”. Our approach to maintenance improvement is based on the use of concrete maintenance management tools, namely a combination of Visual Management panels (to guide daily work), CMMS (to ensure the build up of consistent maintenance records, on the analysis of which to base improvement decisions) and mobile solutions (to let technicians access technical know-how directly from the shop floor). This technology-based method has proven particularly successful in China, providing rapid and sustainable results, measurable in hard currency (RMB).
All this prompted us to release this special “Lean” edition of our monthly newsletter, in order to actively communicate on our experience. Here you won’t read the mystic quotes of any American or Japanese guru. Instead, we will cover the basics of what we do. The reprint of the 2006 article “A contrarian approach to maintenance” elaborates on the topics above. Our reliability section focuses on the pitfalls of TPM implementations in China. The customer story showcases one of our hands-on projects on a highly automated production line in the automotive industry. In Tips & Tricks, dedicated to CMMS, we talk about OEE measures whose implementation often proves elusive. Finally we detail our Value Added Partner Program and list some of our latest news.
Wishing you a safe journey on the road to sustainable, measurable improvement!
This special “Lean” edition is also available in printed version (contact us for a copy) or in pdf format (download here).
Bruno Lhopiteau
General Manager
Siveco China
General Manager
Siveco China
