1. 52SPECIAL REPORT Dairy Exporter | agrihq.co.nz/dairy-exporter | April 2016
Lean management is often described
as a management approach aimed
at continuous improvement and the
elimination of waste but defining it in
one sentence is no easy task, possibly
because it’s much more than one simple
idea – it’s also a way of thinking.
The approach began with Japanese car
manufacturer Toyota and developed over
time within that company and others
after World War II.
Staff were asked to find ways to
improve a particular aspect of the
manufacturing process and by a team-
led approach found more efficient ways
to get the job done that in turn reduced
waste in time and materials and led on to
other improvements.
Lean management includes a number
of tools explained in more detail in the
following pages:
• 5S’s – Sort, set, shine, standardise and
sustain
• Waste hunt
• Standardised operating procedures
• Visual controls
But Hamilton-based lean management
consultant Alan Sawyer says lean
management is much more than the tools
alone and it’s vital they’re used in the
context of understanding the fundamental
beliefs behind lean management.
“Successful lean management
is implemented at the bottom and
supported at the top so it’s critical that
management understands how to lead a
change to a lean approach.
“The challenge is people see the tools
and grab at those but it starts with a
much deeper belief and understanding
of how to run an operation.
“Without that understanding the whole
thing can break down and everyone
reverts to the old way of thinking and
doing things.
“People become cynical and re-
implementing becomes that much
harder,” Alan says.
While the aim is operational excellence
the place to start is ensuring a strong,
stable foundation in the business.
That comes from having well-trained
people and well-maintained equipment
using proven, standard methods.
To make those improvements they
need to be able to solve problems
and get to the root cause of them but
they also need to look at systems and
materials to ensure they have the right
equipment in the right place at the right
time and in the right amount to get the
job done efficiently and effectively. (See
figure one.)
That’s where some of the tools come
in. They’re used to help achieve that
stable foundation – ensuring people are
properly trained, there are processes to
make sure equipment is well-maintained
and in order, and proven standard
methods of operating are developed and
people work to those standards, Alan
explains.
He says problems arise in
many organisations because of
what he calls the leadership gap – where
leaders and managers in the business
are faced with problems but blame the
people, or see equipment is broken and
just spend money on fixing it rather than
getting to the root cause of the problem.
That can happen if there’s a short-term
view of how long they’ll be in their role
– they want to move on and move up
rapidly, if they have a mindset that they
don’t want to get left ‘holding the bag”
or be seen to be responsible for poor
outcomes.
Some people get into the trap of
constantly thinking up new initiatives
almost as a smokescreen.
“It’s that vicious cycle people get
into where they’re just constantly fixing
up issues. Key to breaking that cycle is
firstly stabilising the operation – having
well-trained people, well-maintained
equipment and using standards to work
to that are audited.”
In training lean leaders Alan teaches
them problem-solving skills so they
can stop and get to the root cause of
problems themselves but also so they
can train their staff to do the same thing.
“They need to be able to work out why
there’s a gap between what should be
happening and what is happening and
that’s about asking the right questions
in the right way – asking the five why’s
rather than the five who’s,” he says.
It takes practice to become proficient
at that.
That stops the blame game and turns
Leading
lean changeAnne Lee
anne.lee@nzx.com
@Cantabannelee
Lean management
consultant Alan Sawyer.

2. Dairy Exporter | agrihq.co.nz/dairy-exporter | April 2016 SPECIAL REPORT 53
the process into a valid problem-solving
exercise.
It might be that a staff member is at
fault but by asking why, further questions
are asked of the training process or
even the recruitment process and
improvements can then be targeted at
the root cause of the problem.
STANDARDS
Having standard operating procedures
is also key to getting to operational
excellence but something that, again,
can mean a cultural change for the
business if used within the lean
approach, Alan says.
“It means you have a standard, you
work to the standard but you are also
trying to improve the standard.
“Leaders will help the team develop
the standard, they’ll coach the standard
but they’ll importantly make people
accountable to the standard.
“If people aren’t working to the
standard then the leader has to ask why
– is it that the standard isn’t quite right,
have they drifted away from it because
they haven’t been held accountable?”
One of the traps can be that people
see standardised work documents or
operating procedures posted at the
point of use on someone else’s farm and
think let’s use a template approach, fill
that in for us and people will adopt it,
Alan says.
But what they find is even if people
adopt it initially, they quickly return to
what they did before.
“That’s why it is a cultural shift. It has to
be done in the context of the wider lean
approach. People need to be coached
and held accountable.”
Being held to account can mean team
members ticking a box to show they’re
followed the process but that too has to
be audited on a regular basis.
Within the lean approach systems are
also put in place to encourage the team
to think about how processes can be
improved, and how problems that come
up can be solved.
That’s the very important continuous
improvement cycle that comes from the
team.
They’re the people using the
processes, the people dealing with the
problems and the people who can come
up with solutions and innovations if
coached well.
LEADERS AS COACHES
That’s where leaders in farm business
are coaches in the lean approach and as
good leaders take people with them.
They need to be heading in the
right direction for that to be successful
so leaders have to be aligned to the
company’s values and be seen to be
living them not just paying lip service to
them.
They respectfully provide the challenge
but also help the team solve the problem
so the system is strengthened.
They should be developing
people and in that way helping them
continuously improve.
Lean leaders are responsible for:
1. Delivering business results;
2. Developing people;
3. Role modelling behaviours.
The secret is points two and three are
the means of achieving point one.
• Develop a lean culture by
coaching leaders
• Use lean management tools
but understand why and
where they fit into the lean
management system and
how they help support the
culture.
• Standardise work practices
and hold people accountable
• Teach the team to problem-
solve rather than stepping in
to do a quick fix
• Plan-do-check rather than
plan-do-plan-do
• Stick with it.
Critical success
factors:
Lean leadersLeaders are coaches
1. Provide challenge
2. Help solve problems
3. Strengthen the system develop people
4. Continuously improve
OPERATIONAL
EXCELLENCE
SAFETY, QUALITY, COST, MORALE
RIGHT AMOUNT
JUST IN TIME
RIGHT PART,
RIGHT TIME PEOPLE
CONTINUIUSLY
IMPROVING
STOP AND
FIX PROBLEMS
(ROOT CAUSE)
OPERATIONAL STABILITY
WELL TRAINED PEOPLE, WELL MAINTAINED EQUIPMENT,
WORKING TOGETHER TO ACHIEVE A STANDARD