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THIS IS LEAN
ISBN E-BOOK Kindle: 978-91-980393-7-5
ISBN E-BOOK EPUB: 978-91-980393-6-8
ISBN PRINTED VERSION: 978-91-980393-0-6

© Rheologica Publishing 2013

EDITOR: James Morrison, www.wix.com/jamesedits/jamesedits
GRAPHIC DESIGN AND LAYOUT: Sheelagh Gaw/Helena Lundin
ILLUSTRATIONS: Helen Bågeryd
COVER DESIGN: Joakim Palm Karlsson and Babak Shermond
PHOTO COVER: iStockphoto
PHOTO, PORTRAITS OF AUHTORS: Lasse Lychnell (Niklas Modig), Cecilia Nordstrand (Pär Åhlström)
E-BOOK PRODUCTION: Erik Engren, 2014

PUBLISHER:
Rheologica Publishing
www.rheologica.com
Praise for THIS IS LEAN
“This is lean gives an easily accessible, structured, and inspiring account and description
of lean. Most important perhaps is the value and effect of the joint development of the
whole organization, and the structured way of working from co-workers to executives.
Here are enormous benefits to gain — both for co-workers, for the company and
organization, and not the least for the customer!”

HANNA BRANDT GONZÁLEZ

Permanent Secretary, Unionen (largest union in Sweden)

“This is lean is much more than a catchy title to another book on lean. It is a lean
exploration of a particular operations strategy of fundamental importance to
organizations who aspire to add value for those who wish to receive value. It captures
the values, principles, methods, and tools which shape a dynamic view of the
improvement imperative. And, it does so with resource efficiency – in fewer pages than
comparable books – and also with flow efficiency – focusing on the needs of the reader
to understand.
Modig and Åhlström have great respect for their reader, with whom they engage as a
fellow team member. They tell stories, use metaphors, and sketch scenarios in order to
visualize key concepts and to challenge misconceptions. They have great respect for
the history of the Toyota Production System and they demonstrate the value of that
respect in realizing a lean operations strategy. By the end, they leave the reader in no
doubt as to their shared understanding of fishing (how to think about improvement)
while, at the same time, leaving sufficient actionable space for the reader to figure out
his or her own way to learn to fish.”

PROFESSOR PAUL COUGHLAN

Trinity College Dublin

“The Swedish Social Insurance Agency, which is responsible for the administration of
nearly half of Sweden’s annual budget, is gradually introducing lean into its operations.
Parts of the organization are in the introductory phases of that process, and other parts
are well underway. Regardless of where they are in the process, the book This Is Lean
plays an important role in guiding our collaborators in understanding lean. In so doing,
the book greatly influences one of the major players in the Swedish social welfare
system.”

DAN ELIASSON
Director-General, The Swedish Social Insurance Agency

“This is lean a wonderful and original book that will do much to help people gain an
accurate understanding of lean management. It presents ideas and concepts in unique
ways that are easy for anyone to understand and apply. It is a fantastic book. I
absolutely love it.”

PROFESSOR BOB EMILIANI

Central Connecticut State University

“For me, lean is about continuous learning! Regardless of whether I have won or lost, I
have always tried to learn something new. This Is Lean describes why Toyota has
become one of the world’s most successful organizations. Toyota has always had a
constant focus on learning. The ability to learn is the thing that creates sustainable
success.”

MAGDALENA FORSBERG
Biathlon Legend, Inspirational Speaker, Advisor

“This Is Lean describes how organizations can develop world-class operational

excellence. It is about teamwork, respect, challenging yourself and your team, and
continuous improvement. It does not matter if it is an organization or a top-athlete: the
keys to success are universal. World-class performance is a matter of always having the
right mind-set!”

PETER "FOPPA" FORSBERG

Ice Hockey Legend, Investor

“Lean is an apparently easy term to remember, but a rather difficult concept to

understand accurately. Many executives worldwide still think the real essence of lean
production is cost-cutting, which is wrong. This Is Lean is one of the most concise, easy-
to-grasp, and fun-to-read books on the topic and it will help you understand the essence
of this important management philosophy of the 20th and 21st centuries.”

PROFESSOR TAKAHIRO FUJIMOTO

University of Tokyo

“This book on Lean Management is a ‘must-read’ for managers and employees, in

manufacturing and service organizations. Modig and Åhlström have done a great job in
not only selecting the most important concepts from the vast literature on lean
management but also in providing crystal clear explanations of each concept. Too often
management books are padded with interesting but peripheral information, whereas
this book doesn’t waste a sentence. If your aim is to make your business processes
more effective, make sure everyone in your organization reads this book. Firstly, it will
inform your employees about lean concepts and, secondly, it will inspire them to quickly
apply the concepts.”

PROFESSOR KEITH GOFFIN

Cranfield School of Management

“We apply the thinking described in the book in many functions, including IT and R&D.
A common language and methodology facilitates a cross-functional interaction, which
is a necessity in a flow-oriented company. The authors have managed to make a
complex issue accessible to many people through a logical and clear description.”

PER HALLBERG
Executive Vice President, Head of Research and Development, Purchasing, Scania

“I found This Is Lean most enjoyable – punchy opening, use of some

examples/illustrations throughout, good writing style and, most importantly, a sound
exposé of the concepts. The book is a most worthwhile contribution to our field.”

PROFESSOR TERRY HILL

Emeritus Fellow, University of Oxford
“We often turn to the few well-publicized success stories to learn about lean. The truth,
however, is that lean continuously evolves as it adapts to any new context it is applied
to, so simply copying someone else’s recipe rarely leads to a sustainable
implementation of lean. In This Is Lean, Niklas Modig and Pär Åhlström make an
important step forward in transcending past the ‘buzz’ by illustrating the fundamental
mechanisms that are actually at play. It is a truly insightful book that will be of great
help to service and manufacturing firms alike in defining and guiding their own lean
journey.”

DR MATTHIAS HOLWEG
Director, Centre for Process Excellence and Innovation
Judge Business School, University of Cambridge

“The best book I have read on lean. It is well written, easy to read, and pedagogical. It is
mandatory reading for anyone interested in improving healthcare. Karolinska
University Hospital has used the book to train 600 managers.”

BIRGIR JAKOBSSON
Chief Executive Officer, Karolinska University Hospital

“An easily accessible book that provides the curious with a basic understanding of lean,
creates order among concepts for the slightly more initiated and challenges those who
think they ‘are lean.’ This is wonderful reading that I warmly recommend to co-
workers, managers, board members, politically elected officials, and all others who
want to create more value in what they do.”

HANS KARLSSON
Director General, Värmland County Council

“This Is Lean is highly applicable reading for executives within all types of industries. It
shows that operational excellence is not a static affair but constantly has a need to be
reinvented and optimized. High-performing businesses can best sustain their
competitive advantage by always forcing a return to a perspective of putting the
customer in focus. With too many stakeholders in an organization pulling in different
directions, returning to the essence of the customer experience can be a relief! Lean is
a mindset that helps lead the way in these critical iterations. I have not found a book
that better teaches the concept and application of lean than this one!”

JOHN LAGERLING
Senior Director, Android Global Partnerships, Google

“The book highlights a phenomenon that is prevalent within the Swedish justice system
today. Each area in the justice system is efficient in its own right, but they act
independently of each other without coordination, which makes the total system
inefficient. An increased focus on flow efficiency within the justice process would
create a more humanitarian and faster throughput. The costs for the state would
naturally decrease as a consequence.”

ANDERS LECKNE
General Manager, Kronoberg Remand Centre

“It is a huge challenge to create a common understanding of lean in a global

organization with operations at 1,600 locations. The book will be of great help in our
continuous effort to improve delivered customer value.”

CHRISTIAN LEVIN
Executive Vice President, Sales and Services Management, Scania

“The authors have created a simple and logical structure for understanding lean. The
book has helped our organization to focus on the right questions.”

HANS NARFSTRÖM
Senior Vice President, Corporate IT, Scania

“The book is incredibly inspiring and targets both ‘beginners’ and those who already
think they know what lean is. My management team and I were so inspired by the
book that I decided that all 1,100 employees in my organization should have their own
copy of the book as an inspiration and support in our strategy of becoming a lean
organization. This Is Lean has enabled the whole organization to have a common
language around lean, which is a prerequisite for lean to work in a large organization.
The book is easy to read, pedagogically structured, and convincing. I can warmly
recommend this book.”

ULF NÄSSTRÖM
Vice President, Saab AB, Business Area Electronic Defence Systems

“This Is Lean reads like a good novel ... it captures you from the first paragraph (the
cancer cases), draws you into the characters (the great concept of flow efficiency),
unveils the plot and detail slowly (the laws and theories), before giving away the
importance of the relationships (creating and developing lean organizations) and
making you feel that all will live happily ever after (just embracing with lean). The
examples and explanations in the book are first-class and, having researched and
applied lean myself within public services, this book crosses the boundaries in a
seamless and relevant manner through focusing on the concepts. It is an imperative
read from the beginner to the expert. As with every good book or novel, you learn
something new every time you read it!”

PROFESSOR ZOE RADNOR

Loughborough University

“Fashion is about self-expression, evoking desirability, and making people dream.

Fashion is also, by definition, changing; therefore, flexibility, responsiveness, and rapid
time-to-market are core traits of the successful fashion houses of today. This Is Lean
encapsulates the essence of how well-managed companies create flow throughout the
whole value chain and develop a learning capability about what makes their end
consumers really happy. Lean is simple, but not easy – for any business leader on a
quest of reaching further, while using fewer resources, I can warmly recommend this
book.”

MIKAEL SCHILLER
Executive Chairman, ACNE Studios

“This Is Lean is just fantastic. Really readable, interesting, relevant, and wise. I love the
stories – they bring it to life.”
PROFESSOR NIGEL SLACK
Emeritus Professor, Warwick Business School

“The world is in a severe crisis. We need to find new ways of managing resources and
mitigating the risks of scarcity. This Is Lean demonstrates that the current understanding
of ‘real efficiency’ is incorrect. Organizations sub-optimize and waste resources without
knowing it. The book captures the latest insights regarding how we have to reform and
renew our view on operational excellence. It also shows how holistic thinking,
integration, and end-user orientation are the cornerstones of creating both economic
and social value.”

PETTER STORDALEN
Investor, Hotel Tycoon, Property Developer, and Environmentalist

“This Is Lean is a very good introduction to lean thinking and a great help in creating a
common picture and language throughout the organization. First, top management
read the book and had a workshop with one of the authors. After that we decided to
buy every manager a copy. Now everyone understands our two main principles of
‘flow efficiency’ and ‘securing quality in every step.’”

BRITTA WALLGREN
Managing Director, Capio S:t Görans Hospital

“When I read This Is Lean, I was very positively surprised. It describes lean in a clear and
easy to understand way. We use it extensively in Ericsson and I recommend it to
anyone who needs a fast introduction to lean and its benefits.”

JOHAN WIBERGH
Executive Vice President and Head of Business Unit Networks, Ericsson

“I have read several books that attempt to explain the true essence of lean throughout
my 25 years in automotive business. This is by far the best one. The way it describes
lean will be an eye-opener for many people who have not captured the potential of this
complex issue. For everyone managing a value chain today, this book is a must.”
LARS WREBO
Senior Vice President, Manufacturing, Volvo Car Corporation
 To Professor Christer Karlsson,
who took lean to Sweden.
From your first and last SSE PhD.
Preface
Years ago, I learned the value of simplifying from a production manager who had
stepped into a new position as the head of a large plant. He explained how it allowed
him to understand what was going on, as opposed to optimizing something that was too
complex to understand fully.
This book illustrates the beauty of simplifying. The book cuts through the cacophony
of lean terms and methods to the basic ideas and a working definition of lean: a
strategy of flow efficiency, with key principles of just-in-time and visual management.
The clarity and simplicity of the concepts allow managers to apply them even in
complex operations with many products and many actors, where they easily get
distracted by the frequent demands and issues that bombard them. This is valuable for
those who do not know what lean is as well as for those who have already studied
many lean-associated methods.

Professor Christoph H. Loch
Director, Cambridge Judge Business School
Acknowledgments
When we wrote the Swedish version of this book in the summer of 2011, our idea was
simply to merge two previously published book chapters. Eight intense weeks later, we
had a completely new book. When we had the book translated into English, we decided,
for some strange reason, to rewrite it. Perhaps we were adhering to the basic lean
principle of continuous improvement. This time, however, we did not spend pleasant
summer days in front of our computers, but rather winter and spring evenings and
weekends.
But just like last time, we have not done it ourselves. Special thanks go to Sheelagh
Gaw, who provided the first translation of the book and all kinds of support in the
process of rewriting the translated book. Thanks also to James Morrison, our editor,
who helped us polish the language and make it flow. Any remaining oddities are
entirely our choice. Thanks to Helen Bågeryd, whose hand-painted illustrations add
something extra to the book. Finally, our thanks are owed to Helena Lundin, who had
to sacrifice evenings and weekends away from her family to help us transform our text
into a proper book, and a very beautiful one at that.
Furthermore, the ideas expressed in this book would not have existed if it weren’t for
all the organizations we have encountered over the years in our research and through
our lectures. You have always opened your doors and met us with enthusiasm.
Together, we have been able to develop and refine our ideas of what lean “is.” Without
you, the flow of our knowledge production would be impossible. Many thanks!
We owe our special gratitude to the entities that provided scholarships enabling the
study at Toyota in Japan: the European Institute of Japanese Studies, the Japanese
Embassy in Sweden, the Japanese Government (Monbukagakusho), Prince Carl Gustaf’s
Foundation, the Swedish Institute, the Sweden-Japan Foundation, and Doctor of
Technology Marcus Wallenberg’s Foundation for Education in International Business.
Your foresight and generosity in sponsoring exploratory research provided the
foundation for this book.
THANKS FROM NIKLAS: I would personally like to thank those people who made it possible

to carry out my study of Toyota. Thanks to Takahiro Fujimoto and Tadashi Tanaka,
who welcomed me into their research team at the University of Tokyo and who opened
the doors to Toyota. Thanks to Ryusuke Kosuge, who is both a close friend and has
always been my “wingman” when researching Toyota. I would also like to thank my
family, relatives, friends, and colleagues for all their energy, love, and understanding.
THANKS FROM PÄR: A large and collective thanks to all those who have enabled and
participated in my “lean exploration.” The exploration started in January 1993 with an
opportunity to participate in and study the lean transformation of one company. Thank
you all for opening your doors to a newly minted PhD student. An important stop on
my lean explorations was London Business School, where Professor Christopher A.
Voss taught me so much about research and operational excellence.
My warmest thanks go to my family. You are the points of departure and arrival for
all my explorations. Thanks to Sheelagh, for her patience, enthusiasm, and constant
support. Thanks to Sebastian and Sophie for putting up with my absence: I and my
book, well, we are finished now.
FINALLY, both of us wish to thank our friend, colleague, and mentor, Professor Christer

Karlsson, who has not only been a phenomenal supervisor for both of us during our
PhD studies but has also contributed to the conceptual development of lean at a global
level.

Stockholm, August 2012

Niklas Modig Pär Åhlström
PROLOGUE

500 times faster care

Alison thinks she has cancer
Alison has just discovered a lump in her left breast. A pang of anxiety hits her. She
knows that one in ten women develops breast cancer. It is the most common form of
cancer among women. Her worry is overwhelming.
First thing Monday morning, Alison decides to find out whether the lump is what she
fears. She calls her local doctor’s office and speaks to the nurse during office hours. The
nurse is kind and sympathetic and manages to find Alison an appointment for later that
day. Alison is relieved and accepts the appointment, even though it isn’t with her usual
doctor. She calls work and cancels all her meetings for that day.
The doctor is very understanding but cannot ease Alison’s worry. He cannot rule out
the possibility that the lump could be cancerous. He refers her directly to the breast
clinic at the local hospital, which will call her with appointment details.
Every day that week, Alison waits for the phone call from the breast clinic. When a
whole week passes without a call, she starts to get worried. After ten days, she finally
calls the breast clinic. She waits on hold and eventually gets to speak to a nurse. After a
five-minute search, the nurse finds the information from Alison’s doctor and promises
that they will look into it that day. Four days later, Alison receives a call from the clinic
setting an appointment for the following week.
On the day of her mammogram and ultrasound, Alison allows herself plenty of time
to find parking and the clinic. Everything goes better than expected, and she is in the
waiting room forty-five minutes before her appointment time. She reports to the
receptionist, who asks her to sit down and wait her turn.
Alison’s appointment time comes and goes, but her name is not called. After five
minutes, she asks the receptionist, who says that they are running late and that Alison
should just sit down and wait for her name to be called. Fifteen minutes or so after her
scheduled appointment time, a nurse comes out and apologizes to Alison for making
her wait. She is asked to wait in an examination room for the doctor. The examination
goes smoothly enough, and Alison is told that she will be sent details of an appointment
to see a breast surgeon.
Back at home, Alison talks to her husband about her growing fear. The worst part is
not knowing. Her worry even causes her to take time off work.
 Ten days after her hospital visit, Alison receives a call with details of her appointment
to see the breast surgeon. Based on the test results, the surgeon cannot be certain that it
is cancer, but cannot rule it out either. A second referral is made, this time to a
cytologist, who will take tissue samples for laboratory analysis.
Having received such a vague answer from the breast surgeon, Alison goes home
anxious and distraught. She struggles to remember what the surgeon said about the
next step. She calls the clinic the next day, but she cannot get through to anyone who
can help her. Reluctantly, she leaves her number and waits for her call to be returned.
Someone from the clinic returns Alison’s call later that morning and explains about
her upcoming visit to the cytologist and the fine-needle biopsy. The clinic has her
detailed information, and she has been given an appointment in two weeks’ time.
Alison had been hoping for an appointment within a few days, but the nurse explains
that the cytologist is very busy, and there are no earlier appointment times available.
When the unpleasant procedure does take place, it goes relatively quickly. The doctor
explains that the tissue sample will be sent to the laboratory for analysis, and the test
results will then be sent back to the breast surgeon Alison met at the clinic two weeks
earlier. This means that there will be another call with a new time to meet with the
breast surgeon. The nurse is unable to tell Alison how long she will have to wait for the
results.
Six weeks to the day after her first visit to her local doctor’s office, Alison finally gets to
meet the breast surgeon again and brings her husband along for moral support. Having
read her case file and studied all the test results, the doctor delivers Alison’s diagnosis.

Sarah feels a lump in her breast

While taking a shower on a Tuesday morning, Sarah thinks her left breast feels
different, like it has a knot in it. She has a nagging fear for the rest of the morning and
cannot concentrate at work.
At lunch, Sarah tells her close friend Susan about her concern. Susan tells Sarah about
an article she had read about a trial at the local hospital, the idea of which is to create a
“one-stop breast clinic.” The clinic had been opened a couple of years earlier as a place
where women could go without first having to get a referral from their local doctors.
Sarah finds out that the clinic is open on Thursday afternoons.
For two days, Sarah is unable to think about anything other than this lump in her
breast, which seems to have grown since she first noticed it. Everything she has read on
the Internet seems to have made her even more anxious.
Sarah arrives at the clinic shortly before four o’clock on Thursday afternoon. She is
immediately greeted by a nurse, who leads her into an examination room and gives
her a preliminary examination. The nurse confirms that Sarah’s lump needs further
examination, and Sarah is told to sit in the waiting room while the nurse confers with
the breast surgeon.
Fifteen minutes later, the breast surgeon asks Sarah to follow her into the
examination room. Sarah is asked to give a brief explanation of why she is there and is
then examined by the doctor. The surgeon determines that Sarah will need to undergo
a mammogram, an ultrasound, and a fine-needle biopsy.
Sarah is sent back to the waiting room and notices that the other women there look
just as worried as she feels. When her name is called, Sarah follows a specialist nurse
into the X-ray room, where the nurse takes pictures of Sarah’s breast. A doctor then
uses ultrasound to confirm what Sarah already knows: There is a lump in her left
breast.
The nurse takes Sarah to a cytologist, who performs the fine-needle biopsy. The doctor
cannot say whether it is cancer, but the tissue sample analysis will tell them.
Sarah again finds herself waiting in the waiting room to see the breast surgeon. When
she is called in again, she notices that the time is nearly six o’clock. They sit down and
the surgeon gives Sarah her diagnosis.

This is lean
This Is Lean is a book about a new form of efficiency that we call “flow efficiency.” Flow
efficiency focuses on the amount of time it takes from identifying a need to satisfying
that need. Both Alison and Sarah had the same need: They wanted to find out if they
had cancer. They both went through various tests and were given diagnoses. The
similarities end there.
From Alison’s first visit to her local doctor to the moment she received her diagnosis,
forty-two days elapsed, the equivalent of 1008 hours. In Sarah’s case, it took only two
hours between her first contact with the nurse at the one-stop breast clinic until she
received her diagnosis. Sarah’s diagnosis process was more than five hundred times
faster than Alison’s. Is that a big difference? It is an enormous difference.
The first part of this book (chapters 1–4) defines flow efficiency, how it is created, and
why various decisions improve or worsen flow efficiency. In particular, this part
explains the efficiency paradox, how and why organizations are actually wasting
resources when they think they are being very efficient.
The second part of the book (chapters 5–11) describes how and why Toyota became
one of the world’s most successful organizations by developing an efficient production
flow of cars. Inspired by Toyota, the Western world developed the concept of “lean.”
Today, although lean is one of the world’s most widespread management concepts,
definitions of the concept are incredibly inconsistent. This inconsistency makes it
difficult, if not impossible, to create understanding and form a consensus and,
consequently, to succeed with efforts to implement lean. This book describes what lean
is, how an organization becomes lean, and what a lean organization looks like.
CHAPTER 1

From resource focus to customer focus

Alison’s and Sarah’s stories illustrate two forms of efficiency: resource
efficiency and flow efficiency. The traditional and most common of these is
resource efficiency. Alison’s diagnostic process was carried out in a healthcare
system that has been organized to use resources efficiently. Resource
efficiency focuses on efficiently using the resources that add value within an
organization. These are the resources that were used in both women’s
diagnostic processes. However, Sarah’s diagnostic process was carried out in
a healthcare system that focuses on flow efficiency. Flow efficiency focuses
on the unit that is processed in the organization. In both of these cases, the
units are the patients, Alison and Sarah. This chapter examines the two
contrasting diagnostic processes in order to illustrate the important
differences between resource efficiency and flow efficiency.

Alison experiences the resource-efficient healthcare system

Alison’s healthcare system is organized around a focus on resources and the efficient
use of these resources. Her diagnostic process involved numerous organizations and
functions – the local doctor’s office, the breast clinic, the X-ray department, and the
cytology department – each of which focuses on a specific area of competence (general
medicine, surgery, radiology, and pathology, respectively).
In order for Alison to enter the healthcare system and receive a diagnosis, she needed
to interact with the hospital by telephone and in person. Alison made a total of five
trips, four to the hospital and one to her local doctor’s office, and had to spend many
days contacting the hospital seeking care. She arranged the logistics between these
different contacts herself, ensuring that she arrived on time for the appointments.
While at these appointments, Alison had to take time off work, with all the costs this
entailed for her and her employer.
The time from the first visit to the local doctor’s office to diagnosis was extremely long
compared to the actual time spent conducting the tests of the diagnostic process. The
long waiting times between visits created fear and anxiety for Alison. The different
steps in the diagnostic process added value for Alison, yet these steps accounted for
only a small part of the six weeks between her first and last visits. This point can be
seen in the figure on the next page, which illustrates Alison’s diagnostic process.

Resource efficiency – utilizing resources

Resource efficiency, the traditional form of efficiency, involves utilizing resources as
much as possible. For more than two hundred years, industrial development has been
built around increasing the utilization of resources. A basic principle in this industrial
development is to divide an incoming job into smaller tasks, which are carried out by
different individuals and organizational functions.
Another principle is to find economies of scale. Grouping smaller tasks together so
that individuals, parts of an organization, or the whole organization can perform the
same task many times over increases resource efficiency. The increase in resource
efficiency is often dramatic, with a marked effect on the product’s unit cost.
Efficient use of resources has long been the most common way of looking at
efficiency. It continues to dominate the way in which organizations in different
industries and sectors are organized, controlled, and managed.
Resource efficiency focuses on the resources an organization needs in order to
produce a product or deliver a service, such as staff, sites, equipment, tools, and
information systems. The organizations that carried out Alison’s and Sarah’s diagnostic
processes employed various physical resources, including buildings, waiting rooms,
examination rooms, and X-ray machines, as well as human resources, including
nurses, breast surgeons, radiologists, cytologists, nursing assistants, and administrative
staff.
Resource efficiency is a measurement of how much a resource is utilized in relation to
a specific time period. For example, the measurement can show how much an MRI
scanner is used over a twenty-four-hour period:

The resource efficiency in this example is twenty-five percent, which means that the
MRI scanner is used for only twenty-five percent of the actual time period. The time
period could also be defined as the X-ray department’s open hours, say 8:00 a.m. to 4:00
p.m. In this case, the resource efficiency would be six out of eight hours, or seventy-
five percent.
Of course, resource efficiency is not confined to a single MRI scanner. It can also be
measured at a higher abstraction level than individual machines or people. The use of a
combination of resources can be measured, for example, for a department or an entire
organization. At an organizational level, resource efficiency indicates how well an
organization is utilizing all of its resources and whether the resources are adding value
or “standing still.”
From an economic perspective, it makes sense to strive for the most efficient possible
use of resources. The reason for this is the opportunity cost. The following are two
examples of opportunity cost:

If a hospital employs ten doctors, it should make sure that they work as much as
possible; otherwise, the hospital could have employed nine doctors and used the
money saved elsewhere.
 A hospital has invested tens of thousands of pounds on new X-ray equipment.
Consequently, the equipment should be used as much as possible; otherwise, the
hospital could have spent part of the money on something else.

Opportunity cost is the loss from not utilizing resources to the fullest. If we have not
utilized our resources to maximum capacity, we could have at least used part of the
money we used on that resource towards something else. There are many alternative
uses for that money, such as paying off a loan, lending money to others, and investing
in securities. All organizations face opportunity costs for the money they spend on
acquiring or paying for resources, which makes it important for all organizations to use
resources efficiently.
In order to understand the importance of resource efficiency, we need only take a
look at ourselves. For example, if we buy a new television, it is natural to make sure
the television is being used; we want value for money. Therefore, resource efficiency is
a natural way of looking at things because it is in our nature to want value for money.

Sarah experiences the flow-efficient healthcare system

The healthcare system that carried out Sarah’s tests consisted of one organization that
focused on a specific patient need: diagnosing breast cancer. The organization covered
a combination of different competence areas. Within the organization, there was a
breast surgeon, a radiologist, a cytologist, a secretary, an X-ray nurse, and an assistant
nurse, all within a multifunctional team. Creating an organization that is organized
around a specific need requires all staff to work together.
As a result, Sarah only had to make one visit, during which she met all the specialists
in the same place. It took just a few hours of her time, meaning she had to take
considerably less time off work than did Alison. Sarah received her diagnosis five
hundred times faster than Alison did. The figure below shows Sarah’s diagnostic
process.
Flow efficiency – satisfying needs
We define flow efficiency as a new form of efficiency. Flow efficiency is new in that it
breaks with the historical and natural focus on the efficient utilization of resources.
However, flow efficiency is not an entirely new phenomenon. In fact, the antecedents
of a focus on efficient flows can be traced to the sixteenth century, more precisely, to
the Venetian Arsenal in Northern Italy, which was the most powerful and efficient
shipbuilding enterprise in the world. The arsenal was capable of producing a fully
equipped merchant or naval vessel in less than a day. Elsewhere in Europe, it could
take months to produce a vessel of a similar size.
Flow efficiency focuses on “the unit” processed in an organization. In manufacturing,
the unit is a product comprised of different types of components that are processed in
various stages to make the product. In services, the unit is often a customer whose
needs are met through different activities. Here, we refer to this form of efficiency as
flow efficiency because the focus is on the unit that “flows” through the organization: the
flow unit. Alison and Sarah are examples of two different flow units that flowed
through different healthcare systems.
Flow efficiency is a measurement of how much a flow unit is processed during a
specific time period. The time period is defined from the time a need is identified to the
time it is satisfied. For example, flow efficiency could show how efficiently a local
health center satisfies a patient’s need:

The flow efficiency in the table above is thirty-three percent, which means that the
patient receives value during thirty-three percent of the time she is at the health center.
In this example, it is assumed that the time the patient did not spend seeing a doctor or
another member of staff (that is, waiting time) does not add value.
Flow efficiency is defined from the perspective of the flow unit, and the important
factor is the time during which the flow unit receives value. At an organizational level,
flow efficiency indicates how well an organization processes its flow units. Is the flow
unit receiving value or is it “standing still”?

Comparing the flow efficiency in two healthcare systems

Alison’s and Sarah’s experiences illustrate the characteristics and effects of resource
efficiency and flow efficiency. The differences are most noticeable when looking at the
flow efficiency in the two systems.
Alison’s diagnostic process took forty-two days, or 1,008 hours. Assuming that the time
involved in the various procedures was two hours, flow efficiency in Alison’s case was
0.2 percent.

Flow efficiency = 2 hours/1008 hours = 0.2 percent

Accordingly, only a small fraction of the entire diagnostic process actually added value
for Alison. This shows that her diagnostic process was not flow-efficient.
Sarah received her diagnosis the same day she visited the clinic for the first time, and
the time she spent waiting was the actual time it took to analyze the tests. We can
assume that Sarah had to wait for a total of forty minutes out of the two hours her
diagnostic process took; the remainder of the time she was seeing healthcare staff. This
means that the total value-adding time was eighty minutes and, therefore, the flow
efficiency was sixty-seven percent.

Flow efficiency = 80 minutes / 120 minutes = 67 percent

The table below summarizes the two examples. The most obvious difference is the
time it takes for diagnosis: forty-two days versus two hours. As much as anything, this
time difference increased the amount of worry one of the two women felt. The forty-
two days of not knowing causes Alison’s worry to escalate considerably. Even though
Sarah was worried, she spent considerably less time not knowing.

Which route to take?

Which is best: resource efficiency or flow efficiency? As we have discussed, resource
efficiency is the dominant form of efficiency. As a general rule, organizations are
therefore organized around specific functions and specialized around resources. While
it is important to use resources efficiently, it is also important to meet customers’ needs
efficiently. In order to have both high utilization and satisfied customers, resource
efficiency and flow efficiency are both important.
So why would anyone not aim to achieve high resource efficiency and high flow
efficiency? The answer is that it is very difficult, if not impossible, to score high on both
forms of efficiency. We will return to how organizations can combine high resource
efficiency and high flow efficiency in the second part of the book.
The best way to understand why it is difficult to score high on both forms of efficiency
and how it can be done is to understand how processes work. Flow efficiency is created
through processes. A process is a collection of activities that, together, create the path
for and fulfill the need of a flow unit.
CHAPTER 2

Processes are central to flow efficiency

Flow efficiency is created through an organization’s processes. In order to
understand flow efficiency, it is necessary to understand how processes work.
All organizations have processes. There are development processes,
purchasing processes, production processes, delivery processes, service
processes, and so on. As individuals, we all go through many processes every
day. This chapter explains what processes are and describes important
elements of processes and flow efficiency. These elements are important
because they form the basis for understanding what flow efficiency is.

Filming Alison’s journey towards a diagnosis

In our initial example, Alison went through a diagnostic process that took her from
discovering a lump in her breast to a diagnosis. In order to define Alison’s process, we
need to take her perspective, which we do by placing an imaginary film camera on her
shoulder. This camera records Alison’s perspective as she moves forward through the
process: from her first visit to the local doctor’s office to her receiving her diagnosis.

Alison’s forty-two-day film can be divided into clips that cover the diagnosis and those
that do not cover the diagnosis. Examples of clips that cover the diagnosis include the
nurse conducting the mammogram, Alison meeting the breast surgeon, and the
cytologist taking tissue samples. Examples of clips that do not cover the diagnosis
include Alison’s waiting at home or traveling to and from her various appointments.
The forty-two-day film can also be divided based on whether the clips added value to
Alison. The clips covering activities that did add value to Alison would be labeled
“value-added clips” while those that did not add any value to Alison would be labeled
“non-value-added clips.”
Flow efficiency is about deleting all the non-value-added clips, then taking all the
value-added clips and editing them into a short action movie.

Processes are defined from the flow unit’s perspective

Just as Alison’s process was defined based on the film shot by the camera on her
shoulder, any process must be defined from the perspective of the flow unit. Flow units
are critical in processes because they are the units being processed. In fact, the word
process, which comes from the Latin words processus and procedere, means ‘to move
forward.’ In a process, something is moved forward; we call these flow units. A flow
unit can be material, information, or people:

Material: At a car plant, material is moved forward and processed by machines and
assembled in order to become cars. In the breast cancer example, the tests the
women take are moved forward and analyzed in order to become test results.

Information: When you apply for a building permit to expand your house, you submit
an application to the local authority. The application goes through various stages and
is sent to different parties. In the breast cancer example, the referral letters are
examples of information as flow units.

People: An example of people as flow units is customers in a theme park who go
through a sequence of activities from the time they arrive at the park until they leave.
In the breast cancer example, the patients, Alison and Sarah, are flow units.

Defining the process from the perspective of the flow unit is important. Many
organizations make the mistake of defining a process from the viewpoint of the
organization and its various functions, which would mean that the camera would be on
the doctor’s shoulder instead. Although the camera would be filming the same
activities as if the camera were on Alison’s shoulder, it is not the same thing. In order to
understand flow efficiency, it is important always to define the process from the
perspective of the flow unit.

The two forms of efficiency differ in terms of dependence

Taking the perspective of the flow unit enables us to understand a subtle but important
difference between resource efficiency and flow efficiency. Although the difference is a
general one, it can be explained by returning to the healthcare example.
Any form of activity in which a healthcare system fulfills the needs of its patients
involves a transfer of value. The value transfer takes place between the resources of
which the organization consists and the flow unit being processed. The patient is the
receiver of the value transmitted by, for instance, the healthcare staff.
A value transfer occurs when one side (the resources) adds value and the other side
(the flow unit) receives value. Consequently, we have the following relationships:

High resource efficiency means a high percentage of value-adding time in relation

to a specific time period. The resources add as much value as possible. The movie
from the doctor’s camera is full of action.
High flow efficiency means a high percentage of value-receiving time in relation to
the total time. The flow unit picks up as much value as possible. The movie from
the patient’s camera is full of action.

Resource efficiency focuses on the utilization of specific resources, while flow efficiency
focuses on how a particular flow unit moves through the process. The difference
between these two forms of efficiency can be expressed as a difference in the
dependence between resources and flow units. Is the patient adapting to the situation
of the doctor (securing high resource efficiency), or is the doctor adapting to the
situation of the patient (securing high f low efficiency)? The figure below illustrates the
difference in dependence for both forms of efficiency.
The difference in the dependence is the key factor that differentiates the two forms of
efficiency. In resource efficiency, it is more important to “attach work to people” to
ensure that each resource always has a flow unit to process. In flow efficiency,
however, it is more important to “attach people to work,” that is, to ensure that each
flow unit is always being processed by a resource.
System boundaries define throughput time
An important characteristic of a process is that you can define its start and end points
however you want; you determine the system boundaries. The breast cancer process
could be said to have started when Alison arrived at her local doctor’s office and
finished when she left the doctor’s office. Or it could be said to have started when she
first started to worry and finished when she received her diagnosis. You always choose
the system boundaries yourself.
It is important where the system boundaries are set, as this determines the critical
measure of throughput time. A flow unit’s throughput time is one of the elements
needed to calculate flow efficiency. Throughput time is simply the time it takes for the
flow unit to move through the whole process, as defined, from start to finish.
It is important to look at throughput time from the flow unit’s perspective. Alison’s
throughput time was forty-two days, compared to two hours for Sarah. In these
examples, the process was defined as the time from the first contact with the
healthcare system to the point at which the patient received a diagnosis.
Most organizations will find it challenging to define a process (and therefore the
throughput time) as starting when a need arises and ending when the need is fulfilled.
However, doing so can lead to interesting effects and new innovations. For example, if
the throughput time for an airline passenger is defined as starting at the moment the
passenger leaves his or her home or office until the time he or she gets on the plane,
the throughput time is quite long. For the purposes of shortening this throughput time,
the British airline Virgin Atlantic launched a service for busy executives. The service
included collecting passengers from their workplace and taking them on a motorbike
through the heavy London traffic to Heathrow, where they could take a so-called “fast
track” through the airport. Passengers could board the plane without having to stand in
line and go directly to first class. By seeing the customer’s entire flow, Virgin Atlantic
was able to offer a service that it could price at a premium level.

Classifying activities in the process

All processes consist of a sequence of activities in which the flow unit is processed. As in
Alison’s case, these activities can be divided into various clips or, more generally,
different categories. Two underlying dimensions of these categories are particularly
important for understanding flow efficiency: value and needs.
Value-adding activities
The concept of value-adding activities is critical to understanding flow efficiency. It is
crucial when defining value-adding activities to take the flow unit’s perspective. From
the perspective of the flow unit, activities add value when the flow unit receives value.
Value is added when something happens to the flow unit, or when it is moved forward
(being processed). Examples of value-adding activities include:

When materials for a car are processed in a machine;

When an employee at the local planning authority deals with a building permit
application; and
When Alison and Sarah meet healthcare personnel.

Thus, a value-adding activity is one in which the flow unit is being processed. Using the
same reasoning, an activity that does not add value – a wasteful activity – is one that
does not process the flow unit. Some examples of wasteful activities occur:

When materials are waiting in a warehouse;

When a building permit application sits in a pile of papers on someone’s desk
waiting to be dealt with; and
When Alison is made to wait two weeks for the first available mammogram
appointment.

However, it is important to note that even waiting times can add value in certain cases.
Maturing cheese or aging whisky are examples of waiting (storage) that add value
because the waiting is a part of the process. In these cases, storage adds value to the
flow unit (the cheese or the whisky).

The need defines value

Value is always defined from the customer’s perspective. Of course, the concept of
“customer” can be problematic. Who is the customer of the public sector? Who is the
customer of the fire department? If it is difficult to identify a specific customer, then the
focus can shift towards the need that the organization meets. Instead, we could ask:
“What need does the fire department meet? Among other things, the fire department
specializes in meeting the need to extinguish fires. Therefore, the process could be
defined from the time at which the need is identified (someone discovers a fire) to the
point at which the need is met (the fire department successfully extinguishes the fire).

Direct and indirect needs

When people are flow units, it is important to be clear about the difference between
direct need and indirect need. Alison and Sarah both needed to find out whether they
had cancer. Because this need was the reason the two women started the diagnostic
process, we call it a direct need. Alison and Sarah also had indirect needs, such as the need
to feel safe, the need to be met professionally, and the need to understand and be
informed. Direct needs are about creating a concrete outcome (for example, reaching a
diagnosis), while indirect needs are about the experience.
Therefore, when people are flow units, it is important to look at direct and indirect
needs, even though the main focus is often on direct needs. In a hospital emergency
room, it is natural to focus on direct needs (saving a patient’s life) because the patient
can be unconscious or badly injured. On the other hand, if a doctor is giving a patient
the results of a cancer test, there will naturally be a strong focus on indirect needs. The
doctor will want to ensure that, despite sometimes having to break bad news, he or she
does so sensitively and creates an experience that is as positive as possible.
In business, strategic choices determine what needs are put in focus. Low-price
airlines, for example, focus on direct needs, namely “transporting individuals.” A
customer who buys a business-class plane ticket expects the flight to be a pleasant
experience. In that case, both the direct need (the transport) and indirect need (the
experience) are met.
Disney’s theme parks are great examples of dealing with indirect needs. While we
stand in line for the roller coaster, things are happening all the time. This makes us feel
that we are experiencing value despite the fact we are doing nothing other than
waiting. How we perceive what is happening is often more important than what is
actually happening (or not happening in this case). The need we have when visiting a
Disney theme park is not just to be amused by the attractions (direct need), but also to
be entertained the entire time (indirect need).
Upplands Motor, a Stockholm car dealer, is another example of how a company can
be good at dealing with customers’ indirect needs. Customers entering the dealership
are met with the following notice:
Welcome! Please take a ticket and wait your turn. If you wait more than ten minutes
 from the time you took your ticket to the time you receive help from the service
center, we will give you a free tank of petrol for the car you brought in.
The wait is never boring at Upplands Motor. They provide their customers with
breakfast, lunch, free Internet access, beauty treatments, massages, or a lift to a nearby
driving range. Upplands Motor continually focuses on the customer’s experience.

Flow efficiency is value-adding activity in relation to the throughput time

Having defined throughput time and value-adding activities, we can provide a precise
definition of flow efficiency:

Flow efficiency is the sum of value-adding activities in relation to the throughput

time.
Throughput time in itself is often an indicator of value; that is, the quicker it goes, the
better it is. But it does not have to be, as the concept of indirect needs can explain.
Imagine a very flow-efficient dentist. You arrive at the exact time of your
appointment. As soon as you get through the door, you are into the practice. There is
no waiting room. The chair is already half reclined to save time. You sit down and are
recumbent straight away. The dentist is already prepared and so is the drill, which is in
your teeth within five seconds of sitting down. The whole procedure is over within five
minutes.
This is world-class flow efficiency! Or maybe not. Perhaps the customer has indirect
needs. For someone who is afraid of the dentist, this would not be a flow-efficient
dentist visit. Such a patient needs time to sit and relax in the waiting room and perhaps
go to the toilet. The patient wants the dentist to chat and explain what is going to
happen. More than anesthesia, the patient wants reassurance. While all of these
activities would add to the throughput time, they would also add value, so the process
would be more flow-efficient.
The concept of indirect needs can also be used to analyze the initial breast cancer
example. In Sarah’s case, she may have received her diagnosis a little too quickly. To
go from the first meeting with a nurse to receiving a diagnosis two hours later could be
an emotionally tumultuous experience. Sarah may have needed a little more time
between the various stages to absorb everything that was happening to her. This is an
indirect need that arises from the direct need of a diagnosis. The need always dictates
what value-adding activities are and therefore what flow efficiency is.
Flow efficiency is the density of value transfer
It is also important to clarify that our definition of flow efficiency looks at the density of
the value transfer from a resource to a f low unit. More specifically, flow efficiency
concerns the share of the value-adding activities in relation to the throughput time.
However, it is also possible to improve customer value by increasing (or decreasing)
the speed of the value transfer. We will illustrate this with an example.
It is summer, and you want a new look. You make a reservation with your favorite
hairdresser, Jean-Pierre at Toni & Guy. He cuts your hair in forty minutes, and the total
visit takes fifty minutes. Therefore, the value-adding time is forty minutes out of a total
throughput time of fifty minutes, which represents a flow efficiency of eighty percent.
Your friend is impressed with your new look and books an appointment with Stuart at
the Vidal Sassoon studio, who always delivers excellent haircuts. It takes Stuart only
thirty minutes to complete the haircut, out of a total time of forty minutes that your
friend spent at the salon. Therefore, the flow efficiency of your friend’s haircut is
seventy-five percent.
Stuart delivers the haircut ten minutes faster than Jean-Pierre; the speed of value
transfer was faster. However, comparing the two from a flow efficiency perspective
would indicate that Jean-Pierre is more efficient than Stuart. This is a misleading
comparison, though, since the speeds of the value transfer were different. We are
comparing apples and pears.
Flow efficiency is not about increasing the speed of value-adding activities. It is about
maximizing the density of the value transfer and eliminating non-value-adding
activities. Instead of being about cutting hair faster, it is about reducing the waiting
time for the client. When it comes to the value-adding activities, flow efficiency
emphasizes identifying the “right” speed. What is right for the customer? What is right
for the employee? The intention is to maximize customer value by striking a good
balance.

Organizations consist of many processes

There are many misunderstandings about processes. Perhaps the most salient one is
that processes are restricted to formalized work routines.
Nothing could be further from the truth. In many organizations, the word process is
used to describe formalized work routines. These work routines are documented in
different systems and describe how a certain task, such as recruiting a new staff
member or buying work gloves, is to be carried out. Even such information as who will
perform each task and the order in which the tasks should be performed may be
documented.
Viewing processes only as formalized work routines misses the significance of the
term process. It is important to understand that all organizations have processes,
regardless of whether or not they are formalized. Processes are the cornerstones of all
organizations; these are where organizations do what they do. It is through processes
that flow efficiency is created.
So how many processes make up an organization? Some researchers have claimed
that all organizations can be described with fewer than twenty main processes, such as
from a customer order to delivery or from an idea to a product. That is one extreme.
The other extreme can be illustrated using Volvo Car Corporation, which at one time
had defined and documented thousands of processes. So which end of the spectrum is
right? The answer is that it depends.
The number of processes in an organization depends first of all on how the system
boundaries have been defined, where the organization sees the process starting and
finishing. The organization can set the system boundaries wherever it wants, which
makes it difficult to specify the number of processes.
The number of processes also depends on the level of abstraction. A process at a high
level of abstraction can involve different companies that purchase, produce, and sell a
product in a supply chain from the raw materials to the final customer. A process at a
low level of abstraction can be comprised of the different machines that are used in a
factory to produce a single component for a product.
Abstraction levels mean that an organization can be seen as being made up of a few
main processes, each of which is made up of various sub-processes. Every sub-process,
in turn, is made up of more sub-processes, and so on. Finally, we arrive at the level of
the sequences of individual activities, which are the smallest parts of a process.
Because processes can be defined in different ways and looked at on different levels of
abstraction, saying how many processes make up an organization will always be a
subjective evaluation.
CHAPTER 3

What makes a process flow

In order to understand what prevents organizations from having efficient
flows, it is important to realize that processes operate according to certain
laws. The word “laws” is vital here. These laws, which can be mathematically
proven, are universal; they apply regardless of which type of flow unit is being
processed or how the process is defined. This chapter explains three laws,
each of which illustrates how processes work and explains why it is difficult to
achieve high flow efficiency. The three laws also help us understand why it is
difficult to combine high resource efficiency and high flow efficiency. What
makes it particularly difficult is that all processes, to varying degrees, are
subject to variation.

The process of boarding a flight

You are late getting to the airport. It doesn’t feel good, as you like to allow yourself
plenty of time to browse in the shops and perhaps choose a new perfume or a bottle of
wine. Things have gone wrong today, right from the moment you left. The taxi was late
due to traffic, which meant you missed the train to the airport you had planned on
catching.
Luckily, check-in is usually not a problem. Lines have decreased dramatically since
online check-in was introduced. Fortunately, you have checked in online and secured
one of the much-sought-after emergency exit-row seats, which give you some extra leg
room.
Unfortunately, the line to check in has been replaced by a line for the baggage drop,
and, as there is only one counter open, you just have to join the line. Waiting to drop
your baggage is more stressful than usual, as you know the most difficult part, getting
through security, is still to come. After all the terror attacks that have taken place all
over the world in the last decade or so, security checkpoints and the associated lines
have become the airport’s greatest stress factor.
Passing easily through the automated boarding card checkpoint, you finally get to
security. As usual, there are long lines. You look at your watch and realize that time is
getting tight. Your stress levels start to rise, and the only thing you can think about is
getting through the security checks as quickly as possible. Once through security, it is
quite a long walk to the gate.
You notice that one of the lines is shorter than the others. Before anyone else has a
chance to make the same discovery, you move to the shorter line. You breathe out and
immediately start to feel a little calmer.
To your dismay, you quickly realize that this line is actually moving slower than the
other one, very slowly in fact. Your feeling of calm turns back to stress. The cause of
the delay is an elderly gentleman. He has lots of things he needs to put on the conveyor
belt and was clearly not aware that he needs to empty his pockets. He is also told to
take off his shoes. He isn’t happy, and neither is the security staff. You look across and
notice that the lady who was behind you in the previous line has now passed through
security.

This is not my day, you think to yourself. You have abandoned the idea of being able to
browse in the shops, and you are now preparing to run to the gate.
While running to the gate, you vow that you will leave home much earlier next time;
it would be worth it to avoid all that stress. You console yourself with the fact that the
sign for your flight has just begun flashing, “Go to Gate.” You know that you are
normally asked to go to the gate a while before boarding commences.
You arrive at the gate just as the final call is announced. You breeze through the
boarding and identity card check. But standing in line continues on board, while you
wait for everyone to find places to store their hand luggage in all possible and
impossible sizes and sit down. Finally, you are seated in your exit-row window seat,
and you can now stretch out your legs and relax.
Getting from the airport entrance to your seat on the plane can involve a great deal of
stress, some of which can be explained with the laws that dictate how all processes
work.

Little’s Law
The first law that helps us to understand how processes work is Little’s Law. The law is
intuitively simple, and we can use the experience of choosing a line at the security
checkpoint as an example. Little’s Law explains why the new line took longer than the
one you first chose.

Little’s Law at security checkpoint

Your interest lay in getting through security as quickly as possible. In other words, you
wanted a short throughput time, so you chose the shortest line. What you did not take
into account was the average time it took the staff to check each person. This took
longer in the line you switched to than it did in the line you initially chose. Throughput
time is the product of the total number of people in the line and the average time it
takes to check one person.
The experience of choosing a line at the security checkpoint illustrates Little’s Law,
which states that:

Throughput time = flow units in process × cycle time

As defined earlier, throughput time is dependent on the system boundaries we have
set, that is, where we have decided the process starts and finishes. In this example, the
process starts when you join the line and finishes once you have passed through
security. The system boundaries could also have been defined from the moment you
stepped into the airport until the time you stepped onto the plane. What is important is
that the laws apply regardless of where we set the boundaries. We must adapt how we
define flow units in process, as well as cycle time, to how we have defined the system
boundaries of the process.
“Flow units in process” are all the flow units within the chosen system boundaries: all
the flow units that have begun the process but have not yet exited it. In the airport
example, the flow units in process are the passengers who are standing in the security
checkpoint line but have not yet passed through.
Cycle time is the average time between two flow units’ completing the process and
refers to the pace at which flow units move through the process. In our example, the
cycle time is the average time it takes between one person’s finishing their security
check and the next person’s finishing their check.
The following example shows how you could have applied Little’s Law when choosing
a line. Assume that there are fifteen people in the first line, and the line you change to
has ten people in it. In the first, quicker line, one person passes through security every
minute. In the other, slower line, one person passes through every two minutes. The
following would apply:

Throughput time in first line = 15 people × 1 minute = 15 minutes

Throughput time in second line = 10 people × 2 minutes = 20 minutes
Little’s Law and throughput time
Little’s Law shows us that throughput time is affected by two things: the number of
flow units in process and the cycle time. A longer cycle time means a longer
throughput time. A long cycle time occurs when it is not possible to work any faster or
when there is insufficient capacity.
Little’s Law also shows that throughput time increases if the number of flow units in
process is increased. The more people standing in front of us in the security line, the
longer it takes for everyone to get through (given that the cycle time is constant).
Therefore, having flow units in process increases throughput time.
There is a paradox here. To ensure high resource efficiency, we must always utilize
our resources to a maximum, preferably to one hundred percent. In order to do this,
there must always be work to do; work can never be finished. This means that we need
a buffer of flow units so that we do not risk having to wait for work. It is better that the
flow units wait for us to be free than wait for them to come to us.
We can illustrate this with a trained specialist in healthcare. If the focus is on a high
utilization of resources, it is better that patients wait for the specialist, rather than the
specialist wait for the patients. The paradox, therefore, is that ensuring a buffer of flow
units in order to ensure a maximum utilization of resources serves to increase
throughput time.
Returning to the example from the prologue, we can see the effect of Little’s Law. In
Alison’s case, the healthcare system is organized to cope with various diagnoses and the
focus is on resource efficiency. It is important to utilize the various specialist functions,
so the queues ensure that specialists do not run out of work. This means that Alison
must wait between the various stages in the process of getting a diagnosis. The
throughput time is long, and flow efficiency is low.
Sarah, on the other hand, experiences a healthcare system focused on one need: the
need to obtain a breast cancer diagnosis. There are fewer “patients in process” at any
given point in time, which means that throughput time is shorter and flow efficiency is
higher.

The law of bottlenecks

The second law that helps us to understand how processes work, as well as what
prevents organizations from increasing flow efficiency, is the law of bottlenecks. As the
example of getting from the doors of the airport to your coveted window seat
illustrated, you seldom move through the airport without encountering obstacles.
There are many points on the way through the airport at which lines form. These
points are called bottlenecks. They are stages in the process in the form of sub-processes
or individual activities that, like the neck on a bottle, limit the flow. It is here that a
person’s flow through the airport, from the time he or she arrives at the airport until he
or she is seated on the plane, can be blocked.

Bottlenecks lengthen throughput time

Basically, the law of bottlenecks states that throughput time in a process is primarily
affected by the stage of the process that has the longest cycle time. It is relatively
simple to grasp what bottlenecks are, as the airport example illustrates. Formally, a
bottleneck is the stage in the process that has the longest cycle time. A bottleneck can
also be seen as the stage in the process that has the slowest flow; it is the stage that
“limits” the flow. Consequently, bottlenecks will limit the flow in the entire process.
Processes with bottlenecks have two key characteristics:

1. Immediately prior to a bottleneck, there is always a line, regardless of whether it

is material, information, or people flowing through the process. It is often clear
which stage in the process is the bottleneck, particularly when the flow units are
material or people. It can be more difficult to see the line at the bottleneck when
the flow unit is information, but the line is there.
2. The stages of activity after the bottleneck must wait to be activated, which means
they will not be fully utilized. Because the bottleneck is the stage of activity that
has the slowest throughput, the stages after the bottleneck will work at a slower
pace than they could have.

Even if a bottleneck is eliminated, by adding extra resources or working faster, for

example, the bottleneck will appear again somewhere else. It is like the arcade game
Whac-A-Mole, in which moles pop up out of holes and you have to hit them with a
mallet to force them underground again. As soon as you hit one (or even before),
another one pops up. In the same way, process bottlenecks move and pop up in new
places.
Bottlenecks lengthen the throughput time as a line of flow units forms and waits to be
processed. This can be understood using Little’s Law. As there is a line, there are flow
units in process. Given that we do not change the cycle time (by adding extra resources
or working faster), adding flow units in process will increase throughput time.
Bottlenecks lengthen the throughput time as a line of flow units forms and waits to be
processed. This can be understood using Little’s Law. As there is a line, there are flow
units in process. Given that we do not change the cycle time (by adding extra resources
or working faster), adding flow units in process will increase throughput time.

Why bottlenecks appear

There are two reasons bottlenecks appear in processes. The first condition for
bottlenecks is fulfilled if the stages in the process must be performed in a certain order.
In the airport example, you must arrive at the airport before you can drop your
baggage. You need to have dropped your baggage before you can pass through
security. You need to have passed through security before you can go to the gate, and
you need to have gone through the gate before you can board the plane.
Of course, it is natural for this condition to be met, particularly if the system
boundaries for the process are set relatively wide. The widest possible definition of
system boundaries defines the start of a process as the point at which a need has arisen
and the end of the process as the point at which the need is fulfilled. Needs cannot
usually be fulfilled through activities that can be performed simultaneously in just one
place and by the same person. In fact, it is in the nature of an organization to divide
activities that must be performed to fulfill a need into different steps.
The second reason bottlenecks exist is variation. There needs to be variation in the
process. At the airport’s security checkpoint, people take varying lengths of time to pass
through security. Some have computers that must be removed from their hand
luggage, others forget they have coins in their pockets, and some forget they have
perfume bottles larger than the allowed 100 ml. All this leads to variation in service
time. In principle, it is impossible to eliminate variation, and it has been shown to have
a very negative effect on processes and flow efficiency. This is explained by the law of
the effect of variation on processes.

The law of the effect of variation on processes

The third law that helps us to understand how processes work concerns the connection
between variation, resource efficiency, and throughput time. The key here is variation,
which has a profound impact on flow efficiency. It has a particularly negative impact
on an organization’s ability to combine high resource efficiency and high flow
efficiency. For this reason, understanding variation and its impact is central to
understanding flow efficiency.

What is variation?
There will always be variation in processes. The reasons for variation are potentially
endless but can be divided into three different sources: resources, flow units, and
external factors.

Resources: Machines may be prone to breakdown, which causes variation. Some
operating systems are slow, others faster. Different doctors take different lengths of
 time to examine a patient. Experienced staff are fast and work according to clear
routines, whereas new staff work more slowly.

Flow units: Customers at a hair salon have different requests for hair-cuts. Cars at a
repair workshop have different types of problems. Some planning applications are
incorrectly filled out, which means they take longer to process.

External factors: Patients’ arrival times at the emergency room are not evenly
distributed. Sales of chocolate Easter eggs mainly take place at one time of year. Two
busloads of hungry students arrive unannounced at a drive-through fast food
restaurant.

Regardless of the source of the variation, it affects time: either processing time or
arrival time. There will be a variation in the time it takes to process different flow units
and/or there will be a variation in the time between different flow units arriving into
the process. Some examples will help illustrate:

In car manufacturing, quality problems can arise in machines, and the company
needs to rework a product, leading to variations in processing time.
Different applications for building permits take different lengths of time to
process. Some people fill in the application forms correctly; others do not. Some
have simple requests, while others are more complicated. These differences lead
to variations in processing time.
In the breast cancer example, patients may arrive late for their mammogram
appointments, leading to variations in arrival times.
Demand for the fire department’s services are seldom evenly distributed over
time. It is also difficult to predict when a fire will start, leading to variations in
arrival time.

There is a relationship between a variation in processing time and variation in arrival

time. In a process made up of different stages, variation in the processing time in one
stage will lead to variation in arrival time in the following stage.
As these examples illustrate, it is impossible to imagine a process without variation.
Variation is particularly difficult to avoid when the flow unit is a person, as all
individuals are unique and have individual needs, especially indirect needs. People
introduce a natural variation that is very difficult to avoid. It is not possible to
standardize how we deal with people in the same way as we can standardize how we
deal with material or, to a certain degree, information. In fact, it is impossible to
imagine a process without variation, although the degrees of variation will differ.

Relationship between variation, resource efficiency, and throughput time

The major influence that variation has on flow efficiency can be explained by the
relationship between variation, resource efficiency, and throughput time. This
relationship was formalized in the 1960s by Sir John Kingman in his famous Kingman’s
Formula and is illustrated in the figure below.

The figure shows how throughput time (on the vertical axis) is dependent on utilization
(on the horizontal axis):

Throughput time increases the higher we move up the vertical axis.

Utilization (which we call resource efficiency) on the horizontal axis is a measure
of how efficiently the resources are utilized. The closer to one hundred percent,
the higher the resource efficiency.

The relationship between throughput time and utilization is shown in the form of two
curves: one for the case of low variation and the other for the case of high variation in
the process.
The forms of the curves above show the first effect of variation. The curves show that,
the closer we get to one hundred percent utilization, the longer the throughput time.
Increasing utilization from ninety percent to ninety-five percent increases throughput
time to a greater degree than increasing utilization from eighty percent to eighty-five
percent; this is despite the fact that the increase in both cases is five percent. In other
words, the connection between throughput time and utilization is exponential rather
than linear. This means that the closer we get to one hundred percent utilization, the
greater the effect an increase in utilization will have on throughput time.
The other effect of variation can be seen by comparing the two curves in the graph
above. The curve showing the case of high variation is moved to the left compared with
the curve showing the case of low variation. Assuming that utilization is constant, this
relationship means that:

The greater the variation in the process is, the longer the throughput time.
The significance of variation in processes is fundamental for understanding flow
efficiency. By way of comparison, if all of the cars on a motorway maintained exactly
the same speed, there would be no build-up of traffic. Lines form when, for different
reasons, cars do not all drive at the same speed.

Process laws and flow efficiency

In order to understand what prevents organizations from having high flow efficiency, it
is necessary to understand the three laws in this chapter. The laws provide reasons as
to why the throughput time in a process increases:

Little’s Law states that throughput time increases when there is an increase in the
number of flow units in process and when the cycle time increases.
The law of bottlenecks states that throughput time increases when there are
bottlenecks in the process.
The law of the effect of variation states that throughput time increases as variation
in the process increases and the process gets closer to one hundred percent
utilization.

So what do the laws say about flow efficiency? In chapter 2, we defined flow efficiency
as the sum of value-adding activities in relation to the throughput time. If throughput
time increases, the general rule is that flow efficiency will decrease. This rule applies if
the increase in throughput time is not met by an increase in value-adding time.
For example, imagine that an increased throughput time can be compensated for by
creating indirect value for the customer. Adding value to the wait for an amusement
ride, as Disney has done, may avoid having the increase in throughput time negatively
affect flow efficiency. However, the normal situation is that, if the throughput time
increases, flow efficiency will be reduced.
In other words, the three laws help us understand that many factors affect flow
efficiency: the number of flow units in process, cycle time, bottlenecks, variation, and
resource efficiency.
The laws also show that it is difficult, if not impossible, to combine high resource
efficiency with high flow efficiency. High resource efficiency, particularly if there is
variation in the processes, requires flow units’ waiting to be processed. The risk of
running out of work must be avoided. According to Little’s Law, having flow units in
process reduces flow efficiency. Furthermore, for a process with high levels of
variation, the law of the effects of variation shows that it is impossible to combine high
resource efficiency and high flow efficiency.
So how can flow efficiency be improved? With the help of the laws, it is essentially
possible to do four things. Of course, doing all of these things is easier said than done,
but at a very high level of abstraction, the following activities improve flow efficiency:

Reduce the total number of flow units in process by eliminating the causes for the
lines (of material, information, and people). Naturally, the causes will be many and
will vary between processes.
Work faster, which reduces cycle time.
Add more resources, which increases capacity and reduces cycle time.
Eliminate, reduce, and manage the different forms of variation in the process.

What makes these activities particularly difficult is the fact that many aspects of
organizations are designed to improve resource efficiency. As noted in chapter 1, it is
very important to improve resource efficiency. However, as the process laws have
illustrated, focusing on and improving resource efficiency increases the chances that
flow efficiency will suffer.
Another problem with focusing too closely on resource efficiency is that it risks
creating multiple problems and extra work, which can sometimes represent a large
proportion of an organization’s total work. Consequently, even if a particular resource
has high resource efficiency, the work that “keeps the resource busy” is not really
adding value. We call this the efficiency paradox.
CHAPTER 4

The efficiency paradox

Many organizations are more focused on resource efficiency than on flow
efficiency. High capacity utilization is not only seen as a good thing, it is often
the main goal. On this basis, a very well-managed organization would have no
available capacity. Although this may be beneficial from the organization’s
point of view, it can represent a problem from a customer perspective. This
chapter highlights the negative effects of focusing too much on resource
efficiency. These negative effects create new needs that demand a lot of
additional resources, work, and effort that would not be necessary in a flow-
efficient organization. The paradox is that a greater focus on utilizing
resources efficiently tends to increase the amount of work there is to do. This
chapter explains this efficiency paradox and highlights three sources of
inefficiency.

The first source of inefficiency:

long throughput times
Highly resource-efficient organizations experience a range of negative effects. These
effects are negative not only from a customer perspective, but also from a company
and employee perspective. These negative effects emanate from three “sources of
inefficiency.” The first of these sources is related to people’s ability to deal with long
waiting times, as the following examples illustrate.

Alison’s waiting time generates new needs

In the example at the beginning of the book, Alison had to wait forty-two days to
receive her breast cancer diagnosis. Such long waiting times create dissatisfaction,
frustration, and, most importantly, worry. Alison’s concern could have been
overwhelming, even causing her to take time off work, which may have required her
employer to hire a replacement. If the replacement were not as skilled as Alison at this
particular job, it would necessitate training. Even with the training, the replacement
might not be as productive as Alison and could make mistakes that negatively affect the
customers and employees of Alison’s company. And so on.
This story shows that non-fulfillment of a need can create new types of needs, which
in turn create new needs. In other words, there is a chain reaction. Let us go through
the story and illustrate this chain of cause-and-effect.
Alison initially wanted a diagnosis. This is what we call the primary need because it is the
root cause that led her to initiate the diagnostic process. However, because it took so
long for her to go through the diagnostic process (that is, to have her primary need
fulfilled), various secondary needs developed. Her concern had time to grow, which led
her to take time off work. This created another secondary need for her employer to
hire and train a replacement. However, despite the training, the replacement made a
mistake, which created yet another secondary need to recover an unhappy customer.
Therefore, the failure to fulfill Alison’s primary need created a chain of cause-and-effect
that generated numerous new secondary needs. Although this scenario is hypothetical,
the point is that the waiting time triggered new types of needs. The following example
further illustrates this chain of cause-and-effect.

Waiting time closes important windows of opportunity

Imagine an organization in which everyone is really busy at the end of the year. This
busyness has caused several people to be late for a meeting to decide the location of the
next year’s winter conference; consequently, the meeting starts fifteen minutes late.
Towards the end of the meeting, it emerges that details about one of the potential
conference venues are missing because there had simply not been enough time to find
the information. This means that the meeting needs to be rescheduled. The attendees
pull out their calendars, and, after five minutes of deliberation, an available slot is
found for two weeks later. The new meeting is eventually held, and the location for the
winter conference is chosen.
When the chair emails the conference center to confirm the reservation, he receives
the following reply: “We have not heard from you for over two weeks. Unfortunately,
the date you have requested is no longer available.” A new meeting is required to
discuss whether the location or timing of the event should be changed.
In this example, the primary need is to decide on the location of the winter
conference. However, because people were delayed and did not have the time to find
all the relevant information, the decision had to be postponed. This led to a number of
secondary needs arising. The delay made it necessary to compare calendars to find a
new meeting time, to issue a new meeting invitation, and to have the new meeting. The
subsequent unavailability of the conference center necessitated a new meeting. As in
Alison’s case, this is a chain of cause-and-effect that generates numerous secondary
needs.

Long throughput time generates secondary needs

These two examples illustrate the negative effects of things’ taking a long time, the
underlying problem both for Alison and in choosing the conference center. In other
words, the examples illustrate the negative effects of long throughput time, which, as
we saw in chapter 3, is a consequence of overly high resource efficiency.
The core problem in both examples is that the negative effects caused by long
throughput time often generate new secondary needs. It is like a game of dominoes:
when the first domino is toppled, it knocks over the second one, which knocks over the
third one, and so on. Metaphorically, long throughput time is what caused the first
domino to topple. It is a source of inefficiency that generates various problems. The
figure below illustrates the domino effect caused by Alison’s long throughput time.

Our inability to deal with long throughput time is the first source of inefficiency that
generates many problems. It leads to boredom, worry, and frustration. We can lose our
drive and inspiration. We can start to forget or find we just don’t care. These effects can
often generate challenges and problems that organizations must deal with, which
require new resources and new activities.

The second source of inefficiency:

many flow units
The second source of inefficiency that appears in a highly resource-efficient
organization is related to people’s ability to handle many things simultaneously, which is
closely related to the first source of inefficiency. For instance, the longer we wait to
answer our email, the more emails we will have to answer. The longer we wait to take
care of our travel receipts, the more receipts we will have to take care of. The following
illustrates some of the negative effects of handling many things at the same time.
Again, the core problem is that secondary needs are created.

Inventory requires additional resources

A manufacturing company with low flow efficiency will face increases in inventory,
which create several secondary needs. Firstly, inventory requires storage space, which
is costly and leads to other costs, such as heating, administration, and security.
Secondly, large volumes of inventory and work-in-progress make it more difficult to
have a good overview. Without an overview, a lot of time and effort is spent looking for
materials. Thirdly, inventory and work-in-progress tends to hide problems. Imagine a
step in a manufacturing process that starts to produce a poor-quality component. With
a large number of products being worked on, it is difficult to find and eliminate the
quality problems. These are examples of having secondary needs generated because of
a large inventory. The key here is that the secondary needs would not exist if there
were less inventory. The negative effects of inventory are illustrated in the figure
below. The figure illustrates that much extra work is created in an organization which
has a large inventory.
Too many emails trigger stress
Email is a wonderful invention, but an inbox with two hundred unsorted emails can be
somewhat overwhelming. Where do you start? The primary need is to answer
important emails. However, the large number of emails creates a secondary need for a
strategy to sort emails. One strategy could be to address the emails in date order, while
another could be to start with the most important people first. Or perhaps you could
look for “flagged” messages or discard those emails on which you have only been
copied.
Whatever method you use, sorting, structuring, and searching are activities that fulfill
the secondary need, which is to handle the large amount of email. The primary need is
to read, answer, and store email, but the large number of messages necessitates certain
activities in order to gain some kind of overview. Apart from creating unnecessary
work, handling a large number of emails at once can also be stressful.

Juggling too many things makes people lose control

When too many things are being handled at the same time, human limitations cause a
number of secondary needs. For example, if a service company has to manage many
customers at the same time, individual customers may feel like they are just one in the
crowd. It is difficult for a restaurant to meet the needs of each customer if there are
thirty other customers waiting to be served. Staff will not have a clear overview and
may treat customers impersonally. How many times have you dealt with a service
organization and found that the staff hardly acknowledged you? The more customers
there are inside the process, the harder it is for each one to feel acknowledged and
special, which can create new secondary needs. Making neglected and frustrated
customers happy requires extra resources. Juggling is easier with three balls than with
thirty.

In white-collar work, the impact of the human factor is particularly pronounced when
there are too many things to handle at the same time, such as on-going projects and
cases. Advances in information technology have meant that storing information in
itself does not lead to significant costs; however, storage does tend to lead to a poor
overview. It is easy to lose sight of the big picture when work is piling up. The human
brain is believed to be able to remember between five and nine things at the same
time. After this, we start to forget, which is when we make mistakes. In other words, we
are not equipped to handle a lot of things at the same time.

Handling many flow units generates secondary needs

Our inability to deal with many things at the same time is the second source of
inefficiency that generates lots of problems. Regardless of whether it is inventory,
emails, or tasks, the above examples show how the need to handle too many things at
the same time leads to the creation of new secondary needs. The need to handle many
things at the same time is fueled by a focus on resource efficiency.
We saw in chapter 3 how a focus on resource efficiency means that the number of
flow units in process will increase. Regardless of whether it is customers, projects, tasks,
products, or materials that are processed in an organization, there will be many flow
units that are being worked on but are not yet finished. This is because it is natural for a
resource-efficient organization to ensure there is always work to do and to avoid
running out of work.
There are various negative effects that occur when an organization or individual has
to handle many flow units at the same time. We lose control, which makes us
frustrated and stressed. It is difficult to get a good overview, which often means that
problems are hidden within the pile of work-in-progress. Handling many flow units at
the same time forces an organization to invest in additional resources and develop
structures and routines. These all fulfill secondary needs that only exist because the
organization has to handle a large number of flow units.

The third source of inefficiency:

many restarts per flow unit
The third source of inefficiency created in a highly resource-efficient organization is
related to people’s ability to deal with many restarts. The examples below illustrate what
restarts are and why restarts have negative effects on individuals and organizations.

Starting over on the same task generates mental set-up time

Restarts are created when you have to start over on the same task. An example is
managing a large email inbox. There is a high risk that you will need to read messages
more than once. Some messages are simply too complex to deal with at that time, so
you read them, file them, and return to them later. Sometimes you have to come back
to them more than once, perhaps because you need further information.
When work to be done just sits in a pile waiting, it is easy to lose sight of the big
picture. The time and energy we spend on categorizing and structuring the work
creates delays. The delays and the different type of activities (such as searching,
identifying, categorizing, and structuring) mean that we have to re-familiarize
ourselves repeatedly with the same information.
The challenges of starting over on the same task are also driven by mental set-up
times. A person needs time to focus his or her mind on a task, and it is mentally
challenging to deal with several tasks at the same time. It is particularly challenging
when we must repeatedly shift our focus from one task to another. The fewer tasks we
have to deal with at the same time, the easier it is to focus. The more frequently we
have to switch between tasks, the longer the mental set-up time becomes in relation to
the total time.
 Therefore, the limitations of the human mind mean that a high number of restarts
will generate new secondary needs that would not have been created if the work had
been finalized the first time.

Many handovers generate frustration

Restarts are also created when different people have to start over on the same task, as
the following illustrates. Imagine you are having some problems with your newly
purchased cell phone, so you call your carrier. You are greeted by an automated
recording that gives you half a dozen options from which to choose. You don’t
recognize your particular requirement among the options, so you just press a button,
only to be given four new options. You press another random button and finally end up
waiting for an operator.
You listen to the voice announce, “You are in line, and we will help you as soon as
possible,” without telling you how soon. You wait for what seems like hours, but is most
likely ten minutes. Eventually, a real person comes on the line, but he cannot help you
and has to transfer the call to a colleague. Luckily, the wait for this new person is short
as you have bypassed the line. You recount your problem once again, but, amazingly, a
third person is needed to deal with your query. Your frustration increases, and you
vent this frustration on the third person.
This example illustrates a type of restart, or handover, which is created when a
customer is passed between stages. Your call was switched between different operators,
and it took three attempts before you found a person who could help with your query.
You had to explain your situation to each operator, which became very frustrating.
The number of handovers is partly driven by the way in which the process is designed.
Processes in which each flow unit meets only one resource (machine or person) are
possible, but quite rare. Processes are usually designed in such a way that each flow
unit has to pass many resources on its way through the process. It is uncommon to find
processes in which all of the necessary tasks can be completed in the same place by the
same person or machine.

Many handovers generate defects

Handovers also risk the “gossip game” effect, whereby the information being passed on
becomes more distorted as the number of handovers increases. Many handovers also
risk creating a mind-set of “Now I am finished with my bit, you go ahead and do your
bit.” In such cases, there is no real responsibility for the whole, and there are often
problems of sub-optimization. This can lead to the creation of secondary needs in the
handover, or the interface between two stages in the process.

Many restarts generate secondary needs

Our inability to deal with many restarts is the third source of inefficiency which
generates lots of problems. Regardless of whether an employee starts over on the same
task or tasks are handed over between different people in an organization, the
examples illustrate how restarts generate new secondary needs.
Underlying the problem of restarts are the two consequences of focusing on resource
efficiency that we dealt with previously: long throughput time and many flow units in
process. In a resource-efficient organization, things take time and many things need to
be handled at the same time. These two factors mean that the number of restarts
increases.
As the task of processing a flow unit is disrupted by many restarts, various secondary
needs will occur. We forget, so we have to rework. We face mental set-up time, which
makes us inefficient. Information can be lost, which leads to mistakes. Handovers are
done inaccurately, causing problems and duplicated work.

Secondary needs generate superfluous work

A customer engages with an organization to satisfy a primary need. This primary need
is the reason the customer makes contact with the organization in the first place. As the
discussion above illustrates, if an organization focuses too much on resource efficiency,
three types of inefficiency occur, resulting in many problems. These problems, in turn,
create secondary needs the organization then must satisfy. Secondary needs arise as a
consequence of the organizations’ failure to satisfy the primary need of the customer.
Secondary needs can often generate other secondary needs, and a chain reaction is
started, as is illustrated in the figure on the next page. As a consequence of this domino
effect, secondary needs can be harmful to organizations. Secondary needs consume
resources, even if no “real” customer value is created.

But what is the root cause of secondary needs? Essentially, an over-focus on resource
efficiency creates low flow efficiency. This creates “efficient islands” in which
fulfillment of customer needs is split up into several, smaller steps that are performed
by various individuals or parts of an organization. No one island has a full overview of
the entire process; each island sees only its own part.
In such situations, it is easy to create an organization in which each part is sub-
optimized. Although the individual sub-optimized parts are efficient, the flow efficiency
of the whole process will suffer, and there is a risk of creating a series of secondary
needs.
Secondary needs are harmful for organizations since they generate what we call
superfluous work, or work devoted to taking care of secondary needs. Superfluous work is
a very sophisticated form of waste, since we often fail to realize that it is waste. We
think we are adding value, but we are not. Nevertheless, we still have to take care of
secondary needs.
When a busy nurse answers a call from Alison, who wants to know her status in the
line, the nurse feels she is adding value by answering the question. However, if Alison
had received her diagnosis more quickly, she would not have to take up the nurse’s
time, which the nurse could have spent dealing with waiting patients. Thus, Alison’s
waiting time created superfluous work for the healthcare system.

Managing receipts:
the art of being extremely inefficient
The authors of this book have gained a better understanding of the nature of
superfluous work by reflecting on some of our own practices. Neither of us particularly
enjoys managing all the financial paperwork that is generated during the course of a
normal month. There are taxi receipts that must be kept for travel expense claims,
credit card receipts that need to be checked against the monthly credit card bill, and all
kinds of bills. There are receipts for private expenses and receipts for work-related
expenses and so on.
At irregular intervals during the month, we empty pockets and wallets full of receipts
into a “receipt box.” As we both are very busy (we try to utilize our capacity to the
fullest), we postpone dealing with the receipts and bills. We wait until it is no longer
possible to cope because the pile in the receipt box is making us feel concerned.
Perhaps we have missed paying an important bill? What happens if an important
receipt is missing? What happens to the money outstanding from not having submitted
the expense claims?
So we dive into the pile and try to bring order to it, but the pile is chaotic and receipts
are difficult to find. As researchers in the area of managing operations, we begin
devising systems to create order.
We buy colorful sorting trays and a label maker to create labels (acts that, ironically,
generate even more paperwork). We are then able to carry out the various activities
that bring order to our receipts. The first activity is to structure the receipts by date. The
second activity is to take all the receipts from a certain day and sort them by credit
card. Once this is done we can start to file each particular receipt. Unfortunately, we
often forget what the receipt referred to, which means the third activity is to refer back
to our calendars and find out what actually generated the receipt. The fourth and final
activity is to file and document the receipt. By now, we start to feel pride in the systems
we have created and the value we have added.

But is all the work we have put into creating a system for our paperwork really adding
value? No. The first three activities are superfluous work. Amidst all the action,
superfluous work is correctly perceived as adding a lot of value; we have to take care of
all the receipts whether we like it or not. Yet the core of superfluous work is that it
addresses a need that has arisen due to a failure to satisfy the primary need (filing the
receipts). The root cause of superfluous work is actually a failure.
Why? Firstly, each receipt has a long throughput time. No value is added from the
point at which we receive a receipt until we deal with it. The only thing we do is to
empty the receipts in a box. This means that some receipts have to wait over a month
to be processed, by which time we have forgotten what the receipt was for.
Secondly, because we waited so long, we had to take care of many receipts, which
meant we had to structure and sort them, and search for information on the activity
that generated the receipt. We even had to invest in physical resources (the trays and
the label maker) in order to be able to structure and sort the receipts.
 Thirdly, the processing of each receipt involved at least four restarts since it is the
minimum number of times we had to look at each receipt:

Structure → What date?

Sort → What type?
Searching → What activity generated the receipt?
Filing and documentation

Many of the activities involved in sorting, structuring, searching, and filing the receipts
in our system would not have been necessary if we had adopted a flow efficiency
perspective. Such a perspective would have meant dealing with each receipt and bill
more or less as soon as it appeared, or at least much more frequently than we currently
do. This would help remove superfluous work. We would not need to structure and
sort the receipts because we would only have a few receipts to deal with. We would not
need the colorful sorting trays. We would not need to look several times at the same
receipt.
Furthermore, even with our “great” system, many of the receipts are so old that we
find it difficult to recall what they refer to, which means we have to spend time trying
to remember the nature of different expenses. Sometimes we lose both the receipt and
our memory of it. These are all examples of superfluous work. The figure below
illustrates the relationship between superfluous work and value-added work.
Although this is only a simple example, it is a good illustration of how organizations
work. Much of the work we do in organizations is also superfluous. The figure above
shows that only a very small proportion of the total time we spend on our receipts is
“real” value-added work. This often applies in organizations as well. Answer the
following question honestly:

How much of the time that you spend at work is spent on fulfilling secondary
needs? In other words, how much of your total working time is dedicated to
superfluous work?
For us, the answer is “a lot.”
“But I am really busy, so I must be efficient,” you might argue. Well, the question is
whether you are actually creating real value (meeting primary needs) or fulfilling
secondary needs.

The efficiency paradox

The efficiency paradox is explained by superfluous work. By over-focusing on resource
efficiency, process laws guarantee that flow efficiency will suffer. If flow efficiency
suffers, then several secondary needs will be generated. Activities to meet these
secondary needs may seem like value-adding activities, but they would not be
necessary if the primary need were already fulfilled. The paradox is that we believe we
are utilizing our resources efficiently, but we are actually being inefficient, since much
of that utilization comes from superfluous work and non-value-adding activities, as
illustrated in the figure below.

The efficiency paradox exists at an individual level, as illustrated in the example of our
sorting receipts. The paradox also exists on an organizational level, as your answer on
the question of how much time you spend on superfluous work probably showed. But
what if the efficiency paradox also exists at the societal level?
It may be that a lot of the work that keeps our organizations busy is pure waste.
People may think they are efficient because they are busy, when they are actually
wasting a lot of resources. What does this mean for how we manage resources on a
societal level?

Resolving the efficiency paradox

The efficiency paradox means we are wasting resources at the individual,
organizational, and perhaps even societal levels. This begs the question of how we can
resolve the paradox.
At the core of resolving the paradox is a focus on f low efficiency. By focusing on flow
efficiency, an organization can eliminate many of the secondary needs that arise as a
consequence of low flow efficiency. More specifically, any decision that decreases
throughput time, the amount of flow units in process, and/or the amount of restarts
will eliminate superfluous work. Paradoxically, not focusing on utilizing resources
makes it possible to free up resources.
The idea is that, by focusing on flow efficiency, flow units should flow quickly through
the organization. In a flow-efficient organization, there is no need for numerous
restarts since there are few flow units in process. In an extreme case, each flow unit
will be dealt with as efficiently as possible; nothing will be “standing still.” Depending
on how the process has been designed, flow units may have to be handed over between
stages in the process, but these handovers will be smooth and fast. There is a
continuous flow, and everyone sees and takes responsibility for the whole process.
The flow-efficient organization is analogous to a relay race. In a good 4 x 100 meters
relay team, the handovers are smooth and all four runners can see what is happening
all the time. By the time the first runner has nearly completed the first hundred meters,
the second runner has already started running in order to simplify the handover and
speed up the race. When the baton is handed over, no time is lost as both runners are at
top speed. A case in point was Yohan Blake handing over the baton to Usain Bolt in the
final of the 4 x 100 meters at the 2012 London Olympics. The Jamaican team ran the
400 meters in 36.84 seconds, a world record for baton flow efficiency!
In a resource-efficient organization, however, the first “runner” is carrying many
batons at once. In fact, the more batons the better. But after he has run the first
hundred meters, there is no one to meet him. A phone call reveals that the second
runner is in Thailand for a meeting. It takes several more calls to find someone who is
free to run the second leg. By the time the batons are handed over, nine days later, two
have been lost and one has been forgotten. This is not a gold medal-winning formula,
but it is, unfortunately, how many organizations behave.
An interesting question then would be, “How many resources we could avoid wasting
if we started to see the ‘big picture’ and focus on flow efficiency on a societal level?” The
world’s resources, such as food, energy, and water, are in greater demand than at any
other time in human history. How much better could our society become at managing
our natural resources if we eliminated sub-optimization and “island thinking”?
One strategy for resolving the efficiency paradox is a concept called “lean,” which
involves focusing on flow and creating organizations that are more like an efficient
relay race. It is about seeing the whole in order to avoid island thinking and focusing on
real customer needs. Lean has been extremely successful in eliminating waste and
superfluous work in many industries, yet the concept is poorly defined and poorly
understood. The second part of this book looks more closely at lean. First, however, we
need to understand where the term “lean” comes from.
CHAPTER 5

Once upon a time ...

How Toyota became number one through
customer focus
As we have already seen, focusing too much on resource efficiency has
several negative effects. Focusing on flow efficiency is a way of overcoming
these negative effects. A company that systematically chose to focus on flow
efficiency was Toyota Motor Corporation. This choice laid the foundation for
what we now call lean. This chapter will take you through the history of the
company and illustrate why Toyota came to focus on flow efficiency and what
effect this move had on the evolution of Toyota’s production system.

The history of Toyota Motor Corporation

Kiichiro Toyoda founded Toyota Motor Corporation in 1937 with the idea of producing
cars for the local Japanese market. After the Second World War, Japan needed to
rebuild its industries. Some representatives of Toyota Motor Corporation traveled
abroad, for instance, to the United States, seeking ideas for how to set up successful car
production. Two things in particular puzzled the Toyota representatives. The first was
that there was so much stock, and the second was that so many products needed to be
repaired at the end of the production line. These two factors stood in stark contrast to
the Toyota representatives’ own views.
Kiichiro’s father, Sakichi Toyoda, had developed some basic principles that would later
prove very important for Toyota’s car production. In 1896, Sakichi had launched an
automated loom that would revolutionize the textile industry. The loom had a function
that was unique at the time: textile production stopped automatically when a thread
broke. This made it immediately possible to identify, analyze, and eliminate the
problem that had arisen. The concept was later termed jidoka, which means,
‘automation with a human touch.’ Machines developed “human intelligence” in the
sense that they could identify a problem automatically. Jidoka became the core of
Sakichi’s philosophy and later became one of the two pillars upon which Toyota built
its production system.
 When Kiichiro established Toyota Motor Corporation, he took his father’s philosophy
from the textile industry as a starting point, by “finding the thread” throughout the
entire production process. This led to the development of just-in-time, the second pillar
upon which Toyota’s production system was based. Just-in-time is about creating flow
in production by eliminating all inventory and only producing what the customer
wants. Every single product should “flow” through the production system.

Toyota faces an economy in crisis

To understand why Toyota focused on flow efficiency, it is important to understand the
problems that faced Japan immediately after the Second World War. The country’s
scarce resources at the time had a huge influence on how the company developed.
Toyota faced what Professor Takahiro Fujimoto at the University of Tokyo calls
“economies of scarcity.” The following resources were particularly scarce:

Land. Japan is a small nation in which land is a scarce resource.

Technology and machines. Japan’s industrial development lagged behind that of the
Western world, particularly the United States.
Raw materials. There was a shortage of iron and steel due to high transport costs.
Financial resources. Japan was a country in crisis and remained so for many years
after the war. No financial institutions could finance the expansion of the motor
industry.

Faced with this lack of resources, Toyota had to develop a new way of thinking about
efficiency. The answer was to focus on flow efficiency. The development of Toyota’s
production system came to be characterized by several important factors.

Focus on doing the right things

The first effect of the resource scarcity was that it increased the importance of “doing
the right things,” which meant providing the product that the customer wanted.
Because Toyota lacked capital, there was an intent focus on investing in the right
technology and the right materials. The company could not risk making a bad
investment and had to ensure that its product offering was what customers actually
wanted. Accordingly, Toyota used build-to-order production: nothing was produced
that had not been ordered.
 To produce only what had been ordered, Toyota learned the importance of really
knowing customers’ needs. Customer needs were broken down into three questions:

What (which product) does the customer want?

When does the customer want the product?
What amount does the customer want?

The first question dealt with what potential car-buyers needed and desired. Establishing
close customer contact enabled Toyota to understand fully what customers needed,
which meant the company could develop products with the desired design and
function. Once the product had been developed, Toyota chose to invest in relatively
simple machines with a low level of functionality. The machines focused on producing
exactly what Japanese customers wanted.
To avoid the risk of producing cars that were not sold, it also became important to
know when and how many cars to produce. Toyota developed a so-called “pull system,”
which meant that a car was not produced until there was an actual customer order.
When a customer ordered a car, the relevant order information was sent upstream in
the production flow, through the entire production system. The information answered
the questions of what, when, and how many the customer wanted.
The key to the pull system was that Toyota saw the whole production process as one
flow made up of different production steps. Every step had two roles: internal supplier
and internal customer (see the figure below).
The figure shows a simplified version of the production process comprising four steps,
where the fourth step is closest to the customer. In step four, the customer order is
taken, and the need is identified: what, when, and how many. The customer’s need is
then broken down by asking the following questions:

What (components/materials) do I (step four) need to satisfy the needs of the

external customer?
When do I (step four) need these (components/materials) to be able to produce and
deliver the finished product to the external customer at the promised time?
How many (components/materials) do I (step four) need to be able to produce the
product?

According to the breakdown in the figure, step four becomes the internal customer of
step three. Step three, in turn, becomes the internal customer of step two, which
becomes the internal customer of step one. In this way, the needs of the external
customer are broken down and the information concerning the order is spread
upstream through the entire production process. Step one will then place an order for
the requisite materials with an external supplier. Production can then begin, which is
done by each step’s delivering its part to the next step in the production process.
In this example, it is not just the external customer’s needs that are clearly defined
and communicated. All parts of the production process must define and communicate
what, when, and how many units they need. In this way, value is constantly added to
the product as it flows downstream through the production process. Material is pulled
through the production process, from purchasing to delivery of the finished product.
This means that no inventory of the product is created. Everyone knows what to do,
everyone knows when it has to be done, and everyone knows the correct number of
units required.

Focus on doing things right

The second effect of having scarce resources was to “do things right” by efficiently
processing the produced goods to avoid having too much capital tied up in work-in-
progress or finished goods inventory. Toyota strived for a quick transformation of the
product, from the purchased raw materials to the delivered and paid-for final product.
In order to achieve the pull system, Toyota mapped out the entire production process.
The needs of external customers were the trigger in a long chain of value-adding
activities. With this customer-orientated view, Toyota’s goal was to maximize flow
through the process: a fast information flow in one direction and a fast product flow in
the other. Toyota wanted to avoid having work-in-progress between the steps in the
production process and strived to eliminate anything that could inhibit the flow
through the process. All forms of inefficiency or waste that did not add value to the
product were eliminated to improve flow.
Toyota identified seven forms of waste that inhibited the production flow and did not
add any value, either to the product or the customer:

Waste of overproduction. Each step in the production process should always produce
only what the customer needs.
Waste of time on hand (waiting). Production should be organized to avoid all
unnecessary waiting, both for machines and workers.
Waste in transportation. Avoid transporting material and products, by changing the
layout of the factory.
Waste of processing itself. Avoid doing more work on a part or a product than the
customer requires; this includes using tools that are more precise, complex, or
expensive than necessary.
Waste of inventory. Inventory represents capital that is tied up in the process and
 hides problems; it should be avoided by means such as reducing machines’ set-up
times (the time it takes to change a machine from doing one thing to doing
another).
Waste of movement. Organize the workplace so that workers do not need to move in
order to do things such as gathering material or fetching tools.
Waste of making defective products. Every step in the production process is responsible
for producing only fault-free parts.

Toyota’s focus on doing things right meant that the company avoided the risk of
delivering an incorrect or faulty product to the customer. Quality assurance and
control became very important. Every Toyota employee was made responsible for
quality to ensure that products were right from the start. Jidoka was adapted to car
production by running a cord along the ceiling over the production line, which anyone
could pull to stop production when a problem occurred. Problems were seen as
opportunities for development and improvement. Problems were something positive
that should immediately be identified, analyzed, and eliminated, never to reoccur. A
mistake should never reach the customer.

The economies of scarcity created a strong focus on seeing the whole

The most important point in the Toyota story is that the lack of resources forced the
company to develop a production system that focused on flow efficiency. The resource
scarcity forced Toyota to focus on customers’ needs. Toyota saw all steps in the
production process as internal customers and suppliers, which created an
understanding of the big picture. All parts of the production process were links in the
same chain.
The company communicated customer orders upstream in the flow through the
entire process so that the requested product could be pulled downstream. The goal was
to maximize flow efficiency so that value was added to the product one hundred
percent of the throughput time, from order to delivery and payment. The production
process was flow-efficient. It was Toyota’s production process that Western observers
termed “lean.”
CHAPTER 6

Welcome to the Wild West...

We call it lean
Toyota’s internal production philosophy, the Toyota Production System (TPS),
has been developed over nearly a century. Today, TPS is a well-known
concept in the West and a role model for manufacturing and service
organizations alike. TPS is even more fully established in Japan. Development
in Japan has gone so far that virtually every bookshop in the country sells
books such as TPS for Dummies and Let’s Study TPS in English. Towards the
end of the 1980s, there was a surge of interest in Toyota among Western
researchers. They assigned the label “lean” to their observations, thereby
launching a new concept. Although the term “lean” was created with Toyota
as a starting point, lean and TPS are two different concepts. Although they
have been developed and described in parallel, they are two different
concepts.

Ohno defines the Toyota Production System

Taiichi Ohno started his career within the Toyoda family’s group of companies in 1932
and is often referred to as “the Father of TPS.” Through common sense and total
dedication to the company over nearly sixty years, Ohno continuously developed
Toyota’s production philosophy. Together with Eiji Toyoda, cousin of Kiichiro Toyoda,
the founder of Toyota, Ohno gave the philosophy the name “Toyota Production
System.” In 1978, Ohno published a book entitled Toyota Production System: Beyond Large-
Scale Production. Ohno rejected economies of scale and large-scale production and
maintained that productivity was created through flow:
"All we are doing is looking at the time-line from the moment the customer gives us
an order to the point when we collect the cash. And we are reducing the time-line by
reducing the non-value adding wastes."
Initially, Ohno’s book was published only in Japanese. It remains the most read book
among Toyota’s Japanese employees and is referred to as the company’s bible.
Although the book is aimed at manufacturing, Toyota’s managers claim that everything
that any leader needs to know about TPS can be read “between the lines” of the book.
Ohno’s book was first published in English in 1988. Prior to its publication, many
Western authors had tried to explain TPS, but none had managed to do so in an easily
accessible way.

Lean sees the light of day

The term “lean production” first appeared in 1988, when it was used by John Krafcik in
his article “Triumph of the Lean Production System,” published in Sloan Management
Review. The article compared productivity levels between different car manufacturers
and identified two types of production systems: a robust system and a fragile system.
Krafcik destroyed the myth that productivity was created through economies of scale
and advanced technology (robust production systems) and proved instead that those
factories (such as Toyota) that had low inventory, low buffers, and simple technology
(fragile production systems) were able to deliver high productivity and high quality.
Krafcik thought that the term “fragile” had negative connotations; instead, he used the
term “lean” to represent the efficient production system.

The book that changed the world

The ideas that Krafcik’s article expressed were developed as part of the International
Motor Vehicle Program, in which Krafcik participated. The research program was
housed at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and included leading researchers from all
over the world. In 1990, based on this research, the international best-selling book The
Machine that Changed the World was published. The authors, James P. Womack, Daniel T.
Jones, and Daniel Roos, provided a comprehensive view of what lean production was
about. The book was the result of many years of research and showed how Toyota
successfully managed to achieve productivity and quality levels that none of its
competitors could. The book argued that lean is made up of four core principles:

1. Teamwork
2. Communication
3. Efficient use of resources and elimination of waste
4. Continuous improvement

Womack and Jones have since continued to develop the lean concept and have
published many articles and books. In 1996, their book Lean Thinking focused on what a
company should do in order to “be lean.” The book outlined five new principles with a
clear focus on implementation:

1. Specify value from the standpoint of the end customer.

2. Identify the value stream and eliminate all steps that do not add value.
3. Make the remaining value-creating steps flow, so that the product flows smoothly towards the customer.
4. When the flow is established, let the customer pull value upstream from the next upstream activity.
5. When steps 1 through 4 are complete, the process starts all over again and continues until a state of
perfection is reached in which perfect value is created with no waste.

By applying these principles, a company could start to “leanify” its operations and
improve the flow in its processes. The Machine that Changed the World and Lean Thinking
have both been worldwide best-sellers and have made the greatest contributions to
developing and spreading the lean concept.

Fujimoto places focus on Toyota’s capabilities

Relatively few books about Toyota were published during the 1990s. A notable
exception is Takahiro Fujimoto, who in 1999 released The Evolution of a Manufacturing
System at Toyota, a book that attracted a lot of attention in Japan. Fujimoto gave a
historical account of the evolution of Toyota’s production system and managed to
capture many abstract phenomena. Fujimoto argues that Toyota has developed three
different levels of capabilities:

Level one – routinized manufacturing capability

Level two – routinized learning capability (Kaizen capability)
Level three – evolutionary capability (capability-building capability)

In particular, Fujimoto argues that the key to Toyota’s success is the capability of
always ensuring development, regardless of what setbacks or obstacles the company
encounters.

Decoding Toyota’s DNA

At the same time as Fujimoto launched his book, researchers Steven Spear and H. Kent
Bowen published an article in the Harvard Business Review entitled “Decoding the DNA of
the Toyota Production System.” This article again brought TPS to the attention of the
Western world. The article was based on a longer study of Toyota’s production system
in which the authors tried to decode the tacit knowledge absorbed within TPS. The
results were presented as four rules for designing, operating, and improving processes
and the activities in the processes:

1. All work shall be highly specified in terms of content, sequence, timing, and outcome.
2. Every customer-supplier connection must be direct, and there must be an unambiguous yes or no way to
send requests and receive responses.
3. The pathway for every product and service must be simple and direct.
4. Any improvement must be made in accordance with the scientific method, under the guidance of a teacher,
at the lowest possible level in the organization.

This article has become one of the most frequently quoted articles on the topic. It is one
of the few sources that manage to illustrate in a clear and simple way just how Toyota
thinks about its organizational improvements.

The Toyota Way is encoded internally by Toyota

In 2001, Toyota released an internal publication called The Toyota Way. This document,
which outlined Toyota’s core values, was translated into various languages and
distributed throughout the Toyota Corporation to promote a consensus view within the
multinational company. The Toyota Way comprises five basic values that are categorized
within two key areas: continuous improvement and respect for people.
Continuous Improvement:

Challenge – We form a long-term vision and meet challenges with courage and creativity to realize our
dreams.
Kaizen – We continuously improve our business operations, always striving for innovation and evolution.
Genchi Genbutsu – We practice genchi genbutsu; we go to the source to find the facts to make correct
decisions, build consensus, and achieve goals at our best speed.

Respect for people:

Respect – We respect others, make every effort to understand each other, take responsibility, and do our
best to build mutual trust.
Teamwork – We stimulate personal and professional growth, share the opportunities of development, and
maximize individual and team performance.

The Toyota Way is only sixteen pages long, and each value is illustrated with a testimonial
from a Toyota employee. The publication has never been made officially available
outside of Toyota and is still only used internally as a manual for Toyota’s production
philosophy. The Toyota Way represents the company’s core values.

Liker launches The Toyota Way

In the early 2000s, books on Toyota and TPS were not high on the best-seller lists in
Western countries. This changed when Toyota became the world’s largest car
manufacturer. Around this time, in 2004, Jeffrey K. Liker published a book that he also
entitled The Toyota Way. This book has become very popular, not only in the
manufacturing industry, but also in the service industry. The book outlines Liker’s own
interpretation of Toyota’s philosophy based on his many years of experience studying
Toyota in the United States. He packages his version of The Toyota Way in the form of
fourteen principles:
I. Long-term philosophy

Base your management decisions on a long-term philosophy, even at the expense of short-term financial
goals.

II. The right process will produce the right results

Create a continuous process flow to bring problems to the surface.

Use “pull” systems to avoid overproduction.
Level out the workload.
Stop the process if necessary to fix problems in order to get the quality right the first time.
Standardize tasks and processes for continuous improvement and for employee empowerment.
Use visual control so that no problems are hidden.
Use only reliable, thoroughly tested technology that serves your people and processes.

III. Develop your people and your partners

Grow leaders who thoroughly understand the work, live the philosophy, and teach it to others.
Develop exceptional people and teams that follow the company’s philosophy.
Respect your partners and suppliers by challenging them and helping them improve.

IV. Continuously solve root problems to drive organizational learning

Go and see with your own eyes in order to understand the situation thoroughly.
Make decisions slowly by consensus, and implement decisions rapidly.
 Become a learning organization through relentless reflection and continuous improvement.

Lean explosion!
Lean has continued to develop in parallel with the release of the books on TPS. Both
academics and practitioners have developed lean into a concept in its own right that is
separate from the writings on Toyota, even if it is still largely associated with the
Japanese car giant.
Although lean originally developed within the manufacturing industry, the concept
has been adapted to other functions, environments, and industries, including such
functions as purchasing, product development, logistics, service, sales, and accounting.
The concept has also been adapted to other industries, such as banking and insurance,
retail, consulting, media and entertainment, healthcare, medicine, telecom, and IT.
The interest in Toyota and lean has led to hundreds of books and articles. A quick
search on Amazon for business books released in 2012 with the word “lean” in the title
revealed over two hundred different titles. A summary of the usages of the term “lean”
in the subject matter of the books is found below:
A lean explosion just hit the world! Suddenly, it seems as though everything has
become lean. Suddenly, this is lean, that is lean, and this is lean too! With so many
books available, it is difficult to distinguish between what lean is and what lean is not.
Some books deal with lean as an abstract concept, like an approach, a philosophy, a
culture, or as principles. Other books treat lean as something more concrete: a way of
working, a method, tools, and techniques. There is no single generally accepted
definition of lean. This fragmentation presents a problem for practitioners and
academics alike because this constantly developing concept refers to different things.
CHAPTER 7

What lean is not

There are as many definitions of lean as there are authors to define it. Many
of these definitions have developed lives of their own outside of Toyota. Even
the writings about Toyota are many and varied. While there is a lot to learn
from all this literature, it is remarkable that there are so many inconsistent
definitions of lean. This chapter discusses three problems with the various
definitions of lean. Firstly, the definitions are made at different levels of
abstraction. Secondly, lean has become a means instead of an end. Thirdly,
lean seems to have become all that is good, and all that is good is lean.

Problem 1:
Lean is defined at different levels of abstraction
Do you want a piece of fruit, a pear, or a green apple? It is difficult to answer this
question accurately because the three alternative answers are not on the same level of
abstraction. Fruit is at the highest level of abstraction because it encompasses all three
possible answers. Because the pear is a fruit and can be defined by the type of fruit
(pear), it is on the second level of abstraction. The green apple is a level lower again,
because it is defined not only by the type of fruit (apple), but also its color (green). The
higher the level of abstraction, the more general the definition. The lower the
abstraction level, the more specific the definition. “I want a piece of fruit” is a more
general statement than “I want a green apple.” The figure below illustrates the problem
of different levels of abstraction.
Lean is everything from fruit to green apples
The literature on lean freely mixes the levels of abstraction and treats lean as
everything from fruit to green apples. Such confusion also occurs in practice, as
illustrated in a questionnaire survey we conducted. The survey was answered by sixty-
three people, all with extensive experience working with lean in fourteen different
industries. The first question was “What is lean?” The answers could be divided into
seventeen different categories, or definitions, of lean:

The fact that there are so many definitions is a clear sign that, in practice, lean is
defined at different levels of abstraction. In order to sort these definitions into different
levels of abstraction, it is necessary to differentiate between:

Fruit level (lean as a philosophy, culture, values, way of living, way of thinking,
etc.)
Pear level (lean as a way to improve, quality system, production system, etc.)
Green apple level (lean as a method, tool, elimination of waste, etc.)

Lean as green apples

Most of the writers who have defined lean have done so at the level of green apples,
that is, at a low level of abstraction. Of course, the underlying principles have been
presented and described many times, but the overwhelming focus of most authors is
on the methods and tools Toyota developed. Because what we observe is concrete and
easy to understand, it is natural to describe the methods and tools. We can observe
what Toyota does and describe its methods. We can observe what Toyota has and
describe the tools its employees use.
Some have gone so far as to choose just one of the methods Toyota developed and
equate that to lean:

“Implement this method and your company will be lean!”

Others have focused on identifying and describing all the tools that Toyota has
developed. They present an entire lean “toolbox”:

“Use this package of tools and your company will be lean!”

The problem with defining lean simply as methods and tools is that lean tends to
become specific to a certain type of context or environment. Toyota developed its
methods and tools within the large-scale manufacturing of cars. This resulted in the
designing of tools and methods for that specific context and environment and not
necessarily for other contexts. This, in turn, runs the risk of limiting the applicability of
the methods and tools.
If lean is defined at a low level of abstraction, an organization risks misunderstanding
what lean is about. This limits the concept’s application areas.

Service industries grow pears as if they were apples

Defining lean at the level of green apples, or as the methods and tools that Toyota has
developed, limits the applicability of lean when it is taken into other industries or
sectors of society. In the last ten years or so, service organizations have become
interested in using lean to improve efficiency. As a result, the concept is starting to be
relatively widespread in both the private and public sectors.
Many organizations start their lean journey using the methods and tools that Toyota
developed. However, this means that they risk losing the deeper thinking around lean
and tend to ignore the why behind the use of the tools. Fully understanding the depth of
lean takes a long time and is more abstract than just methods and tools. It is much
easier to start with something concrete.
Many organizations are very good at adapting and modifying the tools and methods to
their specific service environments, in which there are high demands on flexibility and
variation. Other organizations have abandoned lean because they found it difficult to
make these adaptations. When faced with these difficulties, the organization generally
reacts skeptically to lean. For example:
“We work with people at a hospital, not with cars. We don’t mass-produce patients.”
“Our services are too customer-orientated and specific to certain situations for us to
standardize our way of working.”
Reactions like these lead to organizations’ concluding that lean is not for them. They do
not see how the methods and tools can be useful in their environment.
If lean has been presented to an organization as “green apples,” that is, something that
is specific to a manufacturing process, then such reactions are unsurprising. The more
context-specifically a concept is defined, the narrower its area of use. Knowledge about
how to grow a delicious and beautiful green apple is not necessarily of value for
growing a delicious and beautiful pear. Knowledge about how products are produced
efficiently is not necessarily valuable for the efficient delivery of services.
In summary, there are a few important consequences of defining lean at different
levels of abstraction. The higher the level of abstraction at which lean is defined, the
more general the definition. The lower the level of abstraction at which lean is defined,
the more specific the definition. Furthermore, it means that the higher the level of
abstraction, the wider the area of use, and the lower the level of abstraction, the
narrower the area of use. By defining lean at a low level of abstraction, it is not
necessary that the methods and tools will be suitable outside the particular
environment in which they were developed. Defining lean at the wrong level of
abstraction creates a high risk that it will be abandoned.
Problem 2:
Lean as a means instead of an end
When the Swedish athlete Carolina Klüft retired in 2008, she reigned supreme as the
queen of the heptathlon; she had never been beaten as a senior heptathlete. Between
July 2001 and September 2007, she won three World Championship titles, one Olympic
gold medal, and two European Championships.
Klüft has often said that the reason behind her success is that she thinks competing is
“fun.” She has always emphasized her continual enjoyment in competing. Klüft
emphasizes the state that she wants to reach – a goal – instead of focusing on the means
she uses to achieve that goal.
In sport, it is common to direct focus on the means:

“Use this golf club and you will hit the ball as far as X …”
“Eat Y and you will be able to run faster …”
“Rest as much as Z and you will avoid injury …”
The means describes how, and the goal describes why. The problem with focusing on the
means instead of the goal is that the connection between the means and the goal is not
the same for everyone; the same means do not necessarily always lead to the same
goal. Just because someone has the same equipment as Carolina Klüft and trains the
same way, this does not automatically mean they will necessarily have fun. The focus
on the goal creates flexibility, whereas a focus on the means may create limitations.
The same problem has arisen in the conceptual development of lean. The means and
goal have become confused with one another. There has been a strong focus on how
Toyota works by emphasizing and defining its values, principles, methods, and tools.
They are different means for creating some sort of change, or means to achieve a goal.
Unfortunately, a problem arises when the focus falls on “which means” Toyota uses,
rather than asking and understanding “why” these means were used, that is to say, the
goal behind Toyota’s philosophy.
If lean is defined as methods, the use of these methods tends to become a goal in itself.
For example, a method that is often used at Toyota is standardization. Problems arise
when that method becomes the goal and not a means of achieving a goal. One goal of
standardization is that it provides a foundation for continuous improvement. In order
to improve, the company must create a common ground from which it can improve;
otherwise, there is nothing to improve.
 Confusing means and goals often causes an organization to overlook why it is going
through a change process. Instead, the organization places too much importance on
the specific means being used. When asked whether the organization works with lean,
the proud answer is:

“Yes, of course! All our departments have now put up a visualization board, and we
gather around it every morning for a meeting.”
The means have become the goal. The organization sees itself as “lean” just because it
successfully implemented a specific tool or specific method. The goal behind the
implementation of the tool or method is lost. Why, then, is a visualization board
necessary?
Unfortunately, the strong association between these methods and Toyota has led to
the goal of thinking and acting more like Toyota. It is important to remember that what
Toyota does is linked to its environment. Again, knowing how to grow a delicious and
beautiful green apple is not necessarily useful when you want to grow a delicious and
beautiful pear.

Problem 3:
Lean is everything that is good and everything good is lean
If the means and the goal are confused with one another, what goal do organizations
then have in their work with lean? The questionnaire survey mentioned earlier in this
chapter asked: “Why did your organization implement lean?” The sixty-three
respondents provided as many as forty-five different reasons:
Which organization would not want to achieve all of those goals? The answers indicate
every conceivable positive result, regardless of the type of organization. This response
is not uncommon. Researchers and practitioners alike often see lean as the solution to
all problems. But if lean is the answer to all problems, then what is lean not? If lean is
everything that is good, and everything good is lean, what is the alternative? If lean
solves all our problems, do we need anything else?
In order to add to knowledge, researchers develop theory. Theory is an attempt to
explain and predict the world around us. To be useful, however, theories must be
constructed in such a way that they can be proven wrong. If there are no alternatives,
the theory will become trivial. The way lean is defined by both academics and
practitioners prevents it from being falsified. For example, who wouldn’t subscribe to
the list of benefits stated above?
The problem with current definitions of lean, as with many of the conclusions we draw
regarding how successful organizations run their businesses, is that they are trivial.
This implies that the knowledge does not add any value because it is obvious. For
example, imagine if a detective was asked whether she knew anything about a
murderer and answered:
“We have worked out that the murderer is a person. This person has a head and a
heart, and needs to eat and drink regularly to survive.”
These conclusions are trivial because they are obvious. They do not add any value to
the investigation, and they cannot rule out any suspects. The conclusions are not
falsifiable. The chances of apprehending the suspect are not increased. If the answer
changed, the value could also change:

“The murderer is a man. He has shoulder-length hair with a center parting and has a
gold earring in his left ear. He has a husky voice and is a regular at Café Wha? in
Greenwich Village, New York.”
These conclusions are not trivial and contribute value to the investigation. We know
that the suspect is not a woman and does not have short hair. And so on. A conclusion
is valuable if it has a logical opposite alternative. At every crossroads, there must be at
least two ways you can go. A conclusion is valuable if it increases the chances of
choosing the correct way. Man or woman? Man. Long or short hair? Long. If there is no
crossroads, the conclusions are trivial and do not add value.
Consider also these statements, taken from the annual reports of three multinational
companies.

Our new operations strategy is to implement continuous improvement.

Respect for the individual is our core value.
We are going to increase customer orientation.
From which crossroads did these strategic initiatives start? Which road did they not
choose?
To avoid being trivial, it is important to understand clearly what lean is for and what it
is not for. For which goals should we aim with the help of lean and for which should we
not aim? Lean is not everything that is good, and everything good is not lean. Lean is a
choice at a crossroads.
CHAPTER 8

The efficiency matrix

While the myriad books written on lean and TPS have a lot to offer, the
plethora of definitions and usages of lean provides a rather confused picture
of what lean actually is. In an attempt to clarify the situation, this chapter lays
the foundation for a definition of lean by introducing a new framework that
we call the efficiency matrix. This chapter explains the matrix, as well as what
determines the various positions organizations can choose in this matrix and
what characterizes organizations’ movements in the matrix.

The efficiency matrix

Many definitions of lean are made at a low level of abstraction; using the fruit
metaphor from chapter 7, they are at the level of green apples. The fact that
organizations in many different industries are now starting to work with lean makes it
necessary to have a definition of lean that is on a sufficiently high level of abstraction to
ensure its applicability outside of large-volume manufacturing. In other words, we
need a definition at the fruit level. The first step in building such a definition is to
introduce a new framework: the efficiency matrix.
The efficiency matrix builds on the two forms of efficiency that were presented in the
first part of this book and illustrates how an organization can be classified based on (a)
low respective high resource efficiency and (b) low respective high flow efficiency. The
matrix below depicts four different operational states in which an organization can find
itself.
Efficient islands
In the top left-hand corner of the matrix is a state we call efficient islands. In this state,
resource efficiency is high and flow efficiency is low. The organization consists of sub-
optimized parts that operate in isolation, where each part works towards maximizing
its resource utilization. Through the efficient use of its own resources, each part
contributes by lowering the costs for the goods or services being produced. However,
efficient utilization of resources comes at the expense of efficient flow. Flow efficiency
for every individual flow unit is low. In manufacturing, this is represented by each
component/product’s spending most of its time as inventory. In services, this is often
represented in the form of unwanted waiting time during which the customer does not
receive any value.

The efficient ocean

In the lower right-hand corner of the matrix is a state we call the efficient ocean, where
flow efficiency is high but resource efficiency is low. The focus is on the customer and
meeting their needs as efficiently as possible. In order to maximize flow efficiency,
there needs to be free capacity in the organization’s resources. Flow is efficient at the
expense of an efficient use of resources. Resources are only used when there is an
actual need to satisfy. Creating an efficient ocean and creating flow require a good
understanding of the big picture, not just independent and efficient islands.

Wasteland
In the lower left-hand corner of the matrix, the organization is unable to use its
resources efficiently or create an efficient flow. Obviously, this is not a desirable state to
be in because it wastes resources and creates less value for the customer. In this state,
there are neither efficient islands nor an efficient ocean. It is wasteland, that is, poor
utilization of resources and poor flow.

The perfect state

In the top right-hand corner is the perfect state. Organizations that achieve this state
have both high resource efficiency and high flow efficiency. It should be clear by now
that it is difficult to reach the perfect state. The reasons it is so difficult were explained
in the discussion in chapter 3 concerning the laws that explain how processes work.
Chapter 4 also discussed the difficulty by explaining the efficiency paradox. The key to
the difficulty of reaching the perfect state is variation.

Variation limits possible positions in the matrix

Organizations can thus find themselves in different positions within the efficiency
matrix. In order to understand what positions an organization can achieve in the
efficiency matrix, it is critical to understand variation and its impact on the
organization. Variation affects the possibility of combining high resource efficiency and
high flow efficiency. We can understand the effect of variation through looking at the
extreme, an organization that utilizes its resources one hundred percent and, at the
same time, meets customers’ needs in an optimal way. Such an organization would be
positioned at the “star,” as can be seen in the figure on the next page.
Unfortunately, the star is a theoretically perfect state, which is worth striving for but
impossible to achieve. In order to reach the star, an organization would need two
things. Firstly, it would require perfect access to all information regarding the
customers’ present and future needs. Secondly, it would require perfectly flexible and
reliable resources, where resources’ capacity, functionality, and competence could be
immediately adjusted so that all types of needs could be met. Therefore, the key here is
variation, both in demand (customer needs) and in supply (the organization’s
resources).

Variation in demand prevents organizations from reaching the star

The first prerequisite for being able to reach the star is perfect predictability of demand.
The organization must be able to predict perfectly:

What is demanded
When it is demanded
 Which amount is demanded

Unfortunately, a demand pattern is extremely difficult to predict. An organization can

invest time, resources, and energy in order to predict what its customers want, when
they want it, and in which amount, but it will be impossible to make perfect predictions.
It is in the nature of customer demand to be variable. Can you perfectly predict what
you need, when you are going to need it, and how much? Sometimes, perhaps, but the
further into the future we look, the more difficult it is.

Variation in supply prevents organizations from reaching the star

Even if it were possible to predict demand perfectly, reaching the star would require
perfectly flexible and reliable supply. These two prerequisites concern the
organization’s resources. First of all, resources must be perfectly flexible. It must be
possible to adjust the capacity, functionality, and competence of resources immediately
so that all types of customer needs can be met. The organization needs perfectly
flexible resources in terms of:

What is supplied
When it is supplied
Which amount is supplied

However, it is not enough to have perfectly flexible resources. Supply must also be
perfectly reliable. The organization must always be able to predict what is going to
happen when a product is produced or a service is delivered. Machines can never break
down. Employees can never make mistakes, have a bad day and deliver bad service, or
be sick. Suppliers must always deliver one hundred percent quality. The IT system
must never fail, and a computer must never freeze at an awkward moment. All forms
of unreliability must be removed.
With perfectly flexible and reliable supply, the organization can reach one hundred
percent resource efficiency. Regardless of what product or service was demanded at any
time and in whatever amount, the perfect flexibility and reliability of the organization’s
resources would allow it to adapt to any situation. Of course, it is impossible to have
perfectly flexible and reliable supply, especially when the resources are human beings.

Level of variation establishes the efficiency frontier

Therefore, it is the level of variation in demand and supply that determines which
operational states an organization can achieve. Variation limits the possibilities of
reaching for the star. Variation creates “an efficiency frontier.” The notion of an
efficiency frontier is illustrated in the figure below.

The figure on the previous page shows that the existence of variation limits the possible
operational states an organization can achieve. If demand is not perfectly predictable
and/or resources are not perfectly flexible and reliable, there will be a limit to how
much an organization can improve its resource efficiency and combine it with high
flow efficiency. The main point to understand here is that it is impossible to reach an
operational state beyond the efficiency frontier.
Of course, it is possible for an organization to end up in different positions within the
limitation posed by the efficiency frontier. This depends on whether the organization
prioritizes resource efficiency or flow efficiency. This is illustrated in the figure on the
previous page through the two points, A and B.
 The organization positioned at A has prioritized to keep its resources busy at the
expense of an efficient flow.
The organization positioned at B has prioritized an efficient flow at the expense of
having less efficient use of resources.

These are two extreme positions. An organization can be positioned anywhere between
A and B along the efficiency frontier. This will happen if the organization prioritizes a
combination of resource efficiency and flow efficiency.
However, it is even more likely that the organization will be positioned somewhere
else within the shaded area. Being positioned within the efficiency frontier indicates an
improvement opportunity.
Not only variation in itself, but also the level of variation, has an important effect on
the efficiency matrix. The more variation there is (in demand and supply), the harder it
is to combine high resource efficiency with high flow efficiency, or “reach for the star,”
as the figure on the next page shows.
In a sense, the efficiency frontier is pushed “inwards” as the level of variation increases.
Being pushed inwards means that an organization facing high variation will find it
harder to combine high resource efficiency with high flow efficiency than an
organization facing low variation.
It is very important to understand that the efficiency frontier is pushed inwards as
variation increases. Which of the two examples below would you expect to have an
easier time combining high resource efficiency with high flow efficiency?

A. A manufacturing company producing large volumes of similar products.

B. The emergency room of a hospital.

The answer should be fairly evident (the correct answer is A), as these are two extreme
cases. However, the key point here is that some organizations will find it inherently
more difficult than others to combine high resource efficiency with high flow
efficiency. Examples of organizations facing high variation are those in which the main
flow unit is people. Many service organizations will fall into this category. People
introduce an element of variation that is very hard, if not impossible, to avoid. We
cannot standardize or control people in the same way we can material or information.
However, regardless of the type of organization, it is often possible to become better at
eliminating, reducing, and managing variation.
The better an organization is at developing capabilities to handle the two conditions,
predictability of demand and flexibility and reliability of supply, the further out the
organization will move towards the star in the perfect state. The ability to handle
variation is critical. Still, it is very important to note that although the level of variation
decides possible positions in the efficiency matrix, an organization can and should
choose where to position itself. This is the task of strategy.

Strategy decides position in the matrix

Many definitions of lean define it as a means rather than a goal. This disregards the
important question of why certain activities are undertaken. To lay the foundation for a
definition of lean that emphasizes the goal, it is critical to understand the importance of
strategic choice. Organizations have a choice regarding the position in the efficiency
matrix they want to achieve. One position is not necessarily better than another.
In order to understand the importance of strategy, we must first be clear about the
difference between a business strategy and an operations strategy. Simply put, a
business strategy defines what type of customer need the organization wishes to
satisfy. An operations strategy defines how the organization will meet this need.

A business strategy defines what

The business strategy defines the value the company will offer the customer; that is, the
value the customer will experience when a good or service is consumed. At the highest
level of abstraction (the “fruit” level), an organization can focus on either
differentiation or cost. In this context, differentiation includes a range of things, such as
delivering a better experience, better food, faster service, or a wide range of products
from which to choose. In other words, differentiation is anything that a customer
considers valuable. The cost is the sacrifice, in terms of money, time, or energy, that the
customer must make in order to satisfy his or her need.
A fundamental idea in the literature on business strategy is the importance of
choosing between differentiation and cost. There is often a trade-off between these two
strategic objectives and an organization must prioritize one over the other or it will be
stuck in the middle. Therefore, an important decision when devising a business
strategy is the level of differentiation that will be offered to the customer at what cost.
Business strategy choices concern the type of need the organization will satisfy.
Business strategies are about understanding and choosing which objective to prioritize.
Things that must be considered here are what the customers value, what competitors
do, and what the organization is good at doing. “We shall offer the best customer
service in our industry” is a concrete example of an objective in a business strategy.

An operations strategy defines how

An operations strategy helps realize a business strategy and defines how value is to be
produced. All organizations have an operations strategy, whether it is explicit or not.
The operations strategy answers the question “How shall we produce value?” We are
assuming here that we have already defined the type of need the organization is trying
to satisfy and the target market. There should be a clear link between the business
strategy and the operations strategy. Given that we have defined the organization’s
business strategy, we can now develop an operations strategy.
An operations strategy enables an organization to address important questions such as
“How will we produce a product or service given our business strategy?”, “How will the
organization deliver quality?” and “How will the organization deliver low cost?” An
operations strategy can be broken down into operational objectives. Resource
efficiency and flow efficiency are two operational objectives defined at the highest level
of abstraction, the “fruit level.” These objectives can be broken down into several
underlying objectives.

Strategy and operational states

Strategy is an important explanation for an organization’s position in the efficiency
matrix. Before illustrating the effect of strategic choice, we must first return to two of
the operational states: wasteland and the perfect state.
As the name suggests, being in the wasteland is not a desirable state. After all, an
organization in such a state is wasting resources and making customers unhappy.
Having said that, this state is not uncommon. Organizations that end up here usually
lack routines, standards, structure, and coordination and have a very reactive behavior,
always handling unexpected problems.
At the other end of the spectrum is the perfect state, in which any organization would
like to find itself. As we have just seen, however, the level of variation and the
organization’s ability to deal with it will dictate the organization’s chances of being in
the perfect state.
Thus, strategy will help explain why an organization either has efficient islands or is
an efficient ocean. The examples below illustrate the importance of strategy for
explaining an organization’s choice of operational state.
Ryanair’s business idea is to offer low-cost flights, and its business strategy involves
prioritizing cost above all other strategic goals. The business strategy is broken down
into an operations strategy that prioritizes resource efficiency. Resources are to be used
to maximum capacity. For example, Ryanair uses its airplanes to a greater extent than
other airlines by “keeping them in the air.” Customers take off and land at airports in
remote locations and are forced to spend a lot of time waiting, which means a lot of
non-value-adding time. Instead of prioritizing flow efficiency, Ryanair clearly focuses
on the operational objective of ensuring resource efficiency. The company has been
very successful at this and has created an organization that is always trying to improve
its resource efficiency.
Luxury hotels follow a strategy of increasing flow efficiency and ending up in the
efficient ocean. By constantly focusing on customer needs and trying to maximize
customer value, the flow efficiency of these companies is high. There is always
available capacity in value-adding resources in a luxury hotel.
The same is true for organizations fulfilling a need that is urgent or pressing or has to
be prioritized. An example could be a fire department extinguishing a fire. To mobilize
itself as quickly as possible, the department must have available capacity, including
having resources on standby.

Moving in the matrix

As we saw in chapter 7, a problem with many definitions of lean is that they are trivial;
they provide no logical opposites. In order to lay the foundation for a non-trivial
definition of lean, it is important to understand the importance and meaning of
organizations’ movements in the efficiency matrix.
Many organizations say that they want to implement continuous improvement. Based
on the discussion in chapter 7, this is a trivial statement. The efficiency matrix enables
us to be much more concrete and require those organizations that claim to have a
strategy of continuous improvement to define the direction in which they intend to
improve. Movement in the matrix can occur in two dimensions:
 Resource efficiency can be increased or decreased.
Flow efficiency can be increased or decreased.

To illustrate the nature of movement in these two dimensions, four fictitious stories are
provided below. The movements described in these stories can be found in the figure
on the next page.

A. The start-up company

The start-up company sold women’s clothing over the Internet. The company had
grown quickly but was finding it more and more difficult to provide customer service.
The company had no developed routines and no standard operating procedures. Every
new customer need forced the company to “reinvent the wheel.” There was no
organization to speak of. Consequently, customers started to complain. Deliveries were
delayed, stock outs became increasingly frequent, and quality issues surfaced
regularly. Despite lots of duplicated work, many issues were being overlooked.
 A well-known venture capital company bought a stake in the company, bringing both
capital and knowledge. Structure and order were brought into the company. Routines
were developed, systems were created, and standard operating procedures were
implemented. As a result, customer service improved dramatically, and stress levels
dropped among employees who no longer had to spend most of their time fighting
fires.
Point A in the figure above shows the matrix movement the start-up company made.
The company initially scored low on flow efficiency, as customers were not having
their needs met. The company also scored low on resource efficiency, since a lot of
time was spent on superfluous work. By creating routines and standard operating
procedures, the work that was performed added more value, increasing resource
efficiency. But there was also a positive effect on flow efficiency: customers were
starting to receive timely deliveries with fewer quality problems.

B. The bathroom refurbishing company

The bathroom refurbishing company was quite traditional in its methods. A
refurbishment would begin with builders tearing out the old bathroom. When they
were finished, it took a few days before the electrician, who was busy somewhere else,
could come to prepare for new electric installations. After the electrician had finished,
there was a wait of a few more days for the builders to complete the next step. There
was another wait when it was time for the plumber, and so on. The total time from start
to finish was rarely less than two months, during which time customers had to find
different ways of taking care of their personal hygiene.
All of a sudden, however, the owner had a brainwave: customers might actually be
willing to pay a premium for faster refurbishments. The changes at the company
started by increasing the coordination between the various professionals, such as
builders, electricians, and plumbers. Tasks were also standardized to a larger extent to
make planning easier. Changes were initially difficult, but everyone involved soon
realized that the new organization made their lives easier, as they did not have to rush
between jobs as often as before. As a result of the changes, a bathroom could be
refurbished in a few weeks, and this enabled the company to charge higher prices.
Point B in the figure above illustrates the matrix movement that the bathroom
refurbishing company made. Initially, resource efficiency was high, but f low efficiency
was low. Everyone involved in refurbishing a bathroom worked hard and was busy,
but customer service was poor. Standardizing tasks, having better coordination, and
freeing up capacity caused the company to lower its resource efficiency but enabled it
to increase its flow efficiency. The result was happier customers, faster projects, and the
ability to charge higher prices.

C. The manufacturing company

The manufacturing company was a leader in its industry but was very traditional. The
journey for a product from raw material to finished product would typically start with
processing in one part of one factory. Due to long machine set-up times, more than two
months’ worth of items were produced in one batch, which resulted in high amounts of
work-in-progress. Items were then shipped to the company’s second factory, where
they were processed in two steps before being returned to the first factory, where they
were assembled.
The company responded to market changes by embarking on a large-scale
manufacturing transformation. The factory layouts were changed so that groups of
products were finalized at the same place. The company adopted statistical process
control, and employees were trained in standard operating procedures and quality
work. The hierarchical organization, in which one person did one job, was changed into
a team-based work organization in which each person was trained to perform several
jobs. Teams were also tasked with simpler forms of production planning, purchasing,
and maintenance. The changes had several positive effects. Quality improved,
manufacturing lead times were cut from three months to one week, and total
productivity increased. Most importantly, profitability increased.
Point C in the figure above illustrates the manufacturing company’s matrix
movement. Initially, the company scored quite high on resource efficiency, but
customers had to wait a long time to have products delivered (low flow efficiency). The
change involved trying to eliminate and reduce different forms of variation in order to
improve both resource efficiency and flow efficiency.

D. The luxury hotel

This five-star hotel had always prided itself on its excellent service. The hotel offered all
kinds of luxurious amenities, exquisite food, and service that was second to none. Staff
were always available to fulfill their discerning guests’ every wish. The intention was to
create the perfect experience for the customer. The problem was that the hotel was
losing money due to low average room occupancy and high staff costs.
A new owner brought widespread changes. The hotel was repositioned to target
business customers and was changed to a four-star rating. Room prices were reduced,
as was the number of staff, and many services were removed. The outcome was a rise
in occupancy rates and higher profitability.
The hotel’s matrix movement is illustrated by point D in the figure above. Initially, the
hotel scored very high on flow efficiency but had relatively low resource efficiency. In
order to improve profitability, it was necessary to increase resource utilization. The
decision had a negative effect on customer service (flow efficiency decreased).
However, the overall effect on profitability was positive, as the decrease in customer
service and revenue was more than offset by the increase in resource efficiency and
consequently lower costs.

Lean 2.0
The efficiency matrix serves as a foundation for understanding what lean is at the “fruit
level.” In order to avoid falling into the trap of making lean highly context-dependent,
we want to define lean at a sufficiently high level of abstraction for it to apply to all
kinds of organizations. Doing so is important, given the interest in lean in various
industries, including public sector service organizations.
The matrix highlights the importance of strategic choice. Organizations have a choice
regarding where to position themselves and how to move within the matrix. An
organization can move both up and down in the matrix and to the right and to the left.
Resource efficiency can be increased or decreased, and flow efficiency can be increased
or decreased. There is no “best” solution; it all depends on the organization, its
competitive environment, its customer needs and, particularly, its business strategy –
what value does the organization want to provide?
CHAPTER 9

This is lean!
Having an understanding of the efficiency matrix allows us to develop our
definition of lean at the “fruit level.” We do so by using the matrix to illustrate
how Toyota has implemented TPS within the car dealer operations in Japan.
We then use the matrix as a conceptual lens through which we filter the
example; doing so helps us develop a working definition of lean. In brief, lean
is an operations strategy that prioritizes flow efficiency over resource
efficiency. In other words, lean is a strategy for moving “to the right and up” in
the efficiency matrix.

The super-quick car inspection

Toyota’s dealer network in Japan consists of approximately three hundred different car
dealer companies. Together, these companies control approximately five thousand car
dealerships, which usually have a one-stop-shop approach, offering their customers both
sales and service at the same location.
Since 1996, Toyota has continuously developed a TPS-based service concept called
Toyota Sales Logistics (TSL). Toyota owns only a small proportion of the car dealer
companies. Therefore, the aim of the TSL concept is to assist and support all individual
companies in their improvement activities through the development, spread, and
implementation of TSL. The TSL concept covers all processes within a car dealership,
including sales, distribution, and service. One of the service processes is the car
inspection.
A car inspection is conducted three years after the purchase of a new car and every
second year thereafter. The purpose of the car inspection is to check whether the car
meets the current national security standards. A car inspection in Japan is very
thorough and requires nearly three hours of work. Depending on the outcome of the
inspection, necessary or recommended preventive adjustments are suggested, which
may require parts to be adjusted or exchanged.

The traditional, resource-efficient approach

Traditionally, car inspections would involve a dealer employee’s picking up and
dropping off the car at the customer’s home. However, since the technicians who
carried out the car inspection were often very busy, it could sometimes take several
days before the inspection started. This led to crowded parking lots. Because land is a
scarce resource in Japan, there were many problems associated with over-crowded
parking lots. Cars had to be moved back and forth all the time, and vehicles were
sometimes dirtied, scratched, or even damaged.
A single technician would conduct the actual car inspection; even if the actual
inspection took three hours, it usually took a few days before the inspection was
completed because the technician would often work with different vehicles at the same
time. The actual content of the inspection was standardized by law, but the procedure
had no exact sequence or routine. Every technician had his own unique approach. The
lack of standards meant that the inspection process was difficult to manage and predict,
which led to planning difficulties. Furthermore, the quality of the inspection varied
greatly between different technicians. Still, the technicians were all working hard since
they always had something to do.
The traditional car inspection also involved problems related to a lack of information,
unnecessary work, errors and mistakes, waiting time for facilities or equipment,
movements of technicians within the inspection area, as well as excessive and
unnecessary inventory of parts. Finally, the pick-up and drop-off process required a lot
of time and effort on the part of the staff at the dealership. Consequently, customers
usually had to wait up to a week for their cars.

The aim of the new approach: flow efficiency

The new process aimed to offer a car inspection whereby customers could come to the
car dealer and wait in the showroom while the service was conducted. The result was a
forty-five-minute-long inspection process.
A standardized process was developed in which the sequence and duration for every
activity and task were fixed. All necessary tasks were identified and standardized.
Standard scripts and charts were developed for every task, and everyone was
thoroughly trained in order to master the new team approach. The knowledge and
capabilities of each worker were measured in a competence matrix.
Instead of having one technician conduct the entire inspection, the new approach
involved a team of one inspector and two technicians. Two technicians worked
together on the vehicle, with one responsible for the left-hand side and the other for the
right-hand side, while the inspector controlled the progress of the whole process. A new
layout was developed to eliminate the need for movements within the inspection area.
 New specialized equipment – for example, a tool for changing oil – was developed to
eliminate the most severe bottlenecks within the process. Various visualization boards
and sheets were also used, showing the current status of different activities and their
outcomes.
The standardization and visualization meant that everyone would always know what
to do. They also allowed everyone involved to identify easily when things were not
conducted in a timely or correct manner.
The new car inspection process had several benefits. From an operational perspective,
the throughput time was much faster. The number of parked cars at the shop
decreased, as did the inventory level of parts. Since the length of the car inspection was
fixed at forty-five minutes, capacity planning of the whole workshop became much
easier. The shop was able to achieve a good balance between utilizing capacity and
securing free capacity in order to retain its flexibility. This provided a more stable
workload and less stress for technicians, and it increased the manager’s ability to
control the operations.
From a customer perspective, the new approach offered a faster and much more
dependable process that now took only forty-five minutes, as opposed to
approximately one week. The new inspection process also offered customers the ability
to observe firsthand what was happening to the car while it was being inspected. The
customer could receive accurate and instant information regarding the various
activities and their outcomes. This also allowed sales staff to chat with customers and
further develop their relationship with them. Flexibility also increased due to increased
planning ability; customers were offered flexible pick-up times and flexible scheduling
for the car inspections. Customers could plan for and cancel their car inspection with
shorter notice.

Super-quick car inspection in the efficiency matrix

The following section describes the improvement of the inspection process using the
efficiency matrix. The effects are illustrated in the matrix below.
A – Perceived starting position
The traditional car inspection process was initially not flow-efficient. Even if the
effective total value-added time were no more than three hours, the customers would
commonly have to wait a week for their car. This represents a very low flow efficiency
level.
The staff were busy working with various vehicles and picking up and dropping off
cars at the customers’ homes. The actual workshop was occupied by work-in-progress.
The perception was that the technicians were resource-efficient. After all, the
equipment was being utilized and everyone was working really hard, with lots of
overtime logged. The starting position, as perceived by the dealer, is found at point A in
the figure above: low flow efficiency and high resource efficiency.

B – Actual starting position

The actual starting position is found at point B. Resources were not being used as
efficiently as initially believed; a lot of the work being performed was superfluous. For
example, technicians performed unnecessary work and staff were busy moving the
cars in the parking lot. Extra planning efforts were required because the inspection
times varied so greatly.

C – Increasing flow efficiency

Path C indicates the initial movement the car dealer made in the matrix. The essence of
the movement represents the improvement in flow efficiency. The main driving forces
behind the dramatic increase in flow efficiency were teamwork, specialized equipment,
standardization, and visualization. The speed of the value-adding activities was
increased, and non-value adding activities were eliminated. Consequently, the car
inspection process became faster and customers received continuous attention from
the salespeople while at the workshop. Customers got what they wanted, on time, in
less time, all of which indicates good flow efficiency.

D – Increasing resource efficiency

Path D indicates how the car dealer increased its resource efficiency. The
standardization of tasks and creation of routines helped remove superfluous work,
while the development of a new layout and new specialized equipment increased the
resource efficiency. Resource efficiency was also improved since the creation of a
common standard made capacity planning easier. The 45-minute long routines could
now be used as “building blocks” to fill each technician’s day. Thus, high flow efficiency
was built into the routine, whereas high resource efficiency was created by combining
different routines.

E – Final position
The final position is found at point E. An interesting feature of the final position is that
resource efficiency is less than one hundred percent. Toyota’s strategy involves having
free capacity on hand in order to deal with unexpected events.

A U-shaped improvement pattern

Toyota’s improvement within car dealer operations follows a U-shaped pattern. The
improvement journey started at an efficient island in the northwest. It moved south
and passed through the darkest valleys in wasteland, before cruising east towards the
efficient ocean. It finally ended up in the northeast, where the sun is shining and the
weather is beautiful. This improvement pattern, we believe, shows some key traits of
lean. After all, Toyota and its TPS provided the basis for what originally lay behind the
term lean.
The lean operations strategy
We see lean as an operations strategy, as it concerns how an organization produces
value. An important point here is that this strategy could be called anything: lean is just
a word. What we call the strategy does not matter in the slightest. What matters is that
the strategy involves a) aiming for the star and b) moving towards the star through
moving to the right and up in the efficiency matrix, as illustrated in the figure below.

The figure illustrates that a lean operations strategy involves moving the organization
to the right in the matrix by increasing flow efficiency. In the choice between flow
efficiency and resource efficiency, the first priority is clearly to focus on flow efficiency.
The importance of flow efficiency is exemplified by the founding father of Toyota
Production System, Taiichi Ohno, who said: “All we are doing is looking at the time line
from the moment the customer gives us an order to the point when we collect the
cash.”
 By focusing on flow efficiency, an organization can also reduce a lot of superfluous
work and waste. Focusing on flow efficiency helps resolve the efficiency paradox from
chapter 4. Removing waste and superfluous work can improve resource efficiency,
which helps an organization move up in the matrix. A focus on flow efficiency
therefore fosters an improvement of resource efficiency.
It is crucial to note that a lean operations strategy involves focusing on flow efficiency
before resource efficiency, not the other way round. Focusing on resource efficiency
first tends to create efficient but sub-optimized islands. Superfluous work and waste
often occur between the islands. A focus on flow efficiency means an integration of the
separate islands into one system. This integrated system serves as the basis for
increasing resource efficiency. Resource efficiency is improved at a system level, not at
the level of individual islands.
By now, it is hopefully clear that what prevents organizations from reaching the
perfect state is variation. Therefore, it is vital in a lean operations strategy to eliminate,
reduce, and manage variation. The knowledge that it is not possible to reach the
theoretical state of perfection (the star) means that a lean operations strategy implies
always striving to get closer to that state through continuous improvement.

Away from the Wild West

Chapter 7 defined three problems with the numerous different definitions of lean. First,
lean is defined at different levels of abstraction. Second, lean is seen as a means instead
of an end. Third, lean is everything that is good, and everything good is lean. We have
dealt with those problems by defining lean as an operations strategy:

a. The definition is at the fruit level, which is a high level of abstraction. Increasing
the level of abstraction helps make lean applicable in different environments.
Everything can be linked to a goal.
b. The definition focuses on the goal of flow efficiency, not the means. The point is not
to copy what Toyota does or copy TPS. Instead, it is important to understand why
Toyota and other organizations that focus on flow efficiency do what they do.
Only then can your organization do the same.
c. The definition is non-trivial and makes it possible to define what lean is and what
lean is not. The definition clearly shows that flow efficiency is prioritized above
the efficient use of resources.
Our goal in attempting to deal with these three problems is to avoid a context-specific
definition of lean. Lean is just a term that was created by Western researchers who
observed Toyota’s efficiency. It is important to emphasize that the means Toyota has
used to increase flow efficiency may not be applicable in every environment. How a
lean operations strategy will be realized will depend on the context. A solution that
suits one organization or environment will not necessarily be suitable in another
organization or environment.
By defining lean as an operations strategy, we aim to show that lean is a strategic
choice for all organizations. Organizations in all environments can benefit from better
flow efficiency and, in the longer term, also increase their resource efficiency. To work
out whether this is something your organization should strive for, it is important to
look first at your business strategy and ask, “What value do we want to create, and how
should we compete?”
CHAPTER 10

Realizing a lean operations strategy

Lean is an operations strategy, a strategy to achieve an objective. In
particular, the objective is to prioritize high flow efficiency over resource
efficiency. Having said that, by eliminating, reducing, and managing variation,
the aim is continually to increase both flow efficiency and resource efficiency.
But how does an organization become lean? This is a legitimate question, but
is it the right question?

The naïve foreigner

It is a warm morning in Nagoya. Three researchers from the University of Tokyo walk
across the polished marble floor of a fifty-story building, enter the elevator, and press
the button for the twenty-second floor: “Toyota Motor Corporation – Reception.”
The researchers register at the reception desk, are each given a name badge, and are
then politely pointed in the direction of another elevator, which will take them to the
forty-second floor. They are soon to meet Nishida-san, senior manager for the internal
special unit that Toyota started in 1995 to develop concepts for increasing efficiency in
sales, distribution, and service of Toyota cars.
Nishida-san is one of the younger senior managers at Toyota. Despite having worked
in various roles within the company for over thirty-seven years, he still has a lot to
learn about the Toyota Production System. Toyota’s internal training program takes
twenty-five years to complete; as Nishida-san himself admitted, he knows little more
than the basics.
Nishida-san wears a classically cut green-grey Armani suit. His manner makes it clear
that he is the one who calls the shots, definitely ahead of the three other managers who
follow him into the meeting room. Nobody interrupts Nishida-san, nobody disagrees
with him, and nobody walks in front of him.
The Toyota men greet their visitors in a calm and orderly manner and exchange
business cards with the pride and reverence that you would associate with a wedding
gift to the emperor. After a short presentation by each participant, Nishida-san asks a
question that is specifically aimed at the one non-Japanese researcher:
“You are the first foreign researcher to visit us. Why are you here?”
The foreigner answers nervously in broken Japanese:

“I am from Sweden, and I carry out research in lean service. I am researching how
service organizations apply lean in their businesses. You have developed many tools
and methods that have made your production process one of the most efficient in the
world. Can you tell me how you implement them in your service business? For
example, how have you adapted the tools and methods for your sales and service
processes?”

Nishida-san looks blankly down at the table, then sighs and looks up again. His
expression is reminiscent of a Samurai warrior about to attack, but he sounds calm
when he replies:
“Yet another foreigner who does not understand anything.”

After a moment’s silence, he continues:

”You have just asked a question that shows you do not understand what TPS is about.
Foreigners created the concept of lean, which was a summary of what they saw in our
factories, of our tools and methods. They completely missed what they did not see. Our
philosophy. They missed the soft and invisible that explains why we use the tools and
methods that we do.

If you are going to be here for two years, I recommend that you try to focus on and
try to understand our core philosophy. Our values and our principles guide us in
everything we do. If you understand them, then you will also understand how we
improve the efficiency in our service processes.”

Nishida-san stood up, walked over to the whiteboard, and drew a circle at the top of
what would become a pyramid-like figure. Beside the circle he wrote the word
“values.”
”Let me use a metaphor to help you understand. When we established Toyota Motor
Corporation, we saw our company as a newly planted tree. At that time we had no
knowledge of how to take care of and look after a tree. Our lack of knowledge led us to
be very careful. We never made a hasty decision. We asked ourselves questions such
as:

What do we consider a beautiful tree?

What do we not consider a beautiful tree?

When we had a consensus around those questions, we summarized our thoughts into
our values. Those values defined how we should always be towards our tree.

The most important value was always to focus on the customer. To satisfy our
customers’ needs. Satisfying our customers’ needs was the same thing as a beautiful
tree. Customer needs were placed above all else. By satisfying our customers, we
could get our tree to grow. The customer was most important and should be
prioritized above all else.

Our values became a source from which all of our co-workers could seek guidance. In
 those values, you can find all the answers to how we should act in every situation.
Those values show us how we should always be. They became the core of our
culture.”

Nishida-san continued to develop the figure on the whiteboard. He drew two more
circles beneath the first one, and from the first circle he drew two arrows pointing
down to the other two circles. Beside these new circles he wrote the word “principles”
and then continued talking:

”As our tree continued to grow, we continued to look after it according to our values.
To ensure that we really did look after it, we asked ourselves questions such as:

What decisions have we made today that made the tree more beautiful?
What decisions have we made today that did not make the tree more beautiful?
What can we learn from this to ensure that the tree will be even more beautiful
tomorrow?

By asking ourselves these questions every day, principles gradually started to develop
regarding how we made decisions. We started to see a pattern around how we looked
after our tree so that its beauty was always growing. The principles guided us in terms
of how and what we should prioritize in our business. The principles developed due to
our attention’s always being on our values. You could say that our principles realized
our values as they guided us in looking after our tree, but also in how not to look after
our tree.”

Under the lower left circle, Nishida-san wrote: “Just-in-time.”

 ”After a long development process, we understood that our thoughts could be
summarized into two principles, which were two sides of the same coin.

The first principle is just-in-time and is about creating flow. Imagine a soccer match.
Flow is when the team passes the ball from one end of the field to the other and finally
kicks the ball into the opponents’ goal. The ball is moving all the time. All the players
help to find the perfect path for the ball. The ball flows across the field and into the
goal. In principle, scoring a goal in soccer is the same as delivering exactly what the
customer wants, when the customer wants it, and in the quantity that the customer
wants. Customer service is about scoring a goal.”

Nishida-san went quiet again and turned back to the whiteboard. Under the lower right
circle he wrote another word: “Jidoka.”

”Jidoka is the other side of the same coin. It complements just-in-time. Jidoka is a
somewhat abstract principle, but let me ask a question that will hopefully help you to
grasp it. What underlying conditions must exist in order for a soccer team to score a
lot of goals?”

The researchers looked at each other and wondered if Nishida-san was winding them
up. Nonetheless, they started to offer some answers:
”Good playing tactics! Great kicks!”

”Strength and speed!”

“Teamwork and passing ability!”

Nishida-san gave a satisfied smile and said:

”You answered exactly how I expected you to answer, and you are all wrong. You
focus too much on the conditions that need to exist to create a good flow. Jidoka is
much simpler than that. In soccer, the answer is so obvious that we do not think about
it as a condition.
In addition to all the players being able to understand the rules and their own team’s
strategy, all the players, from all positions on the field, must always be able to:

See the field, the ball, and the goal

See all players on the field
See the score
See how much playing time is left
Hear the whistle
Hear their team members and the crowd

Every player can see and hear and is aware of everything that is happening all the
time. Based on this clear picture, they can make decisions about how, together, they
can score a goal. If any player makes a mistake, or if one of the teams scores a goal,
the referee blows his whistle. All players hear this whistle, and the game stops. These
conditions are the same in most team sports. Everyone can see everything all the time
and the referee can stop the game within a second.”

It went quiet in the room, and it was apparent that everyone was thinking about what
Nishida-san had just said.
 ”In an organization, it is much more difficult to create these fundamental underlying
conditions. We all sit in different places, and we do different things at different times,
independently of each other. Today’s organizations are built like a soccer field covered
in hundreds of small tents, where matches are played with many different balls at the
same time. The players are rewarded for kicking the ball as many times as they can,
and think they score a goal when they succeed in kicking the ball out of their own
tent. They play at different times and barely know the names of the other players. No
one sees the big picture. No one hears the whistle.”

Nishida-san drew another arrow on the figure, between Just-in-time and Jidoka. He
went on to say:

”Just-in-time is about creating flow, while jidoka is about creating a visible and clear
picture so that anything that happens to, hinders or disturbs the flow can be identified
immediately. The principles are two sides of the same coin and together they drive
our organization to “score goals” continually through strong customer focus.”

Nishida-san again turned to the whiteboard and drew another level of circles. He
connected the six new circles to the two above with some more arrows. Everything
hung together. Beside the new circles he wrote “methods.”
”As we developed our business, by allowing the principles to direct all that we did we
started to see patterns.
This time, it was not about patterns of how we were or how we made decisions, but
patterns of what we did and how we carried out different tasks. Regardless of what we
did, we always concentrated on realizing just-in-time and jidoka. As time went on, we
started to identify how we should carry out different tasks. Some methods emerged as
being better than others. Therefore, we tried to identify, standardize, and spread the
best way of doing different tasks. That resulted in many standardized methods; the
collation of our jointly devised best thoughts about how different tasks should be
performed. These methods standardized how we could realize our principles in
different situations in the best way possible.

Methods were our best way of looking after our tree every day so that it could be as
beautiful as possible. Let me give you an example. To realize just-in-time, we
developed many different methods that helped us continually ensure that we
delivered what the customers want, when they want it, and in just the amount that
they wanted.

Standardization itself is an example of one of our most important methods. It is

actually a method of developing other methods. In order to create and – most
importantly – maintain an efficient flow, the flow must be standardized at some point
so that everyone can have the same understanding of how a task should be carried
out. But how do you standardize something? How do you establish one best way of
working? The challenge here is the same as it is in soccer. How is it possible for a
 soccer manager to establish a standardized attack method? Standardization is a
standard for establishing standards. A meta-standard!”

Nishida-san grinned at the foreigner.

”We have been able to develop several methods that help realize just-in–time and
jidoka. Visual planning is an example of a method needed to realize jidoka. As I said,
the intention of jidoka is to create a transparent organization so that everyone can see
everything all the time. That is made possible through visualizing and continually
updating all of the relevant information concerning the business on our walls.
Everyone can see what is happening in our company in just one look. As soon as
something unexpected happens, the first one who sees it blows the whistle. Everyone
stops, we find the root cause of the problem, we improve, and then we continue.
Visual planning is a method that helped realize jidoka. One could say that jidoka “is”
the whistle.”

The researchers didn’t really appear to get the point Nishida-san was making. The
Toyota manager continued in a slightly louder voice.

”It is important that you really understand the reasons why we visualize. Think about
jidoka! We want to see the whole picture all the time. If all employees visualize the
progress they are making, two particular things are made possible. First, if the
progress is going according to plan, we know that we are on track. The visualized
information allows us to see that the situation is normal. We are doing what we are
supposed to be doing. Secondly, if the progress is not going according to plan, the
visualized information enables us to react instantly. We can see that the situation is
abnormal. We see deviations from the normal state.
Do you understand? It is the visualization that allows us to see the whole soccer field
all the time. It is impossible to control a whole organization. But it is possible to
standardize and visualize everything we do. Through visualization, we can control the
whole organization by just controlling the deviations from the standards. It is the
deviations that trigger improvement of the normal state.”

The room was quiet.

Nishida-san continued to add to the pyramid on the whiteboard. He drew a final layer
of circles, this time twelve of them, and connected them to the others in the same way
as he had done earlier. Again, he wrote something beside the circles, but quickly
rubbed it out and turned to the researchers.
 ”What is this here?”

He turned back to the whiteboard and hit it with his hand.

”WHAT is this here?”

Nishida-san hit the whiteboard several times more and then stared at the researchers.
No one had any idea what answer he was looking for. Finally the hitting stopped and
Nishida-san spoke to the researchers slowly and clearly:

”It is a whiteboard, and I am hitting it. It constitutes a method I developed a minute ago,
which is called the method that will stop the researchers from falling asleep.”

Nishida-san laughed in a way that indicated he was satisfied. He went back to his
pyramid. Next to the lowest level of rings he wrote the words tools and activities.

”The whiteboard is a tool. The hitting is an activity. Tools and activities are how
methods are realized. A method is built up of activities (what we do) and tools (what
we have).
To carry out the method of standardization, we have developed an A3 template that is
divided into different boxes. It is used to document a standard. The template is a tool
that we need in order to standardize. We have also defined the sequence of activities
 that an employee goes through to fill in the template. Tools and activities are the
components of the methods.”

Nishida-san took a step back from the whiteboard and looked proudly at his creation.
He turned to the researchers and explained.

”Our values define how we should be, regardless of the situation or context. Values
are the basis for our very existence and the state towards which we continually strive.
Our principles define how we should make decisions and what we should prioritize.
Just-in-time and jidoka define the direction in which our operations should develop.
Towards the customer! Towards that beautiful tree!
The methods define how we should perform different tasks. Methods are the motors
that propel us in the right direction.
Tools are what we need to have and activities are what we need to do to realize a
specific method.
Everything is connected in a system that, continuously and in small steps, develops
our business into a very beautiful tree.”

Nishida-san went back to his seat and sat down. He looked back towards the
whiteboard and then turned to the foreigner:
”So there. Now you have just had a crash course in the Toyota Production System. Pay
special attention to the word “system”. It is a system in which everything is
connected. I hope that you managed to grasp what I have said.”

The Swedish researcher nodded nervously and expressed his gratitude by bowing in
his seat. Nishida-san smiled mischievously and posed a final question:

”I will give you one last chance. Rephrase your question so that I have the chance to
think, `Wow! Finally a foreigner who really understands what TPS is!´”

Nishida-san leaned back in his chair with a look of hopeful anticipation, and he turned
his gaze once more on the foreigner.

Means for realizing a lean operations strategy

The story that Nishida-san told the naïve foreigner illustrates that the question “How
does an organization adapt the lean tools and methods for sales and service processes?”
is somewhat misleading because it assumes that lean is a collection of methods and
tools. Lean is not methods and tools, nor is it principles, contrary to popular belief. As
we have mentioned earlier, we see lean as an operations strategy, as a strategy with
which to achieve a goal. Therefore, the question should really be “How do we realize a
lean operations strategy?” The answer to that question is that there are various means
with which to realize a lean operations strategy.
We can refine the question further to “What means can we use to realize a lean
operations strategy?” and “Which means will increase flow efficiency without
compromising and will preferably increase resource efficiency?” As the Nishida-san
story shows, there are many different means, which can be divided into the four
different groups that Nishida-san wrote on the whiteboard:

Values define how an organization should behave.

Principles define how an organization should think.
Methods define what an organization should do.
Tools define what an organization should have.

Nishida-san’s pyramid shows how the different means are defined on different levels of
abstraction. Values are at the highest level of abstraction and tools at the lowest. A lean
operations strategy can be realized in different ways, from a more abstract change,
where values are integrated and principles applied, to a more concrete change, where
methods and tools are implemented. Some organizations that work with lean choose to
focus on one or a few of the above levels, while others choose to focus on all of them.
The various means for realizing a lean operations strategy tie in well with the existing
literature. Most of the books on TPS or lean are full of excellent suggestions of means to
realize a lean operations strategy. Obviously we can learn a lot from the existing
literature. But it is important to emphasize that all those values, principles, methods,
and tools that you find in the books are not in themselves “lean.” They are means for
realizing a lean operations strategy. To see them as means does not make them any
less valuable; in fact, just the opposite is true.
By seeing all these values, principles, methods, and tools as means, we can begin to
see how everything fits together. This helps us sort through the disparate and
sometimes opposing advice we get from studying other peoples’ lessons. It helps us to
see how everything fits together.
Anything that helps us eliminate, reduce, and manage the variation in an organization
is a good means with which to realize a lean operations strategy. Integrating values
reduces variation in how we are. Applying principles reduces the variation related to
how we prioritize and make decisions. Standardizing methods decreases the variation
regarding what we do. Implementing tools reduces the variation in what we have.
It is important to understand that all organizations have values, principles, methods,
and tools, whether they want to or not. The questions are what they consist of, how
explicit they are, and how widely accepted they are in the organization.

How different means realize a lean strategy

In order for means to realize a lean operations strategy, the intention must be to
eliminate, reduce, and manage variation, primarily in order to increase flow efficiency;
that is a condition. Here are a few examples of what we mean, using Toyota as an
example.

Values as means:
reducing variation in how employees are
Values define how an organization should behave. Which values does an organization
need to integrate in order to improve flow efficiency? As we mentioned in chapter 6,
Toyota codified five core values in The Toyota Way. Two of these, respect and teamwork,
are clear conditions for the creation of an efficient flow.

Respect is about doing everything to be able to understand each other. Take

responsibility and do your best to create mutual trust.
Teamwork is about stimulating personal and professional development, sharing
opportunities for development, and maximizing individual and group
achievement.

By training employees to respect each other and work as a team, these values become
integrated in an organization. This creates the conditions for efficient flow throughout
the entire organization. Respect and teamwork are prerequisites for achieving high
flow efficiency since everyone is dependent on each other and has to work together.

Principles as means:
reducing variation in how employees think
Principles define how people in an organization should think in order to increase flow
efficiency. Which principles should you apply in order to eliminate, reduce, and
manage the variation that exists in your organization?
 The Nishida-san story discusses the two principles that Toyota consider to be the core
of TPS: just-in-time and jidoka. Just-in-time means creating an efficient flow through
the whole organization. Jidoka means creating an aware organization, which prevents,
identifies, and eliminates everything that inhibits, disrupts, or slows down the flow.
These are the two principles that guide Toyota. They are at the core of the company’s
way of creating flow. Therefore, an organization can choose to apply just these two
principles when developing its operations, but it could equally choose to apply other
flow-improving principles. In order to realize a lean operations strategy, it is not
important how the flow is improved, simply that it is improved.
Many observers have considered the global truck company Scania to be a role model
for lean. Inspired by Toyota, Scania started to develop its own version of lean, the
Scania Production System (SPS), in the early 1980s. Instead of just-in-time and jidoka,
the core of SPS consists of four principles, the objectives of which are almost identical
to just-in-time and jidoka, except that they are conceptualized differently. Scania and
Toyota both have operations strategies that focus on flow efficiency, except that Scania
realizes its strategy through SPS, while Toyota uses TPS. They use different means but
have the same goal.

Methods as means:
reducing variation in what employees do
Methods define what an organization should do in order to improve flow efficiency.
Among the many different methods to choose from is value stream mapping. Toyota
has developed this method to analyze the existing flow in a process, with a view to
identifying value-adding activities and non-value-adding activities (waste). Other
organizations can copy and standardize value stream mapping as a method of
analyzing flow in their existing processes.
Another common method that is often seen as part of lean is 5s (sorting, structuring,
shining, standardizing, and sustaining). Simply put, 5s is about having the right thing in
the right place. Many organizations start to use 5s as a method to create a well-
organized and functioning workplace. Well-organized workplaces reduce the variation
that can easily arise when you have to spend time looking for what you need.

Tools as means:
reducing variation in what employees use
Finally, tools define what an organization has. So what tools need to be implemented in
order to realize a lean operations strategy? Visual planning boards are one of the most
common tools associated with Toyota. The intention is to make the progress of the
process visible through visualizing process-oriented and result-oriented metrics. Is the
flow normal or does it deviate from the normal? By implementing and using a visual
planning board, an organization can see and control the status of the flow through the
process. As soon as a deviation is identified, it can be dealt with.

Means are not universal

When means for realizing a lean operations strategy are seen as being on different
levels of abstraction, it is possible to understand better that means are context
dependent:

The higher the level of abstraction, the less context-dependent the means.
The lower the level of abstraction, the more context-dependent the means.

In this case, context is determined by the type of organization in which the means have
been developed. Tools as means are at the lowest level of abstraction, which means
that they are the most dependent on context. Tools for realizing a lean operations
strategy, developed in a particular context, are not necessarily applicable in another
context. This does not mean that lean is not appropriate, just that the tool is not.
It is important to bear in mind that Toyota’s means were developed within a
manufacturing industry, which is characterized by high volumes and relatively little
variation in the product’s basic design. Most organizations could draw inspiration from
Toyota’s means and learn about what Toyota has done. However, not all organizations,
particularly those operating in different environments from Toyota, can or should copy
all the methods and tools that Toyota developed.
This is in line with Toyota’s own view that methods and tools are “countermeasures”;
they are solutions to problems that the company has faced during its work to improve
flow efficiency. Today, these are the best solutions to Toyota’s problems, but
tomorrow’s solutions may look different. This view explains why Toyota is happy to let
other organizations learn more about the methods and tools it works with and uses.
For many organizations, realizing a lean operations strategy is about developing
solutions, methods, and tools to help them eliminate, reduce, and manage the variation
that exists in the context in which they work. This development work should be
inspired by others, but should not indiscriminately copy what others have done.
 By really understanding what lean is, organizations can find their own solutions to the
problems they encounter when trying to improve flow efficiency and strive towards
the perfect state.
CHAPTER 11

Are you lean?

Learn to fish!
There are many different means with which to realize a lean operations
strategy. Organizations can integrate values to help improve flow efficiency.
Principles can be applied to help employees constantly make decisions that
improve flow efficiency. Methods can be standardized and tools
implemented, all with a view to eliminating, reducing, and managing variation
in the organization. This improves flow efficiency and, at the same time,
allows a more efficient use of resources. But with all this work, how can we
tell that an organization has become lean?

We are lean, aren’t we?

The European engineering company was very proud of its work on lean, and justifiably
so. Within its industry, it was considered the company that had come the furthest in its
work on lean. Many study visits took place at the company, and many other
organizations were eager to learn from this great company and its experiences with
lean.
The employees were very proud of their company but were still eager to know if there
were something more they could develop. What should they do in order to take the
company to the next level? Was there a next level or was the company perfectly lean?
In order to confirm just how good it was, the company invited Ooba-san, a legendary
Toyota manager. Ooba-san had served as the right-hand man to the even more
legendary Ohno-san, considered to be the father of the Toyota Production System.
Ooba-san was flown in to assess the engineering company’s work on lean. He arrived
and was given a guided tour of the factory. The company’s representatives proudly
showed off their work. They showed their clean work places, where everything was in
its right place. They showed their visual planning boards, where all aspects of how the
business was working were shown in real time. They talked proudly of their low levels
of inventory in the factory. They showed the different tools they used to raise the level
of quality.
“We are lean, aren’t we?” asked one of the company’s representatives rhetorically, but
the Japanese visitor simply said, “Interesting.”
Ooba-san even had the chance to speak with operators working in the factory.
Everyone he spoke to had the same understanding of the company’s visions and goals.
Everyone could provide answers about how their work fitted in with the work of the
business as a whole and how their work contributed to the final product delivered to
the customer. The operators explained with genuine enthusiasm the improvement
work with which they were involved.
“This just has to be lean, doesn’t it?” asked the company’s managers. Again, Ooba-san
simply responded by saying, “`Interesting.”
After the guided tour, everyone who had accompanied Ooba-san congregated in the
conference room where the discussions continued. The company’s representatives
were eager to obtain some confirmation from Ooba-san about how lean their company
was. However, no answer was forthcoming, and the frustration in the room began to
increase. Finally, the chairman said:

”Ooba-san, we have now shown you the whole factory and told you about our work
on lean, which we are very proud of. We are wondering now if you consider this to be
world-class lean?”
Ooba-san’s answer was short and to the point.
”It is impossible for me to say. I wasn’t here yesterday.”

When is a lean operations strategy realized?

The story about Ooba-san illustrates a central aspect of lean: namely, that lean is not a
static state to reach. It is not something you complete. It is a dynamic state
characterized by constant improvement.
If we see lean as an operations strategy, the question “When are we lean?” is actually
the wrong one. Instead, the question should be “When is a lean operations strategy
realized?” The goal of a lean operations strategy is to improve the flow efficiency,
without sacrificing resource efficiency, and ideally improving it. The strategy would be
realized when the goal is achieved. There are two extreme ways of defining a goal:
static or dynamic.

An operations strategy with a static goal

From a static perspective, the development of a lean operations strategy involves
setting a definite goal for flow efficiency. Improvement is then seen as a project, a
transformation of one or more processes with the intention of implementing a
substantial improvement of flow efficiency. When a change project has a definite goal,
flow efficiency is measured before and after the change. The degree to which the flow
efficiency has improved can then be used to determine the success of a specific project.
The measurement can also be used for internal and external comparison through
questions such as “Where and when is the flow most efficient?” The figure below
illustrates an operations strategy with a static goal.

The figure illustrates a project that, over a specific time period, improved the absolute
level of flow efficiency. The figure shows the change from one static state to another.
As the story about Ooba-san illustrates, the static view is not the right one. The fact
that many organizations see lean as something that can be implemented, at which
point they can say, “We’ve done it now,” is a legacy of the often unarticulated tool-
based and methods-focused definition of lean. Of course, a lean journey can be
comprised of and broken down into smaller projects that can have clear milestones.
However, it is crucial to understand that the realization of a lean operations strategy is
a journey that never ends. Let us expand on this.

An operations strategy with a dynamic goal

From a dynamic perspective, the focus is not on the absolute improvement in the level
of flow efficiency; instead, the point is that flow efficiency always continues to improve
over time. Taking the dynamic view means that an organization sees the realization of
a lean operations strategy as a constantly changing state, not as something static. In this
case, a lean operations strategy is realized when an organization continuously
improves its flow efficiency. The figure below illustrates the dynamic view.

The figure shows that the goal is not on the vertical axis. It is not the absolute level that
is most important. The upswing of the curve illustrates the dynamic state, which is all
about continuous improvement.

The continuously improving organization

The story about Ooba-san illustrates Toyota’s view on realizing a lean operations
strategy, which is about creating an organization that continuously improves flow. The
only way of determining whether an organization is lean is by comparing how an
organization operates at two separate points in time. The organization is in a dynamic
state if it can show constant improvement.
Realizing a lean operations strategy is not just about improving the actual flow; it is
also about continuously improving in different ways. The continuously flow-improving
organization will always be developing new knowledge, new understanding, and new
experiences and learning new things about its customers’ needs and how to meet those
needs as efficiently as possible.
“What have we done during this project?” is the question that would be asked from a
static perspective. An organization taking a dynamic perspective would ask, “How do
we ensure that we learn something new every day?”
This view of realizing a lean operations strategy is about as far as you can get from the
view that lean consists of a series of tools to be implemented.

Catching the big fish or learning to fish?

This discussion around a static or dynamic goal raises a key question: “How should we
think about improvement?”
The classic view of improvement is in line with the static view. An organization feels
that it has a problem; we can liken this problem to “a big fish.” The organization invests
lots of resources into catching this big fish. Therefore, the goal of the improvement
project is to “catch the fish.” Regardless of whether it is external consultants, internal
consultants, or employees that carry out the improvement work, the project is finished
when “the fish is caught.” There is a beginning and an end.
Toyota’s view of improvement is in line with the dynamic view. Toyota’s basic view is
that there are always going to be problems. The key is to ensure that all employees
know how to fish and Toyota’s improvement projects are geared towards “teaching
employees to fish.” Everyone can always improve their fishing ability, as there will
always be new fish. Large and small. Fast and slow. Easily caught and not so easily
caught. What is central is the organization’s ability to fish. So if there is to be a
beginning and an end in an improvement project, the focus would be on the ability to
fish, not on the fish itself.
Before embarking on a change process, it is important for an organization to ask itself
what view it has of improvement. “How should we think about improvement? Shall we
catch the big fish or shall we learn to fish?” Anyone can catch the big fish. Learning
how to become a “self-fishing” organization is something completely different.
EPILOGUE

Develop a lean outfit!

Imagine you have a huge pile of clothes on the floor. There are trousers and skirts,
shirts and blouses, socks and underwear. Different types of clothes for different
occasions and different purposes. Clothes for everyday use, for parties, for jogging, and
for work.
The pile of clothes is a mess and gets bigger as you buy more clothes. Eventually, the
pile grows so high that it becomes difficult to find the right garment for the right
occasion. It takes a long time to find the right piece of clothing, and you really have to
search for it. You have simply lost the overview of your clothes. It is nearly impossible
to find the perfect outfit for the party on Friday. You need a system for sorting.
Clothes are a metaphor for all the knowledge published on lean and Toyota. We have
never intended to criticize this knowledge; in fact, this knowledge is incredibly
important. However, the knowledge has grown increasingly quickly in recent years.
The stock of knowledge has become enormous and overgrown. Just as it is hard to find
the right garment in the huge pile of clothes, it is difficult to find the right knowledge
for your organization.
This Is Lean is an attempt to create a sorting system. We hope that the book serves as a
closet with an organizer to help you sort out your pile of clothes. We want it to help you
quickly find the blouse for the meeting, your sandals for the beach, and your hat for the
first cold winter day. The right garment for the right occasion.
Continuing with the clothes metaphor, by remaining at a high level of abstraction, this
book has attempted to define what a certain type of clothing is and what it isn’t. These
are trousers, and those are not trousers. This is a lean operations strategy, and that is
not a lean operations strategy. We have argued that a lean operations strategy focuses
on flow efficiency. This means that an operations strategy that focuses on resource
efficiency is not lean.
Our intention has not been to recommend a specific operations strategy. It is
important to be aware that resource efficiency and flow efficiency both have their own
advantages and disadvantages. We do not want to suggest a particular garment, but we
do want to suggest you make an informed choice. We are unable to answer the
question of which operations strategy is the best one for your organization. The choice
of operations strategy must always be linked to the choice of business strategy. The
more an organization understands what these different choices mean, the higher the
likelihood that the choice will be the right one.
Therefore, we have tried to create an understanding of how to sort the clothes so that
they are easier to find. Some clothes are for everyone, while others are only for some
people. We have described different means for realizing a lean operations strategy.
Values and principles, methods and tools, abstract and concrete, general and specific:
no two operations strategies can be realized in exactly the same way.
The aim of this book is to help organizations sort and create better order out of
everything that has been written on lean and TPS. Just as a wardrobe makes it easier to
find the right item of clothing for the right occasion, we hope this book has made it
easier to find what is right and what isn’t right for an individual organization. Our role
as researchers is to create structure (which we call “theories”) to make sense of the
world around us.
This book has sought to create clarity and make it easier to realize a lean operations
strategy. Clarity is a good start, but it is still a huge challenge to realize a lean operations
strategy. Changing a resource​efficient organization into a flow​efficient organization
requires change on many different levels, such as the organizational structure, control
systems, incentive systems, career structures, and recruitment processes. There is no
quick and simple solution. Getting an entire organization to change its focus from
resource efficiency to flow efficiency and to get all employees to think constantly about
how the flow can be improved places huge demands on leadership.
Toyota employees willingly share their tools and methods and are happy to talk about
their principles and values. Nonetheless, it is difficult to understand how and why
Toyota has repeatedly succeeded in creating self​fishing organizations all around the
world, where the flow improves over time, all the time. This knowledge is difficult to
decode and has taken nearly a hundred years to develop. Toyota’s wardrobe is never
full, complete, or ready. But Toyota’s employees are the best in the world at asking the
following question:
“Is there any little adjustment that can make us a little bit more beautiful than we
were yesterday?”
Notes
To allow the book to flow, we have opted to put the references at the end. We have also
provided suggestions for further reading for readers who are particularly interested in
certain topics. There is a lot of very good literature on lean, and this book has been able
to cover only the basics.

Prologue
Although the stories about Alison and Sarah are fictitious, all of the statistical data in
them, such as the forty-two days and the two hours, are based on real-life cases. The
stories are based on secondary data and have been thoroughly checked by five people
within the Swedish healthcare industry.
Alison’s diagnostic process represents a traditional process. It is important to point out
that there are differences in the exact order between steps and exactly how the
information flows in the process. There are differences within countries, but also
between countries. To the best of our knowledge, however, the description reasonably
matches a generic diagnostic process for breast cancer in many countries. The
intention is not to be exact, but to point to a particular way of organizing a diagnostic
process that is commonly used in many healthcare systems around the world for
various medical conditions.
There are several examples of similarities between what we have described in the
story of Sarah and various clinics in different countries. However, Sarah’s diagnostic
process is taken directly from the One-Stop Breast Clinic trial that was run at Skåne
University Hospital in Southern Sweden. The trial started in April 2004 but was
disbanded in 2009. For more details on this trial, we can recommend the following
publications (both of which are available only in Swedish, unfortunately):
Niklas Källberg, Helena Bengtsson and Jon Rognes (2011), “Tid eller pengar: Vad fokuseras det på vid styrning av
vård” (Time or Money: What is the Focus when Controlling Healthcare?), LHC Report 1-2011. Accessible online at
www.leadinghealthcare.se.

Ingrid Ainalem, Birgitta Behrens, Lena Björkgren, Susanne Holm and Gun Tranström (2009), Från funktion till
process till patientprocess – Bröstmottagningen, ett exempel (From Function to Process to Patient Process – the One-Stop
Breast Clinic Example), Lunds Tekniska Högskola, Lund.

Chapter 1
There is an almost unlimited source of references pointing to the importance of
efficient utilization of resources for economic development. As early as 1776, Adam
Smith pointed out how division of labor could drastically increase the number of pins
produced per person. Smith showed that dividing the tasks that go into making pins
into eighteen different steps and having workers specialize on single subtasks could
result in a drastic increase in productivity.
Adam Smith (1776/1937), An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Modern Library, New York.

The importance of efficiently utilizing resources received a lot of attention in the early
1900s. One of the main contributors to this was Frederick Winslow Taylor, the founding
father of the extremely influential scientific management movement, which affects
organizations to this day. While Taylor made many important contributions, in one
particular study he experimented with variously sized shovels to determine the
optimum shovel load for workers. A common denominator in all his work was the
focus on utilizing resources in the form of individual workers and machines.
Frederick Winslow Taylor (1919), The Principles of Scientific Management, Harper Brothers, New York.

Chapter 2
For an excellent but slightly technical description of processes in organizations and
their characteristics, please see:
Ravi Anupindi, Sunil Chopra, Sudhakar D. Deshmukh, Jan A. Van Mieghem and Eitan Zemel (2012), Managing
Business Process Flows (3rd edition), Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.

An example of an author who argues there are a finite and small number of processes
in an organization is:
Thomas H. Davenport (1993), Process Innovation: Reengineering Work through Information Technology, Harvard Business
School Press, Boston, Massachusetts.

For a detailed explanation of the difference between value-adding time and value-
receiving time as well as an excellent discussion on the difference between density and
speed in value transmission, please see:
Takahiro Fujimoto (1999), The Evolution of a Manufacturing System at Toyota, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

This chapter is a development of a text published in:

Pär Åhlström (2010), “Om processers betydelse för verksamhetsutveckling i världsklass” (The Role of Processes
when Developing World-class Operations) in Pär Åhlström (Ed.), Verksamhetsutveckling i Världsklass (Developing
World-class Operations), Studentlitteratur, Lund.
Chapter 3
Mathematically minded readers may be interested in the following technical
description of the laws that govern how processes work:
Wallace J. Hopp and Mark L. Spearman (2000), Factory Physics: Foundations of Manufacturing Management,
Irwin/McGraw-Hill, Boston, Massachusetts.

For a classical introduction to the phenomenon of bottlenecks in processes, please refer

to:
Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff Cox (1986), The Goal: A Process of On-going Improvement, North River Press, Crotonon-
Hudson, New York.

The original formulation of the relationship between variation, resource efficiency, and
throughput time can be found in Kingman (1966). For a more easily accessible
treatment of the relationship, as well as how the strategy of the Spanish clothing
retailer Inditex, with its Zara brand, can be understood using the relationship, we
recommend Ferdows et al. (2004):
Sir John Frank Charles Kingman (1966), “On the Algebra of Queues,” Journal of Applied Probability, Vol. 3, No. 2, pp.
285–326.

Kasra Ferdows, Michael A. Lewis and Jose A.D. Machuca (2004), “Rapid-Fire Fulfilment,” Harvard Business Review,
Vol. 82, No. 11, pp. 104–110.

This chapter is a development of a text published in:

Pär Åhlström (2010), “Om processers betydelse för verksamhetsutveckling i världsklass” (The Role of Processes
when Developing World-class Operations) in Pär Åhlström (Ed.), Verksamhetsutveckling i Världsklass (Developing
World-class Operations), Studentlitteratur, Lund.

Chapter 4
What we describe in the chapter as being superfluous work is similar to what John
Seddon calls “failure demand,” a phenomenon occurring in services. Failure demand is
defined as “demand caused by a failure to do something or do something right for the
customer.” By using the term “superfluous work,” we want to highlight the nature of
the work being put in, not the demand. For a full discussion of failure demand, see:
John Seddon (2005), Freedom from Command and Control: Rethinking Management for Lean Service, Productivity Press,
New York.

For a classic treatment of the nature of the human brain and its limited ability to
process information, please see:
George A. Miller (1956), “The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on Our Capacity for
 Processing Information,” Psychological Review, Vol. 63, No. 2, pp. 81–97.

Chapter 5
Although Toyota was not necessarily the first company to develop many of the
practices used in flow production, it is the company that has become most associated
with flow-efficient manufacturing. For an excellent historical account of some of the
antecedents to flow production, please see:
Frank G. Woollard and Bob Emiliani (2009), Principles of Mass and Flow Production, Center for Lean Business
Management, Wethersfield, Connecticut.

The history of the Toyota Production System has intentionally been kept short. There
are many detailed accounts of the history for those who are interested. For a
description of the Toyota Production System, directly from the “source,” we strongly
recommend Ohno (1988). We have also taken the definitions of the seven forms of
waste from his book:
Taiichi Ohno (1988), Toyota Production System: Beyond Large-Scale Production, Productivity Press, New York.

The following article presents a great historical account of the development of the
Toyota Production System:
Matthias Holweg (2007), “The Genealogy of Lean Production,” Journal of Operations Management, Vol. 25, No. 2, pp.
420–437.

For an excellent analysis of the evolution of the Toyota Production System, we warmly
recommend:
Takahiro Fujimoto (1999), The Evolution of a Manufacturing System at Toyota, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

This chapter is a development of a text published in:

Niklas Modig (2010), “Vad är lean?” (What is Lean?) in Pär Åhlström (Ed.), Verksamhetsutveckling i Världsklass
(Developing World-class Operations), Studentlitteratur, Lund.

Chapter 6
This chapter touches on only a fraction of all the literature on lean and Toyota. The
chapter makes references to the following, in the order they appear in the text:
Taiichi Ohno (1988), Toyota Production System: Beyond Large-Scale Production, Productivity Press, New York.

John Krafcik (1988), “Triumph of the Lean Production System,” Sloan Management Review, Vol. 30, pp. 41–52.

James P. Womack, Daniel T. Jones and Daniel Roos (1990), The Machine that Changed the World, Rawson Associates,
New York.

James P. Womack and Daniel T. Jones (1996), Lean Thinking: Banish Waste and Create Wealth in your Corporation, Simon
 and Schuster, New York.

Takahiro Fujimoto (1999), The Evolution of a Manufacturing System at Toyota, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Steven Spear and H. Kent Bowen (1999), “Decoding the DNA of the Toyota Production System,” Harvard Business
Review, Vol. 77, No. 5, pp. 96–106.

Jeffrey K. Liker (2004), The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles from the World’s Greatest Manufacturer, McGraw Hill,
New York.

The survey was conducted in November 2010 by Eric A. Forsman and Dan Spinelli Scala
as part of their Master’s thesis at the Stockholm School of Economics.

Chapter 7
For a more detailed explanation of level of abstraction, falsifiability, utility, and other
building blocks of theory development, please see the following articles:
Samuel B. Bacharach (1989), “Organizational Theories: Some Criteria for Evaluation,” Academy of Management
Review, Vol. 14, No. 4, pp. 496–515.

Chimezie A. B. Osigweh, Yg. (1989), “Concept Fallibility in Organizational Science,” Academy of Management Review,
Vol. 14, No. 4, pp. 579–594.

David A. Whetten (1989), “What Constitutes a Theoretical Contribution?” Academy of Management Review, Vol. 14,
No. 4, pp. 490–495.

This chapter is a development of a text published in:

Niklas Modig (2010), “Vad är lean?” (What is Lean?) in Pär Åhlström (Ed.), Verksamhetsutveckling i Världsklass
(Developing World-class Operations), Studentlitteratur, Lund.

Chapter 8
For an easily accessible discussion of business strategies and the choices that
companies face, please see:
Michael E. Porter (1980), Competitive Strategy, Free Press, New York.

Michael E. Porter (1996), “What is Strategy?,” Harvard Business Review, Vol. 74, No. 6, pp. 61–78.

To gain a better understanding of operations strategies, please see:

Hill, Alex and Hill, Terry (2011), Essential Operations Management, Palgrave Macmillan, London.

Nigel Slack and Michael Lewis (2011), Operations Strategy, Prentice Hall, London.

This chapter is a development of a text published in:

Niklas Modig (2010), “Vad är lean?” (What is Lean?) in Pär Åhlström (Ed.), Verksamhetsutveckling i Världsklass
(Developing World-class Operations), Studentlitteratur, Lund.

Chapter 9
All data regarding Toyota Motor Corporation and the Toyota car dealer network were
collected by Niklas Modig between April 2006 and March 2008 within the scope of a
larger research program at the Manufacturing Management Research Center at the
University of Tokyo.
For an explanation of Toyota Sales Logistics (in Japanese), see
http://toyota.jp/after_service/syaken/sonoba/index.html (accessed on August 1, 2012).

Chapter 10
All data regarding Toyota Motor Corporation and the Toyota car dealer network were
collected by Niklas Modig between April 2006 and Match 2008 within the scope of a
larger research program at the Manufacturing Management Research Center at the
University of Tokyo.
Nishida-san is a made-up character, but the content of the story (explanations,
illustrations, metaphors, etc.) comes from numerous interviews, discussions, and
informal chats that Niklas Modig had with managers and employees from Toyota
Motor Corporations and various Toyota car dealerships in Japan.
This chapter is a development of a text published in:
Niklas Modig (2010), “Vad är lean?” (What is Lean?) in Pär Åhlström (Ed.), Verksamhetsutveckling i Världsklass
(Developing World-class Operations), Studentlitteratur, Lund.

Chapter 11
The story about Ooba-san is most probably true, even if it has become an urban legend.
One of the authors was told the story by Professor Jeffrey K. Liker at a conference in
Sweden in November 2010.

This chapter is a development of a text published in:
Niklas Modig (2010), “Vad är lean?” (What is Lean?) in Pär Åhlström (Ed.), Verksamhetsutveckling i Världsklass
(Developing World-class Operations), Studentlitteratur, Lund.
NIKLAS MODIG has been researching at the Stockholm School of Economics since 2004
and was a visiting researcher at the University of Tokyo between 2006 and 2008. Fluent
in Japanese, Niklas gained the opportunity to spend thousands of hours inside Toyota’s
service organisation in an attempt to understand how its philosophy can be applied in
non-manufacturing contexts. Niklas has assumed a leading position as an inspirational
speaker within the fields of lean service and lean management.

PÄR ÅHLSTRÖM holds the Torsten and Ragnar Söderberg chair in Business
Administration at the Stockholm School of Economics. He previously held positions at
Chalmers University of Technology and London Business School. With twenty years of
experience researching lean, he is one of the pioneers in the field. He has published
frequently on lean in manufacturing, product development and, most recently, in
services. His research is widely cited and he is also an award-winning teacher.

ALL FIGURES AND EXTRA MATERIAL ARE AVAILABLE AT:

WWW.THISISLEAN.COM