TPS Benchmarking

Lean Enterprise Rules of Three

Avatar photo By Jon Miller Updated on April 25th, 2023

“Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears; I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones; So let it be with Caesar.”

That’s from an eulogy Mark Antony delivers in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. You may not have the entire play committed to memory, but very likely you have previously heard and retained the first three words of that eulogy. Something about the number three helps us organize, retain, and communicate information effectively. We can see examples of this in how the Toyota Production System has been encoded as well, in what we’ll call the “Lean Enterprise Rules of Three.” Let’s examine these in the three lean areas of purpose, process and problem solving.

Mastering Lean Principles

1.) The Purpose of Lean
To achieve continuous improvement, the Lean system should focus on nurturing people, profit, and the planet. This is often referred to as the “triple bottom line,” which measures and improves performance in quality, cost, and delivery. Safety is also vital to humanize the workplace, and it can be implied in both quality and cost. To implement the Toyota way, value must be defined from the customer’s perspective and mura, muri, and muda must be eliminated systematically. Identifying, isolating, and eliminating variability, overburden, and waste can help to streamline processes and drive improvement.

2.) The Process of Lean
To get started with Lean, try the sustained practice of 5S, which includes sort, straighten, sweep, and two additional S’s to maintain the first three. Understanding the aim of 5S to make waste, overburden, and variability immediately visible will make this process easier.

Lean teaches us to minimize waste and expose hidden problems. A pillar of the Toyota Production System is just in time which is doing what you need, when you need, in the amount you need. Calculate daily takt time, balance work, and let downstream pull signal when to start. This minimizes waste and quickly exposes weaknesses.

The definition of standard work comes to us in a rule of three, being “the most effective combination of manpower, material and machinery.” The three elements of standard work are takt time, work sequence, and standard work in process (SWIP). Once you have standard work, or any sort of basic standards, you have a basis for the next improvement.

3.) Problem Solving in Lean
Lean sees any deviation from the standard as an abnormality, which is an opportunity for improvement. The spirit of jidoka, the practice of giving machines and processes human intelligence to build in quality, can be summarized as stop, call and fix.

All problem solving should be done by following the practice of genchi, genbutsu, genjitsu or going to the site, checking the actual item and getting the facts. This is sometimes shortened to genchi genbutsu or simply “go see” in English.

Plan, Do, Check Act is a 4-step cycle but most people miss the third step – check. Taiichi Ohno said “Check is hansei” and I believe that the correct practice of PDCA is:

  1. Plan
  2. Do
  3. Hansei

Hansei implies reflection on past actions and a plan to adjust future actions. Perhaps it’s not “ready, aim, fire” but rather “aim, fire, ready.”

Lean is a never-ending process, ultimately about the pursuit of perfection, which can be summarized in a rule of three also: practice, practice, practice.

Power of the Rule of Three in the Lean Enterprise: A Framework for Continuous Improvement

The power of the rule of three can be seen in various aspects of the Lean Enterprise. By focusing on nurturing people, profit, and the planet, implementing sustained practices such as 5S, and following problem-solving techniques like jidoka and genchi genbutsu, Lean organizations can achieve continuous improvement. The Lean Enterprise Rules of Three in purpose, process, and problem solving provide a framework for streamlining processes, minimizing waste, and driving improvement. With the correct practice of Plan, Do, Check Act, Lean organizations can maintain a basis for the next improvement, making continuous improvement a part of their culture. Can you think of other lean enterprise rules of three? What’s your favorite rule of three, in life or in lean?

*If you would like definitions for some of the vocabulary please refer to https://www.gembaacademy.com/resources/gemba-glossary

 


  1. Alberto

    December 19, 2007 - 8:11 am
    Reply

    We could say SMED can be applied in 3 Steps:
    1 Make external steps internal.
    2 Improve internal steps
    3 Eliminate non-needed adjustments
    … they may not be 3 step methods but you could mention 3P’s or A3 hehe

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