Hello,

We have all heard parables that relate to insight, such as, ‘not seeing the forest for the trees’ and ‘each blind man differently describing an elephant.’ The lesson these stories boil down to objectivity. When you can separate yourself from the urgency of problems, whether its defects or excess inventory, and look at it objectively, solutions will appear. When an entire organization such as Toyota has that mindset, well, they don¹t report record-breaking losses of almost $39 billion dollars, that¹s for sure. Even though Toyota sold 3000 fewer vehicles than GM last year, they posted record profits of nearly $15 billion dollars. What insight does this provide?

Sincerely,

Co-founder of the Shingo Prize for excellence in manufacturing, Norman Bodek

Was the worker following the standard or. . . creating a new one?
- Norman Bodek

Knowing how to see is not as simple as it sounds; it reminds me of an old proverb that says, “A fish doesn’t know that it swims in water.” Also we are often not able to see the enormous amount of waste that fills our manufacturing sites or our offices. These wastes are now classical: inventory, motion, transportation, inspection, defects, rework, waiting, the process itself, over–production, not utilizing people’s creative talents, and manager’s resistance to change. Years ago, we could not see these wastes at all, we are now fortunate in that respect.

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