Lean For The Little Guy
Small businesses find ways to benefit from a slimmer approach
John Wiley of Elipticon Wood Products
Lean is a production philosophy that considers the expenditure of resources for any goal other than the creation of value for the end customer to be wasteful, and thus a target for elimination. Based on the Japanese Toyota Production system, lean culture has been widely adopted by businesses throughout the world in the past decade. Because lean is regarded as a complete transformation of a company’s culture and business practices, there are often significant training and implementation costs.
“I’ve heard the same thing over and over: lean sounds interesting and potentially beneficial, but it’s too expensive and time-consuming for very small companies,” says Wiley. “But I’ve seen first-hand the benefit of deploying a lean culture in a small organization such as ours. Finding new ways to bring lean into the small workplace is a mission for me.”
Wiley connected with Mike Williams, retired vice president of electrical equipment manufacturer Unlimited Services Inc., at a meeting of the Appleton Breakfast Rotary Club. Williams’ company, based in Oconto, also enjoys the efficiencies of a lean work environment.
“When Unlimited began its lean journey in 1996, we had 85 employees and around $6 million in sales,” says Williams. “today we have 450 people in four locations, with sales topping $30 million. Our growth simply would not have been possible without lean business practices and the shared culture of lean. And like John, I wanted to find a way to bring this transformation to other Wisconsin businesses.”
Together, Wiley and Williams launched “The Very Small Budget Approach to Lean for Very Small Businesses,” a Rotary-sponsored program that kicked off with a March 5 workshop in Appleton. A second meeting was held April 1.
“The workshop was designed as an introduction to lean, to bring together people with the interest, the desire and the commitment to undertake lean but not necessarily the money to hire their own trainers and facilitators and pursue lean in the traditional manner,” says Wiley.
More than 100 people, representing manufacturing, service businesses, local governments and not-for-profit groups attended the March 5 event. Wiley says nearly half have committed to further participation.
“The next step is to form small groups of eight to 10 business people who will meet regularly with trained leaders to learn lean and to implement lean practices between meetings,” says Williams.
The small group meetings will cost $12.50 per person per meeting – about $150 to $300 per year depending on the level of attendance. That compares to the thousands, or even tens of thousands of dollars some companies will spend to adopt lean.
“We hope the small groups will continue meeting for three to five years and get really solid lean practices in place, while acknowledging the level of investment these companies are able to make,” says Wiley.
Monthly meeting participants will generally spend an hour reviewing past information learned, an hour learning new lean tools and techniques and an hour discussing implementation strategies. Locations will vary, depending on the needs of attendees.
In addition, trained leaders will be available to coach groups within the workplace for $125 an hour, if business leaders need support. And, small group leaders can help each other for free, adds Wiley.
Dave Townsend is a business consultant with the Wisconsin Manufacturing Extension Partnership and a self-proclaimed lean evangelist. His organization has helped more than 1,000 Wisconsin manufacturers adopt lean practices, and he enthusiastically supports Wiley and Williams’ efforts.
“No doubt the interest is there among the smaller companies,” says Townsend. “Finding a delivery method that fits their needs has been a challenge and this fills the gap.”
“WMEP and other organizations are working hard to help elevate Wisconsin manufacturing to world-class,” says Townsend. “Making lean principles accessible to those who don’t currently have the resources is consistent with our collaborative approach. Incremental benefits will accrue as businesses and others learn together.” WMEP is a co-sponsor of the small business effort.
“With business slow, now is the best time for small businesses to reorganize and rethink the process of how and what they do,” says Wiley. “Lean helps lower the cost of doing business; increases profitable sales; develops more fulfilled employees; and helps keep customers delighted.”
Wiley says new participants are welcome at any time, and there is no established deadline for joining or continuing to participate in the small group activities.
“Lean isn’t a fixed state. It’s an on-going process and mindset of continual improvement where we are constantly learning, trying new things and getting better,” he says.
