RE: Deming in Japan

[Mike@tpmanswers.com]

Dear Collin,

I was trained by the Japan Institute of Plant Maintenance(JIPM)in Japan in 1993.  I studied Total Productive Maintenance in Tokyo and Nagoya.  Many of the study subjects were Toyota suppliers.  Since that time I have been involved with TPM, which is really applied Deming and is also called the Toyota Production Method.  I was a member of the JIPM advisory board in the US.  I returned to Japan three more times to study TPM in the process industry.  The plant at which I lead the TPM effort was the first US owned and operated plant to win the TPM Excellence Award.  All this is to say that I understand how to apply Deming’s methods and have seen great success at numerous locations through out the US.  

Here are a couple of sad observations.  I have attended TPM conferences for years.  The big three auto makers are big customers of TPM consulting.  Their representatives are usually featured in the conference brochures.  The auto maker’s presentations I saw in 1993 were the same presentation that I saw in 2003.  The auto makers are always telling you how well they are going to do.  Success is limited to one small part of the company or worse yet a productivity improvement “center” that is no more than a show.  I have toured one of the best plants in one of the big three and the TPM implementation was poor at best.  The auto industry has such a maze of bonuses, automation,  traditions and complex union agreements that their implementation of the Toyota method is nearly impossible.  Saturn came close, but GM couldn’t stand the maverick behavior.  I don’t think that you will ever get a Honda or Toyota quality product from the US big three.  The irony is that most of the Hondas and Toyotas sold in the US are made in the US. 

The other sad observation is that most companies kill the Deming processes, because Deming deals with systems, not executive “brilliance”.  

Milliken, a privately owned company has maintained success, Unilever, a foreign based company has done well and P&G has some success.  

And the plant that won the first US TPM award?  A plant the could make money when most refiners were in the red.  A plant that demonstrated over seventy million in annual savings due to TPM implementation, savings that were documented by corporate auditors.  After two mergers, management focus changed to bogus numbers and big stories from the 6 Sigma folks.   Deming, despite its obvious success, was relegated to a non-supported process.  Many of the gains have been quite durable, but the progress has virtually stopped.  

In a business world that believes that all good comes from a small group of highly compensated management heroes, systems theory is ridiculed and despised.  The predominate management theory is that if you get the right person and pump up the incentives, then you get great results.  (Or in many cases fantastic lies, like Enron and others.)  Business success is based on getting the best MBA and paying them outrageously.

I think Deming may be in our future, but the mind set of top management and numerous Guru’s must change.  

I quote a very smart man, "The world still needs Deming badly!".  Thank you for your note Collin.
       

Mike Woolbert

Mike@TPMAnswers.com

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