Lean thinking and square watermelons

Challenging assumptions and looking at things in new ways can spawn better answers to old problems

by Howard Coleman

Lean thinking is often described as a culture of solving problems. It’s a process of continuous improvement and a search for excellence that creates more value and increased responsiveness to your customer’s demands by continually searching for activities across your organization that don’t add value. In my work with clients, I’ve found that corporate culture has a significant impact on process improvements and how organizations go about developing and improving their core competencies.

Lean thinking in wholesale-distribution is an extension of the lean manufacturing concepts that gained widespread acceptance in Japan, most notably at Toyota Motors, and then extended into the U.S., as manufacturing companies across a broad range of industries sought out the same dramatic results in improvements in operations and customer experience. It is not only focused on eliminating non-value-added activities (waste), but also on applying the appropriate problem-solving methods to identify the root-causes of the barriers and obstacles to increased performance.

Lean thinking also utilizes performance metrics as a way of measuring continuous improvement. The mindset that is encouraged through forming and employing lean thinking problem-solving teams is that your personnel usually know best about your processes.

Lean thinking asks that you think differently about your business processes and use lean thinking problem-solving teams to seize upon new opportunities for eliminating barriers to improved business process performance, reducing non-value-added-activities, while fostering important team-building skills.

I typically find that approximately 60 percent of the activities performed at a wholesale-distributor add no value to the customer. Therefore, eliminating those barriers represents a significant potential for performance improvement.

As an advocate of lean thinking, I often ask my clients to consider whether their opinions and assumptions about a specific problem are tainted by their preconceived notions and attitudes which sometimes can be simply stated, “That’s the way we’ve always done it.” It’s a difficult mindset to change. Lean practices are not something most of us adopt intuitively.

Lean thinking can impact:
       • Strategic planning
       • Operations and supply chain management
       • Customer loyalty
       • Performance measurement and benchmarking
       • Core competencies

Lean thinking challenges us in several different ways. For example, it challenges our:
       • Assumptions
       • Habits
       • Creativity
       • Ability to find a better way
       • Belief that impossibilities often aren’t

Brainstorming is one simple key problem-solving method utilized by lean thinkers. Most effective brainstorming is usually led by a facilitator, possibly from outside the organization, who does not possess those assumptions and preconceived notions. Brainstorming, if conducted effectively, can be a powerful tool that leads people to consider process alternatives they may not have previously considered.

The watermelon dilemma
Let’s focus on a real situation that I think you will find interesting.

Japanese grocery stores had a problem. They are much smaller than their U.S. counterparts and therefore don’t have room to waste. Watermelons, big and round, wasted a lot of space. Would you tell the grocery stores that watermelons grow round and there is nothing that can be done about it? Many would respond exactly that way. Japanese farmers took a different approach. If the supermarkets wanted a square watermelon, they asked themselves, “How can we provide one?” It wasn’t long before they invented the square watermelon.

The solution to the problem of round watermelons wasn’t nearly as difficult to solve for those who didn’t assume the problem was impossible to begin with. They simply asked, through brainstorming, how it could be done. It turns out all they needed to do was place the round watermelons into a square box as they are growing, and the watermelon will take on the shape of the box.

This made the grocery stores happy and had the added benefit of making it much easier and cost-effective to ship the watermelons. Consumers also loved them because they took less space in their refrigerators, which are smaller than those in the U.S. The growers were able to charge a premium price for them.

What does this have to do with anything besides square watermelons? There are a few lean thinking lessons that you can take away from this story that could help you to launch a lean thinking initiative within your own organization.

Don’t assume
The major problem was that most people had always seen round watermelons so they automatically assumed square watermelons were impossible, even before thinking about the question. Assumptions you’ve had forever – and sometimes don’t even realize you’re making – can take on the aura of the round watermelon, and you may not even take the time to consider if there is another way to do it. Lean thinking problem-solving methodology can break your organization from making these faulty assumptions and begin to look for new and better ways do things. What seems perfectly logical on the surface often has to be questioned.

Question habits
The best way to tackle these assumptions is to question your organization’s habits. If you can make an effort to question the way you do things on a consistent basis, you will find that the organization can continually improve the way they do things. It’s a never ending process of continuous improvement in search of operational excellence. By doing this, you can consistently strive toward making all aspects of your organization more effective and performance metric-driven.

Be creative
When faced with a problem, simple and effectively led brainstorming fosters creativity in looking for a best solution. This often requires thinking outside the box. Many people I share the watermelon story with thought they were being asked how they could genetically alter watermelons to grow square, which would be a much more difficult process to accomplish. Through effective brainstorming – looking at the question from alternative perspectives – the solution was quite simple. Creative brainstorming looks at things in different ways and helps organizations find solutions to problems where they may not be seen normally. It’s a lean thinking skill that builds upon itself.

Look for a better way
The square watermelon question was simply seeking a better and more convenient way to do something. The stores had flagged a problem they were having and asked if a solution was possible. It’s impossible to find a better way if you never ask the question in the first place, no matter the barrier or obstacle to increased performance. Lean thinking problem-solving teams are by nature charged with the responsibility of asking, “Is there a better way we could be doing this?” Most often than not, there is.

If you begin with the notion that something is impossible, then it obviously will be. If, on the other hand, you decide to see if something is possible, through the appropriate lean thinking problem-solving methods, you will find how and what it takes.

Take away the lessons from the square watermelons and apply them to your lean thinking efforts. Champion lean thinking within your organization as a culture and specific tool set just as important as your business strategy.

This article originally appeared in the July/August 2008 issue of Progressive Distributor. Copyright 2008.

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