AD&P; > July 2014 > TALK > Marginal > Gary S. Vasilash > gsv@autofeldguide.com
10
He explains the diference with a
vignette involving a foreman and
a plant manager and a defective
safety part. The foreman goes in to
the manager's ofce with the bad
part and asks what he should do.
The manager tells him that if it
happens again, he should bring in
the bad part. A week later, the fore-
man shows up again with another
defective part. "But when the man-
ager asks him about the conditions
under which the defect occurred, the
foreman stammers incoherently."
So the manager tells the foreman,
again, that if a bad part shows up,
to bring it to him. Ten days later, it
happens. But this time, the foreman
tells the manager what caused the
defect and what countermeasure
was taken. Explains Shingo, "The
frst two times, the foreman merely
perceived that a defect had occurred.
The third time, having understood
what the manager had in mind"—
remember, the manager asked about
the conditions—"he thought about
why the defect might have occurred."
It's not that we need less perceiving.
But we need more thinking, espe-
cially if we are to address waste,
not merely the waste that occurs
in manufacturing operations, but
in the whole product development
cycle, from ideation to execution.
We need to ask why? a whole lot
more than we probably do. Shingo
identifes fve times (presumably
this is a minimum):
1. "Why do we need this object?
2. Why do we require this subject?
3. Why use this kind of method?
4. Why this kind of space?
5. Why this kind of time?"
While these particular whys are
addressed by Shingo at the "fve
elements of production," or "5W1H,"—
"1. What? (object), 2. Who? (sub-
ject), 3. How? (method), 4. Where?
(space), 5. When? (time), 6. Why?"—
again it seems clear that if we are
to pursue sustainability in what
we do, regardless of where we are
in the product development cycle,
regardless of what it is that we pro-
duce, then these are things that we
need to address in all activities that
we pursue. We need to think, not
just perceive. Otherwise, we might
be like those idiots that Shingo
identifed.
0714ADP Marginal -- Digital Version.indd 10 6/17/2014 1:12:57 PM