The Danger of Hyper-Efficiency
Measurements & metrics, improvement programs, setting efficiency goals - can be good things. They can be very good things. But recently, I was reminded of the myopia of hyper-focusing on measurements and efficiencies at the local level to the exclusion of the global process.
We were reviewing process standards for our large-volume, bulk packaging workflow. The team has been doing a terrific job solidifying processes and validating material flows and times within the fulfillment area and we regularly look for ways to incrementally improve.
While brainstorming solutions to reduce the clutter generated during the process, someone focused on the step where they open a carton containing multiples of the same item, take one of them out and put it - along with a different item - into single-quantity retail packaging. He said, "why don't we break down the multi-pack box as soon as it is empty instead of tossing it to the side & breaking all of them down later? That would reduce the clutter."
"Because. Doing that would increase the time it takes to complete that step", someone (who will remain anonymous) responded. He was right. It would add time to that specific step in the process.
And, therein lies the danger.
Some of the team members had become so focused on the time it takes to complete a single step in the process, that it had distracted us from the overall process.
Measurements Drive Behavior
In Goldratt's book, The Goal, one of the issues his fictitious company had was that it was so caught up in measuring local efficiencies (cost per part, % utilization of a machine, reducing the number of setups, etc.) that the measurements themselves became the goal instead of focusing on the holistic process of producing - and selling - their products. As each of the individual metrics got better and better, the plant was slipping deeper and deeper into trouble.
Wake-up Call
The conversation with the packaging team woke me up. In asking the team to review, and measure, the steps in the process - they did just that. That example reminded me to focus on the global process(es) and reinforced the fact that positive local outcomes aren't actually positive if the overall efficiency or quality of the global process is negatively impacted.
What's required is a global perspective, backed by measurements that encourage behavior to reach the desired outcomes.
Results?
In the bulk packaging example, the team took measurements based on the old way (empty a multi-pack box, chuck it, keep packaging, and later break them down) vs. the newly proposed method (empty a multi-pack box, break it down, keep packaging). The results speak for themselves:
New "one-piece flow" method vs. old method
- 15% improvement in speed
- 100% reduction in clutter
- improved safety (more room for people to walk, forklift to operate, etc.)
They literally had to slow down (one step) to speed up (the overall process).
Food for Thought
- What measurements drive behavior & action at your organization?
- Are they working?
- Are you getting the desired outcomes?
- Are you focused on local efficiencies or global processes & outcomes?
Please share your thoughts & experiences in the comment section below.
Photo by Goh Rhy Yan on Unsplash