How to get product and services to flow—Take friction out of the process

June 24, 2021 | by Ed Hoffman

I am often asked to tour factories and provide opinions regarding the overall productivity and state of operations. Being a student of Lean principles and having a background in industrial engineering, I can quickly analyze and perform the detailed work to calculate answers. Even so, this quick type of complex analysis frequently misses the bigger picture and obscures the real story of what is happening beneath the surface level of production.

Sometimes we need to step back and look at the principles of operations in a much more organic way. One great image to keep in our thoughts is the concept of a river. Henry Ford figured this out over 100 years ago. He understood that an assembly line needs to move at a constant rate to achieve effective production flow. The assembly line flows like a river, and when there are no defects or obstacles—rocks, for example—the river will deposit a completed product to the customer on time. Henry Ford’s vision is as true today as it was then.

This concept has been written about for years by many great leaders, from Toyota’s Taiichi Ohno to the US researchers at MIT to think tanks and beyond. However, the concept I want to highlight is friction, and how it exacerbates hidden issues in production flow.

We might not immediately associate friction with rivers flowing, but we can glean a lesson from rafters and kayakers, who are acutely aware of how water moves at different speeds, according to what is on the surface and what is beneath. If thrown from a raft and pushed underwater, will a person move faster or slower than the raft above? Faster—because the surface water experiences friction with the air and moves slower than the water underneath. The river will move him faster while he is underwater, but his life preserver will float him to the surface, where the raft is moving slower. The end result is he will get pushed under the raft, which is never a great place to be.

So, how is all this relevant to production? Much like a river, a company’s production flow experiences friction that slows it down. Surface friction takes the form of management interference, bureaucracy, employee discontent and several other issues. I differentiate this from the rocks in the river, which create rapids and other dangers. Rocks are typically quality issues, producibility challenges and other issues that are typically more tangible. Friction is often ignored, but it is always present. Consequently, depending on its degree, friction can create more disruption than all the rocks combined.

So, how do we recognize friction? Through observation and sometimes interviews, which bring me back to the idea of touring factories and businesses. Noticeable indicators of friction include:

• Metrics on the working level that are not aligned with business needs
• Employees who are not able to self-govern or initiate work without getting specific direction from supervisors and managers
• Lack of capability and empowerment by the employees to identify and solve problems
• Poor communication throughout the organization

Just like in a river, there will always be friction in any operation. The trick is to minimize its impact, so the rafter does not get stuck under the boat. The good news is business managers can resolve friction points with a keen understanding of the issues and a plan to fix them.