with this can be the selection of digital technologies and solutions taking into account TRL (ISO 16290:2013). The TRL is how mature the technology we want to introduce is. Therefore, the technology has 9 levels of readiness:
TRL 1: The basic principles of technology have been studied and published;
TRL 2: The concept of technology and its application is formulated;
TRL 3: Critical functions or characteristics are validated analytically and experimentally;
TRL 4: Component or layout tested under laboratory conditions;
TRL 5: Component or layout tested in conditions close to real;
TRL 6: System/subsystem or prototype model demonstrated in near real conditions;
TRL 7: Prototype system demonstrated in operation;
TRL 8: The real system is completed and qualified during tests and demonstration;
TRL 9: The real system is confirmed by a successful operation (goal achievement).
Accordingly, the more critical the impact of new technology, including digital technology, on the final product, and the higher the reliability requirements of the product, the higher the maturity level should be.
Section III. Add value to the organization by developing your employees and partners.
Principle 9. Educate leaders who know their business thoroughly, profess the company philosophy and can teach others this.
It is better to educate your leaders than to buy them outside the company. First, it is one of the key rules of motivation. When you constantly hire outsiders, you discourage your people. They begin to lose faith in the future. As a result, they focus on their goals and do not have to expect their full contribution. Second, leaders who know their business by default have high expert power and know all the pitfalls of your activities. Additionally, digitalization and automation are all about that.
Train staff in the basics of lean manufacturing, design management, digitalization, and collect feedback from the beginning.
In addition, a leader should not only perform his tasks and have the skills of communicating with people, he should also profess the philosophy of the company and set a personal example of attitude to the case.
Principle 10. Educate exceptional people and form teams that profess the company philosophy.
Principle 11. Respect your partners and suppliers, make them difficult and help them improve.
You can be as digital as you want, but if your partners live in paper, the effect will be limited. Here, as in systems constraint theory, chain strength is determined by the weakest link.
It is necessary to create conditions for partners to grow and help them to demonstrate their high efficiency.
Section IV. Permanent solution of fundamental problems stimulates continuous learning.
Principle 12. To understand the situation, you need to see everything with your own eyes (genti genbutsu).
How often have I seen stories where TOPs trusted their managers and reports on the computer? Here is a practical example. The founder of the company was from the production. Weekly he went to the production. And in the end, people understood that their work was important, motivated, and he had reliable information.
But his successor had a classical management education. He formed a team of managers, a system of reports. But what do employees want? To keep them safe and stable. That’s normal. However, with each step, from each leader the information becomes more distorted, and as a result, a distorted view of the situation is formed at the very top, which means that decisions are made based on the erroneous opinion. This is, for example, one of the main problems of public administration.
If this rule is combined with high-quality, automated data collection, transparent analytics, this problem can be avoided.
As a result, solving problems and improving processes, you need to see what is happening and personally check the data, rather than theorize, listening to other people or looking at the computer monitor. Thinking and reasoning must be based on data that are verified and sure. Even company executives and business executives must see the problem for themselves, only then will the understanding of the situation be genuine, not superficial.
Principle 13. Take your decision slowly, on the basis of consensus, weighing all possible options; when implementing it, do not delay (nemavasi).
It can also be called «think slowly, decide quickly». One of the basics of management is the need to evaluate alternatives. Making decisions based on one opinion is too dangerous and risky. If this is sometimes the only development option for young companies, the further, the more often it is necessary to use consensus, and this requires the development of the issue and several people with different opinions and psychotypes. On this, among other things, the concept of Adizes is based – one person cannot combine all the necessary competencies, you need a versatile team. To that end, it was necessary to learn to discuss views openly and to overcome conflicts.
As a result, one cannot make a clear decision on the way forward without weighing all the alternatives. In this case, there are less risks and the desire to go back and redo. And when a decision has already been made, you need to act. For example, when Toyota was developing her Prius, she worked very hard on possible variations of the hybrid approach. However, by assessing possible alternatives, they focused on one option and promoted it only, it became the de facto standard worldwide.
Nemavashi is a process of joint discussion of problems and potential solutions in which everyone participates. His job is to gather all the ideas and develop a consensus on where to go next. While such a process is time-consuming, it helps to broaden the search for solutions and to prepare the ground for rapid implementation.
Principle 14. Become a learning entity through tireless introspection (Hansei) and continuous improvement (Kaizen).
Do you think it’s possible to optimize everything? Right, in the beginning, we said that goals, objectives, technologies, products can change, and that means we need to constantly improve.
What are the approaches? You can hire consulting agencies, you can initiate regular modernization and restructuring. But with this approach, people will pretty quickly become disappointed in all this, and a culture of inert to any changes will begin to form: people will have in mind the idea that it will pass.
The Japanese prefer to follow the path of constant development in small steps, initiating changes from the performers. Additionally, for example, in digitalization – you can initiate a giant program of digital transformation, invest huge resources, and the output does not get effect.
It is better to start with the small stages of digitalization, and then, when the competencies and the conscious understanding of the need for global digitalization are formed, begin to implement global systems.
In the first book, I already gave examples of both cases: a failed implementation experience at once A total and expensive asset management system and a successful experience of using free Google tools to organize production. It’s not necessarily the right path, but I’m a proponent of that evolution.
To realize this principle, it is necessary to:
– once the process has stabilized, use tools for continuous improvement;
– create such a process that almost does not require reserves. This will immediately identify the loss of time and resources and do not start the «disease». When losses are obvious to all, they can be eliminated through continuous improvement (Kaizen);
– collect and preserve company knowledge, prevent staff turnover (i.e., understand the nature of motivation), monitor the progressive promotion of employees and preserve the accumulated