Internal First!

I first heard these words from our mentor, Mr. Yamada.  It was his first visit to our facility, and we were proudly sharing our vision, the future state, for our operation.  We thought we were experienced in lean.  We had read all the latest books, knew the tools, had the organizational alignment and were ready to go.  Part of the vision included receiving materials from our suppliers in smaller lots, more frequently.  We had over $25 million of inventory in the plant, much of it in the raw form.  If only we could get our suppliers on board!

“Internal first!”  Standing in our final assembly area and gesturing at a bank of injection molding presses about 10 yards away, he said, “first get the parts from those presses delivered to these lines more frequently, and in smaller lots – then you can go talk to you suppliers.”

What followed was nine months of learning.  How small is small?  How frequent is frequent?  Why?  We had to understand how the materials interfaced with the value-added work and our value stream as a whole.  Yamada-san’s advice made us realize the importance of knowledge, but also deep understanding through experience.

So the next time you are ready to demand countermeasures from your suppliers, think “internal first.”  Do you really understand your value stream and what is truly needed to improve it?  Are you just reciting slogans or are you speaking from informed