Lean Self Audit

Understanding the Corporate Diagnostic Scorecard

Please note that this is a condensed version

When starting a Lean transformation or when planning "next steps" in a Lean initiative already underway, a Lean audit is necessary step to help you determine your current state. Once you have determined your current state you can effectively plan your future state and the strategy for getting there. The Diagnostic Scorecard, part of Corporate Diagnosis and the first step of Productivity Inc.'s Lean Management System, is a powerful diagnostic tool that will help you understand your organization's capabilities and track its progress against benchmarks set by world leaders in Lean management.

Productivity Inc.'s Lean Management System

• Phase One
• Corporate Diagnosis
• 9 Keys to Development
• Diagnostic Scorecard
• Phase Two
• Organizational Development
• Roles and Responsibilities
• Phase Three
• Deployment
• Catchball
• Strategies and Tactics
• Implementation and Adherence
• Analysis and Reflection

How Do You Rate?

Click here to view a condensed version of the Diagnostic Scorecard, part of our Lean Management System. This interactive scorecard will allow you to quickly perform a self-audit and determine where your company is on its continuous improvement journey.

About the Diagnostic Scorecard

The Keys to Development
The Keys to Development form the main categories in which an organization charts its progress. A drive to build or improve the 9 Keys distinguishes a Lean manufacturer from a mass producer. Each key is associated with and helps regulate one of the growth cornerstones - strategy, structure, and strength. Each key is also specifically associated with a particular zero waste goal. View the zero waste chart below for more information.

Zero Waste Chart

Key	Zero Waste Goal	Relationship to Profit
1. Customer Focus	Zero customer dissatisfaction	Customer input and feedback show quality. Customer satisfaction supports sales.
2. Leadership and Strategic Planning	Zero misalignment	Targets policy ownership and speed in achieving ROI.
3. Organization Architecture	Zero bureaucracy	Team-based operations reduce overhead by eliminating bureaucracy, and assures information flow and cooperation.
4. Lean Supply Chain	Zero stakeholder dissatisfaction	Flexible relationships with suppliers, distributors, and society improve quality, cost and speed.
5. Information Architecture	Zero late information	Knowledge required for operations is accurate and timely, thus improving quality, cost and speed.
6. Improvement Technology	Zero waste	Employee participation in eliminating operational waste improves cost, quality and speed.
7. Production Management	Zero non-value-adding work	Total employee involvement and aggressive waste elimination promote speeclier operations and eraclicate inventories.
8. Equipment/Process Management	Zero failures, zero defects	Longer equipment life and design improvement reduce costs. Meticulous maintenance and equipment improvement increase quality. Absolute availability and efficiency increase speed.
9. Product/Process Engineering	Zero lost opportunity	Early resolution of design problems with customers and suppliers significantly reduces cost, while improving quality and cycle time.

Each Key has as a set of related control points described as either Lean tools or business activities. By clicking on one of the 9 Key's you will download a Progress Table (pdf format). Each Key's Progress Table gives generic Diagnostic questions which will enable you to audit your company on that Key at a macro level and rate that unit on a scale of 1 through 5.

• Level 1 - Plan Mass Production
• Level 2 - Pilot System Initiation
• Level 3 - Deploy System Development
• Level 4 - Integrate System Maturity
• Level 5 - Excel System Excellence

Control Points

Control Points represent the concept, measures, methods, techniques, Lean tools, and/or business activity that needs to be employed in order to assist an organization through the 5 levels of transformation. This enables an organization to track its progress as it moves through the 9 Keys. The growth of an organization is measured by the step-by-step development of each key. Productivity Inc. has developed level-by-level roadmaps for each of the 9 Keys that help a company select the right Lean tool at the right time. Productivity's full Corporate Diagnostic table provides Progress Tables for all of the control points. The Progress Tables give generic Diagnostic questions which will enable you to audit your company at a micro level and rate that unit on a scale of 1 through 5.

To enable you to do a more in depth self-audit on some of the key Lean tools, Productivity has provided Progress Tables for the following Control Points:

• 3.2 - Team Activities
• 6.2 - Value Stream Management
• 6.3 - Mistake-Proofing
• 6.4 - Lean Office
• 7.1 - Flow Production
• 7.3 - Quick Changeover
• 7.5 - Kanban / Pull
• 7.6 - 3P
• 8.1 - Reliable Equipment
• 8.2 - Autonomous Maintenance
• 8.5 - Right Sized Equipment
• 9.1 - Design Process

By clicking on one of these Control Points listed above, you will open a Progress Table (pdf format) for that control point.

How to use the Diagnostic Scorecard

    1. Start with Control Point 1.1, click on box 1 through 5 that is relative to your organization's current state of Lean transformation
    2. Continue down all nine keys
    3. When complete the Diagnostic Scorecard will calculate the score for each key

How to score

The purpose of scoring is to rate the unit and the organization objectively in each of the 9 Keys and to gain a better understanding of the complex technical and human factors that may affect performance in each control point. Past efforts should be recognized, but as the word "diagnosis" suggests, the intention of scoring is to point the direction for corrective action and future improvements and, more important, the challenges the organization faces internally and externally. So, it is wise to err on the side of strict application. Diagnosis should lead to a proactive strategic response.

About the score

A company that diagnoses itself as a mass production organization will strive to initialize Lean management through focused pilot projects in critical operational areas. Having accomplished this task, management may reassess the company as a level 2 organization. Ascending to the next level requires the company to take what it has learned from its pilot projects and deploy to all major operational areas, the successful completion of which will project the organization to level 3 Lean status. The firm may next face the challenge of extending the new practices into all areas of operations, including support. Ascending to level 4 requires more skill than all previous efforts combined.

Today, only a few organizations can boast of having achieved a level 3 (System Development) in all 9 Keys. Development from level 1 to level 3 is hard work. Going from level 3 to level 4 and level 4 to 5 requires the greatest effort of all.

Next Steps

Productivity Inc.'s Lean Management System is unique. It is a complete system, yet the various components such as Corporate Diagnosis, Strategic Planning and Hoshin Management (Policy Deployment), can stand alone and be tailored to suit your organization's needs regardless of where you are in the improvement cycle.

Give our Client Development Team a call at 800-966-5423 and we'll work with you to sketch out an improvement model that's tailored to your special needs...one that will deliver quick results. Alternatively, we can work with you to jump-start your existing model where a little tweaking can bring about significant benefits. Or, bring our consultants on-site to facilitate a full Corporate Diagnosis and discuss all the elements of our Lean Management System.