Description

This course builds on the theme of Lean Accounting that traditional performance measures cannot work in a lean plant for the simple reason that they were to support the methods of traditional manufacturing, building large batches to achieve economies of scale. Since lean’s aim is to make things one at time, and you get what you measure, the old measures have to go. If that is the case, then what should be measured? Answering this question is the purpose of this important course.

The course takes the approach of providing participants with what we call a “Starter Set” of performance measures. The starter set is a hierarchy of performance measures for the lean cell, value stream and plant that are linked to the goals of the lean company at each of these levels. The measures were developed with the typical lean company in mind, and they have been found to work in most companies as they are. But most companies will want to prove them out by linking them to their own strategies and goals and adapting them accordingly. Consequently a good amount of time is spent teaching how to link the measures to company, value stream and cell strategies and goals as well as teaching the performance measures themselves. As a whole this course provides the lean practitioner with a valuable set of tools for managing the lean company at every level.

The following is an outline of the one-day program:

• What is the problem with current performance measures?
• How do traditional measures differ from required to run a lean company?
  • Discussion—what problems do you have with your measures?
• What measures can support lean: The “Starter Set”
  • Cell Level
  • Value Stream Level
  • Plant, or Company
    • Discussion—How well do these measures support your lean factory?
    • What would have to be changed?
    • What problems would arise from eliminating existing measures?
• How to modify the Starter Set
  • How measures link to strategies and goals
  • Sharpening the linkage through definition of critical success factors
  • How the Starter Set was developed
  • Exercise: Developing a “Starter Set”: for your own company
• Implementing the performance measures in your plant—developing a plan

Who Should Attend

General Managers and presidents of lean companies, value stream managers,

CFOs, controllers, cost accountants, operations managers, lean team members,

and others who develop and use operations performance measures

Specific Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this one-day session, participants will:

·     Understand the ways in which traditional measures inhibit lean

·     Have obtained and understood a starter set of performance measures that support lean values at the plant, value stream and cell levels

·     Know how to modify the starter set to support the company’s strategies, objectives and goals at plant, value stream and cell levels.

·     Have a set of measures that they can implement right away to drive their lean strategies in their plants