A problem is an unwelcome situation that has a potentially adverse effect. Another way of looking at this is that a problem is a gap between what you think things should be and the reality of what they are. But problems, unfortunately, can mask themselves.

Some are simply not obvious. Think about water damage in a crawlspace. You can have a problem and not even know it. In manufacturing, you might have grease that degrades too soon, or a machine that is mis-calibrated and is cutting parts to the wrong size. Both are hard to spot and look fine initially.

Another thing that problems do is hide in plain sight. This is one of the big challenges with Lean implementations. There may be situations that are generally accepted as problems by people skilled at Lean, but others may not them as business as usual. Consider excess inventory or large batches. Both are readily apparent but are often looked at as good ways to manage potential shortages or to operate machines efficiently. Lean looks at both as problems.

The truth is that there is a glut of problems that are present in most companies. And very few of them are truly unique. There are certainly a whole lot of flavors to those problems, but by and large, most problems you hear about in businesses are not novel.

That is one of the benefits of Lean. It contains many pre-packaged problem-solving tools. This saves time and effort on solving some of the most common problems you will face, and lets you expend the lion’s share of your intellectual firepower on the really juicy problems.

Consider something like a parts shortage on a high use part. There are only a handful of reasons for this, and most have a specific Lean tool that can address it.

Are the shortages related to ordering problems? Try kanban. Is the problem that there are quality issues? Put poka yoke devices in place. Efficiency problems? Use Standard Work. Problems with misplaced tools slowing things down? 5S.

Problems and Processes

Nearly all problems are the result of poor processes. On a positive note, problems are also flags that highlight the opportunity to fix those poor processes.

One of the cardinal sins of continuous improvement is to live with recurring problems without doing something about it. Obviously, there are times when the problem is insignificant, but it is surprising how often people will live with something seriously wrong. They get numb to the difficulty, and eventually don’t even view it as a problem anymore. Despite the numbness, morale still falls.

Categories of Problems

Optimization
Quality Issues
Decision Making
Growth
Opportunities

Lean Problem Solving

Lean offers two main tools for solving problems. The first is the PDCA cycle (Plan, Do, Check, Act), in which you look over a problem and make a plan, implement changes, check progress, and then act to refine the plan or lock it in as applicable.

The other big tool is the kaizen event. This is a structured, week-long, ad hoc project team that comes together to fix specific problems. It is generally referred to as process improvement efforts, but really, what is that? It is identifying all the problems with a process and eliminating them.