“Story.”
In Japanese, it is written as 【物語】.
The first symbol represents a material. 【物】 The second symbol represents talk. 【話】 Story is “Material Talk.” It is weird, but in manufacturing, which we call “Monodukuri,” we should listen to the story that the “material talks.”
“Mono” has the following meanings;
1️⃣ Objects that occupy some space and are comprehensible with human senses.
2️⃣ Objects that humans can think about but have no shape.
3️⃣ Ghosts and monsters
It typically means materials, but we attach something spiritual to it. For example, the movie Princess Mononoke (1997) has many spiritual aspects and crafts. The film is based on a Japanese mindset.
Because " Mono” had such a meaning, the story became “Monogatari.” Some people talked about things that fascinated the Japanese. It is believed that “The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter” is the oldest story in Japan, which was written around the 9th century.
But, the material is “talking,” even today, especially in manufacturing. And we should listen to them. Here are some examples.
1️⃣ Defects
Defects tell us a lot of “stories.”
A factory was suffering from defects. It was said that the supplier or transportation caused the damage. There were multiple discussions among the parties to solve the issue, but there was no progress. We started the investigation by looking at the defect. A question was raised after looking at the defect. The problem didn’t seem to be caused by some kind of force from outside. We tested by cracking the part from the outside and demonstrated that we created completely different damage. Then, we went to the genba. We examined the floor and found many broken parts near the assembly area, not inside the box or transportation area. The suspected crime location was the assembly area, not the supplier or transportation. With concise observation, we captured the moment of truth. We found a method that damaged the part. We quickly implemented Poka-yoke to avoid this method.
How often do we examine the actual defect? What are we doing to all defects? Very frequently, engineers or managers skip the actual examination of the defects. Very often, when the defect is categorized as the same, we don’t examine multiple defects within the same category. Each defect might be slightly different. That difference could become a hint for solving the problem. Often, we pursue the efficiency of scrapping the defect and bypass careful investigation of each defect. Each defect has an exciting story that we should not ignore.
2️⃣ Location
The location of a material also tells us a lot of story.
A team leader was taping the floor around a pallet, forcing the operator to walk around, violating the standardized work. When I asked the team leader why she taped the floor, she feared the 5S audit. Yet, we should never have a 5S that requires additional walking for the operator. Besides, someone left the pallet in the standardized work area. It was clear that they didn’t respect the standardized work. Since this was a serious issue, the problem was escalated to the plant manager.
In another plant, they implemented Kanban. As we walked around the two processes, we had one question. “Why do we need this Kanban?” As we asked this question, an engineer eventually explained, “Wa wanted to implement Kanban.” They implemented a Kanban just because they wanted to, and there was no reason to implement it.
Materials do not move around on their own—the location where materials are the intentions of someone. It becomes clear what they respect and what their priority is. Sometimes, it might be the opposite of what they say.
3️⃣ Quantity
A factory claimed to have “world-class OEE.” As we walked the floor, we observed an enormous inventory. They were talking about building a new warehouse to store additional in-process stock. They all hushed as we asked why they needed more inventories when the machines were stable. Observing the machines, we learned that they were just faking the numbers.
The inventory is sincere. The more inventory we have, the more problems we have. When someone resists reducing inventory, it is a sign that there are many issues. We shouldn’t blame those trying to hide problems by keeping inventories. There is a fear of exposing those problems; we must address this psychological safety.
There are many other ways, such as design, in which material “talks a story.” It is good to listen to such stories; otherwise, they could become scary.
Comments