In 1991, the Toyota OMDD people published an article in the IE Review: Official Publication of the Japan Institute of Industrial Engineering titled “Creating a High Job Satisfaction Genba and Toyota Production System.”
There were three authors of this article. Yoshio Yahagi, Hajime Oba and Takehiro Watanabe. Yes, the second author is my father and coach. I might be biased. Although this article was written over thirty years ago, it provides many things we can apply today.
First, the article’s title includes the word “Hatarakigai【働きがい】.” This word is typically translated as “job satisfaction” or “work motivation.” It balances the “convenience of work” with the “meaning, challenge, or reward of work.” There is a popular concept called “Ikigai,” and “Hatarakigai” is its work version. And both were topics for decades. This article states that IE is responsible for balancing “continuous improvement of productivity” and “creating genba with Hatarakigai.” They called this balanced condition an “amenity,” which we must design. By the way, improving the “Hatarakigai” but eliminating Muda is the theme that Taiichi Ohno stated in his book “Toyota Production System.”
This article highlights four obstacles.
1️⃣ Long working hours. This includes overtime and weekends.
2️⃣ Hard, futile, and difficult work.
This includes;
Physically demanding work
Activities that were initially not assigned, such as repair, repack, etc.
Complicated work. Work that needs to be defined and standardized well.
Workers without proper training. As a result, regular work becomes complicated for them.
3️⃣ Workplace that doesn’t satisfy belonging, self-esteem, and growth. This often happens due to a management structure that excuses “busy.”
4️⃣ The work environment is harsher than personal life in terms of temperature, food quality, crowdedness, etc.
All of these issues are Ubiquitous even after thirty years.
The directions they state are;
1️⃣ To reduce the long working hours, we must;
Each process must only produce what is necessary without fluctuations (Mura) daily.
2️⃣ Pursue the ease of work.
This includes reducing mental stress. They also warn that the technique of giving extra allowance has been abused and has been abandoned to make the work design easier.
3️⃣ Genba, which satisfies belonging, self-esteem, and development.
They create an environment that they challenge according to their needs. This does not mean abandoning the people under the name of “self-control.”
4️⃣ Creating a satisfactory work environment.
They call this condition necessary, but more is needed. Even if the environment is excellent, people won't feel good if the work remains a mess.
Their solution is “the mechanism of Toyota production system” and “Genba operations by team.”
The mechanisms of the Toyota production system are;
1️⃣ Heijyun-ka (Leveling)
2️⃣ Pull system
3️⃣ Flowzation of process
4️⃣ Takt time based on necessary quantity
5️⃣ Standardized work
6️⃣ Jidouka (Autonomation)
Following are my notes on the above points;
1️⃣ Heijyun-ka (Leveling)
I hope this Heijyun-ka becomes a normal condition instead of ignoring it at first sight without even investigating. There was a factory that received unusually high orders. This problem escalated; fortunately, the VP understood the issue and discussed it with the customer OEM. When they investigated the problem, they discovered that the purchasing person was taking a personal vacation and, therefore, decided to over-order the items it was responsible for. We were able to level the order when both parties agreed. At first, I was frustrated that an individual could make a massive order and distort the operations. However, as I understood more, most places don’t work in an organization or a system. People take a vacation, which is a normal condition. However, an organization or a system does not cover the work; an individual has to make a decision that causes more problems. Many companies claim they can’t do Heijyun-ka because of the market without investigating these internal issues.
2️⃣ Pull system
This article makes the interesting point that the “pull system creates autonomy and convincing.” I considered the opposite condition: chaos and doubt. Many organizations work under such conditions. Sales don’t trust that operations deliver the necessary products, so they inflate the numbers. The production schedule changes hourly based on the random opinions of schedulers. Production learns to ignore those orders and focus on large batch production since all the management cares about is the OEE. Instead of looking at what the customer pulled, each silo starts to make “creative” decisions which lead to organizational disaster. Creating autonomy and a convincing pull system is necessary for high job satisfaction in the workplace.
3️⃣ Flowzation of process
It might be better to say continuous flow; the opposite condition is isolated islands. Isolated islands are a problem not just because they increase lead time, add inventory, and create an imbalance among processes. The biggest problem is that they isolate people, which decreases work satisfaction. Also, instead of being responsible for a process, being accountable for multiple processes allows you to see the progress of the material toward the finished goods.
4️⃣ Takt time based on necessary quantity
One of the surprises I had when working with Toyota managers was that they automatically converted it to annual volume whenever I mentioned Takt time. Yes, the working hours and days are different, but they get a rough idea of the annual volume. Interestingly, the calculated volume is always higher than the target volume mentioned in the meeting room. “Why are you organizationally trying to over-produce?” Then comes the excuses about the downtimes and instabilities, which nobody challenges. The core difference I observed was this commitment to the “necessary quantity,” which is shared among all functions and levels. It is not a random number that each process can decide. And once they see that some processes are planning to “overproduce,” they correct such thinking. It is such a commitment that “respects humanity.”
5️⃣ Standardized work
They state that Genba, without standardized work, will work randomly, creating wait, extra walking, machine downtimes, defects, and other forms of waste. By implementing standardized work, they set the rules with the best methods for productivity. Developing standardized work as a team promotes engagement from the workers. Also, they see that in the extension of Kaizen of the standardized work, there is small automation (or Karakuri), use of computers, product design for manufacturing, VA/VE, and other broad-meaning Kaizen.
6️⃣ Jidouka (Autonomation)
Here, they are not discussing the narrow definition of Jidou-ka, which is to add human wisdom to machines. They are talking about the other definition, which allows people to stop the line when they see abnormalities. Then, work on the problem that caused the stoppage. This “stop” or “call” applies to difficult work.
Last but not least, they talk about the importance of teamwork in operating the Genba to conduct problem-solving and activation of the Genba. This happens through the utilization of the mechanisms of the Toyota Production System that was listed above. Also, standardized work should be flexible and adjusted according to the skill levels of the workers within a team. By participating in the suggestion system, QC circles, Jishuken, etc., people experience the world of Kaizen. Assign access to Kaizen materials and team for each group. And keep a relatively “small” span of control for the team leaders and the group leaders to foster Kaizen culture.
I have also had numerous discussions about this “small” span of control. Although the number of people that each team leader and group leader is responsible for is “small,” each process has a high density of value-added work. Also, the functionalities that each leader must cover are extensive safety, quality, maintenance, engineering, logistics, human resources, Kaizen, etc. Therefore, this is not necessarily a high-cost structure. Instead, how much we are sacrificing humanity by not having such structures on the Genba should be the question.
“TPS is not a toolbox.” It is also not a naive slogan of “respect people.” It is a balanced activity of the genba that improves productivity while satisfying the worker’s humanity.
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