Man - Concentration

“Human work is most important.”

This is the core philosophy of TPS.

If so, what is the most important "Point" of human work? This is the concentration of people.

We humans need to concentrate to do good work. We can only focus on one thing at a time.　Standardized work is designed around the "1 by 1" concept, which allows people to concentrate on one task at a time. Some people claim that they can multi-task. But at any moment, they are only focusing on one task. For example, if someone is attending a meeting and a phone, they are paying attention to the phone, not the meeting.

The opposite of concentration is distraction. Distractions are points that direct one's attention away from work. We should eliminate such points so workers can focus on the work.

We should also avoid another type of point: blind spots, where humans can’t exercise judgment by direct sight. Blind spots increase the risk of human errors.

By connecting the points where a worker should concentrate, we start to see some lines that are important to think about.

In general, we should look at concentration movement. The less concentration movement, the more likely it is to be more efficient without getting tired and remaining focused. Some concentration points outside a natural flow will have a higher risk of forgetting.

One crucial line to think about is hand-eye coordination. What the hand is touching and what we are looking at should be close enough to focus on both. If you go to a supermarket, most products have information on the bottom shelf. This means that the eye needs to focus on the bottom while the hand needs to reach above, opposite how our body is designed. Reviewing this crossing of sight and hand motion helps improve time and reduce mistakes.

Another important line is the memory. The point where we gain the information and where we use that information forms a line that is memory. Memory increases the risk of cognitive bias, regardless of educational background or IQ. The shorter the line, the better.

My coach used to say, “Don’t ask the people to memorize the work. Let the materials and layout memorize the work. Let the people focus on quality and Kaizen.”

Then, we move on to the Area of standardized work.

The first point is the work order. At the beginning of the cycle, the worker confirms what work it needs to start so that it will meet the market needs. It is to make sure that the work is over-production. Stop if it goes ahead of pace.

Close to the end of the cycle, there should be a point where they confirm whether the work is according to the planned pace. If behind, immediately call for the help of its direct support. The direct support needs to respond within the pre-determined time.

Last but not least, there should be some points where the worker confirms that he has done good quality work.

These three points must be present inside each area for the work to be efficient and practical. Since these are points, it should take a little time.

Once the area is appropriately designed, we must see the solid or organizational issues. Once, I had an opportunity to visit a non-Toyota plant. They presented many topics, but one of them was "Human error.” It is a great topic, but the solutions were all implementing computers. Then I saw the assembly line, and massive turbulence was happening. A person was walking around, distributing papers. As the person distributed that paper, immediately, the worker paid attention to the paper. They often left the workstation to talk to the distributor in the middle of the cycle. I asked the team what was happening. The answer was that the human resource department was distributing checks (or the details of it). How can they ignore the distraction the HR was causing and present solutions for human error? HR had many reasons for distributing the paper then, but nothing justified that action should be taken during work hours. The organization needed to respect the concentration of its people. One of the first things I learned from my coach was observing the shop floor without disturbing the workers. This is the first form of respect.

There are several things to consider to create an organization that respects concentration.

One is the rules on communications. When we want to talk to the worker directly, we first get approval from the team leader. After the approval, wait until the end of each cycle unless they violate safety or quality rules. In general, do not interfere with someone's work until it comes to a fixed stop position.

Another thing to consider is the length of time people can maintain their concentration. In many places, management shifts break time to avoid downtime. If so, how can we avoid violating this rule? At the same time, frequent stop-and-go will also distract the workers. Providing an environment where people can focus on their work for some period should be provided.

Many of the TPS philosophies are built on top of something straightforward. The system is constructed by starting from something straightforward and developing into topics that some might say “culture.”