Introduction
If you read the works of Jeffrey Liker et al you will stumble on an ongoing debate. Some will tell you that they don’t do six sigma they only do lean. Others will tell you the opposite. Peter Pande in his book Six Sigma Way tells us that when looking at process improvement, there is always a better way.
While Lean, Six-Sigma, or even Lean Six Sigma which tries to resolve the debate by merging the two methodologies have its benefits. Ur belief is that there is still another methodology which is the better way for continuous process improvement, and it is found in the TLS Continuum.
So why now? The TLS Continuum can assist in the process flow within your organization. Thus, this manifesto. We are fully cognizant in today’s highly charged atmosphere that the term manifesto has some detrimental aspects. It seems these days when we hear the term manifesto it is usually in relationship with a domestic terrorism event. But that is not the frame of reference we are coming from. But there is a brighter side to the term. The Dictionary of Oxford Languages defines a manifesto as a written statement declaring publicly the intentions, motives, or views of its issuer. The field of agile management had its agile manifesto.
While over the past several years we have written in our books and our blogs about the TLS Continuum in broad terms we have not to date clarified what we mean by the TLS Continuum.
The issuance of this manifesto then is a clear picture of our beliefs. In the case of the TLS Continuum, we have in the past provided a superficial overview of what it is and so this manifesto is a way for us to more precisely state what it is and how it affects your organization.
Purpose
The Dictionary of Oxford Languages defines a manifesto as a written statement declaring publicly the intentions, motives, or views of its issuer. The field of agile management had its agile manifesto. The issuance of this manifesto then is a clear picture of our beliefs. In the case of the TLS Continuum, we have in the past provided a superficial overview of what it is and so this manifesto is a way for us to more precisely state what it is and how it affects your organization.
The TLS Continuum Manifesto is the presentation of ten (10) basic principles to guide how to implement the TLS Continuum in your processes. Each one build on the one before it to establish a continuous improvement process which is grounded in the combination of all the methodologies heretofore implemented.
Principle #1: The TLS Continuum is focused on the System Constraint
Like Lean, the TLS Continuum is centered on the flow of processes as we improve our organizations. However, its focus is on what is causing the process to slow down. The Continuum is focused on following the chain and its elements to discover what is holding up the system. We saw in the previous chapter what happens when the system slows down for any reason whether it is underestimating the time required or not taking int consideration the effects of Parkinson’s Law.
Principle #2: The TLS Continuum is focused on the Enduring Chain
We believe that the effort of continuous process improvement is not a closed system but rather an open-ended one. As a result, our view of any process is a continuous chain of events. If we place our organization at the center of the chain, it runs from us to our customers to their customers and to their customers enduring no end. At the same time, we can go in the other direction. Our chain runs from us to our suppliers to their suppliers to their suppliers it is a continuous chain of events in reverse. The goal of the TLS Continuum is to maximize the power of the enduring chain at all times.
Principle #3: The TLS Continuum is oriented towards increasing revenue rather than cost reduction.
Goldratt showed us the folly in relying strictly on cost reduction in the improvement of our organization. Rather than being guided by how much overhead we can eliminate in order to increase the bottom line we should shift our attention to the increased throughput and increase the bottom line by raising the amount of revenue. We further believe that unless our organization is going to file for chapter 11, there is never a reason to eliminate headcount. Rather we reallocate our resources where they are needed within the organization/
Principle #4: The TLS Continuum highest priority is meeting the stakeholder needs.
We understand that the value in our organization is found in the entities who purchase our products and services. It is through their voice that we establish or values, goals, strategies, and missions. The value is determined based on the degree that we involve the stakeholders as vital members of the cross-functional team apparatus.
We understand that we provide value to the stakeholders when as Jack Welsh said “best Six Sigma projects begin not inside the business but outside of it, focused on answering the question – how can we make the customer more competitive? What is critical to the customer’s success One thing we have discovered with certainty is that anything we do that makes the customer more successful inevitably results in financial return to us.”101 Hence our purpose is to provide the stakeholders what they need, when they want it, how they want it and at what financial investment they want.
Principle #5: The TLS Continuum is focused on empowerment of our human capital assets.
Listen to the corporate message. Most organizations will tell you that their people are their greatest asset. The TLS Continuum does not believe in platitudes. We recognize that our human capital assets represent a non-owned, leased corporate asset who is seeking a valued and meaningful place to thrive. We believe that everything we do must provide a learning environment which will create the opportunities for our human capital assets to grow and learn new sills for their career portfolios. We do this by supporting, and recognizing the new knowledge gained by the human capital assets and put it to use to benefit all parties involved in the process.
Principle #6: The TLS Continuum is focused on the development of cross-functional teams and centers of excellence.
We recognize that as Deming said, we need to eliminate silos. The power of the TLS Continuum is ground in the belief that we are only as strong as our collaborated efforts that come out of our cross-functional teams. Each team shall have a stated purpose and have at its disposal all the required resources to complete their tasks as the system requires.
Further, management understands and accepts the power of our teams come from the cross-functional teams taking ownership of the processes resulting in empowerment to meet the needs of the customers. With that knowledge and mandate, the cross-functional team will develop centers of excellence or competencies throughout the organization.
Principle #7: The TLS Continuum is centered on the development of a maximum throughflow through the system.
The TLS Continuum believes our strength comes from controlling the flow of the individual processes and the entirety of the processes within the organization. It is our belief that on a daily basis, our goal is to remove those constraints that are causing the existence of non-value-added aspects of our processes. We find and eliminate organizational inefficiencies when we ask each every day How does this {process, procedure, action, initiative, project, policy} help the organization achieve its business objective? If we can’t answer this in a clear way that is measurable and where there is evidence that your answer is true, stop doing it. As an organization, our management and our cross-functional teams must get out of the office and go to the Gemba and see what is going n.
Principle #8: The TLS Continuum provides the proper training to the entire organization and its stakeholders.
The TLS Continuum imposes on the organization the need to follow the Toyota Production System model and implement our own version of Shu Ha Ri. We need to ensure that everyone involved in the process (meaning along the entire continuum), learns what is necessary to complete the task, takes ownership of the process and then begins to seek and implement improvements to the system. It means that the only acceptable path to reach this goal is by learning by doing. Both the organizational human capital assets and the stakeholders must learn what is necessary to bring out improvements by personally getting their hands dirty in the process.
Principle #9; The TLS Continuum is focused on the development of a process improvement roadmap.
We believe that the path to continuous process improvement is the development of a logic-based toolkit that can be used to develop process maps, and value stream maps to establish a standard method for controlling process flow.
While not mandating a process, since recognize that no tow problems will be resolved in the same fashion, we also recognize that there are certain steps that should be common to all continuous process improvement efforts. It is incumbent on the organization to provide a roadmap of these steps including the use of visual management tools.
Principle #10: Through the use of logical thinking tools, the TLS Continuum will establish a universal problem-solving process.
Beginning with the identification of the system constraint, the organization should establish the format for the development of any problem-solving process. We recognize that this process is an evidence-based scientific experiment towards resolving organizational issues. We believe that there exists a proven method for how we go about resolving the issues at hand. Starting with the current state and finishing with the future state. From there we understand that we establish the goal/problem statement along with the establishment of the critical success factors along with the factors necessary to reach those goals.
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