CHAPTER 1

The Engine of the Business

In the early 1970s, there probably was a day in most people's lives when therewas an important event that they had to attend in the morning, let's say aninterview or a final exam. They were probably nervous about the event, havingstudied or prepared for it the entire night before. When they got up that day,they were apprehensive. Over and over again, they ran through the informationthey had studied and how they expected the events of the day to unfold. Theyleft their house promptly, walked out to their car, and got in. Suddenly, theywere no longer nervous about the obstacle that was ahead of them that day. Theapprehension, however, did not leave them. Instead, their focus had shifted andtheir worry intensified: they wondered whether their car was going to start toeven get them to the interview or exam.

The car had had trouble starting in the past, and they hoped that the enginewould not be finicky again today. They tensed up as they put the key in theignition, saying things like, "Come on, baby, you can do it," then turned thekey and perhaps said a silent prayer all in hopes that the engine would fire up(and continue to run). Once they turned the key, the ritual would begin bypumping the gas pedal or pulling a choke, and cranking the engine again andagain. Soon, the battery would drain of its power and they had to use their lastresort: push the car (hopefully downhill), jump in, shift into gear, then popthe clutch!

Hopefully, this ritual would get the car started, but there was no guarantee ofsuccess. The engine might rev up for a few seconds and then die. If the carfinally started and ran smoothly, the driver would breathe a long sigh of reliefand go on his way, his thoughts (and apprehension) returning to the event thatwas ahead of him.

Fast-forward to the present day. When you go out to a late-model-year car, doyou have any apprehension about whether it will start? Do you find yourselfnervous? Do you even give it a momentary thought? Would you ever even thinkabout pushing your car downhill, jumping in, and popping the clutch to get itstarted? Your answer to these questions is probably no. You simply turn a key orpress a button, and the engine magically starts the first time, every time. Youhave no worries that it won't start consistently every time. And that'sexactly how your operation should run: it should start every time.

When customers give us orders, we should not have to think about, worry, orwonder whether those orders will be finished on time, with perfect quality, anddelivered to the customer when the customer wants them. The order comes in fromthe customer (that's the start button), and the operational side of the businessprocesses the order with no interruptions and then delivers the product. Weshouldn't have to think about it or worry about it. Without flaw, the processshould take place when we get an order. Just as today's engine starts everytime, our operations should start every time, and like the modern engine, theyshould be smooth and seamless, without any managers pumping the gas pedal orpulling the choke, or management teams pushing the car to jump-start it.

While the concept of a smooth, seamless operation delivering product tocustomers without management intervention may seem implausible, as was theconcept of starting a car on the first try in the 1970s, it is entirelyattainable. Of course, we may think it was technological changes that allowtoday's engines to start every time. The advances in electronics andmicroprocessors played a big role in this, but technology is not the only reasonwhy the modern car engine starts consistently every time. The main reason thattoday's engines start every time is that someone at a car manufacturing company,perhaps in Sales or Marketing, decided that the company needed an engine thatwould start consistently in order to be competitive in the marketplace. Thischallenge was then given to the engineers. To be successful, the engineers couldnot simply keep tinkering with, adjusting, or continuously improving the engineas it was. They had to redesign the engine. In other words, the reason themodern-day engine starts the first time, every time, is that it was designedthat way. So why won't our operations start every time? They are notdesigned that way.

The Business in Motion

When an engineer designs something that is in motion, such as an...