During the past 12 years, Parker Hannifin Corporation has implemented a series of best practice programs collectively called Targets. Targets efforts focus on five key areas, namely: productivity, quality, throughput, customer service, and cost reduction. Under the Targets banner, empowered associates are trained and provided with the resources to actively participate and positively impact all five key measures. This long-standing program is closely tied to the corporation's sustained success and financial performance. Global competition has, however, driven Parker to continually enhance its efforts to remain a world leader in the motion control marketplace.
Parker's management has also been trained in Leading and Managing Change or Taking Charge of Change. This training, coupled with ongoing Targets initiatives, has resulted in a cultural shift toward a process called Lean Enterprise. At Parker, Lean is defined as "an organized, systematic means of executing rapid change."
Lean is really all about empowering people throughout the organization to execute meaningful workflow process changes. These changes are brought about through the use of resource tools developed by Toyota in Japan as part of its Toyota Production System (TPS). Taking its cue from Toyota, Parker began its Lean efforts with the help of qualified consultants or "Senseis," all with extensive experience in TPS.
Six Sigma, a concept that originated at Motorola, has been part of the Parker toolbox for several years. However, Lean has been the missing ingredient to making Six Sigma a reality. We have found that Six Sigma and Lean are inseparably linked.
While Lean is basically focused on process flow rather than automation, technology advances remain key to ultimate "Best in Class" status. E-business strategies, if properly focused, dramatically reduce human intervention while speeding the supply chain process, and are also integral parts of an effective Lean Enterprise Strategy.
Our challenge at Parker is that Lean is an arduous daily journey. It requires a significant cultural shift. There are numerous well-entrenched resistors that need to be dealt with speedily and effectively to ensure overall success. Additionally, Lean is a long journey, and will test the staying power of even the best organizations. Often, a workflow process will need to undergo 3-4 Lean events before a reasonable amount of non-value added waste has been stripped away. The inherent belief that up to 90% of most workflow processes are non-value added has driven our quest for Lean. The simple definition we use for "value added" is something our customers would be willing to pay for.
In summary, Parker Hannifin Corporation is in the initial phase of its Lean journey. This journey, spurred by CEO Don Washkewicz's acknowledgment that "Lean works," continues today with the naming of Lean managers within each of our business units
Mr. Washkewicz has also made Lean a part of the Parker Business Systems that will drive the company's financial performance and premier customer service initiatives. While there is no silver bullet in industry, we believe that allowing our associates to be directly involved in driving daily change will help us become the premier diversified industrial company.
