In reading the details of Toyota's A3 report process for introducing innovative solutions to company problems, I really like the simple template. The template helps focuses employees on not just identifying a problem, but truly understanding the entire problem and possible solutions. The template also requires the author to be able succinctly describe the problem and solution. This allows for uniformity across the organization and simple platform to share ideas. The template also creates a distinct way for attacking a problem. It is like the scientific method for attacking business problems.
In working for a Japanese company (Fujitsu), the A3 report process is very similar to some of the processes our company has in place and aligns with the Kaizen (continuous improvement) philosophy in Japan. This mindset and approach to manufacturing is at the heart of Japanese culture and is applied in many current business ideologies...Lean, Six Sigma etc. The A3 report is a great way to strengthen the continuous improvement culture within Toyota.
Hey Brett,
ReplyDeleteI like this post. After learning about A3 and reading the conception I have a question: Do you think that calling resolve a problem a form of innovation has the same spark than innovate by creating a product that is complete different and perfect? Because some how I feel that that's more like remediation. And considering the brand, they are almost ethically entitled to find a solution.
But in regards to your post, the way I understood, the A3 it is an internal learning tool smartly applied. Instead having outsiders looking for a solution, you have your own staff participating on the process of brainstorming solutions and getting involved on the company's operations.
Brett,
ReplyDeleteI do agree that the structure of the A3 method of thinking is very important for what could otherwise be a very disorganized and chaotic process. At my first glance of this paper, my first thought was wow, this is a crazy and unorganized process. I saw small Value Stream Maps, bulleted lists, tables, waterfall models, bar charts, pie charts, and emoticons all combined into two sheets of paper. It looked terrible!
The seven steps are critical here for organizing everything and telling a story. What’s unique is that any tool can be used in any of the boxes; this is what allows the user to tell the story. What’s important is that without the organized boxes, there would be no story, there would just be an unorganized mess of lean tools with no direction of how to use them. The structure gives the story meaning.
Brett, I think you are correct in identifying culture as being a defining mindset component. The adoption of this structural approach is probably an essential factor and a challenging task for managers to infuse amongst non like minded employees. In the article on hypothesis-driven entrepreneurship, I guess early adopters of the A3 method could be cautioned of premature scaling rather then relying on ecosystem partners to facilitate in experimentation to generate monies.
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