Lean Manga describing The Hoshin Kanri Tree. For more information visit www.hoshinkanriforest.com or read the book The Hoshin Kanri Forest: Lean Strategic Organizational Design by Productivity Press

1. THE HOSHIN
KANRI TREE
My name is H4.
and I can show you how to
achieve your Lean Strategic
Goals while increasing trust
with...
CONTACT ME!
Dr.-Ing. Javier Villalba-Diez
www.hoshinkanriforest.com
h4lean@gmail.com

2. SHOPFLOOR MANAGEMENT
(SM) METHODOLOGIES HAVE
TRADITIONALLY FOCUSED ON
TWO ASPECTS:
1. GOAL ACHIEVEMENT
FOLLOWING FOR INSTANCE
RIGID STRUCTURES SUCH AS
(SQDCME) (SECURITY, QUALITY,
DELIVERY, COST, MORALE,
ENVIRONMENT)
2. EVOLUTIONAL SM
MANAGEMENT FOCUSING
ON THE EVOLUTIONAL
FACTORS OF SM. USUALLY
AWAY FROM STRATEGIC
GOALS
THIS COMIC PRESENTS A HYBRID METHOD
THE HOSHIN KANRI TREE (HKT)
BASED ON STANDARDIZATION OF INTER-
PROCESS COMMUNICATION PATTERNS
BETWEEN PROCESS OWNERS THROUGH
(CPD)nA
(Check-Plan-Do-Check-Plan-Do-…Act)

3. LEAN MANAGEMENT (LM) HAS BEEN DECLARED TO BE
THE INDUSTRIAL PARADIGM OF THE 21ST CENTURY.
LM CAN BE UNDERSTOOD AS A SOCIO-TECHNICAL
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM THAT AIMS“TO SYSTEMATICALLY
REDUCE NON-VALUE ADDING ACTIVITIES IN
ORGANIZATIONS”.
THE PROCESS OWNERS NEED
TO BE ALIGNED IN A
COMMON DIRECTION
(HOSHIN)
HOSHIN KANRI (HK) (MANAGEMENT BY GIVING
DIRECTION) IS A COMPREHENSIVE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
THAT ENABLES SUCH ALIGNMENT

4. GOAL ORIENTED SM
BY FOCUSING SOLELY ON KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
(KPIs) SUCH SYSTEMS DO NOT FOSTER A TRANSPARENT
PERFORMANCE DIALOG BETWEEN PROCESS OWNERS (POs)
AND THEREFORE FAIL TO EMPOWER POs ACHIEVE RESULTS
WHILE INCREASING TRUST.
RIGID FRAMEWORKS, SUCH AS SQDCME MAKE THE RESULTING LM
SYSTEM UNVARYING AND LESS ABLE TO EVOLVE AS NEEDED.

5. EVOLUTIONAL SM
IS MOSTLY UNDERSTOOD TO BE A PROBLEM-SOLVING
METHOD RATHER THAN A PROCESS MANAGEMENT
APPROACH.
HYBRID SM
CONCEPTS SUCH AS KATA FOCUS THEIR CONTINUOUS
IMPROVEMENT ON INDIVIDUAL OR LOCAL“FUTURE STATES”
THAT OUGHT TO ENCOURAGE AN EMPOWERING DIALOG
BETWEEN THE PO AND THE COACH.

6. THE MAIN FLAW IN THIS KATA APPROACH IS THE MISSING
LINK TO THE ORGANIZATIONAL DIMENSION OF
EMPOWERMENT.
STATE OF THE ART HK THEORY STATES THAT HK IS A“SYSTEM’S
APPROACH TO IMPROVEMENT OF A COMPANY’S MANAGEMENT
PROCESS”BASED ON CONTINUOUS“NEGOTIATED DIALOG”
CALLED“CATCHBALL PROCESS”.

7. HK ENABLES ORGANIZATIONS TO COPE WITH
VALUE STREAM NETWORK COMPLEXITY AND
ATTAIN ALIGNMENT WITH STRATEGIC.
THE HK STRATEGIC PDCA PROCESS PROPOSED
CAN BE UNDERSTOOD AS FOLLOWS:
* DO OR INTER-ACTION, THE POs WILL CREATE
(CPD)nA BONDS TO EACH OTHER.
* CHECK OR COMMITMENT OR CONSENSUS.
QUALITY OF COMMUNICATION AND FOCUS ON
EMPOWERMENT IS MEASURED.
THE DO AND CHECK PHASES REDUCE NON-VALUE
ADDING ACTIVITIES IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE
ALIGNMENT WITH STRATEGIC GOALS.
* ACT OR STRATEGIC HK STANDARDIZATION.
* PLAN OR PROCESS-PRIORITY-ANALYSIS OR
STRATEGIC OPERATIONALIZATION. STRUCTURE
IS REORGANIZAED TO MEET THE STRATEGIC
CHALLENGES AHEAD.

8. EMPOWERMENT THROUGH (CPD)nA IS A PROCESS MANAGEMENT
STANDARD INFORMATION EXCHANGE PATTERN BETWEEN POs.
IT RELIES ON THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE CURRENT STATE
(GEMBUTSU) AND ON CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT (KAIZEN).
FOSTERING THIS BEHAVIOR, LEADERS CAN CREATE LEARNING
SMART FACTORIES.

9. FOR INFORMATION TO BECOME ACTIONABLE, KNOWLEDGE THAT
CREATES VALUE, IT NEEDS TO BE PROCESSED.
LEARNING SMART FACTORIES, AND ITS RELATED INDUSTRY 4.0 PARADIGM,
ENHANCES THE INFORMATION EXCHANGE PARADIGM AND DEEPENS THE
NEED TO DEVELOP CONCEPTS THAT ENABLE EFFECTIVE AND EFFICIENT
INFORMATION PROCESSING.
“KNOW-WHY”AND NOT ONLY“KNOW-HOW”IS IMPORTANT. THIS“KNOW-
WHY”IS GIVEN BY STRATEGIC GOALS PROVIDED BY THE ORGANIZATION.

10. HOSHIN KANRI TREE IS A UNIVERSAL,
AUTONOMOUS INTELLIGENT PROCESS MANAGEMENT
METHOD THAT CAN BE IMPLEMENTED IN FOUR STEPS
STEP 1. GEMBA-GENJITSU-GEMBUTSU (3G). IN THE 3G
PHASE, THE CURRENT STATE (GEMBUTSU) OF THE PROCESS
(GENJITSU) AT SHOPFLOOR (GEMBA) IS EXAMINED WITH THE
INTENTION OF CHOOSING AN IMPORTANT PROCESS FOR THE
ORGANIZATION.
STEP 2. NEMAWASHI. PREPARE THE
GROUND. UNDERSTAND THE KPI
STRUCTURE. THE GROUND IS
PREPARED TO GRWO THE HKT.
STEP 3. UERU MANAGEMENT. PLANTING THE HKT. IN
THE PLANTING PHASE, THE HKT IS VISUALIZED AS
CLOSELY AS POSSIBLE TO THE GEMBA. IT IS NEEDED TO
LINK THE POs WITH THE (CPD)nA.

11. STEP 4. UEKI-YA LEADERSHIP. THE LEADER AS A GARDENER.
TAKING CARE OF THE HKT. WHEN THE VISUALIZATION HAS
BEEN COMPLETED AND SEVERAL (CPD)nA HAVE BEEN PLACED
ALONG THE ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE, IT IS TIME TO
OPERATIONALIZE THE HKT.
AFTER SEVERAL HKT HAVE BEEN“PLANTED”THROUGHOUT
THE PLANT, THEY NEED TO BE CONNECTED TO EACH
OTHER.

12. AFTER DESCRIBING HK AS A STRATEGIC PDCA AND HKT AS A
WAY TO OPERATIONALIZE IT, FOLLOWING PROPOSITIONS ARE
OFFERED AS MANAGEMENT IMPLICATIONS:
PROPOSITION 1. EMPOWERMENT FIRST, ALIGNMENT SECOND.
LEADERS MUST FIRST EMPOWER POs AND THEN ALIGN EFFORTS
WITH STRATEGIC GOALS.
PROPOSITION 2. THE HKT CAN EVOLVE
AND IS RESILIENT TO CHANGES IN THE
ENVIRONMENT. THE HKT IS ABLE TO COPE
W I T H VA L U E S T R E A M N E T W O R K
COMPLEXITY.
PROPOSITION 3. THE BEHAVIORAL
DIRECTION (HOSHIN) DEALS WITH
IMPROVING PROCESSES WITH EVERY
(CPD)nA CYCLE.
PROPOSITION 4. THE BEHAVIORAL
DIRECTION SHOULD BE GUIDED BY
STRATEGIC NUMERICAL GOALS.

13. HOSHIN KANRI TREE HAS BEEN PRESENTED
AS A COMPREHENSIVE HOLISTIC LEAN SM MODEL.
WITH THIS MODEL ORGANIZATIONAL EMPOWERMENT
TOWARDS STRATEGIC GOALS IS MADE POSSIBLE.
THE MAIN IMPLEMENTATION DIFFICULTY AND LIMITATION HAPPENS WHEN LEADERS ARE NOT
DISCIPLINED ENOUGH TO ATTACH TO THE (CPD)nA LOGIC.
I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS H4 LEAN MANGA.
FOR MORE DETAILED INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT US UNDER
JAVIER H4 VILLALBA DIEZ
CEO CENTER FOR LEADERSHIP
h4lean@gmail.com