Collective suicide
We are as society in a moment moving towards the collective suicide.
If we continue with the current path of consumption, the resources of the land will meet exhausted in a short term. The economy that the principal power presents us, in this case USA, would imply that to have the same status of life, 3 times the Earth would be needed to be able to support his way of life, when all are on board.
We are in a critical stage of our development as civilization. And when I refer to civilization, I do not mean a specific portion of the human bin, or territory, I refer as humanity.
Constantly I travel in plane, and see that the smog generated near the coasts interferes to the sea, and it settles consistently in the ocean. Inside land, the burnings. Inside land, the provoked burnings generate a dense cap, which assimilates the one that it covers cities as Mexico D.F., Guadalajara, Monterrey and Madrid.
As society, we are with a maturity, to infantile level, where we believe that the resources are infinite. Even in Europa's countries, where a major conscience is had on the topic, the sufficient effort is not done.
A restructuring is necessary not only in the industrial area as the own term indicates it, it should integrate to the human factor, where his way of judging, acting and the way to be interrelated should be modified.
An extreme of this position would be the one that everyone receives only what it is need to consume, but this condition would take us from retrograde stage, that we already overtake as humanity. The another extreme is the one that we are living, with a wild consumerism, in which everyone do not have limit to acquire economic resources.
The essence is to accumulate economic resources, without mattering that for it, nations for example some African nations, are in the limit of the survival. We cannot speak about poverty when the persons for what they fight it is for surviving another day more.
I consider that our future as humanity, is not even in the irrational consumerism, not in the systematic rationalization of the resources. Rightly it is in the middle of both ends, where everyone has the opportunity to develop himself.
Nevertheless this raises several problems for us as human bins. Our essence is to develop us in all the areas, Do we will be capable of accepting auto-limits?, because in the moment in which some government applies it, immediately it would become "authoritarian".
This is why the persons who shape the government, have to be involved in the reestructuring of the thought, to generate options of solution in front of such challenges. When I refer to the restructuring of the thought, it is precisely to have the willingness and conviction to promote and to accept measures and therefore legislations that are common benefit.
It does not affect negatively the companies, because in the past was developed an industrial approach that it has being demonstrated to be more effective for the crisis times like the one already we have: LEAN OPERATIONS (Lean Enterprise).
We must accept that the wealth is not only the generated one for profits, but in his more wide sense, it is the generation of stability and sustainable development of the society. This is why wealth exists in diverse aspects: cultural, natural, etc.
Incisively the companies are generating mainly wealth and development, but there are some of them that have lost the notion and instead of adding value to all the members of the chain of value: Clients, Employees, Suppliers, Company and Shareholders, have forgotten 4 of the members and focus in just on the profits.
The business generate earnings.
The companies generate wealth.
A company that cannot manage and administer itself, becomes deformed in a mere business. And we must be consent that the business is a fundamental part of the great majority of the companies, nevertheless it is not quite all.
I have had the opportunity to be present at companies that his Mission and Vision, it is not sustained in a philosophy of long term and generation of "wealth" for 5 members of the chain of value... The consequence: To deform his diary to do in search of only earnings, and leaving outside the fundamental beginning: We are human bins that we want to develop and we have just one world ... limited resources.
Already there is developed an industrial system that generates value and its use has been extended to any type of enterprise: Lean. The foundation in LEAN is a respect for the human dignity and increase of productivity, all this supported by producing only what is needed.
Lean systematicly removes the squandering (wastes) of all the processes of the enterprise (Productive, Services, Administrative, Logistic, Design and Development, projects), which implies a minor use of resources, and on having produced what really is needed. Does not generate overproductions that result in overinventories.
Nevertheless even having the system to optimize any enterprise process (Lean Operations - Lean Enterprise), it is not applied as a unit, but fractions of the same one are in use for optimizing specific processes. It is how to have a sailboat that alone uses partially some of his capacities.
The effect is to have a long, frustrating journey and without high performance.
I have had the opportunity to realize some interviews to expert consultants in "Lean"; obviously there have been excellent ones, but different some of them with years of experience, on having done some simple questions denote the conceptual emptiness in the application of some of the Systems-Methods-Technics and tools.
It is exactly the same case of some companies that have obtained the Shingo Prize (A Reward to the company that it demonstrates has the elements Lean in the state-of-the-art applied). For my surprise as there are the excellent ones, there exist cases in which it is only "makeup", since in the moment you analyse with the adequate methods and tools, we had idntified potentials like increases his productivity from 60 to 100 % . And we achived them.What's happening?
Lean is the essence of the industrial, managerial and of thought restructuring that we need as society, nevertheless it is not being applied and less included one his real context and depth.
This is why Shingijutsu in his succinct web page, speech on applying REALLY Lean.
I agree totally. at the time multiple consulting groups have taken charge of simplifying LEAN like a "tool box", when eally LEAN is actually a Philosophy of sustainable development, composed by Systems-Methods-Technics and Tools, well defined.
Well so, the final exposition is that this collective and unconscious suicide, has a solution, but it will not have effect if the restructuring does not integrate on having thought and to act of every individual and in his set as society, in order that it generates in the governments a modification to integrate the official interest in the sustainable aspect. And in order that it does not decline in demagoguery it is necessary to turn a reality in his legislations, and with a systematic follow-up to the fulfillment of the commitments.
Author Alfredo Espinoza Arreola
General Manager COE
Consultoría en Operaciones Esbeltas