Lean 3P is PDCA on Steroids

Well said by author Allan R. Coletta of a new book The Lean 3P Advantage: A Practitioner’s Guide to the Production Preparation Process. Development of the 3P process is attributed to Chichiro Nakao, a former Toyota group manager and the founder of Shingijutsu company. The accepted meaning of 3P is Production, Preparation, Process.

Allan is a chemical engineer with an extensive background in manufacturing operations, supply chain and engineering, gained while working in the chemical process and healthcare diagnostics industries. Allan is a practitioner more so than an author, and I believe you will enjoy that perspective in the podcast.

Toyota delivers product designs on schedule 98% of the time (as stated by @flowchainsensei on twitter). Now, I am not sure how I can confirm this statement except that I believe this source to be accurate and even if Bob was 50% wrong, it would mean Toyota still exceeds the majority. However, after interviewing Allan and reading the book, I can understand and believe that statement. This is an excerpt from the book:

Lean 3P is a powerful enabler for invention and innovation because it creates a structure and a process for people to create both independently and collaboratively. However, 3P is not presented as a "one size fits all" means of creating brilliant new products that takes us from "blue sky" to product launch. It might work like that in some instances where a new product is a variation of an established product or in organizations where the same team is inventing, developing, and working together to launch a new product. With additional experience the role of 3P in the full product development will likely expand. For companies new to Lean 3P, the question might be how 3P will integrate into existing product development processes.

A recent blog post, Applying Lean in the Lean 3P Design Process contains a written excerpt from the podcast.

Download Podcast: Click and choose options: Download this episode (right click and save) or go to the Business901 iTunes Store.

I talked to Allan for a rather long time and had to shorten the podcast. I chose to cut his acknowledgments of several people that include Andy Johnson, Maria Stopher, Ken Rolfes and two former Business901 podcast guests, Drew Locher and Ron Masticelli. I apologize to any that he mentioned and I failed to here.   

Allan’s Lean experience started while serving as Site Manager for ICI Uniqema’s largest Specialty Chemicals plant in North America and continued to expand is his role as Senior Director of Engineering for Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics. His passion for manufacturing and engaging people in continuous improvement continues to grow through personal application of Lean principles. Allan serves on the Delaware Manufacturing Extension Partnership’s Fiduciary and Advisory Boards, and is a member of the Delaware Business Mentoring Alliance. He is also a member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and the Association for Manufacturing Excellence (AME).