The Value of the Human Mind in Lean Problem Solving

Written by Jason Lipscomb, Productivity Improvement Specialist, Purdue MEP

As a professional working in adult education for more than two decades now, I find myself uniquely standing between two ever-evolving worlds. To be clear, I prefer “evolve” in lieu of “change”. The word “change” suggests that methods and philosophies of the past can be ignored or worse forgotten.

In my classroom, the teachings of Womack, Nakajima, Ohno, Deming, Sheward, and many other greats are taught in tandem with applications for using advancing technologies because the lessons from the greats are the groundwork in an ever-evolving manufacturing profession.

Between artificial intelligence (AI), additive manufacturing, and other emerging technologies, our familiar manufacturing landscape is being reshaped before our very eyes. We must prepare ourselves and our workforce for the future or be left behind. I often tell participants in my classes to hang on because we’re going to see infinitely more changes in manufacturing over the next 10 years than we have in the past 100 years! 

Like any disruptive technology, the most effective approach to change is to combine the strengths of the human brain with the capabilities of new technology. In Lean problem solving, the education of our workforce is key. Companies that invest in employee training will shape workers who can comprehend data, challenge assumptions, think critically, solve problems faster, and make better decisions. Organizations investing in employee training will see ROI in improved quality, reduced waste, and enhanced productivity. They will also adapt more quickly to changing market conditions.

Companies that invest in technology alone, without training their human employees, will only see short-term gains and stagnate in their advancement. A common-sense approach demonstrates that without proper education, workers simply cannot use advanced tools above a basic level, leaving much of the technology's potential untapped.  

In my own experience while teaching for Purdue Manufacturing Extension Partnership, I see great value in training and educating human talent in industry firsthand. Of the 8 wastes in Lean, I believe unused talent to be the most critical. Below are three philosophies I use to guide my own approach to teaching and developing the workforce. 

1. Smart Lean manufacturers continuously train their human workforce.
   A workforce’s readiness to adopt and benefit from new tools is proportional to the workforce’s skill to use the tools. Often the resistance to new technology can be found in the management ranks. At the management level, it is often resistance to change due to fear of incompetence or change itself. Effective industrial education programs take a top-down approach and do not just concentrate on entry-and mid-level staff training needs.
   
   
2. Humans need to be taught to focus on the WHY and use AI to focus on the WHAT.
   Developing a partnership between machine intelligence and human intelligence is the most effective approach to problem solving. AI is exceptional at analyzing large amounts of data, detecting abnormalities, seeing patterns, and proposing potential solutions. The human mind provides the critical ability to ask and answer why. Humans can assess others' behavior, prioritize work based on risk, determine whether the patterns are meaningful, and recognize factors that are difficult to surface in the data alone.  
   
   
3. Curiosity is an essential human driver in continuous improvement.
   Humans are curious about things, and human curiosity is the fundamental force behind innovation! Curiosity compels people to ask questions that have never been asked before. AI can study a VSM and note OEE levels, calculate the impact of a poor JIT system, and estimate delays. In each of those cases, input is needed. Human curiosity thrives in uncertainty. Many groundbreaking innovations have occurred when there was little or no data available. AI depends on existing information to generate insights, but humans can imagine possibilities that have never existed before.

As companies increasingly adopt new technologies in Lean manufacturing, many people fear the loss of the human workforce. Similar to how the molten tin process changed labor-intensive glassmaking or the cotton gin in textiles, these new technologies without a doubt will change the staffing on our production floors and even engineering offices. Let fear be a great motivator. Now is the time to adopt technology as a new partner in our work, not as a threat. The good news is the human brain, along with the human spirit, is well suited to work in partnership with ever-evolving technology. The key to success is education. 

Writer: Jason Lipscomb, 317-275-6810, lipscomj@purdue.edu