My son-in-law Lawrence and I were half way up the 1,000 foot rock face and while the climbing had been difficult, we’d been moving pretty quickly and expected to reach to the summit of Tahquitz before 3:00 pm. Lawrence was going to lead this next section and while he organized the gear on his harness, I double checked the rigging and prepared to perform my belay duties. I noticed another pair of climbers on a different route off to our left and it appeared that the lead climber was struggling with his gear placements. In traditional climbing, you place gear called cams and stoppers in cracks, and these serve to save you from serious injury or death in the event of a fall. Selecting the right piece of gear and placing it properly can literally be the difference between life and death. Often you may climb 10 or more feet before finding an appropriate location for gear, and then you need to hang on with one hand while you select and place that gear. If you fatigue and fall before the gear is placed you will fall twice the distance from your last placement, 20 feet or more. As I watched the lead climber struggle I couldn’t help but compare his effort to ours and wondered if I was going to witness a serious injury.
Through the years of climbing I’ve learned that the principles of lean manufacturing are as applicable to this sport as they are to any business
enterprise. I believe that good climbers intuitively understand this even though they may not be familiar with the term. Focus on the value chain and eliminate waste. Waste in this sport is any unneeded expenditure of energy that doesn’t contribute to getting you to the top while still maximizing your safety. A good climber will study a potential climb, often for hours, before setting foot on the rock. If there is a guide book, the route descriptions including suggestions for the right gear will be included in the preparations. Decisions on what gear to bring and how to organize it on your harness for each section of the climb helps to eliminate wasted motion and energy. In addition, there are special tasks that need to be performed in an efficient and consistent manner to eliminate unnecessary variables that add risk to the climb. These can be seemingly simple tasks like managing the surplus rope as you belay the climber, but when 200 feet of rope is involved, it can easily get caught in cracks or tangled if not managed properly. Lean manufacturing embraces the concept of “Standard Work” where the activity of a particular set of tasks is choreographed to eliminate wasted motion and ensure repeatable (high quality) results. Climbers religiously apply this concept to most aspects of climbing because it helps to ensure that at the end of your day you’re drinking a beer and not driving to the hospital.
It many ways I believe climbers do a better job of applying the lean manufacturing principles than businesses do. Heck, it’s your life that’s on the line. While many companies have made serious inroads to building a lean culture, I’m still surprised at how much room is still left for improvement. Within the global market place, companies that have successfully embraced lean manufacturing have a distinct advantage, and for those that haven’t, I believe they need to start thinking like a climber (it could be the life of your business that is at stake).
Kerry Zuber is a Director, Business Consulting for Kinaxis, provider of the on-demand RapidResponse service that empowers multi-enterprise manufacturers with the collaborative and integrated demand-supply planning, monitoring, and response capabilities.
Can lean thinking save your life?
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