Apprentice to a Butcher

As a young boy, I was greatly intrigued to learn that Shakespeare, for a while, served as an apprentice to a butcher. I could not connect Shakespeare to a butcher at that time. But I was dismayed to think that how Shakespeare wasted much of his valuable time and talent working for a butcher. Surely he did not learn anything of his craft that made him and his works so famous and enduring. After some childish thinking, I passed it off as: 'Well, even great men like Shakespeare had to take up such lowly jobs (in India a butcher's job is still considered to be a lowly job) to survive. So I resolved that I should not be least ashamed of taking up lowly jobs in the future, if need be, just to survive and can do great jobs later on as and when opportune moments come up. And I understood that no job is low enough so long it helps one to survive with dignity'.

Forty years have passed since that time. And there was no change to my basic realization. To survive is the basic human motivation that gives our human dignity. And therefore, every job has a dignity about it since it helps us survive.

And then one day I suddenly hit upon a realization that eluded me for so long.

This came up while I became a little more curious about learning the roots of 'Lean Manufacturing'. Most of us know that the concepts of 'lean' were developed by Taichi Ohno of Toyota and later made more popular through his books and through Goldratt's 'Theory of Constraints' (perhaps important to remember that the phrase 'lean manufacturing' was not coined by Ohno). But when Ohno was asked as to where he got his ideas from he frankly admitted that he got his ideas from Henry Ford and it was not his original idea. And where did Henry Ford get his concept of waste elimination, lean manufacturing and assembly line that changed forever the concepts of manufacturing operations all over the world? Now came the surprise.

Ford got his ideas of waste elimination and lean manufacturing through his observation of the local butchers at their work. To be candid, till that time, I was not much interested in the butcher or his trade. But this fact that Ford got his idea of lean manufacturing from the butcher shook me up quite a bit.

Without wasting much time, I virtually rushed to my nearest friendly butcher's shop (Golam's Meat Shop) and observed his operation with a lot of interest. And what I saw bowled me over. It was a perfect example of waste elimination (all 7 of them), just in time, 5 S, assembly line concept, TPM and much more. No waste anywhere in the system and what naturally struck me was the inherent simplicity of the operation and cleanliness of the whole place.

In the morning, the butcher and his lean team opens the shop with just one slaughtered lamb. Three more live lambs are kept ready at a distance tied to a peg (inventory control). Before the first customer arrives, the butcher and his team utilizes the idle time, sharpening their tools, maintaining and cleaning the wooden chopping block, and cleaning the place (TPM). As soon as the first customer arrives, the head butcher asks him about his choice of meat (whether he would like to have it from the legs -- front or the rear ones, the chest portion etc and the amount of liver he needs and does he need the meat to be minced or in pieces, etc). Having understood his customer's specific requirement through his short dialogue he then sets out fulfilling the order as desired (Make what the customer wants and just the amount he asks for -- nothing more, nothing less -- no overproduction). He starts chopping the pieces with his right hand and throws the chopped piece with his left hand into a weighing pan and constantly eyes the weight of the meat on the digital meter -- all these done with rhythm and balance. As soon as the meter shows the correct amount the operation stops and while the head butcher gets engaged in collecting the money from the customer one of the team mates starts putting the pieces into a black plastic bag to deliver the pack to the customer. And then comes the next customer. And in between the customers, the cleaning operation is quickly done in a matter of less than 10 seconds to clean up the 'act'.

But as soon as the amount of meat starts dwindling, the head butcher asks his next senior most team mate to keep the next lamb ready (pull system). Just before the first lamb is done away with the next lamb appears on the sales counter kept hanging upside down (Just in time). And how is that done? It exactly looks like an assembly line or a process plant. While one of the boys slaughters the lamb, the other takes off the skin and yet another disembowels the lamb and cleans it up before it is placed on the sales counter (Standard procedure of work). The entire operation is a symphony -- well orchestrated like any famous orchestra.

And what happens to the portions not selected by the regular customers, like the skull, hooves, intestines, tongues etc? These are neatly placed and segregated at designated places for another brand of customers to pick these up and there is one boy in the team who handles this brand of customers. They take these portions for their pets or other purposes. And the shop remains open till everything that has been processed so far is sold out but the shop is not kept open after noon. As the clock strikes noon the operation comes to a grinding halt (work-life balance) and everyone suddenly becomes busy vigorously cleaning up the whole place, cleaning and sharpening the knives and implements and tidying them up (for the next operation in the evening) and again scrapping and cleaning the wooden chopping block(TPM). The cash is counted and the suppliers, who queue up at the closing hour are paid off (working well with a close knit group of suppliers -- quality assurance and supply chain management). They go off with a smile on their faces. A very neat operation.

There are other striking things to observe. All operations are within the arm's reach (ergonomics in its simplicity). They hardly apply any additional physical force than what is necessary for the job (no energy loss). The head butcher is always in a white dress with surprisingly a few spots of blood and the place does not smell - no stench, no running rivulets of blood and water, no mess in this rather messy business (customer focus). And the head butcher trains his team mates all the while (continuous on the job training), fully aware that these young lads, as they grow up and learn more about the business, would leave him and set up shop elsewhere. He does not care about that. He also does not seem to care about recession or inflation knowing fully well that human population would keep growing and there is no limit to human consumption till he lives and works and can do exactly as per the market demand -- quite counter intuitive - I must admit.

No wonder, Henry Ford got many of his brilliant ideas of Lean Manufacturing from the humble butcher and his operation. His brilliant mind could take in what he saw and clearly projected his learning well into the future. This is innovation. This is because knowledge in one field was applied to quite a different field of human activity and it changed the way in which we worked so far in manufacturing. It changed the concepts and it changed everything for good for the good of the human society.

So, after all, innovation is not that scary! It starts with our observation, playing with what we observe and gaining insights to form interesting points of view (POV). It may also lead to great laws like Newton's laws. After all, the great Newton also got his ideas from his intent observation and play. Since knowledge is all around us, it all depends on how we see this knowledge and glean relevant insights to improve the way we do things.

Many from the manufacturing industry with whom I interact firmly believe in seeing what similar industries are doing elsewhere and benchmark themselves with similar industries. There is nothing wrong with this. It helps one to take note of the best practices so as to replicate the same in their industries and thereby improve productivity.

But 'best practices' are not new knowledge. They are still looking for ideas inside the box and not outside the box. With time, they would certainly know with lot of clarity the dimensions of this box, the color, texture, smell and everything about the box and then they would like to make it bigger keeping the other features intact. But that would not initiate the culture of innovation. Far from it. To initiate a culture of innovation, people should be encouraged to look outside the box -- that is look keenly as to what goes on in other industries -- however, small and humble that might appear to be -- may be a butcher shop or the 'biri making shop' (traditional Indian mini cigars). Knowledge is everywhere -- just impatiently waiting for us to be pick them up and apply them to whatever we do. That is what I understand as 'thinking outside the box'. Well we have to find time for this and do this activity in a relaxed manner for the greater benefit of our society.

However, this example, also highlights the purpose of innovation. The basic end purpose of all innovations is to ensure the our well being. Does it help us to perform better at the task that we do or the way we do the tasks or the way in which we think about something (Performance)? Does it help us to produce more with less and save resources and thereby save the earth (Productivity)? Does it help us to make money to lead a proper balanced life and improve the standard of living for us and for our future generations and help us live with dignity (Profitability)?

You might be wondering by now as to what happened to my understanding of Shakespeare with whom I started this story. Well, I now realize the importance of his apprenticeship to the butcher and can now make the connection. The great man was definitely not wasting his time, he was too intelligent and bright to waste his valuable time.

He probably absorbed the lean manufacturing concepts from his boss and his operation and applied it to his life and his works (completely different field of human activity -- literature). That is why he could complete 37 great plays in such a short time (quality and made to order -- as demanded by Swan Theater -- no over production). History says that he penned his stories in a collaborative manner with a team of assistants (lean manufacturing and team work with able team members). That is why he could express universal and timeless human emotions and follies through stories of kings and queens (keeping with the expectation of ordinary people of his time -- customer focus -- the ordinary people certainly did not like to see similar drab stories of their colorless lives being played out on the stage -- they wanted to see something more glamorous -- that would enable them to pleasantly forget their pains for the time being and hope for a better future). That is why he offered them such fine stories so that the plays would run full houses for days (profitability through talent). That is why he wrote as briefly as he could and directly in the play format (no wastage of energy and time -- it was left to other great minds to explain to us the depths and intricacies of his writings). And it is amply clear that he kept on observing human mind, behavior and emotions, reading and researching on various topics (stories and events that did not necessarily belong to England), imagining and writing to hone his skills with the greatest determination to raise it to its highest levels of perfection and brilliance (working out of the box and continuous learning).

I now humbly acknowledge the contribution of butchers to the progress of our human civilization and I am already preparing myself to make a video or a photo log of my friend, Golam and his shop. I think it is a better way to share knowledge with adult learners rather than making them go through well written academic books. But my friend is quite taken aback by my proposal. He wonders 'What is all this fuss about. How can I be so important?' he said. He then added with a tinge of surprise in his voice,'Videos and photo shoots are meant for film stars, singers and clebrities, not me'.

I empathize. He simply fails to see the 'cloud in the book'(one of the topics of my future blog).

But do we all succeed in seeing the 'cloud in the book'?

May be, may be not!

Incidentally tonight, as I write to complete this blog, the Diwali festival has started and I can hear the sounds of crackers in the distance (Diwali is the festival of light in India). It is supposed to dispel all darkness in our souls and brighten up our lives. Let this Diwali brighten up our lives and spirits.

Wish you all a very happy and prosperous Diwali.

Signing off for now,

dibyendu

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