Today is Earth Day 2008. Maybe it’s only me but it seems that this year it’s gotten substantially more press coverage than in Earth Days past. I think it is a great notion to put the spotlight on our eco-behaviors (or lack thereof) and make a positive effort to “do” more about improving our mother earth than just debating about what to do. However large or small our green activities, we should all plan to “do” something to improve our environment for our future. As part of the manufacturing community, we should also improve our company eco-behaviors for a cleaner future. It’s simply the right thing to do.
The 5S approach is just one example. Teach the basics of 3S (Sort, Straighten and Shine) and ask them to be repeated daily to achieve 5S. Explain that this is not a Spring Cleaning program to be completed once a year but a daily way of life. Encourage a daily 5 minute routine for everyone although you certainly can do more. And, focus not so much on cleaning but making a workplace organized to immediately see problems at a glance, any abnormality from standard.
Finally, while it’s great to see pictures and hear stories about the great volunteer work to clean up all the trash found in parks, rivers, and lakes, we should also follow the 5S lessons to look for the source of “dirt” and put in countermeasure to prevent it from getting “dirty” in the first place.
Now that we see we can make an effort on at least one day a year, let’s apply the kaizen approach and not wait until Earth Day 2009 to do anything else. Remember, the better approach to sustaining change is through gradual, small frequent improvements everyday.
Earth Day should be everyday, nothing special, no banners, slogans or t-shirts. Our actions to improve the environment should just be part of our daily way of life.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Value Stream Communication
In almost 100% of all business improvement books, the topic of communication is always considered a key factor to success. I am sure that many of us would agree on the importance of communication and may even consider it a universal truth. Most companies spend countless hours and substantial money to make sure communication channels are open and flowing. As a result, we have seen some pretty impressive technology over the years, all at our fingertips like cell phones, PDAs, email, laptops, voicemail, etc.
We focus not only on the quality and quantity of information but the speed of communication from the shop floor to management and back. We look of opportunities to improve communication including making sure we have solid two-way communication to battle the common complaint of only having one-way communication channels.
In our lean world, we understand the importance of information flow and communication. In fact, our value stream maps are constructed to focus on both material and information flow making opportunities visible in both areas.
But if we examine our value stream map process, we may find that is not always true. How many of us focus more on the material flow while constructing our value stream maps and give little attention to the information flow? Why? Is information flow harder to see? Is it that material flow has easy dollar savings tied to improvements in this area over information flow?
One of the most important, yet overlooked, areas of improvement in communication in our value stream is the direction of the flow of information. Just look at your value stream map. Are there more information flow arrows moving up and down (vertical) than information flow across the value stream (horizontal)? It is critical to look at improving communication across the value stream or this horizontal direction. This can reduce errors, remove non-value added gates, and speeds up the flow where it is needed most.
If you take a look at all our technology advances and communication improvements over the past few years, in which direction are we focusing on? Is it more the vertical direction (bottom-top-back down) or is it horizontal (side-to-side)?
This is not to say top-down communication is not important, just that we tend to ignore the very important horizontal communication path. Improving our horizontal communication is probably the most critical missing link we have today on our lean journey.
As an example of the power of horizontal communication, I can recall one event that occurred several years ago at another company. As with most typical manufacturing operations, our process was set up in a traditional manner, assembly followed by 100% inspection. The inspector looked over and tested the products, passed on good products and pulled non-conforming products off the line. The inspector, following procedures, marked the products and recorded that data. This information was passed on to the Quality Manager then on to the Plant Manager. The data was reviewed in the next day’s staff meeting with the supervisors with the action item to deal with it. And certainly, throughout the day, this information could be seen directly only if the Quality Manger, Plant Manager or Supervisor walked over to the inspection station.
What do you think about this information flow? How would you improve it?
Seeing that we lose valuable time between error detection and error countermeasures, we keep the information flow the same except for one major change. We directed the inspector to stop the line and notify the supervisor immediately with each problem. We also added that the inspector could stop the line and walk over to the most probable source of the problem and directly inform the employee of that process about the problem. At first the Plant Manager was not happy about all the line shut downs. But over time, we saw an amazing reduction of errors which ultimately improved productivity. Isn’t that what we are really after?
Take a quick walk to your gemba and look at the communication flow. Look for any ways to improve horizontal flow. How far apart are the associates in the value stream from each other? Can we change the flow to move them closer together? Can all associates see the proper information boards? Ask each associate what information they need and how fast is it getting to them. Ask each associate how we can improve the flow of information to them, get their ideas. With focus and creativity, improvements in the horizontal flow of information will greatly improve your value stream.
We focus not only on the quality and quantity of information but the speed of communication from the shop floor to management and back. We look of opportunities to improve communication including making sure we have solid two-way communication to battle the common complaint of only having one-way communication channels.
In our lean world, we understand the importance of information flow and communication. In fact, our value stream maps are constructed to focus on both material and information flow making opportunities visible in both areas.
But if we examine our value stream map process, we may find that is not always true. How many of us focus more on the material flow while constructing our value stream maps and give little attention to the information flow? Why? Is information flow harder to see? Is it that material flow has easy dollar savings tied to improvements in this area over information flow?
One of the most important, yet overlooked, areas of improvement in communication in our value stream is the direction of the flow of information. Just look at your value stream map. Are there more information flow arrows moving up and down (vertical) than information flow across the value stream (horizontal)? It is critical to look at improving communication across the value stream or this horizontal direction. This can reduce errors, remove non-value added gates, and speeds up the flow where it is needed most.
If you take a look at all our technology advances and communication improvements over the past few years, in which direction are we focusing on? Is it more the vertical direction (bottom-top-back down) or is it horizontal (side-to-side)?
This is not to say top-down communication is not important, just that we tend to ignore the very important horizontal communication path. Improving our horizontal communication is probably the most critical missing link we have today on our lean journey.
As an example of the power of horizontal communication, I can recall one event that occurred several years ago at another company. As with most typical manufacturing operations, our process was set up in a traditional manner, assembly followed by 100% inspection. The inspector looked over and tested the products, passed on good products and pulled non-conforming products off the line. The inspector, following procedures, marked the products and recorded that data. This information was passed on to the Quality Manager then on to the Plant Manager. The data was reviewed in the next day’s staff meeting with the supervisors with the action item to deal with it. And certainly, throughout the day, this information could be seen directly only if the Quality Manger, Plant Manager or Supervisor walked over to the inspection station.
What do you think about this information flow? How would you improve it?
Seeing that we lose valuable time between error detection and error countermeasures, we keep the information flow the same except for one major change. We directed the inspector to stop the line and notify the supervisor immediately with each problem. We also added that the inspector could stop the line and walk over to the most probable source of the problem and directly inform the employee of that process about the problem. At first the Plant Manager was not happy about all the line shut downs. But over time, we saw an amazing reduction of errors which ultimately improved productivity. Isn’t that what we are really after?
Take a quick walk to your gemba and look at the communication flow. Look for any ways to improve horizontal flow. How far apart are the associates in the value stream from each other? Can we change the flow to move them closer together? Can all associates see the proper information boards? Ask each associate what information they need and how fast is it getting to them. Ask each associate how we can improve the flow of information to them, get their ideas. With focus and creativity, improvements in the horizontal flow of information will greatly improve your value stream.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Thinking Outside the Wooden Pallet
Go to gemba and look at your dock area material handling process. Follow your material handlers around the plant. Go to your warehouse area and watch. What do you see?
One thing that I see in almost every manufacturing facility is lots of forklifts moving lots of stuff, mainly on wooden pallets. But looking at the material before it is moved by the forklift and right after, what do I see? I see no movement, no flow, just waiting, waiting and more waiting.
If I go back over twenty-five years ago to my first days in a manufacturing plant, I saw the very same process. I still remember our Japanese Sensei going up to the board drawing a crude picture of a forklift inside a circle with a diagonal line thru it, yelling at us in Japanese, “Muda!, Muda!, Muda!” It was pretty easy to figure out that he seriously wanted us to eliminate all forklifts and create flow. Sounds like a simple idea but we did not take him seriously. We did not see forklifts as muda then and we really still do not see them as muda today. It’s just how we do things.
As far as improvements to our material handling process goes, this process has virtually remained unchanged since WWII when the modern day pallet first appeared with the use of forklifts. Sure, there have been a few improvements but nothing that changes the basic forklift-pallet process of moving large quantities of stuff fast with minimal manpower. As far as doing more with less, this process works. While lean thinking supports doing more with less, we want to move smaller quantities of stuff only as needed with minimal manpower. We want velocity, we want flow. Does the process of forklift and wooden pallet really support our lean vision of flow?
One other thing I noticed is a strange phenomenon in the behavior of forklift operators. Once they sit down behind the wheel of their forklift, they stay there. For some reason, forklift operators absolutely hate to get up from their seat. It’s like there is this strong magnetic force preventing them from being able to get back up once they climb into their seat. Maybe their seat is Velcro padded preventing them from getting up? On rare occasion, I have seen forklift operators jump off their vehicles but only after first honking their horn a few times. Once they are forced to get off their forklift, they suddenly become grumpy. As a side note, I recognize this identical attachment behavior in other areas of the business, only it has to do with sitting behind a desk. Strange, huh?
A few things we must consider: How much does it cost to purchase/lease a forklift? How much time, energy and cost does it take to properly maintain a forklift? How much does a wooden pallet cost? What does it cost us in time and energy to deal with wooden pallets? How long do they last? Do we properly repair them? How many broken pallets have caused damage to our products, created a mess or caused injury to our associates? Do our associates have to manually move or lift wooden pallets? How much space does the wooden pallets storage take up? How environmentally responsible is the process of forklifts and wooden pallets?
One thing that I see in almost every manufacturing facility is lots of forklifts moving lots of stuff, mainly on wooden pallets. But looking at the material before it is moved by the forklift and right after, what do I see? I see no movement, no flow, just waiting, waiting and more waiting.
If I go back over twenty-five years ago to my first days in a manufacturing plant, I saw the very same process. I still remember our Japanese Sensei going up to the board drawing a crude picture of a forklift inside a circle with a diagonal line thru it, yelling at us in Japanese, “Muda!, Muda!, Muda!” It was pretty easy to figure out that he seriously wanted us to eliminate all forklifts and create flow. Sounds like a simple idea but we did not take him seriously. We did not see forklifts as muda then and we really still do not see them as muda today. It’s just how we do things.
As far as improvements to our material handling process goes, this process has virtually remained unchanged since WWII when the modern day pallet first appeared with the use of forklifts. Sure, there have been a few improvements but nothing that changes the basic forklift-pallet process of moving large quantities of stuff fast with minimal manpower. As far as doing more with less, this process works. While lean thinking supports doing more with less, we want to move smaller quantities of stuff only as needed with minimal manpower. We want velocity, we want flow. Does the process of forklift and wooden pallet really support our lean vision of flow?
One other thing I noticed is a strange phenomenon in the behavior of forklift operators. Once they sit down behind the wheel of their forklift, they stay there. For some reason, forklift operators absolutely hate to get up from their seat. It’s like there is this strong magnetic force preventing them from being able to get back up once they climb into their seat. Maybe their seat is Velcro padded preventing them from getting up? On rare occasion, I have seen forklift operators jump off their vehicles but only after first honking their horn a few times. Once they are forced to get off their forklift, they suddenly become grumpy. As a side note, I recognize this identical attachment behavior in other areas of the business, only it has to do with sitting behind a desk. Strange, huh?
A few things we must consider: How much does it cost to purchase/lease a forklift? How much time, energy and cost does it take to properly maintain a forklift? How much does a wooden pallet cost? What does it cost us in time and energy to deal with wooden pallets? How long do they last? Do we properly repair them? How many broken pallets have caused damage to our products, created a mess or caused injury to our associates? Do our associates have to manually move or lift wooden pallets? How much space does the wooden pallets storage take up? How environmentally responsible is the process of forklifts and wooden pallets?
Maybe we can not 100% eliminate forklifts and wooden pallets, but can we drastically reduce the need for them? Can we confine their use to just at the end of our plant and receiving docks? Can we eliminate them from our interior plant processes? Can we think outside the wooden pallet and come up with a better way?
Lean Manufacturing 2008 Conference
On May 20-22, 2008, Noria and Reliable Plant Magazine will be hosting their Lean Manufacturing 2008 Conference in Nashville, Tennessee. This super event will include several outstanding sessions on lean manufacturing along with plant reliability and lubrication topics all in one place. Don't miss a great chance to continue your lean education. I am honored to be chosen as one of the speakers for this event. I look forward to talking about lean and meeting many fellow lean thinkers. Please join us.
Friday, April 04, 2008
If it Ain't Broke, Improve it Anyway
One of the hardest lessons to learn and follow on the lean journey is where to apply improvement efforts. For many of us, we can easily understand the need for improvement efforts on the problem areas of our operation or bottleneck areas. But what about the parts of our operation that really shine? What about the areas that never give us problems, do we improve these smooth running parts of our value stream?
At one of our Batesville Casket plants, we are currently planning a kaizen event in one of these low problem areas in our operation. It was questioned why should we improve there, it is running fine. It would be easy to make the case that we should not rock the boat. Why push over the apple cart? What if we mess up? What Plant Manager in their right mind would want to mess with an area that does not cause problems?
Why improve a seemingly perfect area? Because we see opportunity there. The reason to spend the time and energy to improve any part of our value stream is the opportunity to simply create something better.
Fear of causing problems in our improvement efforts should never stop us from moving forward. If we do make mistakes, then make the problems visible and fix them.
Kaizen is never ending, everywhere, everyday by everyone. There are no conditions or boundaries to kaizen. In the true spirit of kaizen, even as a product line is phased out, you should make improvements. And you should make improvements, even on the very last day of production. So if it ain’t broke, improve it anyway.
At one of our Batesville Casket plants, we are currently planning a kaizen event in one of these low problem areas in our operation. It was questioned why should we improve there, it is running fine. It would be easy to make the case that we should not rock the boat. Why push over the apple cart? What if we mess up? What Plant Manager in their right mind would want to mess with an area that does not cause problems?
Why improve a seemingly perfect area? Because we see opportunity there. The reason to spend the time and energy to improve any part of our value stream is the opportunity to simply create something better.
Fear of causing problems in our improvement efforts should never stop us from moving forward. If we do make mistakes, then make the problems visible and fix them.
Kaizen is never ending, everywhere, everyday by everyone. There are no conditions or boundaries to kaizen. In the true spirit of kaizen, even as a product line is phased out, you should make improvements. And you should make improvements, even on the very last day of production. So if it ain’t broke, improve it anyway.
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
First Day of Trading for Batesville Casket Company on the NYSE
This morning, the CEO’s of Batesville Casket Company and Hill-Rom Company rang the opening bell on the New York Stock Exchange to signal the first day of trading as two separate public companies. Previously, both companies were divisions of Hillenbrand Industries which trading on the NYSE under the old NYSE ticker HB.
In today’s separation, the Batesville Casket Company will be traded under Hillenbrand, Inc (NYSE ticker: HI) and Hill-Rom will be traded under Hill-Rom Holding, Inc (NYSE ticker: HRC).
Congratulations to both companies on this historic day and continued great success in building our futures!
In today’s separation, the Batesville Casket Company will be traded under Hillenbrand, Inc (NYSE ticker: HI) and Hill-Rom will be traded under Hill-Rom Holding, Inc (NYSE ticker: HRC).
Congratulations to both companies on this historic day and continued great success in building our futures!
Thursday, March 27, 2008
BOHICA
BOHICA is not a new Japanese word used in lean manufacturing and it is not a cynical Dilbert-ism although it could be. For those with a military background, you may recognize it and may have even used it on occasion. BOHICA is a crude expression that stands for “Bend Over Here It Comes Again” to convey the notion, please pardon the expression, of getting …. (let’s just say treated badly) by someone else (usually someone in authority). If you will please look beyond its original rude meaning, I would like to use the same expression in a completely different context.
BOHICA still represents “Bend Over Here It Comes Again” only with “IT” being another recordable injury as a result of bending or lifting. This is a very serious, very costly and very preventable injury! No joke.
How many of us see this reoccurring injury involving bending and lifting year-in and year-out on our safety dashboards? What are the usual countermeasures we put in place if any? Is it working? How do we know?
Did you know that after colds, back injuries are the No. 1 cause of missed work? It is estimated to cost more than $90 billion a year in medical bills which is certainly a waste. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, back injuries account for 1 in every 5 workplace injuries or illnesses with more than one million workers suffering back injuries each year. One million workers….suffering…each year!
And it is not just a manufacturing problem. Two other occupational fields where back injuries occur most are in construction and health care. Yes, in the health care workplace. The six of the top 10 professions at greatest risk for back injuries are nurse’s aids, licensed practical nurses, registered nurses, health aids, radiology technicians and physical therapists, according to national statistics. Greater than one third of these back injuries are attributed to patient handing. For our friends in lean healthcare, this is a worthy problem to eliminate and for reference please see “A Back Injury Prevention Guide for Healthcare Workers” as a starting point.
The motion of lifting, placing, carrying, holding and lowering are all involved in manual material handling however data shows that the act of lifting accounts for four out of five incidents of back injuries. The first thing that may come to mind is providing training to lift properly which is a common countermeasure to address the problem, “Trained or Re-trained associate in proper lifting methods.” But does that really prevent the injuries from occurring? Maybe not. According to one report, body mechanics training in proper lifting techniques has been discredited by 35 years of research.
Even Henry Ford way back in 1922, as quoted from his book, My Life and Work, said, “The first step forward in assembly came when we began taking the work to the man instead of the man to the work. We now have two general principles in operations-that a man shall never to take more than one step, if possibly it can be avoided, and that no man need ever stoop over.” Although he was certainly focusing on motion economy, I am sure back injuries were a problem for manufacturing in those days too.
It is commonly thought that no approach has been found for totally eliminating back injuries caused by lifting however this should not discourage us from finding a proper and permanent countermeasure. Perhaps Mr. Ford points us in the right direction. Prevent the action of bending and lifting to eliminate back injuries.
Potential suggestions include adjusting the heights of pallets and shelves above the knee and installing mechanical assists to 100% eliminate human effort to lift or bend. Focus on prevention by better job design with detailed study and proper countermeasures. Spend the time and effort to grasp the situation, ask the 5 whys, and check to make sure the countermeasures are effective.
A quick fix of training or re-training may help only as a temporary countermeasure but this problem demands long-lasting improvements.
As a little added bonus, here is my first haiku on this topic.
Bending over to
lift another piece again;
Snap goes my poor back.
Thanks to Jon Miller at Gemba Research for the inspiration.
BOHICA still represents “Bend Over Here It Comes Again” only with “IT” being another recordable injury as a result of bending or lifting. This is a very serious, very costly and very preventable injury! No joke.
How many of us see this reoccurring injury involving bending and lifting year-in and year-out on our safety dashboards? What are the usual countermeasures we put in place if any? Is it working? How do we know?
Did you know that after colds, back injuries are the No. 1 cause of missed work? It is estimated to cost more than $90 billion a year in medical bills which is certainly a waste. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, back injuries account for 1 in every 5 workplace injuries or illnesses with more than one million workers suffering back injuries each year. One million workers….suffering…each year!
And it is not just a manufacturing problem. Two other occupational fields where back injuries occur most are in construction and health care. Yes, in the health care workplace. The six of the top 10 professions at greatest risk for back injuries are nurse’s aids, licensed practical nurses, registered nurses, health aids, radiology technicians and physical therapists, according to national statistics. Greater than one third of these back injuries are attributed to patient handing. For our friends in lean healthcare, this is a worthy problem to eliminate and for reference please see “A Back Injury Prevention Guide for Healthcare Workers” as a starting point.
The motion of lifting, placing, carrying, holding and lowering are all involved in manual material handling however data shows that the act of lifting accounts for four out of five incidents of back injuries. The first thing that may come to mind is providing training to lift properly which is a common countermeasure to address the problem, “Trained or Re-trained associate in proper lifting methods.” But does that really prevent the injuries from occurring? Maybe not. According to one report, body mechanics training in proper lifting techniques has been discredited by 35 years of research.
Even Henry Ford way back in 1922, as quoted from his book, My Life and Work, said, “The first step forward in assembly came when we began taking the work to the man instead of the man to the work. We now have two general principles in operations-that a man shall never to take more than one step, if possibly it can be avoided, and that no man need ever stoop over.” Although he was certainly focusing on motion economy, I am sure back injuries were a problem for manufacturing in those days too.
It is commonly thought that no approach has been found for totally eliminating back injuries caused by lifting however this should not discourage us from finding a proper and permanent countermeasure. Perhaps Mr. Ford points us in the right direction. Prevent the action of bending and lifting to eliminate back injuries.
Potential suggestions include adjusting the heights of pallets and shelves above the knee and installing mechanical assists to 100% eliminate human effort to lift or bend. Focus on prevention by better job design with detailed study and proper countermeasures. Spend the time and effort to grasp the situation, ask the 5 whys, and check to make sure the countermeasures are effective.
A quick fix of training or re-training may help only as a temporary countermeasure but this problem demands long-lasting improvements.
As a little added bonus, here is my first haiku on this topic.
Bending over to
lift another piece again;
Snap goes my poor back.
Thanks to Jon Miller at Gemba Research for the inspiration.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Low Impact Manufacturing
There is a rising level of awareness of global warming and other environmental concerns within our society today. As more information is shared, the debate continues. As a whole, our society is remains divided on the issue. Some of us believe it is a catastrophic problem that must be addresses immediately, others believe it is more of a concern than a major problem while some of us are not yet convinced that it is a problem at all.
What does this have to do with lean manufacturing? Everything.
Our decisions and behaviors in our manufacturing process have an environmental impact. The main focus of the lean approach is to eliminate waste. We should look at the issue of our manufacturing environmental footprint with careful consideration. How do our current processes impact our customer, our employees and our society? What is our company’s environmental footprint? What improvements can we make to become a low impact manufacturer?
Without even getting into the middle of the environmental cause and effect debate, we can see a huge business advantage to reducing our energy costs and reducing the typically hidden costs of waste disposal. Energy costs alone have negatively impacted each and every one of us.
What are some of the ways we can reduce or eliminate this waste?
1. Conduct an Energy Kaizen Event where the team focuses on reducing energy and waste costs during the week long kaizen blitz.
2. Add six sigma projects to focus on energy and waste improvement.
3. Don’t hide the problem of energy and waste costs in overhead. Measure it, apply countermeasures and post results making it visible. Add it to our dashboard.
4. Add environmental impact analysis to all business decision process where it makes sense to do so. (The request for funds, new product introductions, facility planning, engineering change requests, etc)
5. Use our handy dandy lean tools (i.e. Pareto charts) to help focus our effort in the area of most impact. Is it gas? It is electricity? Is it waste disposal?
6. Leverage all employees as problem solvers (a known but little used lean principle) to help think up and implement countermeasures.
7. Celebrate and publicize our energy reducing successes! Share ideas.
8. Identify the barriers to effective recycling and remove them. Make it easier.
9. Improve lighting which is probably the fastest way to save energy where studies indicate that lighting consumes about 40% of the electricity used in commercial buildings.
10. Increase the use of natural light. For example, one of our plants has skylights in a stairwell for light during daylight hours.
11. Redesign production processes making them simply, flexible and energy efficient.
12. Replace old motors with right-sized, high-efficiency motors.
13. Monitor and reduce peak loads.
14. If you have not already put one in place, add TPM (Total Productive Maintenance) to your operation.
15. Recycle and reduce paper usage. Eliminate unneeded reports, presentation, etc. Make two-sided documents the norm if you do print.
At Batesville Casket Company, we eliminated the printing of all kaizen training presentation material that were previously handed out at every event to every team member. The typical handout would be anywhere from 100 to 300 pages in a three ring binder which just ended up on somebody’s bookshelf. Our new approach is to provide access to the information on our computer network and hand out small pocket guides instead. Major savings in costs and reduction in paper usage!
As a manufacturer, what is the typical stereotype of our industry? Dirty or Clean? Greedy or Giving? Environmental hazard or environmental friendly? We have a golden opportunity to take a leadership position on this highly debated issue. Following our lean thinking, just ask ourselves, “Is it the right thing to do?”
Green Belts Going Green
I attended a report out by several newly certified six sigma green belts from the Pratt Corporation in Indianapolis, Indiana where two of the projects were going green. Instead of your typical customer quality focused projects, two individuals focused on the issue of waste disposal costs for the company.
Using the DMAIC approach to problem solving, they clearly defined the scope of the problem, performed the analysis and implemented countermeasures with dramatic results. One project focused on increasing the use of custom sheets to reduce scrap without increasing costs by clearly defining the “standard work” in making the decision to use custom sheets. The second project improved the scrap recycling process. Together, the net results were an 80% reduction in landfill waste disposal volume with a cost savings of over $80,000.
In addition to the positive results, several new projects were formed as a result of their data. The company is now targeting 100% elimination of landfill disposal waste.
Using the DMAIC approach to problem solving, they clearly defined the scope of the problem, performed the analysis and implemented countermeasures with dramatic results. One project focused on increasing the use of custom sheets to reduce scrap without increasing costs by clearly defining the “standard work” in making the decision to use custom sheets. The second project improved the scrap recycling process. Together, the net results were an 80% reduction in landfill waste disposal volume with a cost savings of over $80,000.
In addition to the positive results, several new projects were formed as a result of their data. The company is now targeting 100% elimination of landfill disposal waste.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
A Good Layout is in the Details
When faced with making improvements like the lean challenge of minimizing the floor space used by a process, we should proceed with careful consideration along with critical thinking. In the zeal of a kaizen blitz, many details not thought through could easily cripple our process. In the aftermath, costs would certainly go up but more importantly customer satisfaction would decrease.
Our recent kaizen event that reduced our floor space for three lines by 42% in a one week period was no exception. Despite the short time frame, we understood the need for careful consideration before jumping to solutions. The majority of our week was not involved in moving the lines or getting them up and running. We spent the majority of our effort trying to understand the current situation and planning.
Moving the lines is actually the easy part and for most of us the fun part. It only took a few hours to physically move the equipment with the help of a small group of associates we borrowed from another part of the plant. This was followed by Maintenance and contractors hooking it all up.
The real challenge is trying to get the team to focus on the current situation and resist the strong urge to start moving the lines immediately. After all we did have some previous time studies, Standard Work Combination sheets for the lines, CAD drawings of the area, demand patterns, listing of all the components and model profiles along with team members from the area to help us. What more do we need?
All this information was good however I still encouraged the team to go to gemba and see for themselves. We conducted our own time observations of the work and looked for every detail possible that helps us understand the current process as completely as possible. When the team was satisfied with the information, we started generating a potential layout.
We did not end up using our first layout. Why? In first draft we created more questions than answers so we went back to gemba. A good layout is in the details so we continued the cycle of seeking understanding and planning before action.
We originally planned to move all the lines the second night but the team came to the conclusion that we did not understand the current situation enough at that point to make the move. Wisely, we delayed the move to continue the process of learning.
By focusing the majority of our effort on grasping the situation first, the action of moving was fairly uneventful. No firefighting, no frantic emergencies, no heroics and no customer disappointments.
Our recent kaizen event that reduced our floor space for three lines by 42% in a one week period was no exception. Despite the short time frame, we understood the need for careful consideration before jumping to solutions. The majority of our week was not involved in moving the lines or getting them up and running. We spent the majority of our effort trying to understand the current situation and planning.
Moving the lines is actually the easy part and for most of us the fun part. It only took a few hours to physically move the equipment with the help of a small group of associates we borrowed from another part of the plant. This was followed by Maintenance and contractors hooking it all up.
The real challenge is trying to get the team to focus on the current situation and resist the strong urge to start moving the lines immediately. After all we did have some previous time studies, Standard Work Combination sheets for the lines, CAD drawings of the area, demand patterns, listing of all the components and model profiles along with team members from the area to help us. What more do we need?
All this information was good however I still encouraged the team to go to gemba and see for themselves. We conducted our own time observations of the work and looked for every detail possible that helps us understand the current process as completely as possible. When the team was satisfied with the information, we started generating a potential layout.
We did not end up using our first layout. Why? In first draft we created more questions than answers so we went back to gemba. A good layout is in the details so we continued the cycle of seeking understanding and planning before action.
We originally planned to move all the lines the second night but the team came to the conclusion that we did not understand the current situation enough at that point to make the move. Wisely, we delayed the move to continue the process of learning.
By focusing the majority of our effort on grasping the situation first, the action of moving was fairly uneventful. No firefighting, no frantic emergencies, no heroics and no customer disappointments.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Just Right Size It
One of the challenges in kaizen is getting people to see beyond their perceived boundaries to what is possible. One example is using right sized equipment. Many times we end up buying the best value of equipment for the money with as many bells and whistles possible, just in case we need them in the future. With this thought process, we end up with larger equipment with unused capabilities than what we actually need.
Driven by our “finance thinking”, we can take advantage of our newly acquired, multi-purpose machine by herding more parts to it. How many of us have actually searched for parts to load up the capacity of these types of machines? This helps pay for the machine and proves (on paper, at least) that we really needed it. Agreed?
Using larger equipment including workbenches, tables, fixtures, etc beyond what is the absolute minimum required for the current process is muda. Many of us understand this concept and attempt to use the right sized equipment principle. As lean thinkers, we also prefer to utilize small, dedicated machines to prevent process bottlenecks and separate our process flows.
A perceived boundary we struggle with in using right sized equipment is only seeing what is offered. Most equipment manufacturers do not customize their equipment design for our particular process. As a result, we end up selecting the best off-the-shelf piece of equipment closest to our needs.
Here lies a great opportunity. The two best alternatives are to 1) build our own equipment or 2) Modify off-the-shelf equipment to fit our needs.
As seen in the above photo, at Batesville Casket Company, we believe in right sizing equipment to our needs. It took a moment to realize (see the possibility) that we were not limited to the standard table saw size. In this example, we cut down (modified) a table saw to reduce the foot print to the smallest as possible for this line. This is just one kaizen implemented helping us reduce the overall floor space by 42% a few weeks ago.
Driven by our “finance thinking”, we can take advantage of our newly acquired, multi-purpose machine by herding more parts to it. How many of us have actually searched for parts to load up the capacity of these types of machines? This helps pay for the machine and proves (on paper, at least) that we really needed it. Agreed?
Using larger equipment including workbenches, tables, fixtures, etc beyond what is the absolute minimum required for the current process is muda. Many of us understand this concept and attempt to use the right sized equipment principle. As lean thinkers, we also prefer to utilize small, dedicated machines to prevent process bottlenecks and separate our process flows.
A perceived boundary we struggle with in using right sized equipment is only seeing what is offered. Most equipment manufacturers do not customize their equipment design for our particular process. As a result, we end up selecting the best off-the-shelf piece of equipment closest to our needs.
Here lies a great opportunity. The two best alternatives are to 1) build our own equipment or 2) Modify off-the-shelf equipment to fit our needs.
As seen in the above photo, at Batesville Casket Company, we believe in right sizing equipment to our needs. It took a moment to realize (see the possibility) that we were not limited to the standard table saw size. In this example, we cut down (modified) a table saw to reduce the foot print to the smallest as possible for this line. This is just one kaizen implemented helping us reduce the overall floor space by 42% a few weeks ago.
Thursday, March 06, 2008
It’s Easier to Float Downstream than Paddle Upstream
As I guided our kaizen team this week focusing on productivity and 5S of a weld cell, an important lesson from day one training was reinforced during our time at gemba. When making changes, it is better to include the process experts in the analysis and experimentation to gain buy-in (and get good ideas), especially if they are not official team members. P.S. Don’t forget to include experts from all shifts.
The team worked the day before with the first shift associate on finding a home location for the universal tool (a hammer) used for adjusting the fit up of parts in the weld fixture. Yes, I know this is muda to have to adjust parts and we noted it for future kaizen. After a couple of experiments, an agreement on a location was reached and a new tool holder for the hammer was added to the weld fixture. It provided simple access and was within easy reach. So the kaizen team ran off to the next improvement, right?
Not so fast, my fellow kaizen blitzers, when the team returned to gemba this morning, the new hammer tool holder had been removed. It was later found on top of a nearby work table. The improvement was undone.
Needless to say, some of team members were upset, a little on the angry side and certainly frustrated. A few of the kaizen team members quickly gathered around the scene of the crime and started to resemble a mob with pitch forks and hay sickles. They were in search of the criminal who had the nerve to undo their kaizen.
Of course, they wanted to round up the usual suspects and get management involved to seek corrective action. It was deduced that the weld associate on the night shift was the most likely suspect. Just wait until he reports for duty tonight!
What would you do in this situation?
As those kaizen team members working on this tool presentation were debating a plan of action, I asked them if they have previously included the night shift associate on their idea for the hammer tool holder. They said that they did not and quickly came to agreement that they should have. I then asked why do you think he did not like it and decided to remove it? Maybe there was a good reason? It is better to not jump to conclusions and just simply ask the weld associate what was the problem?
The kaizen team did exactly that and after a calm discussion with the night shift welder, the team learned that the tool holder placement made it difficult to weld a portion of the unit. Aha! Our improvement did not make it easier and better for the associate.
Now the kaizen team looked for a better location for the tool holder. It was actually more difficult that initially thought. I asked the team where the hammer was normally placed and they showed me a ledge on the weld fixture as the most common location. I asked if that was true for all shifts. They confirmed it. I suggested that it would be easier to float downstream than paddle upstream
With the notion that maybe a designated tool holder/placement on the ledge where all the associates preferred to place the hammer might work better, the kaizen team did some more experiements. After a few more trys and input from all shifts, a home location for the hammer was incorporated on the ledge. Kaizen success!
The team worked the day before with the first shift associate on finding a home location for the universal tool (a hammer) used for adjusting the fit up of parts in the weld fixture. Yes, I know this is muda to have to adjust parts and we noted it for future kaizen. After a couple of experiments, an agreement on a location was reached and a new tool holder for the hammer was added to the weld fixture. It provided simple access and was within easy reach. So the kaizen team ran off to the next improvement, right?
Not so fast, my fellow kaizen blitzers, when the team returned to gemba this morning, the new hammer tool holder had been removed. It was later found on top of a nearby work table. The improvement was undone.
Needless to say, some of team members were upset, a little on the angry side and certainly frustrated. A few of the kaizen team members quickly gathered around the scene of the crime and started to resemble a mob with pitch forks and hay sickles. They were in search of the criminal who had the nerve to undo their kaizen.
Of course, they wanted to round up the usual suspects and get management involved to seek corrective action. It was deduced that the weld associate on the night shift was the most likely suspect. Just wait until he reports for duty tonight!
What would you do in this situation?
As those kaizen team members working on this tool presentation were debating a plan of action, I asked them if they have previously included the night shift associate on their idea for the hammer tool holder. They said that they did not and quickly came to agreement that they should have. I then asked why do you think he did not like it and decided to remove it? Maybe there was a good reason? It is better to not jump to conclusions and just simply ask the weld associate what was the problem?
The kaizen team did exactly that and after a calm discussion with the night shift welder, the team learned that the tool holder placement made it difficult to weld a portion of the unit. Aha! Our improvement did not make it easier and better for the associate.
Now the kaizen team looked for a better location for the tool holder. It was actually more difficult that initially thought. I asked the team where the hammer was normally placed and they showed me a ledge on the weld fixture as the most common location. I asked if that was true for all shifts. They confirmed it. I suggested that it would be easier to float downstream than paddle upstream
With the notion that maybe a designated tool holder/placement on the ledge where all the associates preferred to place the hammer might work better, the kaizen team did some more experiements. After a few more trys and input from all shifts, a home location for the hammer was incorporated on the ledge. Kaizen success!
Kaizen Planning
One of the keys for success for kaizen events is planning. All the tasks of setting the proper scope, selecting a good mix of team members, lining up support resources, getting the planned materials and tools, collecting all the relevant documents (standard work combination sheets, layouts, etc) from the target area, organizing all the training materials, etc, can help determine the success or failure of any kaizen event.
But sometimes our plans crumble when it hits the light of the real world. As stated best by General Binford Peay, US Army Gulf War Leader, “Planning is priceless. The plan itself is useless.”
Last week, we completed an outstanding kaizen event in our Chihuahua, Mexico plant despite the fact that our kaizen event was not even close to our original plan.
Let’s back up a bit. Last month, I travel to our Chihuahua plant to accomplish a couple of items including setting the scope for a kaizen event with our plant leaders. We reviewed the target area, assessed the scope, calculated the expected results (target goals) and lined up resources plus all the other planning tasks needed for a successful kaizen event. Everything was all set and ready to go, that is until the week before the event.
At the request of the Plant Manager, our target area was changed to a completely different part of the business to better support our strategic plans. Both events were seeking productivity gains and shop floor space reduction however that is where the similarities ended. On top of that, the goals for the new target area were more aggressive (instead of looking at just one line we increased the scope to three different lines) but all we needed to do was provide a blueprint for the recommended changes.
So what do you do to be successful? Cancel the planned event or go forward as originally planned? Put the new target area on deck for the next scheduled kaizen event in order to completely plan it out? Switch gears and go full speed ahead with the new event without the benefit (luxury) of time to plan it all out?
We chose to adapt to our changing environment, switch gears and focus on the new target. Instead of canceling our previously planned event for the week, we just postponed it a month. With some fast planning, we altered the make up of the team, quickly lined up some resources and boldly moved forward.
Last week during the kaizen event, we continued the same motto of “Plan then Adapt”. Instead of just providing the blueprint (layout and line balance), we experimented with some layout changes that did not required air or electric modifications on the first night. Based on this success, we convinced our guidance team to allow us to go forward with the real move. By mid week, we moved two lines overnight and started them up on time and running to takt time the next day. The third line required additional experimentation that postponed the actual move until Friday. End result for all the team’s hard work and flexibility was a 40% reduction in floor space and 30% productivity improvement.
Kaizen planning is important however our dynamic work environments demand that we are more flexible. The leadership skills required to be successful are the ability to plan quickly and being able to adapt once our plans come in contact with the real world.
But sometimes our plans crumble when it hits the light of the real world. As stated best by General Binford Peay, US Army Gulf War Leader, “Planning is priceless. The plan itself is useless.”
Last week, we completed an outstanding kaizen event in our Chihuahua, Mexico plant despite the fact that our kaizen event was not even close to our original plan.
Let’s back up a bit. Last month, I travel to our Chihuahua plant to accomplish a couple of items including setting the scope for a kaizen event with our plant leaders. We reviewed the target area, assessed the scope, calculated the expected results (target goals) and lined up resources plus all the other planning tasks needed for a successful kaizen event. Everything was all set and ready to go, that is until the week before the event.
At the request of the Plant Manager, our target area was changed to a completely different part of the business to better support our strategic plans. Both events were seeking productivity gains and shop floor space reduction however that is where the similarities ended. On top of that, the goals for the new target area were more aggressive (instead of looking at just one line we increased the scope to three different lines) but all we needed to do was provide a blueprint for the recommended changes.
So what do you do to be successful? Cancel the planned event or go forward as originally planned? Put the new target area on deck for the next scheduled kaizen event in order to completely plan it out? Switch gears and go full speed ahead with the new event without the benefit (luxury) of time to plan it all out?
We chose to adapt to our changing environment, switch gears and focus on the new target. Instead of canceling our previously planned event for the week, we just postponed it a month. With some fast planning, we altered the make up of the team, quickly lined up some resources and boldly moved forward.
Last week during the kaizen event, we continued the same motto of “Plan then Adapt”. Instead of just providing the blueprint (layout and line balance), we experimented with some layout changes that did not required air or electric modifications on the first night. Based on this success, we convinced our guidance team to allow us to go forward with the real move. By mid week, we moved two lines overnight and started them up on time and running to takt time the next day. The third line required additional experimentation that postponed the actual move until Friday. End result for all the team’s hard work and flexibility was a 40% reduction in floor space and 30% productivity improvement.
Kaizen planning is important however our dynamic work environments demand that we are more flexible. The leadership skills required to be successful are the ability to plan quickly and being able to adapt once our plans come in contact with the real world.
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Kaizen, Eat, Sleep
Over the past few weeks my daily standard work has been simplified: kaizen, eat, sleep. The results have been fantastic along with great learning opportunities for both the teams and for me. Fortunately, I did have breaks on the weekends to travel home and recharge my batteries. The down side is that my schedule left no time to blog about my experiences. I hope to get back on track and share a few lean lessons from my recent flurry of kaizen activities.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Coconuts, Bamboo and Pedal Power
For those of you unfamiliar with classic American TV shows, between 1964-1967, a popular comedy show called “Gilligan’s Island” aired. The show’s plot was simple. Seven people from different spectrums of life go on a three hour tour by boat, ending up stranded on an uncharted desert island when the boat runs aground during a sudden storm. The castaways were Gillian (the ship’s mate), the Skipper, the Millionaire and his wife, a movie star, the Professor and Mary Ann.
Most of the episodes dealt with wacky attempts to get rescued that always ending up in failure. Other episodes just concentrated on issues and interactions between the castaways. Sound familiar? Don’t confuse this show plot with the current TV show “LOST”, which is more a drama and mystery. Gilligan’s Island was just plain silly.
I grew up watching this show in the later years and catching it on re-runs. I found the show funny however it was all the amazing gadgets that caught my attention. Despite the limited resources on this deserted island, the Professor always managed to build cool gadgets out of the materials found lying around, like coconuts and bamboo. What great examples of creativity before capital thinking!
Here is a short list of a few of those miraculous inventions made from mainly coconuts and bamboo:
A bamboo lie detector
A coconut shell battery charger
A bamboo telescope
A bamboo xylophone
A Geiger counter
A bamboo sewing machine
In addition to these machines, the Professor was a “brilliant” chemist that Eli Lilly would love to call their own. He concocted some pretty wild potions, antidotes and extracts to make jet pack fuel, spider cider, shark replant and even nitroglycerine.
That covers the coconuts and the bamboo but what about pedal power? Well, guess what handy resource was available on the island for power? Human power. It was common to see Gillian, the Skipper or even one of the other castaways pedaling away on a stationary bike type contraption to operate fans, washing machines, water pumps or even a telegraph.
Unfortunately, the castaways did not understand the concept of policy deployment so all this ingenuity was not focused on more important projects like say fixing the hole in the boat or building a raft. Too bad Tom Hanks was not one of the castaways.
Overlooking the fact that Gilligan’s Island was only a make believe TV show, they same spirit of innovation and imagination on the show can be seen in real life. Take for example, a 39-foot tall windmill generating power to run 10 6-watt light bulbs, a TV set and a radio was built from blue-gum trees and bicycle parts by an ingenious 20 year old in Masitala, Malawi. Or for example, a team of students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology devised a creative way to power a supercomputer for 20 minutes by pedaling a stationary bicycle hooked to a generator.
And then there is the first ever Innovate or Die Pedal Powered Machine contest where participants are challenged to create a pedal-powered solution for offsetting climate change. Over 102 Earth cooling inventions were submitted. Check out the video on the grand prize winner, the Aquaduct: Mobile Filtration Vehicle.
Most of the episodes dealt with wacky attempts to get rescued that always ending up in failure. Other episodes just concentrated on issues and interactions between the castaways. Sound familiar? Don’t confuse this show plot with the current TV show “LOST”, which is more a drama and mystery. Gilligan’s Island was just plain silly.
I grew up watching this show in the later years and catching it on re-runs. I found the show funny however it was all the amazing gadgets that caught my attention. Despite the limited resources on this deserted island, the Professor always managed to build cool gadgets out of the materials found lying around, like coconuts and bamboo. What great examples of creativity before capital thinking!
Here is a short list of a few of those miraculous inventions made from mainly coconuts and bamboo:
A bamboo lie detector
A coconut shell battery charger
A bamboo telescope
A bamboo xylophone
A Geiger counter
A bamboo sewing machine
In addition to these machines, the Professor was a “brilliant” chemist that Eli Lilly would love to call their own. He concocted some pretty wild potions, antidotes and extracts to make jet pack fuel, spider cider, shark replant and even nitroglycerine.
That covers the coconuts and the bamboo but what about pedal power? Well, guess what handy resource was available on the island for power? Human power. It was common to see Gillian, the Skipper or even one of the other castaways pedaling away on a stationary bike type contraption to operate fans, washing machines, water pumps or even a telegraph.
Unfortunately, the castaways did not understand the concept of policy deployment so all this ingenuity was not focused on more important projects like say fixing the hole in the boat or building a raft. Too bad Tom Hanks was not one of the castaways.
Overlooking the fact that Gilligan’s Island was only a make believe TV show, they same spirit of innovation and imagination on the show can be seen in real life. Take for example, a 39-foot tall windmill generating power to run 10 6-watt light bulbs, a TV set and a radio was built from blue-gum trees and bicycle parts by an ingenious 20 year old in Masitala, Malawi. Or for example, a team of students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology devised a creative way to power a supercomputer for 20 minutes by pedaling a stationary bicycle hooked to a generator.
And then there is the first ever Innovate or Die Pedal Powered Machine contest where participants are challenged to create a pedal-powered solution for offsetting climate change. Over 102 Earth cooling inventions were submitted. Check out the video on the grand prize winner, the Aquaduct: Mobile Filtration Vehicle.
Maybe the castaways on Gilligan’s island were really on to something with their gadgets?
Friday, February 01, 2008
Does Tiger Woods Practice?
This past weekend, Tiger Woods added another notch to his victory column winning the Buick Invitational. He is currently the world’s No. 1 player and tied Arnold Palmer with 62 PGA Tour career victories, placing him tied in fourth place on the all-time victory list.
Currently his game is in a good spot, he has won 16 of his last 32 Tour starts. Tiger Woods certainly is an exceptional golfer and arguable one the best ever. With such a great run, can he get any better? Does Tiger Woods Practice?
As reported in the USA Today, Tiger Woods recently answered this by saying his sustained brilliance this past year is the best stretch in his career, the fruits of hours of labor on the range tinkering with his swing. He goes on the say, “One of the reasons I made the changes I made is I knew I could attain another level. I’m hitting shots I never could hit before.” And in true kaizen spirit, Tiger Woods added, “I’m still getting better.”
Do we practice to improve our game at work? Can we describe our improvement effort as “hours of labor tinkering” to get every little detail just right? Do we believe that we can attain another level? Do we KNOW we can? Even with success, would we still say that we can get even better?
Currently his game is in a good spot, he has won 16 of his last 32 Tour starts. Tiger Woods certainly is an exceptional golfer and arguable one the best ever. With such a great run, can he get any better? Does Tiger Woods Practice?
As reported in the USA Today, Tiger Woods recently answered this by saying his sustained brilliance this past year is the best stretch in his career, the fruits of hours of labor on the range tinkering with his swing. He goes on the say, “One of the reasons I made the changes I made is I knew I could attain another level. I’m hitting shots I never could hit before.” And in true kaizen spirit, Tiger Woods added, “I’m still getting better.”
Do we practice to improve our game at work? Can we describe our improvement effort as “hours of labor tinkering” to get every little detail just right? Do we believe that we can attain another level? Do we KNOW we can? Even with success, would we still say that we can get even better?
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Big Fire Mentality
There is an old Indian saying I learned back in my Boy Scout days that goes, “White man build big fire, sit way back…Indian build little fire, sit up close.” Think for a moment, why would a little fire be better than a big fire?
For young scouts, this saying helped teach a valuable lesson in conserving resources. In Scouting today, we teach low impact camping that actually discourages building campfires altogether.
As a lean thinker, maybe we can modify the saying a bit, like: “Batch thinker build big inventory, sit far apart…Lean thinker build little inventory, sit close together.” Or perhaps, “ Batch thinker buy big machines, sit far apart…Lean thinker build little machines, sit close together.” Or how about, “Manager build big offices, sit far away…Lean Leader build open offices, stand in Gemba”.
If we look around at our processes, it may appear that we still operate with the big fire mentality. A good first step is to build smaller fires. The future challenge is to embrace the low impact approach.
For young scouts, this saying helped teach a valuable lesson in conserving resources. In Scouting today, we teach low impact camping that actually discourages building campfires altogether.
As a lean thinker, maybe we can modify the saying a bit, like: “Batch thinker build big inventory, sit far apart…Lean thinker build little inventory, sit close together.” Or perhaps, “ Batch thinker buy big machines, sit far apart…Lean thinker build little machines, sit close together.” Or how about, “Manager build big offices, sit far away…Lean Leader build open offices, stand in Gemba”.
If we look around at our processes, it may appear that we still operate with the big fire mentality. A good first step is to build smaller fires. The future challenge is to embrace the low impact approach.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Data is like Art
When you look at a painting or a sculpture, what do you see?
Some art is simple and we see it for what it is, like a landscape or a person for example. Other art is more abstract. Before long, we may focus on the colors, the media used, the texture or other minuet details. Maybe we look for the artist intent, meaning or message behind the art and certainly we draw our own conclusions. We may even develop a story to go along with the painting or sculpture. Some art we fall in love with while other pieces are just OK. And there is some art that we may find a strong dislike towards.
People can see the same picture or sculpture and see different things. Just like with art, people can see the same data and see different things and derive different meanings. Ah, Hah! Here within lies a barrier to improvement. While this diversity in viewpoints works just fine in the art world, it certainly makes kaizen more difficult.
I just assumed once data is proven that the data becomes fact and everyone can move forward in agreement. It is a great way to overcome opinions people bring to the table. Add going to Gemba to the get the facts and we have a powerful method for kaizen. Facts are facts, right? Not so fast, my friends. It is not that simple.
At a recent kaizen event, we wanted to make some process changes that would benefit our paying customers. But before we moved forward, we wanted to evaluated and address some of the potential process issues that would be barriers to this change. After multiple experiments and simulations, we obtained an excellent bundle of data for our kaizen effort which seemed to point us in a course of action.
At this point, I thought it would be easy to move forward when it happened. Holy Smokes, our data suddenly became art. Not everyone on the team looked at the same data and came to the same conclusion. More important, they were passionate about their viewpoint that caused disagreement between team members.
I also noticed that when our opinions run deep within us it causes us to discount or ignore data that tells us otherwise. I have learned that when data supports our opinion we accept it without much fight however when data is counter to our opinions, we tend to argue against the data. The main lesson I learned is that it is not about the numbers, it’s really about what the numbers mean.
Some art is simple and we see it for what it is, like a landscape or a person for example. Other art is more abstract. Before long, we may focus on the colors, the media used, the texture or other minuet details. Maybe we look for the artist intent, meaning or message behind the art and certainly we draw our own conclusions. We may even develop a story to go along with the painting or sculpture. Some art we fall in love with while other pieces are just OK. And there is some art that we may find a strong dislike towards.
People can see the same picture or sculpture and see different things. Just like with art, people can see the same data and see different things and derive different meanings. Ah, Hah! Here within lies a barrier to improvement. While this diversity in viewpoints works just fine in the art world, it certainly makes kaizen more difficult.
I just assumed once data is proven that the data becomes fact and everyone can move forward in agreement. It is a great way to overcome opinions people bring to the table. Add going to Gemba to the get the facts and we have a powerful method for kaizen. Facts are facts, right? Not so fast, my friends. It is not that simple.
At a recent kaizen event, we wanted to make some process changes that would benefit our paying customers. But before we moved forward, we wanted to evaluated and address some of the potential process issues that would be barriers to this change. After multiple experiments and simulations, we obtained an excellent bundle of data for our kaizen effort which seemed to point us in a course of action.
At this point, I thought it would be easy to move forward when it happened. Holy Smokes, our data suddenly became art. Not everyone on the team looked at the same data and came to the same conclusion. More important, they were passionate about their viewpoint that caused disagreement between team members.
I also noticed that when our opinions run deep within us it causes us to discount or ignore data that tells us otherwise. I have learned that when data supports our opinion we accept it without much fight however when data is counter to our opinions, we tend to argue against the data. The main lesson I learned is that it is not about the numbers, it’s really about what the numbers mean.
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
How do we Sustain Kaizen Results?
This is a common question that I get asked and an issue that we all deal with on our lean journey. We work hard at identifying opportunities and finding ways to reduce waste in our processes only to see many of our gains erode over time. How do we sustain our kaizen results?
There are most certainly several factors that could affect our kaizen sustainability however I would like to focus on just one. In my experience, the quality of our kaizen follow up activities greatly impacts sustaining our kaizen results.
In the case of kaizen events, it seems we do a pretty good job of working through all the issues, despite struggling during the week, and end up getting good results which in some cases can be amazing. In our team report out, we show the before kaizen condition and after kaizen results that were accomplished in the event followed by a typical 30 day homework list, maybe some lessons learned and a listing of future kaizen opportunities. We congratulate the team on a job well done and celebrate our success.
At this point, the erosion process begins. Many times we believe that job is done with our report out and celebration, moving on to new opportunities. We have lots of waste to eliminate, right!
But just ask the associates in the recent event area that endured the kaizen storm for the week if the job is done. Almost 100% of the time, you would get a big “Hell No!”. Some would say details, details, details but that is the point. If we don’t follow up well and get these details worked out, erosion takes hold and results are lost.
Our follow up efforts must be just as diligent as our activities during the kaizen event. That requires providing resources on a daily basis to resolve all the open issues from the kaizen activity. Be prepared that we may find that this takes more effort than the kaizen event itself.
Don’t fall into the trap of waiting until the last week before the 30 day follow up meeting to crash through the list in a frantic attempt to get it all done in one day. This crash course approach almost always creates poor workmanship and weakened results.
If we think about it, this type of effort is more strenuous on our team then if we spread the follow up activity out daily for the 30 days. Not only is the work load spread out (less burden), the quality goes up.
Here are a few helpful hints that may improve our kaizen follow up:
1. Have a Kaizen Follow Up Process. Sounds silly, but some companies don’t have a follow up process at all. Create a process that works for your company and use it
2. Establish a Formal 30 Day Follow Up Meeting. Try setting this meeting date at the time of the kaizen report out for approximately 30 day out and sticking to that date. This meeting should have a formal agenda.
3. Add 30 Day results column to Kaizen Results Achieved Sheet. Typical Kaizen Results Achieved Sheets have columns for improvement measurement (i.e. productivity, WIP inventory, floor space, etc.), before kaizen, kaizen goal, actual achievement and % improved. Just add a column for 30 day follow to record what the improvement results after 30 days.
4. Put One Person in Charge of the Entire Kaizen Follow Up. This could be the kaizen team leader, sub-leader or the process owner. Don’t just rely on departments or individual assigned to tasks to finish the job. One key leader should be assigned and responsible for the complete follow up process.
5. Buy in is Still Important. We may have done a good job getting buy in for the process changes by the people in the process during the event but as things go south the next week, it is easy for people to give up. Work to remove their frustration and keep their buy in.
6. Keep our Presence in Gemba. Kaizen events are fast paced and exciting. One of the most notable features is constant presence in Gemba by the team during the week. But what happens the following week? From an associate point of view, it may feel like everybody forgot about you and you are abandoned, left on your own to make it work. Let our associates know that we are still there to support them after kaizen by staying in gemba.
7. Extend Follow up past 30 Days. Sometimes our follow up activities do not result in a stable enough process after just 30 days. Don’t be afraid to add a 60 day or even a 90 day follow up activities and meetings.
8. Kaizen our Kaizen. Reflect on each stage and element in our kaizen process. What improvements can we implement to improve our kaizen process? Include ideas from team members and associates in the kaizen areas.
With focus on our kaizen follow up process, we have a better chance of sustaining our results. It just may take us a little more work after kaizen.
There are most certainly several factors that could affect our kaizen sustainability however I would like to focus on just one. In my experience, the quality of our kaizen follow up activities greatly impacts sustaining our kaizen results.
In the case of kaizen events, it seems we do a pretty good job of working through all the issues, despite struggling during the week, and end up getting good results which in some cases can be amazing. In our team report out, we show the before kaizen condition and after kaizen results that were accomplished in the event followed by a typical 30 day homework list, maybe some lessons learned and a listing of future kaizen opportunities. We congratulate the team on a job well done and celebrate our success.
At this point, the erosion process begins. Many times we believe that job is done with our report out and celebration, moving on to new opportunities. We have lots of waste to eliminate, right!
But just ask the associates in the recent event area that endured the kaizen storm for the week if the job is done. Almost 100% of the time, you would get a big “Hell No!”. Some would say details, details, details but that is the point. If we don’t follow up well and get these details worked out, erosion takes hold and results are lost.
Our follow up efforts must be just as diligent as our activities during the kaizen event. That requires providing resources on a daily basis to resolve all the open issues from the kaizen activity. Be prepared that we may find that this takes more effort than the kaizen event itself.
Don’t fall into the trap of waiting until the last week before the 30 day follow up meeting to crash through the list in a frantic attempt to get it all done in one day. This crash course approach almost always creates poor workmanship and weakened results.
If we think about it, this type of effort is more strenuous on our team then if we spread the follow up activity out daily for the 30 days. Not only is the work load spread out (less burden), the quality goes up.
Here are a few helpful hints that may improve our kaizen follow up:
1. Have a Kaizen Follow Up Process. Sounds silly, but some companies don’t have a follow up process at all. Create a process that works for your company and use it
2. Establish a Formal 30 Day Follow Up Meeting. Try setting this meeting date at the time of the kaizen report out for approximately 30 day out and sticking to that date. This meeting should have a formal agenda.
3. Add 30 Day results column to Kaizen Results Achieved Sheet. Typical Kaizen Results Achieved Sheets have columns for improvement measurement (i.e. productivity, WIP inventory, floor space, etc.), before kaizen, kaizen goal, actual achievement and % improved. Just add a column for 30 day follow to record what the improvement results after 30 days.
4. Put One Person in Charge of the Entire Kaizen Follow Up. This could be the kaizen team leader, sub-leader or the process owner. Don’t just rely on departments or individual assigned to tasks to finish the job. One key leader should be assigned and responsible for the complete follow up process.
5. Buy in is Still Important. We may have done a good job getting buy in for the process changes by the people in the process during the event but as things go south the next week, it is easy for people to give up. Work to remove their frustration and keep their buy in.
6. Keep our Presence in Gemba. Kaizen events are fast paced and exciting. One of the most notable features is constant presence in Gemba by the team during the week. But what happens the following week? From an associate point of view, it may feel like everybody forgot about you and you are abandoned, left on your own to make it work. Let our associates know that we are still there to support them after kaizen by staying in gemba.
7. Extend Follow up past 30 Days. Sometimes our follow up activities do not result in a stable enough process after just 30 days. Don’t be afraid to add a 60 day or even a 90 day follow up activities and meetings.
8. Kaizen our Kaizen. Reflect on each stage and element in our kaizen process. What improvements can we implement to improve our kaizen process? Include ideas from team members and associates in the kaizen areas.
With focus on our kaizen follow up process, we have a better chance of sustaining our results. It just may take us a little more work after kaizen.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Batesville Casket named IW Top 10 Plant 2007
It was officially announced today that our Vicksburg Plant located in Vicksburg, Mississippi was named one of Industry Weeks Top 10 Plants in North America for 2007. It is a nice honor for this hard working, dedicated team for their improvement efforts. You can read more about their lean journey at Batesville Casket IW Best Plants 2007.
For the Batesville Casket Company, this makes three of our five manufacturing plants recognized with this honor in the last four years. You can read about our Batesville Plant IW Top 10 Plant 2006 and our Manchester Plant IW Top 10 Plant 2004 at these Industry Week links. Don’t be surprised if our two remaining plants step up to the challenge, both are well run plants on the lean journey.
Although I am not a big fan of these types of awards because it can cause complacency on the improvement journey, it does reflect the improvements realized on the lean journey to date. One of my responsibilities as the Lean Sensei for Batesville Casket is to prevent this complacency from taking root. Continuous improvement is forever regardless of how many awards, achievements or remarkable improvements you accomplish.
In the words of Henry Ford, “Our own attitude is that we are charged with discovering the best way of doing everything, and that we must regard every process employed in manufacturing as purely experimental. If we reach a stage of production which seems remarkable as compared with what has gone before, than that is just a stage of production and nothing more. It is not and cannot be anything more than that. We know from changes that have already been brought about that far greater changes are to come, and that therefore we are not performing a single operation as well as it ought to be performed.”
With this said, I know from leading two kaizen teams last month in Vicksburg that we still have opportunities for improvement and that the Vicksburg Team is not satisfied with the status quo. Congratulations to the Batesville Casket Vicksburg Plant and to all the other winners.
For the Batesville Casket Company, this makes three of our five manufacturing plants recognized with this honor in the last four years. You can read about our Batesville Plant IW Top 10 Plant 2006 and our Manchester Plant IW Top 10 Plant 2004 at these Industry Week links. Don’t be surprised if our two remaining plants step up to the challenge, both are well run plants on the lean journey.
Although I am not a big fan of these types of awards because it can cause complacency on the improvement journey, it does reflect the improvements realized on the lean journey to date. One of my responsibilities as the Lean Sensei for Batesville Casket is to prevent this complacency from taking root. Continuous improvement is forever regardless of how many awards, achievements or remarkable improvements you accomplish.
In the words of Henry Ford, “Our own attitude is that we are charged with discovering the best way of doing everything, and that we must regard every process employed in manufacturing as purely experimental. If we reach a stage of production which seems remarkable as compared with what has gone before, than that is just a stage of production and nothing more. It is not and cannot be anything more than that. We know from changes that have already been brought about that far greater changes are to come, and that therefore we are not performing a single operation as well as it ought to be performed.”
With this said, I know from leading two kaizen teams last month in Vicksburg that we still have opportunities for improvement and that the Vicksburg Team is not satisfied with the status quo. Congratulations to the Batesville Casket Vicksburg Plant and to all the other winners.
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