Re-Thinking Being Lean?????

I’ve recently read articles on Lean Manufacturing and in particular how certain businesses have been re-thinking the implementation of Lean.

Now for a bit of background on the articles. All of the business Leaders that started the implementation had been replaced and within 6 months of them being replaced the new Leader had decided to drop the programme. Now most of the stakeholder’s state that their objective is to address the challenges to delivering high-value to the customer, mmmmmm I wonder? By agreeing to drop a programme of business improvement?

Yes, lean takes time, yes lean utilises the front-line workers, yes you have to manage it and believe in it, but Lean is a long term strategy, a set of principles on how you do business, your business DNA. I wonder sometimes with the drive for instant results in a short space of time, particularly from stakeholders, the impatience for money, dividends, investors ultimately see the Leader that introduced the programme removed. This leads me to believe that stakeholders/leaders are either, ignorant, arrogant, none the wiser or have their own interest at heart, on what long term strategy and Implementation actually and physically means. I have been told about the removal of 11 Operations Managers over a 18 month period due to perceived lack of results, you cannot be that wrong in your recruitment process (or perhaps you can but that’s a separate discussion), so leads me to believe it’s the level above that’s the issue.

Now don’t get me wrong, if your haemorrhaging money within operations due to scrap or process variation don’t go and implement a 5S programme. Instead stop the haemorrhaging by attacking the root causes for variation and scrap, get controllable and predictable outputs. 5S may be part of the implementation but it’s not the saviour.

I worked in a number of businesses in my career and still see the same issues regarding short term results oriented thinking that has cost millions (and yes I mean millions in some cases). When I actually know that had the Lean Initiative programme, Operational Excellence, etc. been executed and maintained when it started, those losses wouldn’t have appeared and would have been quite the opposite.

Cost cutting is often a major reason for ditching the latest programme, and Leaders think that through the force of their personality or financial acumen that they are going to be able to fix the business without the aid of every employee in the business, how foolish are they??????

Any Improvement Programme is not going to be easy, but the benefits are massive for everyone, it takes time but ‘time’ is not a reason not to try.

What did make me smile was one of the businesses new Leaders justified the termination of the programme due to that fact that the frontline workers were involved, but in involving them had potentially reduced turnover times by 6.5 mins which equated into £410000/year of increased revenue.

Lean Manufacturing, business Improvement, whatever you call it, is not a short term strategy, but that’s not a reason not to pursue it.

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The Productivity Puzzle and Lean

I’ve never been one to shout about Lean, Six Sigma or Theory of Constraints, to individuals to solve a solution. I personally have though, applied the tools and techniques to resolve a situation or gain an opportunity I have faced. Granted, it’s not just about the application of tools and techniques, it’s equally important to focus on People, Culture and Managing Change within today’s organisations and society. Every single person has touched or been a part of a Lean process, within our everyday life from grocery shopping to our work we will have been in contact with lean in motion.

The interesting thing I have noticed recently are the articles beginning to appear regarding “is Lean at a crossroads?” and “How Lean is perceived today” particularly in the UK (but perhaps globally). An article by Morpheus Group stated “Businesses are taking a much more pragmatic approach, using a blend of tools….with very few businesses labeling their Corporate Programmes as Lean”.

It does seem that Lean and other Japanese terms associated with it are perceived a risk to alienating the workforce. I wonder why? Are we that uncomfortable with something that is not invented by us?? Are we hiding behind the terms as an excuse not to change??? (There is no doubting it is hard to implement and sustain, but that should never be an excuse). When I personally think about these questions it’s never been about the wording (don’t get me wrong I do cringe with some of them) but it’s about the application, execution/implementation that is key and the right behaviours that drive it so that we can benefit from it.

Businesses are placing a lot of importance on Strategic Cost Saving and Quality. This is absolutely fundamental in “Change” for any business. Strategy and Performance Management, Policy Deployment, Hoshin Kanri, whatever you choose to call it, is the back bone of your business, it is how you do business.

I believe Business Improvement is more important today than it ever has been with the globalisation of markets. What is it that gives us the competitive edge? In particular UK Productivity remains below pre-recession levels. I have been in discussion groups where an estimated 40% of productivity is lost through non value added activities, an estimated £3 Billion cost. Something Lean, Six Sigma, TOC can certainly impact.

This debate will carry on and involves so much from skills, impact on society, etc., etc.

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Manage Time as a Resource

If your managing time in all sectors of the business, from Sales, Product Development and Production it will result in shorter planning and development cycles, as well as less process time in manufacturing.

Whether you’re a manufacturer making computer components, tin cans, widgets or an individual working in a purchasing department producing orders, reports, or budgets you are still producing an output, an output that someone wants.

We all have our processes (inputs) and transform them into something someone wants (outputs).

Time is the key element to control within our processes, for this we use standard work.

The establishment of time based standardised processes is the greatest key to creating consistent performance. Only when the process is stable you can begin the creative process of improvement.

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Improving Performance – Engineering Company Case Study

Increased Delivery, Increased Sales

**No images or Business Name as Customer NDA in place**

Opportunity

This Private Equity owned business was under performing against budget. Particular attention was required within the operational areas with Productivity and On Time Delivery drifting.

The Managing Director required a system to: communicate the strategy, allocate resources, focus and align actions, and control business drift. He wanted to ensure that all key improvement activities had ownership, responsibility, accountability and the relevant training and practitioner support required to increase overall company performance.

Improvement

Working with the Managing Director & Executive Team the decision of implementing Strategy Deployment and A3 Problem Solving was agreed along with hands-on project execution support.

Training was given to all Management and Leaders in what Policy Deployment and A3 Problem Solving is, what benefits and how the process should be structured to enable execution of the business objectives. Key fundamentals were as follows:

  • Identify the few, long term breakthrough objectives that are critical to long term success of the company.
  • Link these objectives with specific action plans throughout the organisation.
  • Focus and align the company’s internal organisations to achieve these long-term objectives.
  • Turn the strategic plan into a year – over – year action plan.
  • Coaches and Mentors others

Workshops were held to ascertain the critical improvement activities to be focused on within the business. Training and Coaching was given to the owners of each A3 Plan on how to manage and communicate through the A3 process. Guidance and training to understand background, current state, problem definition, analysis, actions and follow up.

Management Control Rooms were introduced with regular performance reviews held with all owners and stakeholders present. Ongoing coaching and mentoring in Management Behaviour for the process along with business improvement training and our Lean Coaching Programme to ensure execution and sustainability. Operational Excellence and Process Optimisation workshops/projects were completed covering Sales, Purchasing & Logistics, Operations and Planning.

The company significantly impacted it’s financial position over a 9 month period,

  • Increasing Sales by 20%
  • Delivery by 33%
  • Efficiency by 28%.

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The 7 Wastes, they rob us blind!

Getting your teams SEEING & ELIMINATING WASTE is a grass root fundamental in business nowadays.

Sounds obvious really, but how many people came to work today to spend their time on waste? Some maybe! But not most. So what is waste, and how do you identify it?

Some waste is obvious. But other forms of waste are more difficult to spot or to solve. I’m sure in most organisations it’s sometimes very difficult to identify what is waste and what is not, but make no mistake the root of all unprofitable activity links back to them.

7 Wastes Infographic

Identifying and eliminating waste should not be a rare event conducted by process re-engineering every few years. It should be a regular process, built into regular iterations, determined as much as possible by your people, and tackled in small, timely steps.

Making improvements little-but-often in this way creates a culture of continuous improvement – a learning environment – which for some organisations could potentially give you the edge over competitors.

The 7 Wastes: (These 7 Wastes come to work every day, never have a day’ off sick or take a holiday, they don’t pick-up a salary, BUT they rob us blind! Meet the HIDDEN Employee TIM WOOD)

T – Transport: The conveyance or transportation of material or parts adds no value

I –  Inventory: Inventory is any quantities of parts or material held within the system which are not being worked on.

M – Motion: Any motion by operators or machines when carrying out cycles of work which does not add value, IS WASTE!

W – Waiting: occurs when either material or operators wait for machines to complete cycles of work.

O – Overproduction: occurs when product is manufactured in excess of customer demand or in advance of customer demand.

O – Over-Processing: Where resource or effort is applied to a product or process that adds cost but no value for the customer.

D – Defects: (including all rework): Any manufactured product which does not meet customer requirements after the normal process, IS WASTE!

7 Wastes within a process

For further information on how we can help you eliminate these wastes, call 0330 311 2820 or email info@tcmuklimited.co.uk

Many thanks for reading this. If you liked it then please share this post with your networks or better still leave your thoughts in the form of a comment. Constructive comments are always welcome and if you have questions on the subject matter you can connect with me on LinkedIn and send me a message.

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Less Can be More in Report Writing – telling the Story Using an A3 Report.

Some contacts asking about A3 Problem Solving, I thought I would do a quick overview.

Problem solving is about thinking, but writing things down can help thinking as well.

Using the A3 process we can document key information and decisions each step of the way which can then be shared with others, to get input, and make modifications by using that input.

Why A3? Originally it was because much of the communication across Toyota (the various sites and nations) was by fax, and this was the largest size paper that could fit in a fax machine. (Amazing how some things materialise)

A3 Problem Solving Template

The key fundamental about A3 reports is not the format or the finesse with which you fill in the different sections which fancy drawings, charts etc. It’s the COMMUNICATION process. The A3 is fundamental to the process of problem solving and decision-making. It allows the most critical of information to be shared with your business or businesses for others to evaluate on the thought processes used and as a means for requesting support and advice, which in turn aligns everyone in the organisation on how the A3 will move forward.

The above image is a typical layout (not set in stone though, as previously mentioned the format is not the point), but it highlights the different stages and guidelines for completion.

For anyone interested contact me and I’ll send the guide and some examples in PowerPoint format. My personal opinion is use paper and pencil for a start.

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We’re different it won’t work here

It’s been an interesting month, great meetings, new contacts and one of the most interesting presentations I‘ve given regarding Operational Excellence and Problem Solving.

The presentation was given to the Manufacturing and Construction sectors as part of a Seminar/Workshop.

The comments at the end we’re ones I have heard over and over again, “We’re Different, it won’t work here!

Is “we’re different” an excuse not try to improve?

This got me thinking in one of my reflective moments, what is it that naturally creates this push back? Do we think that Business Excellence, Operational Excellence, Lean or Six Sigma is a technical tool and technique, only applied to manufacturing, high volume processes, etc? Is it we naturally assume that it’s for the automotive industry?

There are a number of answers you can come up with that can be assigned to this emotion and push back.

So we have to ask ourselves

Do business improvement principles (as that is all they are) apply to pretty much every process? Yes, I’d say so. Does that mean its easy to put in place? Absolutely not. But that, along with being different, should be no reason to not try.

Which leads me on from last month’s article REFLECTION! and into OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE TRANSFORMATION

We must first seek to understand what is it we are trying to solve, what problem? This could be as an organisation, function, sub-process.

Then we must ask,

What process improvement needs to be done? What do I need to design, re-design, improve to solve our problem and achieve our objective?

Next,

Do I have the capability in house? Do I have the skillset within my team?

We then come to,

What mindset do I need to have? Growth? (One of learning as we do not have the capability in house), Implementation (I have the capability so execute, or get support if you don’t), Experimental (try and test)

Remembering that Leadership behaviour and Programme Management are the key. The governance process you apply.

Final thought – it’s often said that “Operational Excellence doesn’t succeed or fail… it’s just a set of principles. What succeeds or fails is the organisation or the leaders who try.” Success isn’t guaranteed — it requires hard work and creativity to figure out how will work in your setting, because you are different!

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Reindustrialising Britain.

Just reading though an article (again) in the UK Manufacturing Review and felt compelled to quote James Selka (CEO of The Manufacturing Technologies Association).

I have to say James is spot on with his comments.

“We are living through an explosion in the potential of technology, and it provides a most wonderful opportunity to reinvigorate the manufacturing sector in the 21st century.”

“Manufacturing is remarkable because of the multiplier effect that the sector has. It is so complex, and touches so many other sectors, that activity in it acts as a stimulus to the economy as a whole.”

“As technology becomes more central to the process of manufacturing, the cost of labour – the rationale for much of the offshoring that took place – is a smaller and smaller proportion of the cost of manufacturing activity. Labour cost becomes less of a driver…”

“This is not just about what others can do for us, but what we – UK Manufacturing – can do to help ourselves”

Extracts taken from the UK Manufacturing Review 2015 -16 (Stirling Media).

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How Good is Your Factory? Are there Opportunities?

It’s easy to feel like a factory tour is something that happens once every couple years, but in reality it’s something that should happen every day.

When you walk your factory floors there are nine items to get an accurate first impression of how lean you are.

1. Work Stations?
Are they clean, organised, free from unnecessary material and equipment?
Are tools organized, identified and easy to find?
(Are 5S’s in place? Visual labeling? Is the factory well lit? Is equipment clean? Supervision and support personnel on shop floor? Metal on metal contact? Safety hazards? Debris on the floors? Check out the bathroom cleanliness.)

2. How many Monuments do you see?
Monuments are massive machines anchored to the deck, not easily moved to which material has to be delivered to, can cause issues with the flow of product (lack of flexibility)
Are they still in use? Not to be confused with age, often older machines are purpose built and give us flexibility in cellular manufacturing. Can machinery, material locations, drop offs be easily rearranged?

3.Work in Process?
Are there piles and piles of Work in Process (WIP)? Has some of it grown roots, celebrated its 1st, 2nd even 3rd birthdays? Does it have any paperwork? Do you have HOT items?
In the ideal factory you should only have the WIP you are working on and its classed as Standard in Process Stock (SIPS) in my eyes as it is controlled.

4. Can everyone see if they are on Target or Behind Schedule?
Hour by hour monitoring, or close to real time as you can get. Can you see the Abnormal from Normal? Use Red and Green to distinguish. Is abnormal recorded for root cause corrective action?

5. What other Metrics do your teams have?
What charts, graphs, objectives, are posted in the area? Are they a Standard Document? (revision controlled, time and date stamped)
Are the Metrics up to date, reviewed, actioned? Again are they on Target? Can you see the Abnormal from Normal easily?

6. Are Materials delivered to or stacked at the Point of Use?
If a worker loses a component (screw, nut, rivet) do they have to go to the stockroom? Ask yourself how are items replenished? Does the replenishment depend on a crane or forklift?

7. Does the Product Flow?
Through a cell, moving line or in large batches or lots? Are associates close together, can they talk to one another, see one another’s WIP, do they help each other out if something goes wrong?

8. Look at the Testing and Inspection?
Where is the Product inspected and tested? Do the associates do most of the inspections or does the product move to another area? Do you have large numbers of inspectors? What is your inspection backlog? Are your defects recorded, reviewed actioned? Are they reducing?

9. Ask! Talk! Communicate! Question!
The biggest and most important. Show dignity and respect at all times, question and challenge, talk to the people on the front line and ask why? Understand? Use your senses.
This list is not definitive and its definitely not just for manufacturing, you apply to all functions, businesses, sectors, industries. Now Go Look See!

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The Process of Improvement for any Business

Standardise

In standardising a process you want to be able to see the Abnormal from Normal conditions. When the process is disrupted by an obstacle or issue, you can see it. The Standardise, Do, Check, Act cycle.

Stabilise

Now you can begin to systematically simplify, Combine, Eliminate the issues to Stabilise the process. Whether it’s achieving TAKT, a cycle time, changeover, order entry, bid-no bid process, etc. The Plan, Do, Check, Act cycle.

Standardise and Stabilise play off of one another. (and you must be applying the rigorous PDCA management process as a business, if you can’t do that or sustain it ultimately you will fail)

Optimise

The drive towards perfection should always be sort within our processes across all functions, departments, businesses. This is optimisation, in driving for continuous improvement. Once we have standardised and stabilised our processes internally we can also start to look externally within our supply chain and support the SDCA and PDCA within those businesses that are struggling, remember we want a way of understanding the Abnormal from Normal conditions, no reason we can’t apply that in measuring our supply chain and why not pass on the learning, we all benefit. (and I don’t mean how some OEM’s have applied this before, internally a mess but let’s concentrate and beat up the supplier, short termism!)

Optimise also goes hand in hand with Grow in my eyes, all of the improvements align to our Strategy, and our Strategy will have new business, innovation in our products, so optimise and utilise all of those resources to ensure future growth.

Grow

Apply the SDCA, PDCA into Sales and Marketing processes. Integrate the tools and techniques of Lean Manufacturing, Operational Excellence with the proven sales methods and drive sustainable increases in sales performance and profitability.

In improving the efficiency of our company’s sales processes, we enable the sales and Customer facing teams to reduce waste and duplication and free up much needed Customer contact time in the sales cycle creating greater customer value.

As the orders come in, we come back to our Standardise and Stabilise cycle and the cycle repeats.

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