It was explained to me that you treat each succeeding operation as another customer.
1. Purchase material-Inspect and accept
2. Send it to your internal customer, say Shearing Dept. Sheared and inspected and accepted.
3. Shearing sends it to their internal customer, say the Machining Dept. It’s drilled and reamed and inspected and accepted. Machine Dept. sends it to their internal customer, say the Assembly Department.
4. Assembly Department installs hardware, inspects and accepts and sends it to their internal customer, say the Packaging Department.
All personnel in the work place depend on other personnel for their inputs. They are like customers waiting for acceptable goods, so that they can satisfy their own Internal Customers. You simply map out your inputs and outputs plant wide. You have each employee tell you what they need to do good work.
At least that’s how I understand the concept. It is supposed to make you think about satisfying the person who follows you in the process.
The instructor asked everybody to visualize the business from 50,000 ft in the air. Suppliers in one place, your business in another and the Customer in another. Now, visualize your business from 100 ft. in the air. As you look down you see how all departments interface and rely on one another to get a quality product out the door.
It is a simplistic explanation, and even I got it!
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