Methodology for the implementation of Lean Enterprise

[Sandra Suastegui]

Development of the methodology for the implementation of Lean Enterprise in medium companies of the metal-mechanical branch.

The methodology that was developed must by objective be a guide for the implementation of the philosophy Lean Enterprise in medium companies of the metal-mechanical branch.

The methodology is made up of 5 phases and 13 steps altogether, these steps are cyclical, to obtain the continuous improvement in the organization, some of the steps can be made of simultaneous way.


Phase 1: Knowledge of the philosophy
1. - Qualification

The objective is to present the philosophy, its origins, objectives and the tools that conform it, are recommended to give the initially qualification to the high direction, because it hopes that of their interest born the enthusiasm, resources, among which they flow towards inferior levels of the organizational chart, for the operative personnel it is recommended to design qualification programs that they present Lead Enterprise but that they deepen in the tools, the qualification can be carried out in halls meetings of the same organization, with practical exercises and if it is possible to design a notebook of exercises, the qualification can be distributed by personnel of the same organization that have knowledge of the subjects to expose or can be distributed by organisms certifiers to who them this service can be solicited.

2. – Sensitivilitation

This stage consists of presenting the benefits and results that will be generated of the implementation of Lead Enterprise, it is suggested to speak of successful cases of companies which or they have happened through the implementation of this philosophy, his difficulties, but mainly the benefits obtained by these, it is suggested to give to the same information to all the layers of the organization to way of conference in some boardroom or some place that is considered suitable within the organization.

3. - Formation of equipment

These equipment will have to be integrated by members of several departments of operative level, which means that they will be formed by personnel of different specialties, will be chosen at random, this has the following objectives: Integration of personnel, to offer a panoramic vision of the situation of the company, to detect problems and to formulate them of detailed way, since they will be analyzed from different points of view, also will choose a leader of each group, which it will coordinate the activities that are assigned to the operational equipment and report it to the managers of the organization, which they will gather the observations of the equipment, determined action plans with the high direction, evaluate relations of cost-benefit, etc.

Phase 2: Determination of the chain of the value

It is possible to be defined as chain of value to the series of activities that add value to the product to the eyes of the client, is to say those attributes of the product who the clients consider vital for the good performance of the same one, is recommended to use QFD tools (Unfolding of the quality function) to gather the voice of the client. A good way to determine the activities that add value to the product, is to classify the wastes which they exist in the organization, to clarify this idea look the figure 2 that sample that if it is extracted of the conglomerate of activities that are made in the organization the wastes, the resultant is the activities that add value to the product.

4. - Classification of wastes

One of the innovating and excellent contributions of the philosophy Lean Enterprise is the classification of their wastes or (muda) as it says in Japanese, that they are 7 and they are enunciated next: overproduction, delays, unnecessary transportation, processing, defects, inventory, and movement.

Phase 3: Planning

5. - Hierarchial structuring of the problems

The parameter that was used to give priority to the problems was to take the aspects that obtained minor point in the initial evaluation that was make for the operational equipments.

6. - Elaboration of action plans

The work equipments, along with expert (engineer of projects) will elaborate projects for the resolution of the problems, several can be included for the resolution because they are employees, in these projects also added the implementation stages, the time of each one of them, in addition the cost will be added of implementing.

7. - Generation of controls

The design of the controls will be in charge of the work parties as well as of the person in charge of the area to improve to know the level implementation of each stage, the establishment of waited for indices of fulfillment for each activity is recommended to make and real compare data with the hoped ones making a proportion through the following one formulates to clarify the level of obtained fulfillment.

NI= VO/NC
Where:
NI = Level of implementation
NC = Level of Fulfillment
VO = Obtained Value


8. - Cost-Benefit analysis

Is responsibility of the high direction to analyze the factor cost-benefit from the resolution of the problems, is to say this is the final filter to take step to the directed activities to the implementation, this decision will be based according to the budgets and the necessities that are considered urgent for the organization, the analysis of parameters of economic engineering like the operating annualized ROCE and operating monthly ROCE.


Phase 4: Implementation

9. - Allocation of the strategies to the members of the department

Once established the action plan the manager of the department will assign to each member the contribution to the plan, besides to establish the times of accomplishment.

10. - Improvement of the areas critics according to objectives

The members of the area to improve will have to implement the changes which they were agreed to previously in the action plan and will be able to suggest methods or alternative actions, that improve the effectiveness without extending the terms, to reach the objectives of the organization applying the tools that are considered necessary which knew in step one of the methodology like (TPM, Six Sigma, SMED, Kanban, JIT, Kaizen, among others)

Phase 5: Continuous improvement

11. - To foment the participation of the employees (suggestions)

Monthly the manager of human resources makes the program of employee of the month, by his contribution to the plan and the 3 better implemented suggestions of the month will be awarded.

12. - Diffusion of results of evaluation of parameters

Each department will publish in special blackboards their results monthly and the level of fulfilment of each parameter to evaluate in their area.

13. – Schedule of beginning of cycle

Once concluded the action plan will program the beginning of the cycle.

 

[asutherland]

What????

 

[Wes Bucey]

What????

I echo this comment. I am one of the charter members of the Lean Division of the American Society for Quality. We created the division as the "Advanced Manufacturing Interest Group." The blather contained in the original post makes MY head spin and I LOVE this topic. What would it do to someone who is "on the fence?"

The whole point of Lean is to make life easier and more efficient in the work environment. Even the academics don't complicate it this much!

 

[asutherland]

Lean Division of ASQ. . . . Not familiar with this division.
I wasn't able to find a website on it . . just the normal ASQ stuff.
Is there a site on this yet?

 

[Jim Wynne]

Lean Division of ASQ. . . . Not familiar with this division.
I wasn't able to find a website on it . . just the normal ASQ stuff.
Is there a site on this yet?

You need to brush up on your search skills

https://www.asq.org/le/

 

[asutherland]

Brush up on my search skills? Perhaps. I don't even like looking for a cup if the cabinet is empty.

In any case, thanks for the site. I made it a "favorite" so that I dont have to look further than the cabinet any more.

 

[alekra]

I echo this comment. I am one of the charter members of the Lean Division of the American Society for Quality. We created the division as the "Advanced Manufacturing Interest Group." The blather contained in the original post makes MY head spin and I LOVE this topic. What would it do to someone who is "on the fence?"

The whole point of Lean is to make life easier and more efficient in the work environment. Even the academics don't complicate it this much!

Sorry, but is this Methodology official or not? What shoul we use in our companies as reference?

Thanks in advance,

Alekra

 

[Wes Bucey]

Sorry, but is this Methodology official or not? What shoul we use in our companies as reference?

Thanks in advance,

Alekra

Please note that I can't think of any person I respect agreeing that the statement posted by Sandra Suastegui was a definitive description of how Lean should be implemented in any organization.

There are as many flavors of Lean as there are of TQM (Total Quality Management.) Just as every organization is different, almost every implementation of Lean within an organization will be different. My fellow ASQ members of the Lean "Forum" (soon to be upgraded to "Division" status - mainly a bookkeeping thing within ASQ) are still struggling with creating a Body of Knowledge for Lean because there is no consensus of how to implement Lean.

We do have some idea, however, of what features a Lean organization would probably exhibit:

LEF Specific Objectives: Promote Lean Enterprise principles and practices, provide training in the areas of Lean Enterprise and to be a source of Advanced Manufacturing information to ASQ members and others.

Area of Operation - The Lean Enterprise Forum intends to be a strong advocate in the following areas:

1.1. Eliminating wastes due to: overproduction, motion, inventory, transportation, waiting, underutilized people, defects, and over-processing
1.2. Robotics, automation and touch-free inspection
1.3. Advanced materials, modeling, design, and rapid prototyping
1.4. Computer applications in Lean Enterprise
1.5. Strategy, management and communication
1.6. Cost management strategies as part of competing in the global manufacturing economy
1.7. Energy and the environmental issues in Lean Enterprise
1.8. Reducing costs and cycle time in any process or operation
1.9. Building blocks of a Lean organization including: change management, value; stream mapping, workplace organization, visual systems, plant layout, quality at the source, batch size reduction, teams, quick changeover, point of use storage,total productive maintenance, cellular/flow, pull/kanban, and continuous improvement
1.10. Other aspects of Lean such as just-in-time, kaizen, autonomation, and value added versus non-value added activities
1.11. Agile manufacturing, Quick Response Manufacturing (QRM)
1.12. Quality and its role in Advanced Manufacturing
1.13. Role of quality professionals and Lean Enterprise


LEF Membership Benefits:

Besides being a part of ASQ's fastest growing forum, helping it to achieve its short term and immediate medium term goals described elsewhere, members benefit from networking with a community of like minded professionals. Members are invited to participate in helping with the newsletter, web-site, conference/workshop, recruiting new members, planning sessions, holding volunteer leadership positions, etc.

Sorry to say I am not responsible for the typographical errors in this screed, but I will bring them to the attention of the folks who have the power and authority to make the corrections.

To my knowledge, lean, like Six Sigma, has a fractured following, with many claiming to have the ONE TRUE WAY. My opinion is most are false prophets. The truth is many Lean advocates find themselves saying, "I know it when I see it and that ain't it."

The one thing many agree is that the words and terms (kaizen, Lean, poka yoke, muda, etc.) are merely words and, in most cases, work to EXCLUDE people from becoming a part of a Lean implementation rather than to INCLUDE them.

Note that NONE of those words are used in describing the objectives of the Lean Division.

 

[asutherland]

Methodology for lean . . . . . hummm

My experience has taught me that every company is different. After saying such, there are some key elements that remain constant.

I begin a new career next week as a "Lean Expert". (What ever that means). Personally, I prefer a tile "Team Member".

Getting back to the point. I have created a memo for my first day of work that outlines what I intend to do.
By all means . . . throw as many stones as you want . . . I still have a couple days before I start.

Preface

Every company when beginning their lean journey struggles with which part of lean they need to do first. Reduce safety incidences, improve quality, increase productivity, etc. Depending on the critical need, these businesses will sometimes be too myopic in their approach to lean, as well as over whelmed by all the terminology and meanings behind them as will as the expended resourses to fulfill their purpose.

To help direct specific actions that generate immediate results (30 - 90 days), all lean endevers can follow the following guidelines that will help the transition from firefighting to lean.

Creating the sense of an urgent need for change.

Reality is that all businesses today are under a tremendous amount of competitive presure from the global market. The pre-global economy selling price model was:

SELLING PRICE = COST + PROFIT

When you roll up the COST of the product or service you have many wastefull activities that occur in the business (scrap, rework, unnecessary overtime, equipment downtime, searching, unnecessary motion, reconciliations, counting inventory, receiving inspection and on and on). This formula has now been replaced in the current global market by:

PROFIT = SELLING PRICE - COST

This makes the selling price now set by the customer.

To begin this process, I would like to implement a custom presentation designed to address this need for change. This roll out will begin with training all of the managers and above, then having them train all of the supervisors and employees.

What about other lean activities that can be done with the aforementioned.
In conjunction with this presentation roll out, I will be introducing other lean activities base on the most critical area of the plant which effect our customer satisfaction. Unless otherwise stated, these activities will address Safety, 5S, and Production output volume.

Development of a Company "Guiding Coalition".
We need to develop a high-level view of customers and markets, a picture of what the company must look like at some point in the future (3-5-10 years) to insure that the company is still competitive and still in business. This vision must include people and process, as well as products and services. The reality is this "becoming a World Class Company" by itself does not guarantee our company's future. We must still produce a product or service that customers want. A good example would be: if we were a World Class producer of 8-track tapes, video tapes or record players, would we still be in business?

The strategy to become World Class consists of two parts:
1. World class to eliminate waste and efficiently, run our process that provide what the customer will pay for (value-added processes)

2. A sales / marketing plan which always is in touch with the "voice of the customer."

In a separate attachment, I have prepared a presentation recommendation for creating a "Guiding Coalition".

Communicating the vision and strategy to the entire workforce.
All of the tools and techniues of World Class are designed to eliminate business waste. Like tools in a tool box, each tool has a waste identification or elimination specialty. Unfortunately, the WC tools are in a "locked" tool box unless associates are trained and empowered to open the box and use them. THIS IS A KEY POINT. In the above example of communicating the plan to only 4 or 5 managers, theses managers could make some changes and improvments in the next 12 months. Could these improvements make the company globally competetitive? Probably not.
Instead of just communicating to 4 or 5 managers, communicate to the entire workforce -- say 300 people. Communicate the company's vision and strategy, teach 300 people the WC tools and techniques, and ask them to make small improvements in their work area everyday. After 12 months of this, the company has now made huge improvements.
To do this, our thinking must change.
" You Can't Solve Current Problems With Current Thinking. Current Problems Are the Result Of Current Thinking."
-Albert Einstein

* Associates need to be recognized as the most valuable resource of our company.
* Teamwork is to be utilized throughout the organization.
* Decision making is to be delegated to the lowest possible levels in the company.
* Openness, initiative, and risk-taking are to be promoted.
* Accountability, credit, responsibility, and ownership are to be shared. (Ownership here means psychological ownership. This results in associates feeling like the 100 square feet they work in everyday is "their part of the business"
* A no layoff policy as a result of World Class improvements on day one. ( This does not mean that if the company loses a major customer and the economy goes into a ression that the layoffs cannot occur. It does mean that no one goes out the door as a result of the major productivity and other improvements that occur with WC manufacturing. Only normal attrition can be used to reduce the number of associates.)

Future
If we do as recommended in the above steps, within a year we will begin to see what World Class looks like.
Will there be more to do? Absolutely. During this first year we also be working on:
1. Improving our communication
2. Identifying and improving the skill sets of our upper and middle managers (or moving them on if they decide they do not "buy-in" / support WC activites.)
3. Understanding what "Customer Focus" means.
4. Setting measurements of ONLY those things we want to improve.
5. Improve and set examples of Lean Leadership
6. Align our people measures with WC goals.

Hope you like it.

Arthur