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Approach

Lean Implementation Plan

The primary pattern of lean implementation in most companies centres on the concept of waste elimination in a value stream. The ultimate goal is to achieve a state of material flow that stretches from suppliers to customers without interruption. When questioned about methodologies most practioners reply that they rely upon the techniques of value stream mapping and kaizen events. The value stream mapping process provides the scope of the kaizen events needed to improve value by emphasising the following questions listed in the workbook Learning to See. For example

  1. What is the customer Takt time?
  2. Where can you use continuous flow processing?
  3. What is the pacemaker production process that you will schedule?
  4. Where will you introduce supermarket pull systems?
  5. Will you build to a finished goods supermarket or to customer order?
  6. How will you level the production mix at the pacemaker?
  7. What increment of work will you release and take away?
  8. What process improvements are needed to the value stream to flow as your future state design specifies?

These are insightful questions and do serve as a good guide for a lean implementation plan. However it can be seen that the list mainly focuses on the Just-in-Time pillar of the house. Takt time, flow, supermarkets, levelling etc are the primary thrust of the questions. The questions fail to address the other pillar of the system and mention nothing of Jidoka (Build in quality or separation of man and machine), metrics, people, standardised work, kaizen or stability to guide the improvement process.

The Taking Care of Business approach

Building a house with all the emphasis on just one support pillar is an inherently risky design idea. Just like an actual house it doesn’t take much to bring a system crashing down when it is only supported primarily by one pillar.

At TCOB we understand that a JIT system primarily reduces inventory and shortens the lead time from order to delivery. To a lesser extent it also affects the other two primary aims of TPS, cost and quality, by surfacing problems that still have to be resolved. Quality is much more affected by Jidoka than the tools of JIT. Good incoming quality is a prerequisite for JIT not an automatic outcome. From experience we know that in most companies manufacturing cost is affected more by quality, or more precisely poor quality, and low equipment availability rather than inventory. By only using the tools of Just-in-Time focus is on inventory on the asset side of the balance sheet and not the cost of goods on the income statement side

In order to reduce material cost you generally have to negotiate a lower purchase price or somehow reduce the total cost of ownership and not just reduce inventory levels.

Becoming lean is not simply a matter of training and transferring basic knowledge related to mere tools. There is a real skill and practical experience involved in implementing TPS in the correct manner. The transformation requires changes in patterns of thinking, but also in behaviours and the resulting actions. Even more importantly it requires capability in execution in each of these following questions.

  1. How will you obtain a profit and satisfy the customer?
  2. What exactly is the main problem (or set of problems) in production?
  3. How will you achieve Jidoka (build in quality) at each process?
  4. How will you enable Just-in-Time production and delivery?
  5. How will you standardise work practices?
  6. How will you stabilise and improve equipment availability?
  7. How will you develop people and work team leaders?
  8. How will you sustain and improve efforts over time?

By taking these questions and working collaboratively with your organisation TCOB frames an approach in the areas of Man, Machine, Material and Method.

Using our unique visualisation tools we can then work with you to review the current state of you operation. Only after this review is complete do we then begin to work in the areas that will meet the expectations and future state vision expressed when the basic questions are answered for your organisation.

All the findings from our visualisation tool are supported by a full range of training and coaching courses contained in our Enabling Excellence programs.