Todd Godwin

The Popularity of LeanToyota is typically credited with developing lean manufacturing

Toyota Production System (TPS)

Because of Toyota’s success first, and then success of other firms using lean concepts, it has become a very popular model for business improvement

For the last decade or two many other manufacturers have also begun to adapt and build their own versions of lean

There are also a multitude of consultants and vendors which offer help in lean system design (hardware, software, and management systems).

The Popularity of Lean

How many people here are working in an environment in some stage of lean implementation?

Is it called lean or is some other term used to describe it?.

Relevant Questions

Where in the organization does the drive to implement lean come from?

Are all business areas expected to participate or is it only expected of one or a few?.

Relevant Questions

Are significant efforts made to help employees understanding the underlying philosophies of lean to create a lean culture or are only tools and methods taught?

Is participation mandatory with significant resistance or questioning career limiting?.

The Opposition: The Lean Organization

First thoughts?I know about continuous improvement and problem solving. The last thing I need is someone coming in with a “new” idea touting their expertise and telling me what I need to do!

I’m perfectly happy with the language I speak; I don’t need to learn a bunch of Japanese words to understand how to make things better

I’m not interested in the 5 Why’s; I have my own, in depth, root cause failure analysis method that has the horsepower to solve the really tough problems.

Common Flaws in Lean Implementation

They didn’t ask any questions to understand what we already knew about reliability, problem solving and continuous improvement

There wasn’t much emphasis at all on maintenance or reliability

They just kept spouting out requirements and didn’t offer any explanation of why they’re used or how it all fits together

metricsmethodsmeetingsetc.

This stuff just frustrates the workforce.

What Do We Do? We Fight!!

We use our substantial knowledge of problem solving and especially our understanding of

latent, management system issues to ensure that every single flaw and frustration is made

obvious to whomever will listen!

Is Fighting the Best Option?

Lean programs often emanate from the operations and/or management sides of our business; for this reason it isn’t uncommon for them to have substantial authority behind them

Even if we are able to convince people that the lean implementation is full of holes does that do anything to help us advance our own cause?

Often the best option is not to fight, but it is to understand better and then devise an action plan.

Lean & Reliability: Common Ground

Lean shares many of its fundamental concepts with reliability

excellent problem solvingproactive workrespect for the factssystematic approaches to improvementpursue continual improvementrequires the creation of a proper mindset, or culture, to truly achieve

Because of fundamental similarities, lean and reliability should compliment each other rather than competing.

Lean History

Toyota is typically credited with creating lean but they did not create all of the concepts, they pulled them from other sources and assembled them into a cohesive culture and strategy.

Toyoda Motor LoomsHenry Ford and Ford’s assembly line processEdward DemingPull systems utilized in grocery storesShigeo Shingo and the Single Minute Exchange of Dies (SMED).

Common Lean Tools

Value Stream Map (VSM)Flow (and one piece flow)PullSMED and Quick ChangeoverStandardized Work5SBirdhousesGemba Walks.

Value Stream Map (VSM)

Rather than viewing the operation from the standpoint of areas or the employees, value stream mapping views it from the standpoint of the actual product or service that is ultimately provided to the paying customer

This map covers the product from its raw state through its entire transformation into a finished, saleable product.

Value Stream Map (VSM)

There are three types of activities identifiedvalue addednon-value added but necessarynon-value added and unnecessary

Strive to eliminate non-value added, unnecessary work and to reduce non-value added necessary work.

Flow

Flow refers to the movement of the product or service through the subsequent stages of conversion from its raw state to its finished state

Good flow brings problems to the surface quickly so that they can be quickly solved

quality problems affect fewer componentsreliability problems become immediately obviousetc..

One Piece Flow

One piece flow is the theoretical ideal for flow

The product or service flows without stopping from the beginning of the process to the end

station 1 performs step 1 and immediately and directly passes the part to station 2station 2 performs step 2 and immediately and directly passes the part to station 3etc..

Pull

Pull is used where flow cannot be achievedthe trigger for an upstream station to produce is created by the station immediately downstream○ grocery store stockingpull simplifies movement of products through the facility because it automatically adjusts for higher or lower demandKanban systems are sometimes used to create pull.

SMED or Quick Changeover

Most often a single piece of equipment is used to process different types of productsChangeover time is a major factor in setting the optimum batch size

longer changeover times work best with large batch sizesshorter changeover times allow smaller batch sizes while still maintaining efficiency

Large batch sizes inhibit flexibility and continuous flow.

SMED or Quick Changeover

SMED – Single Minute Exchange of Diesthe die change is on a large automotive panel stamping diethis was a specific effort to see how fast a die change could be performed if all efforts to minimize actual press downtime were made

analogous to a well planned maintenance job

at one time the record was 52 seconds

Standardized Work

Standardized work reduces the variability introduced by the work force

Reduced variability leads to a more stable process which is more easily understood and more easily corrected when something is wrong.

Other Common Tools and Phrases

5SSeiri - SortSeiton - StraightenSeiso - ShineSeiketsu - StandardizeShitskuke – Sustain

Birdhousesan area board where visual indicators are shown and where the value adding workforce gathers to review indicators, problem solve, etc.

Other Common Tools and Phrases

Gemba WalksGemba is the actual or real placeit is a process of going to the place of work to gain understandingthe process of Gemba walks is typically for a manager to tour a process to gain first hand understand what is happening where the actual work is taking place

Both Lean and Reliability are rooted in accurately understanding the facts,

understanding good problem solving and then implementing robust solutions so

that the ultimate productivity of the process improves.

You cannot be lean if you are not reliable

Both Lean and Reliability are in agreement:this statement is exactly true

Lean and Reliability in Our Own Facilities

What We Might Encounter

Universal deployment utilizing all lean conceptsOperations deployment which ignores maintenance and reliabilityUniversal deployment utilizing only a portion of the lean concepts (typically focusing on specific tools)

Universal Deployment of All Lean Concepts

What does this mean for us?Maintenance and reliability concepts are formally included in the continuous improvement effortswe will probably have to familiarize ourselves with some new termsthe things with which we are most concerned will be included organization wide○ use standard work to optimize processes before modifying○ issues related to maintainability are surfaced and addressed○ poor part specifications and suppliers are identified as more

focus is placed on process performance rather than outright cost

RecommendationsStudy lean in order to

identify similar lean and reliability concepts to aid integrationmore quickly become familiar with concepts to facilitate participation in and influence of focus areas and efforts

Operations Deployment Which Ignores Maintenance and Reliability

What does this mean for us?We can continue to do business as we always have if we so chooseIf the lean implementation has strong backing it may be to our advantage to understand how to leverage this backing to advance maintenance and reliabilityNothing will happen that will dramatically affect us unless we initiate it.

RecommendationsUnderstand the organizational benefits which can be obtained by identifying the link between lean and reliability.If there is justification then study lean in order to work into a leadership roll within the facilityUse this leadership roll to begin to integrate lean concepts pertaining to maintenance and reliability into existing efforts.

Universal Deployment Utilizing Only a Portion of the Lean Concepts or Only Lean Tools

What does this mean for us?Many of the lean tools require cross functional support teams of which maintenance and reliability personnel are includedThese activities can represent an enormous drain on resources while providing little or no positive impact on reliabilityIf the organization pushing lean is strong it may be impossible to resist involvement

What Types of Personnel Requirements

Daily birdhouse meetingstypically one per machine or machine grouprequiring 15 to 30 minutes

Monthly performance meetingsconfigured around the same business units as the birdhouses with one meeting per crewlasting an 30 min to 1 hr each

Presence at both of these will likely lead to the accumulation of a large amount of “honey do” projects or machine modifications to overcome work method issues

Recommendations

Realize the difficultly in successfully navigating this scenario.Because resistance is futile there is only one clear way forward

This type of lean implementation most often results from an incomplete and erred understanding of lean and its conceptsThe task is to become a lean “expert”, become a part of the lean implementation and use true understanding and influence to try to achieve a more complete lean implementation

Recommended Reading

The Toyota WayJeffrey Liker, McGraw-Hill, 2003

Lean Thinking, 2nd EdJames P Womack & Daniel T Jones, Free Press, 2003

Questions?

Thank You