5S, Great tool, but so often misunderstood
Have you ever tried to implement 5S and received kickback?
I think most people have, if there honest with themselves, But why should this be, after all 5S can only help the workforce can’t it?
I think the truth of the matter, like most aspects of Lean, it is down to local culture and how the tool is deployed. Reading a book and then going out and implementing 5S really is not the way.
5S will only work if the workforce believes in it as a tool that is useful to them. This means taking time to explain in detail the reasons why 5S can HELP people.
You need to take time to explain that 5S is a waste identification and removal tool, and is there to help find waste at a local level.
In training it needs to be linked to the 7 classic wastes. 5S must not be seen as a house keeping tool, or something that is done when there is a visit. How many times have you heard, ‘Quick the Big Boss’ is visiting today, give the place a quick 5S!’…….Wrong message.
Time needs to be put aside to work locally with the teams as they deploy 5S in their areas. Not just send the middle managers and team
leaders out with audit sheets.
Audit sheets and there use can be one of the ‘make or break’ aspects of how 5S is received. Explain that the score is not the most important
box on the sheet. That honour goes to the area of the form that say’s ‘Opportunities for improvement’. Teams should try and identify just one or two opportunities at a time and work to improve them. They will then see their scores improve over time. If this is not done, the audit form can become divisive and 5S will start to receive a bad name.
So, 5S, Great tool, make sure it is understood in your organisation!
Lean Learning’s #4 Takt Time
Takt time is one of the most important concepts to grasp in a Lean environment, since it is the principle by which the speed of the process is governed.
The word Takt is derived from the German word for beat. In the case of Lean, this refers to the pace of the process as dictated by the customer. If the customer orders 10, then 10 must be produced, not 9 or 11.
The best way to visualise this is by imagining an orchestra with the conductor at the front. He is the customer. The conductor moves his baton up
and down to indicate the ‘beat’ of the music he requires. The musicians follow this beat, all at the same speed, completely synchronized. If he speeds up, the entire orchestra speeds up with him. As he slows down, so do the musicians.
This is the concept of Takt time. A process should adjust its output based on ‘true’ customer demand and not keep running at its maximum speed.
Takt time can be calculated on virtually every task in a business environment. It can be used in manufacturing e.g. machining parts, drilling holes etc. In administration e.g. processing orders, call centre operations etc or in a production line environment, to pace the line.
When implemented correctly, running a process to Takt time provides many benefits. Just a few of these are:
- Since you produce only what is required by the customer, inventory is reduced
- Since the ‘product’ moves along the process at a given speed, bottlenecks are easily identified.
- Since problem processes are easily identified. repeat issues, like breakdowns, can be understood and fixed.
- Since the process moves at a fixed speed, work is balanced across all operators. If it is not bottlenecks will occur.
A lot of confusion can be generated around Takt time calculations. The simplest way of calculating Takt time is to calculate the Takt time for the output of the process. Work from the perspective of the customer.
In order to calculate Takt time, two pieces of information are required.
- Available Time – this is the shift time minus any breaks, clean up time etc.
- The Average Customer Demand – how many does the customer actually require in a given period.
Work in fixed periods (days or weeks) and apply the following calculation.
Example
A store card company receives 2,100 applications per month. And on average they work 20 days per month.
Workers are paid for 7.5 hours per day. They have two 15 minute coffee breaks per day – which are paid.
So the Takt time is calculated as follows:
Available time
From the 7.5 working hours 30 minutes must be deducted (for breaks). 7 hours = 420 minutes
Customer demand
2100 / 20 = 105 applications per day
Therefore the takt time calculation is as follows:
420 minutes = 4 minutes
105
So if we were processing applications to Takt time, you would expect to see an application being processed every 4 minutes. Running with a Takt time of 4 minutes means that the process is set up to deal with the customer demand as efficiently as possible.
This Is an extract from the book Tools for Success, by Barry Jeffrey and Graham Ross. If you would like to know more why not follow the link www.kaizentrainer.com
Lean Learning’s #5 Poka-yoke
The concept Poka-yoke was originally developed as part of the Toyota productions system by Shigeo Shingo. it is a Japanese term that means “mistake-proofing”. By interestingly it was originally named “baka-Yoke”, which has the meaning “Fool-proofing”, but this was quickly changed to the less offensive form.
The name is derived from two Japanese words, Poka meaning “Mistakes” and Yokeru meaning “avoid” and really is applied to any mechanism in a lean manufacturing process that helps an equipment operator avoid making mistakes. Its purpose is to stop the process at the point where a defect occurs. This has two effects. Firstly and most obviously, it stops the defect from being passed on the other processes further down the
line. But also, secondly it allows an error to be investigated at the very point and time the defect originated. This makes problem solving much easier and allows ‘counter-measures’ to be put in place, thus improving quality.
There are 3 main types of Poka-yoke device:
- Contact type, which is designed to identify defects by testing the product’s shape, size, color, or other physical attributes.
- Fixed-value type, which is designed to alert the operator if a certain number of movements are not made.
- Motion-step (or sequence) type, which tests if the prescribed steps of the process have been followed.
Poka-Yoke and its use is not reserved for business. Examples can be seen in everyday life. Here’s just a few:
Fill a car with Fuel. Look at the area around the Filler flap. There are at least 3 examples of Poka-yoke devices present.
- The size of the nozzle varies depending on the type of fuel to stop unleaded being put into a diesel. But you can make the error the other way around, so this is not a perfect example.
- When you take the fuel cap off, the cap is tethered to the main body, stopping the motorist driving off having left the cap on the roof!
- The Cap is fitted with a ratchet to prevent over tightening.
Circuit breakers in houses are designed to prevent electrical overloads . When the load becomes too great, the circuit is broken.
Computer Leads, Look at the back of any computer and you will see a plethora of leads. All of the leads have different type plugs on them to stop them being fitted into the wrong socket.
ATM Machines, return your card before your cash is dispensed to stop you forgetting it. This one works on the basis you are unlikely to forget your cash !!!
In the UK 240v/50Hz electricity is used. This can injure people so electrical plugs are designed so that live electrical pins are never exposed. Two forms of Poka-yoke are used here:
- The ‘3 pins’, Live, neutral and earth are positioned and orientated are such that the plug can only fit one way in the socket.
- The pins are insulated near the plug body so that electric shock is not possible when the plug is being pushed in, this also means that if the plug is not fully inserted the current will still pass, but electric shock is not possible since only the insulated portion of the pins is exposed.
Of course there are many more, but I hope this gives you a few examples you can use in lean training courses, or just impress people at a party with your knowledge of Poka-yoke !
10 skills of a good leader
1. Workng with Passion
Most leaders do not really have a passion for the products they produce or for what their organisations really stand for. But you only have to look at leaders like Richard Branson, Bill Gates or Michael Dell to see the power of the passion they all have for their businesses. People within an organisation look to its leadership for direction, belief in the process and guidance. In order to be a good lean leader you need to display passion for what you are doing.
2. Communicating openly and often
Good leaders convey their belief in the organisation through such actions as attending Kaizen events, visiting customers and opening up direct channels of communication with the workforce. They take time to listen and discuss possible improvements to the process and focus on sending positive messages in a relentless manner
3. Creating a sense of urgency
In the ever growing global market place and ever growing threat from competitors, the truth is that no company really needs to create a sense of urgency. The Job of a good leader is to harness this and make sure that employees fully understand the gravity of remaining stagnant and not improving.
4. Focusing on the Future, not the past
Companies and employees all too often dwell on past failures or rest on past success. A good leader has the ability to look to the future and begin turning from analysis of the past, to focusing on finding innovative solutions for customers needs.
5. Developing good leaders for the future
The ability to take time to find, groom, train and motivate new leaders for the organisation is a key skill. Thinking to the future and trengthening the organisation will in the long term underpin the improvement activities.
6. Focusing on your customers
Good leaders develop a strong bond with the customer base. They take time to visit and discuss ideas and issues first hand; Building up a strong level of trust and teamwork.
7. Measuring your success
The development of a simple cohesive measurement system that can be easily understood by people in the organisation at all levels is a core fundamental that a good leader will ensure is developed. The system must identify metrics that are linked to the strategic goals and capture the effects of changes to the process. Locally teams must be able to collect, analyse and develop countermeasures by themselves.
8. Maintain discipline and focus
After the ‘flavour of the month’ period wears off, employees tend to slip back into old habits all to easily. Sustaining drive going forward is something a good leader must focus on. Arranging regular reviews, daily, weekly, and monthly to check the organisations performance in vital to keep the company on track.
9. Walk the talk
Good leaders to not manage from the office. They have a high profile in process. Getting involved and demonstrating they are full committed to the success of the organisation.
10. Promoting Continuous Improvement daily
Good leaders promote continuous improvement at every opportunity. They convey the message that every part of a process can be improved, not matter how many times the process has been studied in the past. Good leaders praise successes whilst demanding further improvements tomorrow.
Kaizentrainer on Linkedin
Did you know that Kaizentrainer has a Linkedin Group ?
Are you a member of the linkedin community ?
if you are, and you are not already a member why not join the group.
The group is dedicated discussing and sharing training materials and ideas and is open to all that have a interest in Lean and continuous Improvement.
Just look for the Kaizentrainer group within Linkedin.
Lean Building Blocks
This is a fun Video explaining Lean through the use of famous building bricks that many of us spent hours with as children.
Lean Learning’s #3 Understanding Value Streams
The ability to produce and interpret Value Stream Maps (VSM’s) is one of the key fundamental Lean tools that any Lean leader of manager should learn.
Let’s look at the use of the Value Stream Mapping tool and how it can help you develop a good strategic plan that will help you both clarify your sequence of activities and the organisation can buy in to.
A value stream is the series of steps both value added and non value added that occur in order that the product or service can be delivered to the customer.
Value streams are normally measured from the point where the customer places and order to the point where the business delivers a product or service to that customer.
Each product or process will have its own value stream since normally the processes, parts, volumes and workforce will vary.
A Value Stream Map is a pictorial representation that looks at all of these issues and assists you in understanding exactly what is going on. Although a Value Stream Map is only a snap in time. It allows you to quantify the actual process and not relay on peoples impressions of where
all the problems lie. If you were to repeat the Value Stream Mapping exercise on another day, the detail such as the amounts of inventory or the
numbers of quality issues would be different. However in general the Inventory levels, bottle necks and the value add ratio would remain very similar. So do not get bogged down in the very fine detail.
One of the other very important aspects of a VSM is that will help you calculate the ‘Value Added Ratio’. This is a representative ratio of Value Added vs. Non Value Added activities, within the process under investigation.
As a general rule, the process of producing a Value Stream Map is broken down into 7 key stages
- Identify the product, product family, or service that is going to be mapped.
- Gather together a group of key individuals to work on the map as a team.
- Measure the actual state using predefined key metrics. Walk to the floor and look at the real state, do not use system data.
- Using standard symbols, Draw a current state value stream map, which shows the current steps, delays, and information flows required to
deliver the target product or service. - Assess the current state value stream map. Focus on removing waste, bottleneck processes and think in terms of creating flow.
- Brainstorm what would be the ideal state if all the issues were fixed and the team had a clean sheet of paper. Draw this as a future state
value stream map. - Work toward the future state condition.
This is an extract from ‘Tools for success’by Graham Ross and Barry Jeffrey. If you would like to know more about Value Stream Mapping and its deployment why not follow the link .
A nice Ice breaker to start a lean training session
Guess who?
This works well in bigger groups, and also groups that know each other relatively well.
Ask people to write on a single ’post-it’ note, 3 things about themselves that they think nobody else would know.
A twist on this is ask for 2 true and 2 false statement. tell the group to keep the statements secret and do all they can to hide their identity, perhaps disguise their writing.
Give a few minutes then you collect the ‘post-it notes’, mix them up and stick to a wall.
Pick a few and read them out, the group have to collectively decide on who they think it is. If correct the post gets moved to one side, if incorrect remains on the wall. Of course the person who’s ‘post-it’ note is being read out must not give the game away.
The key is – just pick a few at random. You can also save a few for later in the day.
You will find that people will just go and look at the wall during the breaks. Then when you wish to focus the group and the start of the next session simple read a few more out. Keep returning to the ‘Post-its’ that have not been guessed in order, slowly eliminating them as the group guess the identity of the person who wrote the note. Some times a small prize like a chocolate bar adds an incredible amount of competition !
Some of the answers can be really revealing. I once had a person who did dry stone brick walling as a hobby and even one person who was in the Circus for a short time.
Value Thinking
An important aspect of “Lean Thinking” is the idea of Value.Think about your own workplace for a moment which you toil in everyday.
I’d like to suggest to you that there are only three types of activities that are going on.
1.Value Adding Activities
These are activities that, as the name suggests, “add value” to our customers. A “value adding” activity is anything we do to transform materials or information into something that our clients require.
Example of value add : A caseworker making a decision based on the information presented to them
2.Necessary Non Value Adding Activities
A bit of a mouthful this one. Basically a “non value adding” activity is something that consumes resources, does not create any value for the client but is still currently necessary to supply the service.
Example of necessary non value add : A caseworker sending out a letter to a client. If everyone had secure e-mail this could be done electronically (but they don’t at present).
3.Waste
Waste is any activity that consumes resources, but does not create any value for the client.
Example of waste : Walking to the other end of the office to get a file
Now that we have defined the three types of activities that happen in the workplace, I would like you to try this EXPERIMENT.
1. During the day think about all of the activities that take place in your office.
2. Categorise these activities into three list; value add, necessary non value add, and waste.
3. Think about ideas to eliminate the wasteful and necessary non vale adding activities.
4. Implement your ideas.
Hope this helps
Lean Learning’s #2 ‘Cost Of Quality’
The term ‘Cost of Quality’ is very widely used and widely misunderstood in within many companies.
The ‘Cost of Quality’ is not the price of creating a Quality product or service. The true ‘Cost of Quality’ is the cost of NOT creating a Quality product or service.
A lot of companies do not fully understand the effect that a poor Quality process has on the business. Poor Quality not only affects customers, it also has a dramatic effect on lead times, delivery, and most importantly profitability.
Consider that every time rework is undertaken, the cost of Quality increases. Obvious examples include:
• The correction of a bank statement
• The reprinting of a lost document
• The reworking of a manufactured item
• The retesting of an assembly
• The replacement of a over cooked meal in a restaurant
These costs would not have been incurred if Quality were perfect. In order to fully understand this concept, consider the costs that would be eliminated if Quality within the process was perfect. Consider costs such as: incoming raw material inspection; corrective engineering change orders, scrap, in-process control systems, downtime, material and labour rework charges, Quality personnel labour costs, field service repair personnel, returned goods processing, customer warranty claims and many others.
These are all costly processes and consume resources and time. They are normally considered necessary non value added steps. In other words, they cannot be eliminated because of significant risk to the customer.
Calculating the Total Cost of Quality.
In order to calculate the Total Cost of Quality the cost of the following operations need to be considered:
• Prevention
• Inspection
• Internal Failure
• External Failure
The overall Cost of Quality (COQ) is calculated using the following equation:
COQ = Prevention Costs + Inspection Costs + Failure Costs
Prevention Costs
Prevention Costs are defined as all activities which have been designed into the process to specifically prevent poor Quality in products or services. Examples of these costs include:
• New product development reviews
• Supplier development work including capability surveys
• Internal process capability development and evaluations
• Quality planning activities
• Quality improvement team meetings
• Quality education and training
Inspection Costs
Inspection
Costs are defined as all activities associated with measuring, evaluating or auditing products or services to assure conformance to Quality standards and performance requirements.
Examples of these costs include:
• Incoming and source inspection and testing of purchased material
• In-process inspection processes
• Final inspection and test
• Internal audits
• Maintaining of records
• Calibration of measuring and test equipment
• Purchase of associated equipment, supplies and materials
Failure Costs
Failure costs fall into two clear categories, Internal and External failure.
Internal Failure Costs
Internal failure costs are the costs that occur prior to delivery of a product or service to the customer. Examples of these costs include:
• Rework
• Re-inspection
• Retesting
• Scrap costs
External Failure Costs
External Failure costs occur after delivery of the product or service to the customer. Examples of these costs include:
• Processing Customer returns
• Rework under Warranty claims
• Processing customer complaints
• Replacing the product
• Product recalls
By far the most expensive of all these categories is failure. Both internal and external failures. The cost of the original product, the cost of the replacement, the cost of processing, can cost up to three times the cost of the original product or service.
This is an extract from Practical Quality by Graham Ross and Barry Jeffrey. If you would like to know more why not follow the link
http://kaizentrainer.com/Practical-Quality.html
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