Achieving One-Piece Continuous Flow

Achieving One-Piece Continuous Flow is a workshop designed to enable you to totally eliminate the 8 Kinds of Waste in discrete portions of your Value Stream.  Continuous Flow is the only place in your Value Streams where you have achieved flow with zero waste.  This is the centerpiece of a Lean System, and must be the cornerstone of your Lean Strategy.

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Eight Wastes

A ½ day workshop designed to enable the participants to learn about the 8 Kinds of Waste present in any kind of a traditional enterprise.   These 8 Kinds of Waste were originally described by Mr. Taiichi Ohno, of Toyota, in his book The Toyota Production System, c1988.   In spite of that early revelation, most of us still operate with these 8 Kinds of Waste in our businesses and seem to accept them as normal and inevitable.  This workshop will begin to break our current paradigm and get us into our discomfort zone with regard to these 8 Wastes.

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Five S Workplace Organization

Clutter

5S is one of the easiest Lean Tools to learn and implement. Results are instantaneous! It is also one of the first you should implement in your operations, whether it be shop floor or front office. We have a 5S for Production workshop as well as a 5S for Office workshop.

The 5S’s are:

1. Sort
2. Set-In-Order
3. Shine
4. Standardize
5. Sustain Read more about Five S Workplace Organization

Heijunka (Load Leveling)

Heijunka (Load Leveling) is a Japanese term for leveling the production schedule over an interval of time in order to achieve smooth flow and be better synchronized with the actual customer demand.

A basic aspect of Heijunka the “interval” over which you level production.  It’s acronym is EPEI…which means Every Product Every Interval.  The Interval itself can be a month, a week, a day, a shift, or even small increments of time.

Heijunka eliminates muda (waste), mura (unevenness), and muri (unreasonableness) to achieve smooth flow.

A Heijunka Box is actually a simple schedule board that shows the planned production of every part every interval.

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Hoshin Planning

“The Hoshin Plan” is a Lean Tool that, once developed, enables everyone to literally and figuratively be “on the same page” with regard to a Value Stream strategy and implementation plan. The Hoshin Plan is developed by a VS Team, with the VS Leader, who is responsible for the quality of the plan and the integrity of it’s implementation in the VS.

Hoshin Planning is basically a direction-setting and alignment process that results in eveyone in a Value Stream being “on the same page” regarding Vision, Mission, Strategies, Measures, and Activites.   Hoshin Planning results in a Hoshin Plan, which is a living document that provides meaning for all stakeholders in the enterprise:  suppliers, customers, stockholders, employees, and communities.

The Hoshin Plan consists of:

• A VS Vision
• VS Measures of Success
• VS Key Results Areas
• VS Key Results Measures
• VS Key Strategies
• VS Principles of Operation
• VS 90-Day Kaizens Read more about Hoshin Planning

Kaizen Event (Rapid Improvement)

KAIZEN improvement is a workshop that’ll enable you to effectively plan for, prepare for, execute, and follow-up on any Kaizen Event in your business enterprise.  Kaizen literally means to “take apart & make better”.  Kaizen Events are the vehicle for doing this.   Kaizen Events should always be implemented in the context of a Value Stream and under the direction of a Value Stream Leader.   Kaizen Events are always to be done by a team of people, typically 6-10, who are empowered to make all changes necessary to achieve the Kaizen Event Objectives.

Kaizens are appropriate for the production shop floor, the office, or R+D, Sales, Marketing, etc…..ANY business process that needs rapid improvement.  We have conducted successful Kaizens in manufacturing, engineering, purchasing, warehouses, and entire business processes from RFQs to Accounts Receivable.

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Kaizen Ranking

Kaizen Ranking is a workshop and a tool designed to help you prioritize potential projects based on a set of seven established criteria:

1. Schedule Performance
2. Scrap, Rework, or Repair Cost
3. Impact on Customer Satisfaction
4. Likelihood to Complete in 1 Year
5. Estimated Cost-Benefit of the Project
6. Impact on Process Throughput
7. Impact on Operator Satisfaction

The goal is to identify those vital few Kaizens, which, when completed, will lead to the best results in the time period being planned for.

Learning Objectives:

As a result of completing the Kaizen Ranking workshop, participants will be able to:

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Kanban & Supermarket Pull Scheduling Systems

Pull Scheduling via Kanbans & Supermarkets is an entire system whereby the Customer determines what gets made next and when it gets made. There is no Shop Floor Execution System, as is typically required by MRP (Materials Requirements Planning) & ERP (Enterprise Requirements Planning) “push” scheduling systems. There is no need for a forecast, a shop floor schedule, or for a computer to generate these. There is no need for the infamous morning review meeting, where schedules are reset based on changes from the day before. Instead Supermarkets, Kanbans, Heijunka Boxes, and FIFO Lanes schedule and sequence production based on actual customer demand. As a result, there is far less WIP Inventory and far less Finished Goods Inventory (FGI), and also far less Raw Materials Inventory (RMI) required to conduct the business.

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Lean Capital Project Development

What is LCPD?

Lean Capital Project Development is the specific use of lean principles, combined with the Lean Product Development process (used by Toyota and others), plus the Enneagram life cycle to drive out the wastes in capital projects and achieve:

1) Shorter project development time

2) Better project quality

3) Lower project cost

4) Improved on-time delivery of the project

5) Enhanced quality of work-life for the project team
Read more about Lean Capital Project Development

Lean Cell (or Work Center) Self-Assessment

Lean Cell (or Work Center) Self-Assessment  provides Cell Teams (or Work Centers) a way of measuring themselves along 20 world-class dimensions of Lean Implementation.   It also provides a way of displaying the current assessment via a Radar Chart.

The 20 dimensions are:

1. Lean Training
2. Value Stream Mapping
3. Hoshin Planning
4. 5S Workplace Organization
5. Visual Controls

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Lean Leadership

Lean Leadership consists of 2 major processes: Managing Change and Managing Transitions. 

Managing Change is the project part, that simply and straightforwardly deals with the “x by y” (do X by Y date) changes required to become a Lean Enterprise by implementing the Lean Tools in your Value Stream.

Managing Transitions is the people part, that not so simply and not so straightforwardly deals with the “z” issues…..what goes on with people required to effectively implement and sustain the Lean changes.

The Lean Leadership workshop uses a Leadership Value Stream that builds the participants capability to both Manage Change and Manage the Trasitions necessary to bring people through the change process.

Content includes:  Transforming Organizational Change, Leader-Manager Assessment, Transition Management, and a Leadership Development Plan (created by each participant in order to improve his/her leadership skills).

Learning Objectives:

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Lean Manufacturing System Design & Development

Most, if not all, of our business enterprises do not provide any process for ensuring Product Designs are smoothly and efficiently transitioned into full-scale production.  They are, quite often, literally “thrown over the wall” to manufacturing without addressing manufacturability of the design or manufacturing capabilities.

Lean Manufacturing System Design/Development (MSDD) is a workshop that helps you develop a robust process for insuring manufacturability of the design and manufacturing capability to produce that design.

Results will enable you to reduce Concept-to-Launch-to-Market Lead Time, reduce Product Development Costs due to Engineering Changes, Improve Process Capability.

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Lean Materials Handling Systems, Water Spiders & Milk Runs

Lean Materials Handling Systems, Water Spiders  & Milk Runs: once One-Piece Flow Cells are in place in your Value Stream, and once you have your Kanbans/Supermarkets/Heijunka Boxes/FIFO Lanes in place, you’re ready for the Lean Materials Handling System (LMH) to tie them all together.

LMH has 4 major parts:

1.  Water Spider(s)…..the person(s) doing the materials handling.

2.  Milk Run (s)…..the delivery route(s) the Water Spider(s) travel.

3. Duration & Frequency….the time it takes per Milk Run, and the # of Milk Runs per day.

4. Mailbox Address…..the specific drop off and pick up points on the Milk Run Route(s).

Learning Objectives:

1. The 7 Rules of Kanban
2. The 3-Bin System
3. The 2-Bin System
4. The 1-Bin System
5. The Signal System
6. POUS (Point-of-Use Supplies)
7. VMI (Vendor Managed Inventories)
8. Determining # of Water Spiders
9. Determining the Milk Run
10. Designing a Lean Materials Handling System for your Value Stream
11. Covering Lunches and Breaks
12. LMH Organization

Duration: 2 days

JCM Work Designs/The Lean Sigma Team can design and conduct this workshop to meet your specific needs.  Please contact us for a formal proposal.

Lean Measurement (Metrics)

Lean Metrics concern themselves primarily with Process-Oriented Criteria (P-Criteria), as compared to traditional metrics which concern themselves primarily with Results-Oriented Criteria (R-Criteria).

P-Criteria deal with process controls, process variances, and people.  In process-oriented management a manager must support and stimulate efforts to improve the way employees do their jobs.

R-Criteria deal with results: hard measures such as cost, quality, on-time delivery, rejects, and a variety of financial indicators.  In results-oriented management a manager emphasizes controls, performance, tangible results (usually financial), and rewards (and sometimes punishment).

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Lean Office

Lean Office is the application of Lean Principles, which were originally designed for a repetitive, linear manufacturing materials environment, to the non-repetitive, non-linear office information processing environment.

Our office processes are loaded with waste.  In fact, there are up to nine discrete types of waste found in the office, in addition to the eight kinds of waste found on the shop floor.  Lean Office is the elimination of these wastes in order to achieve better information flow: less cost, less rework, less duplicate work, less waiting, lower lead time, better quality, and better customer satisfaction (plus better quality of work life for the office workers).

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Lean Principles (Introduction to Lean)

Lean Principles (Lean Introduction) is a foundation workshop intended to impact the current thinking of what is possible in any business enterprise.   It is applicable to all functions in a business: staff and line operations, purchasing, warehousing, planning, finance, information technology, shipping, manufacturing, engineering, technical support, and all types of management. The intent of this workshop is to dramatically illustrate the results possible with Lean, and what’s required to become a Lean Enterprise. Read more about Lean Principles (Introduction to Le...

Lean Project Implementation

Lean Project Implementation is a workshop, based on your Value Stream Map, that has you identify specific projects by Value Stream Loop. Then, prioritizing these projects into 90-day action plans, assigning responsibility for the completion of each one, and setting up management reviews on a regular basis to insure these projects are completed and the appropriate results achieved.

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Lean Tools & Objectives

Lean Tools → Objectives

This is a simple listing of the various Lean Tools and their associated objectives….which you must know in order to use the tool effectively.

8 Wastes (Muda) See → & Eliminate Muda in all its forms

Value Stream Mapping→ Use as a roadmap for change

Kaizen → Rapid, focused, improvement

Hoshin → Align efforts w/measureable results

Lean Metrics → Establish a baseline & SET/ACHIEVE goals

5S Parlor Factory → Organize the workplace

Visual Controls → See the process, self-manage it & continuously improve it

One-Piece (1→ ) Flow Cells → Establish process flow without waste

Cell Teams → Enable extraordinary performance

GEMBA → Go-And-See Management

Kanbans & Supermarkets → Pull scheduling (across the Value Stream) and control the inventories (RMI, WIP, FG)

Lean Materials Handling → Control the schedule & the inventory (w/water spiders & milk runs)
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Lean Transformation

Lean Transformation is a change….a radical and far-reaching change….from a traditional functional-based organization to a lean enterprise.  Lean Transformation must be led, it cannot be managed!

The Lean Transformation itself starts with the 5 Lean Principles:

1. Customer Value
2. Mapping the Flow of Value
3. Flow
4. Pull
5. Seek Perfection

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Mixed Model Production(Heijunka)

Mixed Model Flows (Mixed Model Production) are a somewhat common occurrence in Lean. They are parts of your Value Stream that produce multiple products…..not one product….within a given time period.  This is called “Heijunka” or Load Leveling in the Toyota Production System.

Lean implementation can be more straightforward in dedicated parts of your value stream – those places where only one product is made and where one-piece flow cells (1à) are appropriate.

But what if your value stream produces more than one product? What if it produces many products in any given month, or week? MMF is the solution you may have been looking for.

What is MMF? Simply stated: Mixed Model Flow is making value flow by taking out the waste in your value stream so that multiple products can be made in the same value stream each time period.

This is accomplished by making the MMF part perform AS IF it were a dedicated asset. Each product “flows” at the rate of customer demand, even though multiple products are made there.

HOW DO YOU DO THIS?
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One-Piece Flow Cell Teams

(One-Piece Flow) Cell Teams is a workshop to create the process and the plan for Cell Teams to develop along 15 dimensions to achieve true self-managing capabilities in their Cell. This workshop enables Cell Teams to figure out where they are on a continuum from low/no empowerment to true self-management.

There are 5 major phases of Self-Managing Team Development:

Phase 0 – Pre-team, traditional organization, low-zero empowerment, 1-person 1-job

Phase 1 – Team Formation

Phase 2 – Leader-Centered Team

Phase 3 – Shared Leadership Team

Phase 4 – Self Directed Cell Team

Phase 5 – Small Business Team

Learning Objectives:

1. Identify where, in the Value Streams,1-Piece Flow Cell Teams can be implemented.

2. Why Teams?

3. How Team Performance has more potential than the sum of Individual Performances.

4. Characteristics of High Performance Teams

5. Topeka Pride: Looking at HP Teams at Quaker Oats (a continuous process pet food plant, everyone at GP is always asking for an example in a continuous process industy, here’s one).

6. Rohm & Haas: Looking at HP Teams in a chemical processing plant (another continuous process plant).

7. Team Simulation

8. 15 Dimensions of HP Teams.

9. 5 Phases of Team Development

10. Team Performance Measures

11. 1-Piece Flow Cell Team Kaizens (to be put on 90-day Kaizens)

Who Should Attend:

a) Leadership Team

b) HR

c) Supervisors

d)TLs, GLs, Leads

e)Team members

Duration:  2 Days

JCM Work Designs/The Lean Sigma Team can design and conduct this workshop to meet your specific needs.  Please contact us for a formal proposal.

Production Preparation Process – 3P

Creativity and Thinking

Production Preparation Process (3P) is a Lean method of process design. It is generally used (best used) to design a process before equipment is purchased. This is called a “Greenfield” design (vs retrofitting an existing “Brownfield” design).

3P enables you to design your Greenfield process for minimal waste of overproduction, inventory, transportation, motion, waiting, extra processing, defects, and underutilized people.

3P is product/process design that delivers:

1. The highest Quality
2. The lowest Cost
3. The best On-Time-Delivery
4. The shortest Lead Time
5. The highest Quality of Worklife

Learning Objectives:

As a result of the participating in 3P, people will be able to:
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Quick Change-Over (QCO)

Quick Change-Over (QCO) is a workshop designed for the explicit purpose of enabling you to achieve < 10 minutes changeovers (single minute) on your process equipment, and ultimately achieve < 100 second changeovers (One-Touch Exchange of Die…OTED) on this equipment.   The QCO/SMED principles are easy to learn and can be applied to any process and/or any equipment in your business.

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Reliability-Based Maintenance (RBM)

Reliability-Based Maintenance (RBM) is a process that describes maintenance as a reliability function….not a repair function.  

Traditionally, maintenance has been expected to repair equipment when it malfunctions or breaks down.   Maintenance has typically been centralized and has been treated as a cost center, at best. 

RBM considers maintenance to consist of 4 types:

1. Reactive Maintenance = breakdown-based, where mechanics respond to equipment problems.

2. Preventive Maintenance = time-based, where mechanics perform basic “lube & adjust”
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Requirements for the “Lean Belts”

Lean capability is measured by the level of martial arts belt achieved.

The Lean White Belt requires:

11 days of lean training by JCM Work Designs

22 topics with homework

Working as a lean team on projects from time-to-time

The Lean Green Belt requires:
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Standardized Work (STW)

Standardized Work - STW

Standardized Work (STW) is finding the best-practice method of doing work (individual job, jobs in a cell, jobs in a value stream), having everyone doing these jobs doing them in the same standard way (taking the variability out of the person-to-person aspect of each job) and  continuously improving these jobs (to improve performance)

Learning Objectives:

1. Purpose of STW is to eliminate operator-to-operator variability and follow “one best practice” way of doing each job

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Total Productive Maintenance

TPM (Total Productive Maintenance) is a comprehensive maintenance system that changes maintenance from a repair function to a reliability function.  It’s like switching from fire-fighting (rushing to repair equipment that’s failed) to fire-prevention (preventing equipment from failing at all).  Maintenance as a function has been downsized, maligned, and cost-controlled in many of our companies to the point where it’s barely alive at all.   And our equipment is performing as poorly as ever!  It’s time to change.  TPM is that change!

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Value Stream Mapping

Value Stream Mapping (VSMing) is a critical tool for your Lean Implementation. It provides a roadmap for change, from which you can build your implementation plan for becoming a Lean Enterprise. In fact, without a VSM, businesses often are pursuing Lean via only “point improvement”, which does not lead to systemic change.

We often think that it is so important, it becomes the “acid test” to determine if a business is truly on the lean journey.  With the VSM, there’s a good chance the business is on the right road.  Without  the VSM, the opposite is true…there’s a good chance the business is simply using lean tools and is not transforming the business itself in meaningful ways.

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Visual Controls

Visual Controls is a means of managing a value stream, or a cell, whereby everyone walking into the area (GEMBA) can understand the performance of that area in an instant. VC enables self-management of a cell or a value stream. VC replaces management by “remote control” (which has never worked that well anyway).

The 7 areas for Visual Controls are:

1. Schedule and Delivery Controls
2. Quality Controls
3. Work Controls
4. Facility Controls
5. Equipment & Tooling Controls
6. Performance Improvement Controls
7. Material Flow Contols Read more about Visual Controls

Zero-Defect Quality (ZDQ): Mistake Proofing and Fail Safeing

ZDQ (Mistake Proofing and Fail Safeing) is a process to insure 100% defect-free quality at the source….which means, 100% quality management on the process 100% of the time as the product is made. ZDQ is not sampling inspection after the fact, it is not 100% “clear and sort” inspection, it is not statistical process control (SPC), it’s much more effective than any of these.

ZDQ has 2 parts and 4 levels of Quality Control:

Level 1 Mistake Proofing = eliminating sources of product defects

Level 2 Mistake Proofing = preventing defects from being made

Level 3 Fail Safeing = detecting a defect as soon as it’s made (line stop)

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