Lean manufacturing facility
Table of contents: The Kazakh-American Free University Academic Journal №10 - 2018
Authors: Young Brian, Kazakh-American Free University, Kazakhstan
Kaigorodtsev Alexandr, Amanzholov East Kazakhstan state University, Kazakhstan
The idea of lean for a business in manufacturing has been around for
a while. The premise is to - do more with less, to do work better, and to do it
faster. Because, the business that is competing against you is trying to figure
out the same thing and will put you out of business, if you don’t figure out to
incorporate lean first.
There is difficulty in understanding the theory. To be lean means to
do something faster. But if you make something faster, it generally has less
quality because you are making more of something in less time. The time it took
to make one quality product, you now need to make ten. Because your competition
can do five products in the same time. But if you make ten, you may then have
to work overtime. But in a lean operation, overtime, if possible, is not
allowed.
Take a look at diagram #1 below, and you can see the cycle of lean
manufacturing and how each arrow points to how it affects the other categories.
Diagram
1. The Cycle of Lean manufacturing
If we “do more with less” is the process faster, is the quality
better? If we are doing quality work, can we do it faster, can we do it with
fewer steps or tools? Such is the challenge for a lean manufacturing facility.
There are many authors now that have contributed to the development,
and explanation of the lean business strategy. The foundational contributor is
W. Edwards Deming [1]. He wrote the book Out of the Crisis, and within its
pages are his thoughts on transforming the American system of business
manufacturing. It is the techniques of understanding and using statistics that
brought the Japanese manufacturing sector back to life after being destroyed
during World War Two. The result being, they became a world power in
manufacturing (see Chain Reaction diagram #2).
Diagram
2. The Deming Chain Reaction [1]
Shigeo Shingo [2] who wrote, Zero Quality Control: Source Inspection
and the Poka-Yoke System, under the direction of Taiichi Ohno, who wrote the
Toyota Production System, they both expanded the development of lean
manufacturing. With Shigeo Shingo’s poka-yoke (mistake proofing) and Taiichi
Ohno’s, 7 Areas of Waste and the 5’s System [3, p. 15, 348] (see diagrams #’s
3, 4) the lean system began to take a strong footing in manufacturing:
Diagram 3. Seven areas of Waste
Note – The terminology in the diagram is
proposed by Brian Young [4]
Diagram 4. The 5s System
These diagrams are pointing out that the workplace needs to be
organized, whether it is on the shop floor, or your direct work area. You will
notice that in the diagram of the 5s, the “s” stands for the Japanese word. All
the Japanese words begin with an “s”. There is a close translation in English –
which may or may not begin with an “s” [4]. It should be pointed out that
there is another category of the 5s, because Americans have added a sixth box
for “safety”. So, in actuality it should be called 6s [5].
Other authors have contributed to the development of the lean system
by organizing the data from other authors. Mary Walton [6] consolidated the
various ideas and put them in a book that makes it easier to teach teams the
ideas of lean. And along those lines, there is a book called The Goldmine [7],
that puts the lean concepts in a story form. It is a good idea to have it in a
story form, because it seems that the modern concept of reading a book, is reduced
to a comic book. This method can hold the interest of the younger generation
(and old) and within it gives the concepts of lean. The main character of the
book is a retired lean expert. He is a rather gruff individual that seems to be
burned out from trying to restructure a system of manufacturing in the past and
is reluctant to try again. One interesting illustration in the Goldmine book is
to use the model of yacht racing. A high performing team, focused and pursuing
the same goal to win. The idea is if we can get our manufacturing teams to
perform as they do for yacht racing – we will win.
The idea of teamwork is strong in the lean system. Peter R.
Scholtes, who wrote the book, The Team Handbook; How to Use Teams to Improve
Quality. He points out that the employee on the line is the key to figuring out
the problems of manufacturing. But that it will be work to educate them on the
new system. [8].
Teams can continue to learn and break down the problems of the production
system by applying problem solving techniques. These can range from applying
John Shook’s idea of using the A3 format which helps you standardize a process
of discovery and identify the problem [9, p. 1]. The A3 format title I always
thought was confusing because I thought the name had a more significant
meaning. As it turns out, it is in reference to the paper size used.
The Scrum method, developed by Jeff Sutherland, is another way to
identify problems, if the A3 method doesn’t work for you. Scrum comes from a
term that rugby players do while on the field. The premise is that when the
rugby players are in a scrum, they are extremely focused, they are unified and
work together to score a goal [10, p.8].
The idea for a business team is to be like the rugby players and
identify the problem, then do a scrum, be focused on the solution by working
together to solve it. Then, meet every two weeks to see what progress there has
been to accomplish a solution. If there is no solution, identify and remove the
barriers that hinder positive results. This method is very similar to the business
strategy that Ken Iverson, president of Nucor, a steel manufacturing facility
employed. He stressed that the workers were the ones to make the decisions and
solve the problems [11].
In 30 years, Nucor, went from a 3-million-dollar company to a 3.5-billion-dollar
company [12].
The idea of having the workers closest to the work, make important
decisions is a novel idea. But it takes confident CEO who understands his
teams, the ability to allow this method of decision making. Charles Duhigg, in
the book, Faster Smarter Better, tells of how the FBI went in this direction
because the agent on the ground needed to get a quicker response from a slow
bureaucratic hierarchy, if there was a drug deal taking place and quick action
was needed, the agent on the ground, closest to the situation made the decision
[13, p.162].
The idea of turning over decisions to teams, takes trust. But as the
team continues developing and improving the process, trust is gained. This
system of entrusting the team to make decisions helps in the new lean business
strategy – less of a hierarchy means quicker decisions can be made. Kimball
Fisher, who wrote Leading Self-Directed Work Teams; A Guide to Developing New
Team Leadership Skills, points out in his book, that because of the new dynamic
of treating employees equally, this eliminates the command and control
atmosphere [14, p. 11].
Once the teams are working together and solving problems. Making
solutions and continue eliminating waste, Womack and Jones, write in their
book, Lean Thinking; Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Corporation, that
they need to understand the flow of the work from start to finish. This is
called the value stream. The employee needs to recognize the part of the
process that brings value to the product. Anything else is waste. He begins to
recognize the flow of the product, making sure there are no hindrances – this
too is waste. And once it is all accomplished and everything is running
smoothly, then you have perfection [15, p. 15-26]. Which can only be in theory
because, continuous improvement implies, lack of perfection.
Incorporating Six Sigma into the team dynamic is another level of
lean that is not for the faint of heart. This system starts looking deeper into
the causes and effects of a manufacturing facility. It takes skilled
individual to gather the appropriate information that is needed to pinpoint
where improvement can occur [16].
It is a system that “…provides leaders with the strategy, methods,
and tools for changing their organizations – a key leadership skill that
heretofore has been missing from leadership development” [17].
The Six Sigma relies on data. That data needs to be recorded and
collected, generally by those on the line, then given to the Six Sigma team.
The weakness of this system is that it starts to separate the line workers from
the problems that the executive level identifies. When decisions are being
made, for instance, to purchase an expensive piece of equipment that is
intended to solve the problem, are the line workers brought into the
decision-making process? An effort should be made to bring the line workers
into the decision making process.
Henry Ford is regarded as improving the way automobiles were made by
incorporating the assembly line. But he was also an innovator on understanding
waste, what Taiichi Ohno points out in his methods. Read the following quote,
with a new view of what waste is and see if you can see what Ford was talking
about:
“The men do not leave their work to get tools – new tools are
brought to them, but they do not often need new tools, and machines do not
often break down, for there is continuous cleaning and repair work on every bit
of machinery in the place” [18, p. 92].
Did you notice that in the phrase: “The men do not leave their work
to get tools”, this implies that waste occurred when workers needed tools at a
certain time, and would walk off the job in search of the tools they needed.
How was this waste overcome, or corrected? This was corrected by having the
tools brought to them. Are there situations, where you work, that supplies are
regularly needed? Do the workers leave their position to go get the needed
supply? You may want to have someone come by at specified times to see what the
workers need to do their job. This will reduce a waste. Here is another phrase
to look at: “there is continuous cleaning and repair work on every bit of
machinery in the place”. What resulted when this procedure of maintenance was
done? The machinery ran smoothly with few break downs. This shows that when equipment
is maintained correctly, there is less down time for repairs – less waste.
The idea for incorporating lean principles, is really nothing new
[19]. What is new is making it a business strategy to be a better competitor
that produces a better product, in a shorter period of time, and to make more
of the product. Any process can incorporate lean principles.
For a business to seriously look at incorporating lean principles as
a business strategy, they need to start by looking at Deming’s 14 points:
1. Create a constancy of purpose for improvement of product and
service.
2. Adopt the new philosophy.
3. Cease dependence on mass inspection.
4. End the practice of awarding business on price tag alone.
5. Improve constantly and forever the system of production and
service.
6. Institute training.
7. Institute leadership.
8. Drive out fear.
9. Break down barriers between staff areas.
10. Eliminate slogans, exhortations, and targets for the workforce.
11. Eliminate numerical quotas.
12. Remove barriers to pride of workmanship.
13. Institute a vigorous program of education and retraining.
14. Take action to accomplish the transformation [6, p. 35-36].
When looking at point one, we see that in order for a business to
succeed at establishing a new strategy, the company as a whole, needs to adopt
a “constancy of purpose”. Everyone from the CEO, on down to the line worker
need to have the same drive and purpose for improvement. Along those lines,
point 2 tells us that the company needs to adopt a new philosophy. They need to
establish from the beginning a whole new way of looking at things and express
that philosophy to everyone in the company.
A company that is looking at lean for improvement, not only needs to
look at Deming’s 14 Points, but also needs to review and avoid, what Deming
calls: 7 Deadly Diseases:
1. Lack of constancy of purpose.
2. Emphasis on short-term profits.
3. Evaluation of performance, merit rating, or annual review.
4. Mobility of top management.
5. Running a company on visible figures alone (“counting the
money”).
6. Excessive medical costs.
7. Excessive costs of warranty, fueled by lawyers that work on
contingency fees [6, p. 35-36].
These diseases will destroy whatever effort is put into place to
correct the problems the company has. Not having a “constancy of purpose” will
stifle the work improvements that are needed for the business to turn to lean
principles. It will always be struggle.
REFERENCES
1. Deming, W. Edwards. Out of the Crisis. Published
by Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 1986. p. 3.
2. Shingo, Shigeo, Zero Quality Control: Source
Inspection and the Poka-Yoke System. Productivity Press, Cambridge, Mass. 1985.
3. Womack, James P. and Jones, Daniel T. Lean
Thinking; Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Corporation. Free Press, New York, NY. 2003.
4. Young, Brian “Lean Thinking; Environmental
Pollution” published by Co-Serve International; International Scientific and
practical Conference Partnership in Education and Science. October 26-27, 2012.
ISBN 978-0-9847161-5-9. The Kazakh-American Free University, Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kazakhstan, 2012.
5. Lean and Environment Training Module 5 - 6S
(5S+Safety) - EPA https: // www. epa. gov/sites/production/files/2015-06/ documents/module_5_6s.pdf.
6. Walton, Mary. The Deming Management Method.
Putnam Pub. Group. 1986. p. 35-36
7. Ballé, Freddy & Ballé, Michael.
The Goldmine; a novel of lean turnaround. Pub. Lean Enterprise Institute. 2005.
8. Scholtes, Peter R. The Team Handbook; How to Use
Teams to Improve Quality. Joiner Associates Inc. 1988. p. 2-46.
9. Shook, John. Managing to Learn. The Lean
Enterprise Institute. 2008, p. 3.
10. Sutherland, Jeff. Scrum; The Art of Doing twice
the Work in Half the Time. Crown Business, Crown Publishing. 2014.
11. Iverson, Kenneth. Plain Talk; Lessons from a
Business Maverick. Published by John Wiley and Sons. 1998.
12. Rodengen, Jeffery L. The Legend of Nucor
Corporation. Write Stuff Enterprises, Inc. Pub. 1997.
13. Duhigg, Charles. Smarter Faster Better. Random House, NY. 2016, p. 162.
14. Fisher, Kimball. Leading Self-Directed Work
Teams; A Guide to Developing New Team Leadership Skills. McGraw-Hill Pub. 2000.
p. 11
15. Womack, James P. and Jones, Daniel T. Lean
Thinking; Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Corporation. Free Press, New York, NY. 2003.
16. Kukadia, Nadia. Basic Introduction to Process
Improvement Tools: Lean and Six Sigma. Retrieved from: https:// www. slideshare.net/nkukadia/in-a-nutshell
- lean-and-six-sigma-explained.
17. Snee, Ronald D. PhD. The Six Sigma Approach to
Improvement and Organizational Change. Change Handbook. Berrett-Koehler
Publishers, Inc., San Francisco. 2007. p. 468.
18. Ford, Henry. Today and Tomorrow. CRC Press. Boca Raton, FL. 2003, p. 92.
19. A Brief History of Lean,
Strategos. Retrieved from: http:// www. strategosinc. com/ just_in_time.htm.
Table of contents: The Kazakh-American Free University Academic Journal №10 - 2018
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