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Lean Toolkit
The philosophy at Lean Business Systems is to work with our clients to provide the capability to create and sustain competitive advantage. To achieve this, we offer a wide range of Lean services depending on the clients starting position and the level to which they want to transform their organization to Lean. These services range from Strategic planning, to providing training on a wide range of Lean tools, to joining with our clients continuous improvement teams providing hands-on support for transforming their organisation to Lean. [ BACK TO TOP ↑] To deliver customer requirements, LBS will develop its clients capability to analyse their business from the ‘outside-in’ that is from their customer’s point of view. In this context the organisation must focus on what is common to the Product or Service it provides to its customers. This, for many organisations, means a paradigm shift from functional and process performance based thinking to looking at how the value proposition of quality, service and cost is delivered to the customer. On this basis the end-to-end path or stream which the Product or Service negotiates through their processes is critical. Value Stream Mapping and Analysis is an effective tool that allows one to see the problems within the system and develop plans to eliminate them.
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Hoshin Planning focuses on providing a planning and implementation process to achieve the vital goals that will result in breakthrough business performance, enabling our clients to become the most successful organisation at meeting customer requirements in a profitable and sustainable manner.
The focus and alignment of every person within the organisation to work for closure on key objectives is necessary to create positive results. Without this the efforts of individuals and departments are not guaranteed to contribute in building sustainable strategic advantage for the organisation. Long term results from Hoshin planning will see a robust and flexible planning system that will enable your organisation to deliver consistently on its strategic plans. LBS will facilitate this process, furnishing you with a comprehensive action plan and resource allocation that will allow you to repeatedly deliver on expectations.
Kaizen is the ability of an organization to make scientific continuous change where the culture is one of striving to improve daily. This is the interface between system development and process improvement where process change contributes directly to the system that has been designed to fulfill the value proposition, building operational competitiveness on a daily basis. This ability is not acquired easily and does not become a habit of the organization without first creating the right team environment, providing opportunities to develop and sharpen the skills of individuals. It also requires the organization to build confidence in its ability to deliver a win - win proposition for the stakeholders. LBS will assist its clients in achieving Kaizen capability through the completion of Kaizen Events that deliver immediate savings whilst training staff on how to solve problems. This will help generate confidence in the organization by demonstrating what can be achieved when problems are being addressed at source. The Kaizen Event, defines the specific problems to be solved, the specific team to apply the problem solving techniques, and the timeframe in which to achieve specific requirements. This environment is conducive to dealing with critical problems, training team leaders and problem solvers on Lean tools and using these tools to address real day – to – day issues. By witnessing the results from applying such tools, companies will gain an enhanced understanding of what they are and how to apply them and will be predisposed to applying them in the future. [ BACK TO TOP ↑] Having selected the problem and chartered the team the Kaizen Event is typically conducted over a five-day period as outlined below:
It is our experience at Lean Business Systems that the above approach has delivered improvements to key metrics ranging from 30-60%. This is often achieved at the same time as developing the capability to apply Lean Tools that can be re-used again and again to other metrics across the value stream. [ BACK TO TOP ↑]
Introduction
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Most situations which arise within an organizational context have multiple approaches to resolution. These different approaches generally require different levels of resources to resolve. Due to day-to-day pressures which exist in most organizational situations there is a tendency to opt for the solution which is the most expedient in terms of dealing with the situation. In doing this the tendency is generally to treat the symptom rather than the underlying fundamental problem that is actually responsible for the situation occurring. Yet, in taking the most expeditious approach and dealing with the symptom, rather than the cause, what is generally ensured is that the situation will, in time, return and need to be dealt with again and again. An alternative approach is to apply problem solving techniques to the root cause of the problem and truly find and resolve the problem presented. This ensures the problem will be resolved not just for now but eliminated for good allowing the problem solving resources to be applied to the next problem chosen that will result in maximizing the return. By following this principle one implements the foundation for a continuous improvement culture in an organization. [ BACK TO TOP ↑] A 5S programme is a process which when applied to a manufacturing, office or administration environment will result in moving from disorganization to organization. The 5S title is an acronym for the 5 Japanese words SEIRI (Sort), SEITON (Set in Order), SEISO (Shine), SEIKETSU (Standardize), and SHITSUKE (Sustain). It is a process improvement tool with well defined outcomes resulting from implementing each of the 5 steps. The 5 steps or pillars are as follows:
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Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) Total Productive maintenance (TPM) is an activity that promotes coordinated group activities for greater equipment effectiveness and requires sharing of responsibility for routine machine inspection, cleaning, maintenance and minor repairs. This is achieved by utilising a team approach to removing the losses from the machine areas. The benefits of implementing a TPM programme include:
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Statistical Process Control (SPC) Statistical Process Control is an effective method of monitoring a process through the use of control charts. This method has a distinct advantage over more traditional quality methods such as inspection, as resources are used for prevention rather than detection of problems. While SPC indicates when an action should be taken in a process, it also indicates when NO action should be taken.
[ BACK TO TOP ↑] This is a mistake-proofing device or procedure to prevent or detect an error which adversely affects the product and results in the waste of correction. Its purpose is to provide some intervention device or procedure to eliminate the possibility of a mistake or at worst case to catch it before it is transitioned into the next level of product or consigned to nonconforming product. Other than eliminating the opportunity for errors, mistake proofing is relatively inexpensive to install. [ BACK TO TOP ↑]
Kanban is Japanese word for “sign” It is a signal or communication system that is used as an integral part of Lean manufacturing so that customers can indicate when and in what quantities they require their materials to be replenished. Due to the critical timing and sequence of a kanban system, improvements are continually made. Typically immediate improvements to material availability and inventory reduction are noted on implementation of an effective Kanban system. [ BACK TO TOP ↑] There are a number of reasons for using visual management tools including, making problems more visible, they help workers and management stay more in contact with the process and they clarify targets for improvement. Production boards and schedule boards are examples of a visual factory. The boards are used by all to gauge progress against objectives. [ BACK TO TOP ↑]
New product Development and product introduction are critical end to end value streams for most companies. Carrying these out following Lean principles is the suggested method to bringing order and efficiency to the process. It has been suggested that 70-80% of all quality problems are design related. Emphasis on the Manufacturing side alone therefore addresses only 20-30% of the opportunities. Emphasis should be at the front end. Lean Business Systems specialises in helping organisations to re-engineer their Research & Development and New Product Development processes to significantly and sustainably reduce time-to-market and improve commercial advantage. [ BACK TO TOP ↑]
The game is a realistic simulation of a manufacturing environment and demonstrates the fundamentals of Lean in a learning and interactive way. The objective of the game is to demonstrate Lean techniques and show that their application leads to improved performance. A typical game will involve four to five rounds where each round demonstrates a typical constraint in a production environment and evaluates the effect of making a significant step to reducing that constraint. The first round uses a traditional batch, push system of manufacturing. At the end of the first round the performances on delivery, inventory, lead-time, quality and productivity are evaluated and documented. During each subsequent round a particular aspect of lean is analysed, 1 or 2 improvements are made, the impact of which are evaluated in the next set of results. On completion of the last round, the participants will have experienced a typical environment before, during and after lean principles were introduced, demonstrating the initial tensions and stresses exhibited and showing the impact of key changes made throughout the Lean transition. They will have experienced how thinking about the whole value stream and applying lean principles can dramatically enhance performance of key metrics. [ BACK TO TOP ↑] Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) OEE is a "best practices" way to monitor and improve the efficiency of a Manufacturing processes (i.e. machines, manufacturing cells, assembly lines). It can also be used to discover and resolve bottlenecks or aid an organization in inexpensively tapping into an area that has excess capacity
Once planned shutdown time (eg. Planned breaks, maintenance etc) has been subtracted from plant operating time (time facility is open and available for equipment operation) one arrives at Planned production time. Any losses in planned production time can then be categorized into 3 elements. These are as follows:
The OEE index is calculated as the product of the above three, ie. In terms of outcome, and OEE index of 100% represents perfection. The OEE index is frequently used as a key metric in TPM (Total Productive Maintenance) and Lean Manufacturing programs. It is simple to implement and very practical. While it is easily calculated, it is a very powerful metric for comparative purposes and is also very useful for monitoring improvements in a continuous improvement programme. [ BACK TO TOP ↑] |
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