|
 Sustaining
Kaizen improvement
by Mark Gooch
There is usually a
myriad of reasons for the lack of sustaining performance, but more
often than not, it is because the organization has not yet adapted
Lean as the new way of doing business and there is no follow up to
the standard work that should have been developed and implemented
during the event week.
The application of (1)
standard work; (2) the use and monitoring of production boards which
gauge results and point to the need to adjust or maintain the course
of action; and (3) the cause-effect and corrective action
methodology (counter measures) are the three primary and (in my
experience) most effective drivers to sustaining the gains in any
transformation.
Each of these tools
needs to be developed and fully implemented during the rapid
improvement week (Kaizen week). In fact, most of Thursday needs to
devoted to this activity and training for the entire work group must
be coordinated and completed if there is any hope of the
improvements being sustained after the event week is past.
Standard work
Standard/standardized work seems to fly in the face of much of
today’s culture. Why? I think many of us, (and I used to feel
exactly this way when I was trained as a machinist) believe that my
unique or personalized approach to the manner in which I do my work
(which exact tool I use and when, what wrench, what feed, speed and
RPM, etc.) is what sets me apart from everyone else and demonstrates
my talent.
Well, it does, but in
doing that it drives continued variation into the processes we
execute everyday. It might seem that “my way” is the best way for
me, and perhaps it is best for me, but it NEVER provides the best
method of completing processes for the business or the total group.
Until there is a
standard method of producing the product (or providing the service),
how do you know what is causing trouble in a process or what tool,
fixture or gauge is creating a problem? Everything drives back to
standard work.
When standard work is in
place and production is not being met, start improving by reviewing
the prescribed steps, tooling, route of part or people movement,
progress of steps, staging of parts, timing to complete the
activity, and everything else defined in the standard work. If
everyone is complying, now you can begin to isolate each activity
individually to determine what is wrong. Otherwise, everything is
still suspect.
Production boards
Ah, the heart of monitoring progress. The purpose of the production
board is to establish and communicate what is expected from the team
or cell hour by hour in relationship to the good or service being
produced. The board should include what is required every hour and
the cumulative amount from previous hours. Then document the actual
amount produced or completed every hour and the cumulative amount
from the beginning of the measurement period. The final number to be
recorded is the difference of the two numbers (goal vs.actual).
Many people want to
record just the current hour’s amount and forget the cumulative
quantity. The problem is people often (usually) forget how the day
has been going. People have a tendency to remember just what
happened during the last measurement period, not what has been
progressing all day long. If the team has been producing below takt
time all day and the missed quantity has been climbing all day long,
a very deep hole is developing.
The problem is if the
hole is getting deeper and deeper, the less chance the team has of
recovering, nor has the team a good picture of how bad the progress
is or if it was sudden or progressive. This is almost as bad as the
team having no idea as to the goal in the first place. The entire
purpose of the tracking tool is for the team to be aware of the
goal, how they are progressing toward that goal and to take action
if they see something awry.
Who should be completing
or tracking this data? Preferably the team leader records the data
and tracks the progress. It is the team leaders’ responsibility to
make sure standard work is being followed and kept up to date;
therefore they need to be the ones tracking the information.
I often see the team
members recording the information and that is fine, provided the
team leader is engaged in monitoring the progress every hour. They
have to be heavily engaged in the next part of the tracking.
Cause-effect and
corrective action methodology (counter measures)
To many, this chart is attached to or part of the production control
board. I use it that way, but it is significant enough to break out
and address separately. Every hour that a team misses the takt time,
the reason needs to be documented on the cause-effect (or reason)
line of the production control board. This is the tracking required
for the team to analyze issues affecting production.
As a trend develops, the
pareto chart is being developed to guide the team to the next rapid
improvement event. As this data is being collected and documented,
the corrective actions (counter measures) need to be documented
also. As this is tracked and the trend of the production is
continuously documented, the effect of the counter measures is being
documented.
If the counter measures
are not effective, the hourly schedule will continue to be missed.
What sometimes comes out during an event or during further
investigation of data prior to an event is that the reason for the
missed schedule is incorrect.
Why? Well, that is the
tool most likely not being used to determine the cause to begin
with. What people may believe is the issue is indeed not the reason
why the hourly rate is not being achieved. The “5 why” methodology
is critical in determining the ‘real’ reasons for missed production.
Try these actions and
see how improvements made in your event weeks are actually sustained
and drive more improvements. These steps are time tested and not
really that hard to do; they just require discipline.
Mark is vice
president of Lean enterprise for Pentair Inc. He has held senior
level positions with GE Aircraft Engines, Goodrich Aerospace and
Williams-International and has worked with operations from 15 people
to organizations of 30,000. Contact Coach Gooch at 763-843-9866;
E-mail: markgooch@juno.com.
This article appeared in the
June/July 2006 issue of MRO Today magazine. Copyright 2006.
Back to top
Back to MRO Coach archives
|
