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Date: 8/28/2008
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Tools and Technology
3P (Production Preparation Process)
The combination of the Kaizen process with modeling techniques, the team-based 3P process diagrams the production operation, examines it in light of lean manufacturing techniques, conducts a trial of the conclusions reached by this examination, and iterates the process. The advantages are 1.) avoiding the disruption of the existing manufacturing operation, and 2.) refinement of the Kaizen exercise before any steel is cut or any product flow disrupted. The factors of capital cost, labor cost, poor quality-related waste, and Kanban (lower production volumes) are evaluated.
In a 3P exercise, your team will:
- Diagram the existing process, in an elementary line diagram.
- Brainstorm and develop multiple alternatives, using the “7 Whys” (a.k.a., “7 Alternatives”).
- Build and operate a full-scale mock-up of the alternatives. Note this may not be an operating model, but will represent the operation in all important respects.
Repeat the steps above, as the design is iteratively optimized.
Andon Board
A visual control device in a production area making the current status of the production system obvious to all concerned and alerting team members to emerging problems.
Automation Justification
A barrier to automation can occur in any of the several steps in the justification process. PGPI can evaluate the project without bias, answer the critical questions, and prepare the preparation of the approvals needed to get approval of the capital expenditure. Some of the capabilities that your company might need are:
- Identifying the true financial benefit of the project, including labor, opportunities of capacity (sales), materials, and inventory.
- Evaluating the technical claims of automation suppliers.
- Evaluating the expense costs associated with the capital equipment’s installation and operation.
- Calculating the economic justification according to the accepted tool at your company. Your company might use a tool we have used before, like straight payback, discounted cash flow, or return on assets.
- Planning the project manpower resources, duration, and logistics.
- Supervision of the construction project through start-up.
- Lessons Learned analysis, when we will see if the project can be amplified by duplication, modification, or adaptation in other locations.
Benchmarking
The process of measuring products, services, and practices against those of leading companies. It focuses on best practices and methods of world-class leaders, regardless of industry. PGPI can focus attention on the competitive methods and bring improvement to your company.
Best-In-Class
A best-known example of performance in a particular operation is referred to as best-in-class. Related to benchmarking, but it may also be using your company’s best production line as a model for improving the other lines.
Cells
The layout of machines, conveyances, etc. of different types performing different operations in a tight sequence, often in a U-shaped configuration, to permit single-piece.
Control Charts, x-bar and R
When your process operates in the proper “window,” meaning the process is in control, the product created will be of good quality, and suitable for your customers. To assure the process is in control, the process capability must be determined, the proper measurements (“key measurements”) to assure good product quality must be measured, and these few key measurements should be plotted on a control chart. Typically an adjustment to the process should be made only when one process reading is outside the control limits, or three measurements are above or below the target and trending toward a control limit. To illustrate:
External Time
Off-line time that does not detract from, lengthen, or postpone production. This often occurs as non-operational personnel do pre-planning and preparation prior to changeover or job change time. (See: Set-up Reduction, SMED)
First-piece Inspection
Often employed with control charts, this technique assures the first part is well within the operating window of the process capability. When the effort is taken to inspect to an “ideal” standard, the product quality is improved through the run, and rework is eliminated.
Five S
A tool for creating a workplace suited for visual control and lean production.
- Sort means to separate needed tools, parts, and instructions from unneeded materials and to remove the latter. (In the Japanese: Organization)
- Set in Order (or Simplify) means to neatly arrange and identify parts and tools for ease of use. (In the Japanese: Tidiness)
- Shine (or Scrub) means to conduct a cleanup campaign. (In the Japanese: Purity)
- Standardize means to conduct Sort, Simplify, and Scrub at frequent, indeed daily, intervals to maintain a workplace in perfect condition. (In the Japanese: Cleanliness)
- Sustain means to a.) repeat the 5-S process over and over, and b.) sustain the gains made after each iteration. (In the Japanese: Discipline)
Internal Time
Time that detracts from, lengthens, or postpones production. This often occurs as changeover or job change time. (See: Set-up Reduction, SMED)
Jidoka – Intelligent Automation
Also called ‘autonomation’ and ‘intelligent automation’ Jidoka focuses on separating human and machine work. One element at a time is automated cost effectively. Productivity is improved when parts are ejected automatically, converting the operator’s role to only loading and observation. Error proofing and error detection are built-in and defects are not passed on.
Just-in-Time
This is the discipline of keeping the production process lean and simple. When parts arrive just-in-time, any inefficiency, lack of coordination, and waste in the operation will be extremely obvious. By exposing inefficiency, one can eliminate the sources of it. This tool is tremendously beneficial to understanding the operation and reducing distractions to profitability. It is a necessity for One Piece Flow, for Takt Time Improvement, and for other Deming/Japanese optimization techniques.
Kaizen
Rapid, continuous, incremental improvement of the production process. In an exercise in Great Britain, an entire production line was moved and rearranged/optimized in three days by a team of six.
Kanban
Developed by Toyota, visual signals are used to indicate the ‘pull’ of the operation, and to approach ‘one-piece flow.’ This is possibly the most effective method of balancing the workload of serial operations, at exposing differences in task time, and in revealing sources of scrap and poor quality. Simplified scheduling, reducing inventories, and providing a ‘visual factory’ are benefits of the Kanban process.
Kitting
A process in which assemblers are supplied with kits for each task they perform. This eliminates time-consuming trips to get the necessary materials, and provides a poka-yoke method of assuring completeness in assemblies.
Methods Improvement
In addition to the important traditional Industrial Engineering time studies, “balancing the line” is a tool for assuring the production on a line is maximized. If John can process 30 parts per hour in Process Step #1, only to hand them for Process Step #2 to Bob who can do only 10 per hour, the maximum production will be only 10 pieces per hour. If we balance the line by having John do Step #2 for every third part, the production will double to 20 per hour.
Overall Equipment Effectiveness
OEE, as it is abbreviated, is using possible production, rather than standard production as the measure of production efficiency. In many world-class companies, 85% of possible is attained or surpassed. To calculate OEE, the machine speed is multiplied by the minutes scheduled to run, and nothing is “allowed downtime” or “allowed scrap.”
If the machine is scheduled for eight hours (480 minutes) today, and the actual machine speed is ten per minute, the number to be measured against is 4800 pieces made. If there was a breakdown, several adjustments, a bathroom break, start-up inefficiencies, and a few pieces of rework, so that only 3600 pieces were made, the OEE was 3600/4800 = 75%.
Although a simple device, measuring machines by OEE will lead to improved results, through focused problem-solving.
PDCA (Plan, Do, Check and Act)
Like the Five-S process, a process that requires rigor and focus to repetitively improve a production process. It is summarized:
- Plan. Senior management should participate with the improvement team in establishing meaningful and specific objectives. It is essential to understand and communicate to all levels of the organization.
- Do. The meaningful and specific objectives are put into place in the production line.
- Check. Confirm the extent to which results are meeting the specific objective, using objective measurements. Document areas of accomplishment and areas for further efforts. Complete candor is required in assessing the results.
- Act. Repeat the process until the specific objectives are attained, and/or until a new need is identified.
Poka-Yoke
This is a mistake-proofing device or procedure that provides 100% automatic inspection. “Error-proofing” is a synonym; poke-yoke is the process of preventing inadvertent mistakes using simple and cheap devices. Processes are designed so that mistakes are either impossible or are easily detected and corrected. Techniques include Kitting parts, automated inspection, jigs, fixtures, specifically designed shipping containers, etc. The “fail-safe” techniques developed will multiply the outgoing quality of your products.
A warning: If poka-yoke devices are too complicated or expensive, their use will not be cost-effective. They are to be incorporated into the process, providing 100% inspection and placed close to source of potential mistakes, to provide quick operator feedback.
For example, in an automotive company, each part cannot be put into a finished product bin except by a mechanized arm. The employee places each completed part into the fixture on the mechanized arm. Simple switches will not allow the arm to place any part in the bin unless that part fits a fixture made exactly like the mating part in the automobile. In this way, if the employee has made a mistake in assembly, the part will not be placed in the bin, and will not be sent to the customer.
In a simpler example, an employee is required to exactly match all the parts and screws to a tray painted with a permanent diagram of all parts before beginning assembly. If any parts are not available, the employee is not permitted to start assembly. If any parts remain on the tray after the employee is finished, he knows this part was omitted from the assembly.
Set Up Reduction (SMED)
Also called “Quick Change,” SMED is a methodology to reduce the changeover time for your equipment and processes. Initially developed for large presses in the automobile industry, but now applied wherever exists the need for better customer service, smaller production runs for less inventory, and increased capacity to accommodate sales. During a SMED exercise set-up times are often cut by more than half, and can be done iteratively until the changeovers approach single minutes.
Techniques include using the 5s methodology, converting Internal Time (tasks done during the changeover) to External Time (tasks done preparatory to the changeover). Design of attachments such as jigs and fixtures to facilitate the changeover is a usual methodology. The use of team participation assures the best ideas are used, facilitates cooperation, and avoids unintended negative consequences of actions.
Making changes in “single minutes” will always make an improvement in product quality. A SMED-based change must be documented, repeatable, and precise to be fast. When it is documented, repeatable, and precise, the product quality will be improved, from first-piece through the production run.
Seven Wastes
The best way to cut costs is by cutting waste. Every piece of scrap has the same materials and labor as a perfect part. Every wasted minute of production is the loss of an opportunity to cut costs and/or sell more. Every part reworked costs more than a good part. Overall production cost improvements of 20% are typical for many companies that newly adopt a focus on waste reduction.
Listing these seven wastes and using the list to critically examine the process can improve production efficiency and quality. They are:
- Overproduction, producing ahead of the demand in the subsequent step or process
- Waiting for the next step or process to be receptive, waiting or providing transport of materials, etc.
- Over-processing of parts due to poor tool and/or product design
- Inventories, especially little piles of inventory at each work station
- Unnecessary Movement of employees, looking for parts, tools, prints, help, etc.
- Unnecessary Movement of parts by employees during the course of their work
- Production Of Defective Parts
Six-Sigma
Developed and popularized by Motorola®, the term Six-Sigma refers to making the process so robust that it makes only one defect in a million parts. It is derived from the standard normal curve in statistics, and refers to the fact that inside six standard deviations from the norm (six sigma), 999,999 of 1,000,000 occurrences exist.
Standard Work
Standard Work (also called Standardized Work) is finding the most effective combination of manpower, material, and machinery to effect daily improvement. By creating a repeatable methodology, spelling out and documenting tasks, times, and layout, lower cost and improved quality is attained. Minimizing the use of (wasted) space, flexing output to effectively utilize needed labor, and visual management are aspects of this methodology.
Total Productive Maintenance (TPM)
A series of methods, originally pioneered by Toyota to ensure that every machine in a production process is always able to perform its required tasks so that production is never interrupted. Improvements in Overall Equipment Effectiveness (which see) will be greatly enhanced by TPM. It is a system with rapid payback in lowered downtime and better product quality. The steps are often categorized:
- Clean to inspect – the machine is methodically wiped down with rags. During the cleaning each spot of oil, dust, shavings, etc. is marked with a bright red paper tag.
- Inspect to detect – each worn or fitting, stripped screw, loose cover, worn belt, broken gauge, etc. are also red tagged
- Detect to correct – the red tags are documented as “To Do” action steps and each step is assigned and accomplished.
- Correct to perfect – the tiny imperfections on the machine accumulate to make the machine less efficient than it originally was.
In this technique, your team will be guided to systematically eliminating waste associated with production equipment and machinery. Typical areas of machine-based waste are breakdown time, poor product quality due to the process control, and time lost in adjustment and maintenance internal to the scheduled operating day. The team will “clean to inspect,” “inspect to correct,” and “correct to perfect.” This is an extremely hands-on program leading to a better-trained, more involved workforce. Operators and maintenance personnel will work together closely, and the benefits of cross- training will increase the sense of urgency of these employees.
Value Stream
The specific activities required to provide a specific product, from concept to launch, order to delivery, and raw materials into the hands of the customer.
Visual Control
The placement in plain view of all tools, parts, production activities, and indicators of production system performance, so everyone involved can understand the status of the system at a glance. (See: Andon Board.)
Visual Management
Making manufacturing processes self-evident to the observer will pay off in simplification, manageability, and feedback. Principles include “vital few” and “simple is best” to keep simplicity in the operation. Exceptions will be made obvious, line imbalances will be easily correctable, and employee training will become easy and repeatable.
Waste Reduction
Any activity that consumes resources but creates no value is waste. (See: Seven Wastes.) The best way to cut costs is by cutting waste. Every piece of scrap has the same materials and labor as a perfect part. Every wasted minute of production is the loss of an opportunity to cut costs and/or sell more. Every part reworked costs more than a good part. Overall production cost improvements of 20% are typical for many companies that newly adopt a focus on waste reduction.
Work Cell Production – “Single Piece Production”
If your production process could benefit by less work-in-process, less material movement, less inventory, and less rework, the tool of Work Cell Production might be just the tool. In a plastics assembly operation of 17 sequential operations, labor reductions of 20% were attained by removing intermediate steps of picking and placing the product for the next operation. Each person made a complete product, increasing his/her pride of craftsmanship, reducing employee turnover, reducing repetitive motion injuries, and improving product quality.
Operational Consulting
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