November 4, 2015 Industry Forum Blog Lauded as a “Mandatory read for entrepreneurs” I wanted to see if the book by Eric Ries had anything to do with lean or was it just a name to grab attention. What I discovered were some “light bulb moments” for adapting lean in an environment that is uncertain and chaotic. And then I realised just how much this book had to offer a much wider audience than entrepreneurs running startups, including: Anyone who sets and uses KPIs. Anybody deploying lean. Anybody who runs projects using stage gate and waterfall processes. Here are my top four. To explore and understand the difference between actionable and vanity metrics Ries gives excellent examples of the need to clearly understand the cause and effect of any changes you make to your product or system. This can be done if you use actionable metrics that allow you to learn from your actions. Vanity metrics make it easy to assume you are doing the right things, but they provide no reasons to back that up. Worse is when results go the wrong way and there are no reasons to explain why. Armed with this distinction I am currently reviewing all metrics I use! To get a different angle on value adding and waste In manufacturing we define value adding as work which changes the nature, shape or characteristics of the product in line with customer requirements. In the environment of a startup, where it isn’t always clear who the customer is or what they want, a different definition is required. Reis defines value adding tasks as those that help us learn what the customer actually wants, as opposed to what the designer thinks they want. Activities that involve working on flawed assumptions and building products or features that the customer doesn’t require, result in a waste of time, energy, money, resources, passion and skills. This is a clever interpretation that should challenge us to adapt our lean definitions for different environments. To reinforce the value of working in small batches and using pull systems Traditionally designers build and internally test the complete product before release. Unfortunately many new products fail as they have been designed using flawed assumptions. Result – the customer just doesn’t want them. Ries encourages designers to conduct their “build” in small batches – i.e. test one hypothesis or feature at a time to avoid waste. Just like in manufacturing we know that producing in large batches results in waste and hides quality problems. By testing one hypothesis at a time and using the results to guide the next piece of development you introduce a pull system from design. We should now be asking ourselves what other functions and processes can benefit from working in small batches. To strengthen your existing NPI system While Ries’s Lean Startup methodology is largely focussed on organisations doing disruptive innovation, I can see many elements that will strengthen established systems. This includes companies that have partial design responsibility or are build to print. A few examples: Introducing frequent testing cycles involving the customer to test each assumption or development before moving through the stages. Adjusting the options at the gate review to include a Pivot option instead of Re-do. Including a measure on “learning about customer requirements”. Launching a successful product isn’t all about adherence to project plan and budget. I read my borrowed copy twice and then bought one. Now I am lending it to everyone I know! I hope you find it valuable as well. For more information about NPI please see our web site or contact us.
October 28, 2015 Industry Forum Blog One of the more common barriers to change we meet when introducing Autonomous Maintenance and Planned Maintenance is the belief that maintenance engineers will become deskilled and jobs cut, and that production operators will be expected to just take on more tasks. It’s important to tackle this misconception right at the beginning of your TPM programme. Although it will take time to gain trust, I have found starting with a straightforward explanation helps to set the scene. After that, your actions will speak louder than words! Make sure you give the same message to AM and PM team members, as they must work in tandem to achieve the change. You can draw up the two sketches shown here to support your message, but do tailor them to suit your audience. Yes – the activities you do will change and so will the skills you need! Use this diagram to show how the mix of skills and activities undertaken by the teams changes over a period of time. On the left you have a representation of the start point. Draw these to show what you think they are in your company at that point. We usually expect changes to occur over a 3 year period. On the right finish the lines at a point to reflect where you plan to be. This will align with your policies. Don’t get hung up about actual numbers. You are trying to show that over a period of years there should be a change in the mix of tasks carried out. Some companies find this phrase helps. “Everybody takes care of something different.” How can we do any more than we do now? It’s not realistic to expect people to just keep doing more. Draw this diagram, block by block from the left, to show how some current, and unrewarding, tasks are got rid of, so that new ones can be introduced. The first block represents the current skills and tasks carried out by operators and the maintenance department. The first thing we have to do is eliminate what we call the difficult, dangerous and dirty tasks, which operators should not have to do. This is achieved using the AM pillar. We are now at position 1. This allows more time for the operators to take on new tasks. In the AM journey these tasks are cleaning, inspection and lubrication. These are transferred from the maintenance team. We are now at position 2. Of course these CIL tasks also prevent the difficult, dangerous and dirty tasks from coming back. So we prevent a return to the start point. Now the maintenance team have time to expand their role and take on new tasks, such as preventative maintenance and developing new maintenance techniques. Position 3 is reached. The benefits Operators spend less time doing repetitive and pointless cleaning up. They can learn and deploy basic maintenance skills, reducing the frustration of running equipment till it breaks and then waiting for it to be fixed. Maintenance engineers move away from a repair based culture and learn how to deploy more sophisticated techniques and technologies. This allows them to spend more time concentrating on maintenance activities that will give improvements. For both teams there is a shift towards a greater proportion of proactive tasks. Hopefully this message will help you to dispel any fears expressed at the start of your TPM journey. Nobody is being deskilled. Time generated is used to make further improvements. For more information about TPM training see our web site or contact us.
October 22, 2015 Industry Forum Blog I think it’s fair to say that accountants love cash and hate risk. Running out of cash is still one of the biggest reasons why companies collapse. Cash is not only needed to start a business but to keep it running. For an accountant, risk starts as soon as cash is turned into something else and lasts until that something else is turned back into cash. So if you want your accountant to support your improvement initiative then you need to demonstrate how it will release cash in the business and manage the risk. For those of us from operations backgrounds this may sound daunting. However if you can show how the techniques you are using link to improving the cash flow cycle, then you have the key. The Cash Flow Cycle For a simple explanation of the cash flow cycle click here. We are going to focus on the steps between paying for employees, facilities and materials to receiving cash back. All the steps in between those two points represent risk; buying materials, holding stock, producing too many parts (overproduction), producing scrap, shipping parts incorrectly, customers cancelling orders or going out of business. Improve the cash flow in two ways Reduce the length of time it takes from paying out to receiving the cash. Minimise the size of the risks along the cycle. Some examples Activities that match production to customer demand; like using Value Stream Mapping to plan and deploy pull systems. This reduces the size of risks incurred by buying and storing inventory and cash tied up in excess WIP and finished goods. Using Set Up Improvement (SMED) to produce smaller batch sizes. This reduces the amount of stock held and releases cash. Using techniques such as Structured Problem Solving, PM Analysis, Quality Maintenance and Six Sigma tools reduces the cash tied up in scrap and the time to complete the cycle. Eliminating the 16 losses using TPM methodology also reduces the time to complete the cycle and amount of cash tied up producing scrap. Activities that create product flow through your value stream reduce the size of the risk associated with WIP, inventory and finished goods. Eliminating waste and minimising non value adding steps Using SMED to level demand and improve flow in areas of fixed capacity. Minimising the amount of information processing. This also reduces the risk of order corruption. Eliminating delays between ordering and manufacture and at load time and despatch time. Reducing the time taken for value adding steps using basic tools such as 5S, 7 Waste, Standardised Work and Visual Management. In summary Taiichi Ohno said, “All we are doing is looking at the time line, from the moment the customer gives us an order to the point when we collect the cash. And we are reducing that time by reducing the non-value adding wastes.” I hope these examples help you to realise how the activities you deploy to improve operations also improve the health of your finances. This understanding will also help you communicate with your accountants in a language they understand. If you want to read more about how lean makes financial sense I recommend Lean Means Beans by Anne Hawkins.
October 14, 2015 Industry Forum Blog When is structured problem solving the right method to use? Most of us probably still remember the pain of tackling our first fearsome quality issue. And if you were a supplier into Ford you will have been using the 8D method.I hope you had more success than I first did! Since then I have also used Practical Problem Solving (preferred by Toyota), PM Analysis and the TPM Quality Maintenance steps. Each method has its pros and cons, and my success rate has improved with practise. However, the most useful thing I learned along the way is that you don’t always have to jump into to root cause analysis! Welcome to the infinity loop. May it save you many hours of painstaking work! The infinity loop In this model normal working is shown as a combination of two cycles; the sustain cycle and the improve cycle. The Sustain Cycle If there are no problems we continue working to the set standards. A problem can be described as the difference between what is happening and what should be happening – a gap to target. If a problem does occur then we need to take action. Step 1 Measure the current situation. We need to check if the problem is a result of the deterioration of standard working conditions and practices. If basic conditions have deteriorated they will have adversely affected the inputs to the process (man, material, machine, method). Therefore the outputs will also have been affected. Step 2 Restore basic conditions. Ensure the 5S conditions of the work place are as required, everyone is working to the Standard Operations and the equipment maintained at the correct standard. We then ask “Has the problem been resolved?” Typically 8/10 problems are resolved by restoring basic conditions. If the answer is yes then we continue round to step 3 in the sustain cycle. Step 3 Return to normal working standards to sustain basic conditions. In these cases we do not need to deploy a structured problem solving technique. Step 4 We complete the cycle by making it easier to maintain the basic conditions so they don’t slip again. However, if the answer is no, the problem isn’t resolved by restoring basic conditions, we follow the cycle on the right hand side. The Improve Cycle is where we deploy our preferred method of structured problem solving.In this diagram the steps of your chosen structure are summarised in steps 3, 4 and 5; carry out root cause analysis, countermeasure the root cause and define improved standards to work to. Again we ask the question “Has the problem been resolved?” If the answer is no, we must go round the improvement cycle again. If the answer is yes, then we return to the sustain cycle and complete Step 6, the original step 3, maintain basic conditions. Step 7, the original step 4, make it easier to maintain the basic conditions. Finally Remember structured Problem Solving can be used proactively to improve a process, as well as to prevent the re-occurrence of a problem. And don’t just stick to quality problems. I have had success using it to solve a range of issues from accident levels to manning problems. If you want to know more about any of the structured Problem Solving techniques mentioned please contact us.
October 7, 2015 Industry Forum Blog Is filling in your boards a tick box exercise or do you use them as a tool to enable improved performance and engage employees? Visual Management Boards are just one of the ways you can communicate with all the levels in your company. By themselves they don’t actually make improvements or, in fact, do that much communicating! They need to be bought to life by people using them and they need to be designed and placed carefully. Here are my top 10 features to consider when designing and using the boards. As well as drawing from personal experience they include the results of research into the use of Visual Management in workplace communications Design Involve the local team of employees in the design and ongoing use of the board. This promotes ownership Keep the information appropriate to the area but do show a clear link to your company policy and area objectives. This brings operational and strategic performance measures together in one place; a key part of the Integration Model Where the workplace has many boards, and they are used as the focal point of daily, weekly and monthly reviews do have a standard overall layout. This makes it easier for users to interpret. The local team still decide the content, but within the layout guidelines.Boards typically contain information on the inputs and outputs of the process (man, material, machine, quality, cost and delivery) as well as improvement and safety.The feature I like on this board is that the chart holders are reversible. Plenty of space for different teams or additional information Ensure the board communicates positive information, not just negative For the information displayed use these three key visual management principles: Use the right graphical tool to convey the data Use colour sparingly, for example just to highlight key features Avoid using excessive borders and boxes; aim at a minimum ink to data ratio. For example use lighter lines instead of black, or none where possible Use Use the board for daily team briefings as well as the scheduled management review meetings. This gets managers away from outdated written reports and into the workplace To aid this process, position the boards close to the place of work, or at a key focal point, where they can be easily gathered around. Boards can be used for non manufacturing areas as well Remember these briefings, or huddles, should be a two way communication process Ensure the information is kept up to date: Appoint a board (or chart) owner Update or draw graphs by hand if you don’t have the necessary time or equipment. This is often the case where short interval monitors are used to manage the process Last, but definitely not least. Use this information to drive the improvement process. If your data isn’t turned into information and acted on to make an improvement, it is just fancy wallpaper We hope these ideas will help you in either creating or improving this aspect of your communication and improvement process. We love to hear and see examples of boards you have found that work particularly well for you. Thank you to KMF for providing this example. If you would like to know more about Visual Management Boards and other management for manufacturers, why not check out our Leadership Development Programme
September 30, 2015 Industry Forum Blog Are you in a position where you need to improve your information or people based processes? This may be to meet new company objectives or because they are currently causing you problems. I most often find companies want to: Improve the cash flow cycle – get paid more quickly. Reduce the time it takes to do the task, like turn round quotes. Improve customer ratings on standards of service. Meet deadlines. My recommended approach is to; map the current process, identify the problems and opportunities for improvement and deploy the right lean tool in the right place. Do not be tempted by a blanket deployment of 5S, huddle boards and Standardised Work across a whole department. It rarely produces measurable results and nearly always alienates the workforce. The approach State what it is you want to improve. Which task in which department? State your target and the link to company objectives. Form a team involving people from the area. Having people who know what actually happens is vital as these tasks are much harder to observe than manufacturing ones. Think of the task as a process with inputs and outputs. Decide what the “material” you are processing is. It could be numerical data, documents or a person. This helps us in step 4. When compiling a month end financial report we followed the flow of data into the final document. When booking in cars for service we followed the interaction with the car owner and then the route of the vehicle. Physically capture the current process as it actually Use a suitable mapping tool. Go to where the work is carried out. Observe, ask questions. Don’t fall into the trap of using an existing procedure or one person’s opinion. Enhance the map with supporting data and key measures. Spot wastes, threats and opportunities for improvement in the process. Get the team to stand around the map, brainstorm, and attach sticky notes where they occur. I always use the standard 7 Waste tool, with non-manufacturing examples given for each waste. In particular I get teams to look for order corruption, back flows and disconnects. You can be pedantic and classify these as one of the 7 Wastes, but it helps teams to identify them when they are highlighted in this way. Make sure to pay attention to the interfaces between departments, customers and suppliers as well. At this point it also works well to identify opportunities for improvement. This helps to move the team into the next step. Create a future state. Draw what you want the process to look like – especially if you used one of the mapping tools. With a simple process flow it may be enough to just eliminate the identified wastes and not draw a future state. Identify the most appropriate lean tools. Deploy them in a way to achieve the future state and eliminate the wastes you spotted. Avoid these problems. As with any improvement activity follow up and close out actions for sustainability. Make sure you communicate what is happening to everyone and train the wider team in the new and improved processes. Calculate savings and benefits. Keep looking for ways to improve. Future blogs will highlight ways of applying the right lean tool in the right place. If you want to share your examples please send them in.
September 23, 2015 Industry Forum Blog Setting up a system to improve your New Product Introduction (NPI) process has been identified as one of the six basic success factors to improve your ability to get new products to market quicker and cheaper. What is a lesson learned? The identification of project activities that went well and not so well Subsequent analysis resulting in recommendations for improvements Implementation of recommendations to realise benefits Lessons should be sought, captured and acted upon throughout the life of the project. When do we capture lessons learned? Ideally from the beginning to the end of the project. Some organisations find it useful to set formal points as well. Typically these occur when stage end reports for gate reviews are compiled and at the close of the project. What are the benefits? These are examples of times when organisations have used their lessons log and what they have used them for. When setting up the project board – who to include When selecting the project manager – which skills are desirable When outlining the business case – how to phrase it When setting up the risk management strategy. What threats and opportunities affected previous projects to help identify risks and appropriate risk responses Setting up cross-functional teams – mix of people When creating stage plans – suitable timescales Also have a look at the role lessons learned played in the building and staging of the 2012 Olympics. Who is responsible? The project sponsor and the project manager create a new lessons learned log during the project start up phase. They also review existing logs and implement relevant actions in the new plans. Once underway, it is up to everybody involved in the project team, even stakeholders, to seek out lessons learned. The project manager is responsible for ensuring these are captured acted upon. They can delegate completion of tasks but not responsibility for ensuring they are done. The role of Lessons Learned in the 2012 Olympic games The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) for London 2012 delivered this huge public project on time and on budget with a 5 year lead time. Key objectives included: The greenest games ever Utilisation of the venues after the games to ensure certain return on investment Not only did Lord Coe and the project teams review lessons learned from previous Olympic games but part of the legacy of London 2012 was to formally share lessons learned during construction and staging. Lord Coe attended the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver to see how the city coped with hosting such a large event and experienced first hand how they recovered from unforeseen challenges such as the warm weather at Cypress Mountain. The ODA set its own green and cost effectiveness guidelines and planned how venues would be utilised after the games. Nobody wanted a repeat of the moth balled swimming pool from Beijing 2008! London 2012 is sharing the knowledge and the lessons learned through the Learning Legacy project. Although we don’t need them to plan another UK based Olympics in the near future, they can be applied to other construction, transport and sustainable event based projects. In addition many of the individual lessons can be applied to an even wider project base. If you can think of at least one improvement to the way your New Product Introduction(NPI) system runs, add it to your Lessons Learned. And if you don’t have such a system, consider setting one up.
September 16, 2015 Industry Forum Blog Does your Training Needs Analysis result in an affordable and robust organisation wide training plan? Does it prioritise learning and development to meet both current and future requirements? If not don’t worry. This blog introduces a model developed at Industry Forum that will help you work through this daunting task. The Training Needs Analysis Cycle In this model TNAs are undertaken at three levels; organisational, departmental and individual. The responsible person at each level inputs key information into the process. This information is designed to answer four important questions: Why do people need the training? What skills need to be taught? Who needs the training? What are the priority areas for training? The three levels are interlinked to ensure that a balanced analysis is produced. This takes into account the company’s strategic plans, the departmental objectives and each individual’s needs. The outcome of the cycle is a robust, organisation wide learning and development plan that has an approved budget. The benefit If you deliver the resulting training plans you will ensure you have sufficient capability within the organisation to sustain current and future business performance. Deployment tips Initially this model was developed to help organisations deploying the Training and Education Pillar of Total Productive Maintenance. However, with minor adaptation it works in any organisation. The work done at organisational level in a TPM company is done by the T&E pillar team. Alternatively use a team of senior representatives responsible for training in the organisation. One of the important inputs at departmental level is losses; specifically those losses that are the result of inadequate skills. Don’t be put off by terminology, quantify the problems you encounter because of inadequate skills. This input allows you to prioritise which skills require improving. We recommend developing your framework and testing it in a pilot area. Once running smoothly, roll it out to the rest of the organisation. The full TNA cycle needs to be conducted on an annual basis, to align with your policy deployment cycle. Ideally you would do this before any training solutions are budgeted, designed or delivered. Departmental level and individual level reviews typically happen at a frequency of 6 or 3 months. If you want to find out more about how to deploy the Training Needs Analysis Cycle please contact us.
September 11, 2015 Industry Forum Blog One of the four stability pillars, T&E is often lost amongst the wealth of more technical information on equipment care and maintenance. But ignore T&E at your peril. It is initially deployed in the TPM journey alongside Focussed Improvement, Autonomous Maintenance and Planned Maintenance in order to improve production efficiency. However, ongoing deployment is a key part in achieving the goal of zero accidents, zero defects and zero breakdowns across the whole organisation. How? This pillar focuses on eliminating the losses caused by inadequate skills. Ongoing deployment of a 6 step methodology produces an organisation wide picture of these losses allowing them to be fully understood, prioritised and actioned. Which skills? Every individual within the organisation needs to be fully trained in their job role. It’s not just the practical skills of equipment operators that are vital in eliminating loss across the company. The managerial, technical and administrative skills for all roles must be raised. What do we get from deploying the pillar? In a nutshell the outcomes of deploying the pillar include systems that will: Continually monitor the training required to meet the long term vision of the company. Set the methodology and standards for a range of training processes. Create effective training plans to maximise the potential of every employee. How do theses outcomes benefit us? They ensure that in a world where technology, materials and competitors are changing at an increasing rate, training for the right skills is continually identified and provided. They allow the company to plan for long term goals such as the calibre of individual employees required at certain times. A thorough Training Needs Analysis results in a company succession plan, individual career plans and personalised training programmes. The resulting training opportunities make employees feel valued and ensure the succession plan is fulfilled internally. Employee turnover is reduced as well as the need for recruitment. They reduce the true costs associated with training. Whilst the first column represents what we typically see as the costs of training in the accounts, the second column shows the true amount. It includes the cost of the losses that occur due to inadequate skills. When the company invests in training programmes that improve peoples’ skills and in turn efficiency in the workplace, the total training cost falls as both losses and recruitment costs reduce. As an added bonus a well structured and documented training process will easily provide the proof required for organisations to comply with various standards and audits such as VDA 6.3 and ISOTS16949. How do I start deployment of T&E? I recommend following the six steps of the T&E pillar used by JIPM. The steps provide a logical approach to getting the most out of your training and education activities. You can find out more about T&E by watching our short video clip or by attending training programmes such as the Industry Forum 2 day T&E course. In my experience the part that most companies struggle with is conducting a company wide Training Needs Analysis as part of step 2. In the next blog I will introduce our Training Needs Analysis Cycle which helps companies conduct this vital groundwork. If you have any further questions about T&E please contact us.
September 7, 2015 Industry Forum Blog All too often I hear about cases where the deployment of lean techniques has failed and lean is rejected by the people it was meant to help. I’m particularly disappointed when these occur in work environments that process information or deal with people, like offices, health care, transport and other service providers. So if you are new to lean, or a lean convert from a manufacturing background, and are keen to give it a go in your office, here are my top 4 pitfalls to avoid. Blitzing people’s personal items instead of improving the information flow Carrying out a 5S activity is done to eliminate waste and support the process in an improved state. It should not be done to “improve housekeeping” and make the place look tidy. In the office environment the process centres on the flow of information (or people). So is diving in and removing personal photos and snacks from desks supporting an improved work flow? Or will it just antagonise people? I have found that a 5S activity that supports improved flow and makes peoples work easier is more successful. Often the activity focus is in shared work areas, both physical and electronic. Using lots and lots of yellow tape Again, I’ve seen 5S deployed in an office where every waste paper bin and pot plant ended up surrounded by squares of yellow tape. Result – unimpressed manager! Two points here: Yellow tape should only be used as a temporary measure until the right position for an essential item is agreed upon. Then a smarter, more subtle and permanent method for indicating the home location can be used. Is marking the position of the pot plant helping to support an improved work flow? Don’t go mad with the tape! Failing to involve the people who work in the area Using a team approach that includes people from the work area is standard best practice. They have the working knowledge and skills required to contribute to the best improvements. More importantly doing lean to people, instead of involving them, causes alienation and rejection. If you don’t believe me try the Wallet Exercise! Not using data to focus and show improvement Teams need to fully understand how an area works before they make any physical changes. This helps them to select the right improvement tool and apply it where it counts – see points 1 and 2. Information and people based processes are not exempt from this. In fact as the processes are often harder to see than manufacturing ones, it’s even more important to do this. To start, collect and analyse key data, map the process and understand the targets or objectives for that function. Later comparison to original data will show how the improvement is going. It is vital to demonstrate that the effort you put in does affect the bottom line. There are of course more than these 4 things that can foil your activity. But my advice is to give it a go and learn by doing. Always review what you have done and keep learning points for next time you apply the technique. True understanding of lean comes with application. I will write some follow up blogs giving examples of how lean techniques can be successfully applied to information based environments. If you want to share your examples and learning points then please send them in.
