Lean Operations: From Traditional Teams to Lean & Mean!

by
Donald L. Dewar, President
QCI International
California, U.S.A.

Abstract
Most things in life evolve and that includes problem solving teams. In this paper, I want
to tell you about an exciting new twist that is already happening in some of the worlds
most forward thinking companies. Among other things, these changes will move
companies in the direction of better quality through fewer errors. Lean operations
training can make your teams more successful than you could ever imagine!

Lean Operations

The word lean was popularized in the 1990 book, The Machine That Changed The
World. The book contained numerous astounding comparisons showing the advantages
of lean operations over mass productio n:
One-third the defects
Half of the factory space
Half of the manhours
90-percent reduction in inventories
More than three times the number of skills per employee
One-third greater levels of productivity
90-percent reduction in throughput times
Scrap cut in half

The truly lean company of today will be a survivor in the global battle for customers
and profits. The need for lean is obvious and the potential rewards are dazzling. There
will be those who will probably resist the necessary changes. Training in lean techniques
will start you on the road to overcoming this resistance and ultimately achieving a
successful transition.

The word lean may raise eyebrows but rest assured, it does not mean laying people off.
It means, among other things, eliminating waste of all kinds. It means eliminating non-
value added steps and especially focusing on the remaining value-added portions of a
process.

Lean activities do not have to be limited to production areas. They can apply to every
part of the business such as sales, marketing, accounting, etc.
 The New Vocabulary
There are many facets to the lean approach to operating a business. Some of the best
known include the following:

Lean Operations and Waste (Muda)

Norman Bodek, sometimes called the father of lean, was asked by consultant
Greg Hutchins, what waste meant to him. Bodek identified 10 types of waste:
1. Excess inventory
2. Unnecessary motion
3. Unnecessary transportation or moving of things
4. Quality, cost and schedule variances
5. Waiting time or delays (people or material storage)
6. Production thats ahead or behind schedule
7. Setup time inefficiencies
8. Inspection inefficiencies
9. Excess costs, including too much overhead
10. Lack of creativityunderutilization of talents

Source: Learn Lean by Greg Hutchins, pub lished in Quality Progress

magazine, September 2001
SMED
SMED is the acronym for Single Minute Exchange of Dies. This seems to
imply that set-up time for a machine should not take longer than one minute.
Actually, it really means that a minute is something to shoot for. In practice, there
have been spectacular reductions in set- up times, for example, from over an hour
down to less than 10 minutes!
The 5-Ss
The 5-Ss are five Japanese words that each start with the letter s. All stand for
several aspects of industrial housekeeping. The comparable words in English are:
Sort
-What is not in use, throw it out
Set
-Rearrange the work area
Shine
-Cleanliness is next to godliness
Standardize
-Establish policy guidelines
Sustain
-Keep 5-S activities from unraveling
 Takt Time
Takt time (a German word for meter or tempo) means to pace or regulate
operational speed to be able to meet customer demand. For example, in a factory
operating 440 minutes a day and producing to customers demand of 440 widgets,
the takt time is 60 seconds. If customer demand doubled to 880 widgets per day,
the takt time would speed- up to 30 seconds per unit. Of course, the increased takt
time could only be achieved by adding some combination of extra people, new
processes and / or machines.
One Piece Flow
Related to SMED. It is establishing processes to produce goods one at a time (or
in the smallest lots possible) with the objective of completing a product that can
be sold, for each product started.
Poka Yoke
Poka Yoke in Japanese means mistake proofing. Several years ago in the U.S., it
was impossible to start a car until the driver had connected the seatbelt. That was
Poka Yoke in action. Poka Yoke improvements can dramatically contribute to the
goal of zero defects that the late quality guru, Philip Crosby, championed
during his lifetime.
U-Cells
Parts with common characteristics or requiring similar machines and equipment
are grouped together. For reasons of efficiency, the machines and equipment are
often arranged in a U shaped pattern. Depending on the number and variability
of parts there can be several cells, each a small factory in itself.
Value Stream Mapping sm
A value stream map is fundamentally a flowchart that is loaded with added notes
concerning such items as elapsed times, distances, cycle times, changeover times,
etc. at each applicable step in the process. The elimination of all forms of waste
depends heavily on the application of this variation of flowcharting.
Cycle Time Reduction
Cycle Time Reduction is a close relative of Value Stream Mapping. Specifically,
cycle time reduction is lessening the time to do something from start to finish.
Kanban
Kanban cards are high impact, low cost, non-computer devices that communicate
when more inventory is needed. An example is a bookstore. When they receive
copies of a certain book title, their supplier includes a postage paid postcard that
can be used to order additional copies. The bookstore places the postcard on or
near the bottom book in the stand. Normally, the card is not visible until the
bottom book is removed. A clerk sends off the postcard and a replacement set of
books will arrive shortly.
 Kaizen
In Japan, kaizen means continuous improvement, both on the part of management
and the workforce. Kaizen is an umbrella concept for terms such as productivity,
total quality control, zero defects, just- in-time, the suggestion system, quality
circles, etc. A kaizen strategy includes small- group activities. Author and
consultant, Masaaki Imai, says in his book, Gemba Kaizen, that the most popular
of this kind of small group activity is quality circles. Other general categories
include the Kaizen Blitz and Kaizen: Quick and Easy.
Just-In-Time
If you do not need it now, do not make it or buy it now. To not heed this advice
will result in unnecessary costs and waste. For example, extra storage areas,
excess inventory that may (by the time it is used) be obsolete and/or loaded with
costly defects.

Differences Between Traditional and Lean

What are the differences between, a traditional EIT and a team operating in a lean
operations environment? Both are interested in identifying and correcting problems.
Both want continuous process improvements. Both use the same general problem
solving steps. Both rely on pretty much the same problem solving tools. So, what are
the differences? Lets look at three of them. One difference relates to attitude. The
attitude difference is intriguing. Lean team members take on attitudes that you would
expect to see in supervisors and managers. They focus on profit and loss issues real
bottom line topics that can affect the ability of the company to successfully compete in a
cut-throat marketplace. Quality will be vitally important, as it is with the traditional EIT,
but the surprise is the magnitude of their empowerment and their focus on boosting
productivity, efficiency and profit.

The other difference deals with added tools, concepts and processes employed by the lean
teams. As mentioned earlier, these include items such as: 5-Ss, SMED, takt, poka yoke,
kan-ban, and many more. These items add a substantial extra wallop as the lean team
pursues waste reduction and elimination wherever it appears.

Attitudes Towards Lean

Practitioners of lean operations tend to espouse a more enviable reality of business life.
The word lean does not threaten them. Actually, lean means greater ability to survive
and successfully compete, especially in national and international markets. Lean even
carries connotations of productivity, efficiency and profits. A few years ago, I had to
tread softly around these words because they were inflammatory to many people. Not to
management and not to shareholders but possibly to non- managerial employees who
sometimes felt that productivity, efficiency, profits and lean were achieved at their
expense.

Conclusion
Global competition means constant price reduction pressures from customers. These
impact heavily on management decisions. Despite these overwhelming pressures, lean
operational concepts have enabled companies to remain competitive, innovative,
efficient, productive, profitable, while maintaining high levels of customer satisfaction
and quality. So, you can see that lean gives you a variety of tools to help your company
face up to global competition and remain competitive and profitable. But, lean does
more than that. Through cost reductions, rapid turnarounds and high quality, customer
satisfaction will keep them coming back.