9.1 THE STRATEGIST IN YOU: Working More Efficiently

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(SHORT NOTES FROM STRATEGY TOOLS:

Manufacturing and Operations at http://www.mindtools.com)

Lean Manufacturing

Lean Manufacturing can help you to simplify and organize your working environment so that waste can be reduced, and able to keep people, equipment, and workspace responsive to what's needed right now.  Lean manufacturing is based on finding efficiencies and removing wasteful steps that don't add value to the end product.  The cuts are a result of finding better, more efficient ways of accomplishing the same tasks.

Waste is anything that doesn't add value to the end product.  In Lean Manufacturing, there are eight categories* of waste that should be monitored:

1.     Overproduction – producing more than consumers demand

2.    Waiting – the lag time is between production steps

3.    Inventory (work in progress) –supply levels and work in progress inventories are too high

4.    Transportation – move materials efficiently

5.    Over-processing –work on the product too many times, or otherwise work inefficiently

6.    Motion – people and equipment move between tasks efficiently

7.    Defects –time spend finding and fixing production mistakes

8.    Workforce –use workers efficiently

Lean Manufacturing gives priority to simple, small, and continuous improvement such as changing the placement of a tool, or putting two workstations closer together.  These small improvements when added together can lead to a higher level of efficiency.

The Lean Manufacturing process
Stage 1 – Identify Waste	Philosophy: waste always exists, and no matter how good your process is continuous improvement – Kaizen key tools Value Stream Map (VSM) shows how materials and processes flow through your organization to bring your product or service to the consumer looks at how actions and departments are connected highlights the waste
Stage 2 – Analyze the Waste, and Find the Root Cause	figure out what's causing each waste you identified in the first stage key tools Root Cause Analysis show the real problem Brainstorming Cause and Effect Diagrams
Stage 3 – Solve the Root Cause, and Repeat the Cycle	decide what you must do to fix the issue to create more efficiency

 

TOOLS TO REDUCE WASTE
Just in Time	minimize stock and resources only purchase materials, and produce and distribute products when required produce small, continuous batches of products to help production run smoothly and efficiently monitor quality and correct any defects
Kanban	support the Just In Time model developing cues in the system to signal that you need to replace, order, or locate something focus is on reducing overproduction have what you need, only when you need it
Zero Defects	focuses on getting the product right the first time reinforce the notion that no defect is acceptable encourage people to do things right the first time
Single Minute Exchange of Die (SMED)	assembly process and machinery are designed to support quick and efficient changeovers
The 5S Philosophy	standardization tools, processes, and workplace arrangements to be as simple and as standard as possible creates fewer places for things to go wrong reduces the inventory of replacement parts that you need to hold