A New Commitment

A New Commitment

As I walked away from my conversation and tour through the plant with George, I couldn’t help shaking my head. All the talk and all the eye-opening conversations still hadn’t changed Sid and George’s approach to managing the business. It was still just project work. It was still firefighting to get the numbers.

I walked by Michelle’s operation as I headed toward the front office. She yelled at me from across the aisle. As I approached her station, she asked, “Who let the air out of your tires?”

I started to explain what had just occurred with George. She held up her hand.

“Don’t give up on us,” she advised. “Just keep working with George; he’ll get it eventually. We all think that George is a smart guy and he wants to make things better. You just have to give him some

time to understand.”

She was right, and I knew it. I couldn’t give up on George quite yet. I left the warehouse and headed for Celia’s office.

“Ms. Gordon, would you mind scheduling the large conference room for George and me tomorrow?”

Once again Celia caught me off guard with her response. “Oh, please, Sam, call me Celia. With all the wonderful things I’ve been hearing about the work you are doing around here, I’m happy

to help you out.”

Later that day, I made sure I just happened to be leaving the facility as George was walking out the door. I walked over to him and asked for a minute or two of his time. He said he was on his way to

grab a sandwich and a beer and invited me to join him.

“Beats the heck out of room service,” I replied.

He nodded and we walked out to our cars. He shouted over his shoulder, “Just follow me” and got into his car.

I followed George off the plant property and out to the country, where the blacktop turned into a lightly graveled dirt road. The setting was beautiful. The bar was tucked under a stand of trees that bordered a small but quickly moving river.

I took a deep breath of the clean air and laughed as we walked toward the bar. He grinned as usual and said, “You won’t be sorry.”

We walked in and sat on two of the mismatched chairs. George shouted out an order of two beers and two Cuban sandwiches. Then, he turned back to me and said, “Remember, you trust me.”

We started shelling peanuts and dropping the shells on the dirt floor while the owner made the sandwiches behind the bar.

I started the conversation head on.

“I’ve been thinking about our talk this morning, George. Something has been eating at me all day and I just want to talk with you about it. Did you notice that, even after we reviewed all the process issues in the facility, your last word in the discussion was that you had to fight fires again at the end of this month?”

I stopped short of asking what was wrong with him, because Michelle was right: this guy was not dumb. The expression on his face told me he’d already been thinking of this very issue. I hoped that he was ready to talk about breaking the vicious circle of practices and habits he was using to manage the business.

George popped another peanut into his mouth and said, “You know, I’ve been thinking about that too. We need to break this reliance on firefighting and fix what’s broken or we won’t get anywhere.”

I was relieved to hear him say that. I was about to encourage him to continue when the bar owner brought the Cubans and the beers. All conversation halted as I took my first bite of the sandwich.

“Oh, my gosh!” I exclaimed with my mouth full. “This has got to be the best Cuban sandwich I have ever tasted! How did you ever find this place?”

George explained between bites that the owner, Gloria, had been his fifth grade teacher and this bar was her retirement plan. He spent as much time in the place as possible to help supplement her income. George also explained that he made it his business to bring in as many people as possible to introduce them to the great ambiance of her fine establishment.

“Well, you’ve got me hooked,” I said, swallowing another delicious bite. “She can count on my business as least once a week as long as I’m working with SG!”

George and I laughed as he yelled the good news across the bar to Gloria. She said she wasn’t surprised and brought us another pair of Coronas without asking. This was somebody who knew how to satisfy her customers—not to mention how to promote her bar. There’s nothing wrong with being a good businessperson.

As we finished our sandwiches, George and I also finished pulling together a plan of attack for breaking his fire-fighting mode and tackling the organizational issues directly at the root.

We parted ways with the decision to meet in the large conference room at the plant first thing the next morning. I didn’t tell George that I had already reserved the room.

Key Points

It takes intelligence to understand the advantages of Lean and Six Sigma. It takes courage and good leadership to take action on that understanding.

If managers put improvements on hold so they can fight fires, they can be sure that there will always be fires to fight.

Implementing Six Sigma

Implementing Six Sigma

When I entered the conference room, the tension was so thick you could have cut it with a knife. How could a discussion of a data driven problem-solving program create this much emotion?

It wasn’t as if it were an unproven entity. Six Sigma had been implemented all over the world. I assumed that the addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division that drove the statistics would work the same here as it did in the rest of the world. Maybe the issue was the data-driven decision-making. The gurus always feel threatened. Kind of a territorial thing, I think. Time to enter the lion’s den.

When bringing a new order, the best you can hope for is lukewarm support from those who were not doing well under the current structure and outright hostility from those who were doing well.

Sid motioned to a chair to his left. That probably did not give the impression of power. It could have if I would have been on the right, but it was at his end of the table. I guess it would have to do.

Sid introduced me to his staff and then spoke directly to me. “We discussed the basics of a Six Sigma program, but it seems there are a few more issues. We would like to get your expert opinion on them.”

“I will try to answer any questions you have,” I told him, thinking to myself that it was nice to have the president characterize my opinions as “expert,” even though I wasn’t sure what data he had used to determine that.

Outlining how you will promote and support Six Sigma with the entire management team is critical to the acceptance of the deployment as it moves forward. Some will perceive any change as a threat.

Sid began the meeting by saying, “The idea of Six Sigma was initiated by our CFO, Bill Payer. Bill has read the reports about the large financial returns that many companies are reporting from using the ‘breakthrough strategy.’ Bill feels if it yields this level of return on investment, then we should get some of this breakthrough for our manufacturing. Ben Thair, our Vice President of Manufacturing, doesn’t like the insinuation that we are wasting that much money in our factories. We have already been engaged in many improvement initiatives, such as TQM. He doesn’t believe there is much opportunity remaining in our factories. What do you think?”

“First, we need to make it clear that Six Sigma has never been a manufacturing program,” I explained. “Even when it was introduced at Motorola, the objective was to be Six Sigma in everything we do, which included non-manufacturing operations. GE Capital and many other financial institutions, call centers, and public utilities have all had successful deployments. The financial returns are well documented. Most legitimate Six Sigma providers require that the financial community sign off on any claims about savings. Many of the larger companies are publishing these savings in their annual reports, which are verified by major accounting firms.”

I looked around the room to see if they were following me. Then I continued.

“As far as there not being any opportunities left because you have already done TQM, you have to understand there is a continuum of tools and techniques. When you reach a certain level, you have to find a way to move to the next level. It isn’t an issue of who is better; it is simply choosing the correct

tool for the job. Not every problem is a Six Sigma project. So, if you can fix it with TQM, then that is what you use. We couldn’t buy good quality then and it still can’t be bought today. Eliminating defects and waste and effecting change is a function of hard work. Period.”

Six Sigma should not just focus on manufacturing or operations. In order to optimize the opportunity,

all processes should be improved with the MAIC methodology.

Sid said, “Thank you for the input. We have another issue. Our Vice President of Quality feels that Six Sigma isn’t anything new; it’s just the same collection of tools that have always been around. We’ve trained a lot of people over the years on how to use these tools already. Besides, consultants for Six Sigma charge a lot of money. You’ve been through the training, Sam. What do you think?”

I tried to remain calm—which was difficult because the answers seemed to me like common sense—and a waste of time. But I took a deep breath and addressed the question.

“The point of Six Sigma is not now and never was about introducing new tools,” I explained. “We really don’t need any new tools at this point, since the quality community rarely uses the more sophisticated ones we have. The Six Sigma methodology focuses on being able to link the tools together into a logical flow. Data is moved from one tool to another so that there is a synergy throughout the project. It’s that synergy that increases the probability of problem resolution,” I concluded.

I could see several nods of comprehension from around the room, so I moved on, to tackle the financial issue.

“As far as what the consultants are paid, it is a business decision, like any value proposition. Most credible Six Sigma providers have track records of verifiable results. It’s not just a training program for the sake of training. A Black Belt candidate who doesn’t produce results doesn’t get certified.”

Sid thanked me for the information and asked if there were any other questions. Nobody had any further questions. Sid told them where I was working in the factory and suggested that, if they had any other questions, they could find me through Celia. I was sure it would not be the end of this conversation.

Key Points

Any change to the current process will be perceived as a threat by employees. The Champion needs to understand and address this issue.

Outlining the entire Six Sigma process with every member of the management team is an essential step in a successful implementation and will result in complete understanding of the process.

Six Sigma is for the entire organization, not solely for manufacturing or operations. Every process needs to be addressed.

Defining Six Sigma

Defining Six Sigma

“Shall we continue?” I didn’t want to overwhelm Sid. “Sure,” he replied. “But remember I have a staff meeting at 10.”

For the next hour, I explained to Sid that, regardless of the various window dressings consulting companies hang on Six Sigma, it revolves around a basic problem-solving equation, Y = (f) x or Y = (f) x1 + x2 + x3 . . . . This equation defines the relationship between a dependent variable, Y, and independent variables, the x’s.

Y = (f) x is the basic equation for life. You can be sure of the output only if you can control the inputs.

In other words, the output of a process is a function of the inputs. You know it’s just like your mother used to tell you when you were growing up—you’ll get out of it exactly what you put into it .… This simple problem-solving equation serves as a guide for the Six Sigma methodology of MAIC.

M: Measure

A: Analyze

I: Improve

C: Control

During the Measure phase, the project focus is the Y. Various tools—such as process mapping, basic statistics, capability studies, and measurement system analysis—are used to define and quantify the

project. Besides applying the statistical tools, we also write a problem statement and a project objective and we form a team. At this time the financial impact of the problem and the potential solution to the problem are assessed. Also, members of the company’s financial community must assist and concur with the assessment.

When the Measure phase is completed, we move on to the Analyze phase. Following the problem-solving equation, during this phase we begin to identify the various x’s that are causing the Y to

behave in an unacceptable manner. As we identify the various x’s, hypothesis testing is used to either verify or disprove the various theories and assumptions the team has developed around the causal systems affecting the Y.

Then, after the Analysis phase comes the Improve phase. During this phase, regression analysis and Design of Experiments are used to identify the relationships among the x’s. The x’s are the independent variables in terms of the Y, but that does not mean they’re independent of each other. Variables such as temperature and pressure affect each other and the interaction of the two also affects the Y. We can never completely understand the effect of an interaction without the use of Design of Experiments.

It is the complete understanding of the x’s that allows us to arrive at an optimized solution to the problem at the end of the Improve phase.

Now that we have a solution to the problem, we move to the Control phase to institutionalize the solution. During this phase, quality tools such as mistake proofing, quality systems, and control charts are leveraged to make sure that the problem is eliminated for good.

After explaining these basics of MAIC, I glanced at my watch. It was almost 10 o’clock, so I stopped.

Sid thanked me for my time and left for his meeting. Confident that he now better understood the basics of Six Sigma, I returned to the factory to continue where I had left off the day before.

In retrospect, I’ve been around management long enough that I should have realized it would not be quite that simple.

Although it was a short walk back to the factory, I had barely arrived when Celia called to say that my presence was requested immediately in the executive conference room.

I hung up the phone and started back over toward the conference room.

Key Points

Y = (f)x: Y is the output, the final product. The output is a function of the inputs (the x’s). Only by controlling the inputs can you completely control the output.

Six Sigma methodology:

• M: Measure

• A: Analyze

• I: Improve

• C: Control

Six Sigma Strategy for Sid

Six Sigma Strategy for Sid

“The Champions are typically selected by the Leadership Team. They are people with influence and usually some level of formal power inside the organization. In the Champion role, they are the bridge between the strategic plans of the organization and the operational level. Are you clear on everything so far?” I asked.

Sid thought a moment. “It sounds like a pretty easy job just picking things for other people to work on. Do they do anything else?”

The success of any Six Sigma deployment is based on how well the role of Champion is played.

“The Champion role is not a full-time position,” I replied. “An equally important role for a Champion is to remove barriers for the Black Belt as he or she works on the projects. The job normally takes about 20% to 30% percent of the Champion’s time, so you’re correct—it’s not a full time job.”

“So these Champions are going to spend about eight to 12 hours per week supporting a Black Belt?” Sid inquired.

“That would assume they work a 40-hour week now,” I replied. “Actually how much time they have to spend dealing with barriers is up to you. The initiatives all deal with change to the organization. Remember Juran’s distinction between control and breakthrough. I am sure that in your reading you’ve seen Six Sigma called a ‘breakthrough strategy.’ Accepting that definition means you’re embarking on a change program.”

“Gotcha,” Sid interjected. “But still, what’s that got to do with me?”

“Well, we said that some of the most recognized programs were at Motorola under Robert Galvin, AlliedSignal under Larry Bossidy, and GE under Jack Welch. None of these men were spectators during the program. They sent very clear messages to their organizations, messages that were visible at all levels of the organization. The message was that these leaders were solidly behind the programs and they expected every level of the organization to respond.”

I paused, to let my message sink in. Then I continued.

“Leadership in absentia doesn’t work when you expect serious change. Clearly defining and communicating the company’s expectation belongs to the highest level of leadership in the company—and that’s you.”

“So,” said Sid, “you mean you want me to tell everyone in the company that this is my program?”

“Exactly,” I replied, “and repeatedly. That’s the only way it stands a chance of working.”

Change does not happen by accident. Leaders must find a way to make the status quo uncomfortable

for everyone in the company.

“OK, I got it,” he said. “Isn’t this the same stuff I read about in that book The Fifth Discipline? What was it they called it?” Sid wondered out loud. “Intrinsic and extrinsic messages?”

“Exactly. It’s more than just what you say; it’s also what you do. I believe there have been several books and articles that have reiterated the benefits of value-added communication. You remember the

idea of management by walking around, from Tom Peters. This is the same kind of thing. Visible leadership isn’t new, but it’s an idea still waiting for its time.”

“Alright,” he said, “I’ll check my schedule and see how much extra time I have. My employees will know that this comes from the top.” He paused, then started up again, as if he’d just remembered something.

“You said you were a Master Black Belt. So what is that?” Sid asked.

“Some Black Belts are chosen to receive additional training after they are certified as Black Belts.” I replied, “and they become Master Black Belts.”

“What do they do?”

“The Master Black Belts mentor the Black Belts and train new Black Belts.”

“What do all these Six Sigma consultants do, then?” Sid asked.

I smiled at Sid’s inquiry, because more people should ask this question.

The goal of a Master Black Belt should be the transfer of knowledge to the Black Belt.

“The consultants train and certify the first few waves of Black Belts. They help choose the Master Black Belts and certify them. Then, when there’s a core of Master Black Belts, there really isn’t any more need for consultants. Their job is to get the company to the point where they have their own standalone program.” I paused, because I suspected what was behind his

question.

“The Master Black Belts should be the exit ticket for the consultants. A good consulting partner,” I emphasized, “will insist on developing an exit strategy from the very first day of the deployment.”

“Alright,” Sid said. “I think I’m getting it. We have Champions, Master Black Belts, and Black Belts who work on projects. The projects address chronic problems and projects should be strategically

aligned with the objectives of the company. That about it so far?”

“Well, that and the concept of visible leadership,” I reminded him. “Oh, yeah, and visible leadership. That’s my job, right?” Sid asked. I smiled and nodded.

Key Points

• A successful Six Sigma operation begins with a clear definition of the goals of the organization’s improvement process. Without this in place, the change will never be “owned” by the organization. It will always be an outsider’s idea of what’s best for the company.
• The Champion’s role in any Six Sigma project cannot be low key: without an active, dedicated Champion, the project will fail.
• For change to occur, it needs to be known throughout the organization that the current way of doing things is not good enough. The status quo must be made to feel uncomfortable.

Six Sigma Strategy for Sid

Six Sigma Strategy for Sid

Back in the plant, Sid asked me to look things over and decide where I would like to conduct the next workshop. So I set up camp in the office where Celia sent me and headed out to the plant in order to find the next opportunity.

There were still many processes in the plant that needed addressing; I narrowed the list down throughout the day. I planned to make my decision first thing in the morning, but as I was finishing up for the day, I received a phone call from Sid’s administrative assistant. Celia informed me that Sid wanted to see me in his office at 6 a.m. the next morning. He had a staff meeting at 10 a.m. and needed to be briefed on Six Sigma. Sid had done some research from the books I recommended and was not quite clear on the subject.

I arrived the next morning promptly at 6 a.m. and found Sid poring over a stack of books, all with “Six Sigma” strategically placed in the title. Scattered across the desk were a variety of periodicals and Internet printouts with the same type of titles. Sid looked like he was suffering from information overload. He hadn’t even noticed I had walked into the room, so I said, “Good morning” and handed him a cup of coffee.

Sid looked up, took the cup of coffee, and leaned back in his chair. “So what do you know about this Six Sigma stuff?”

“In my previous job I went through the Six Sigma training. I am a certified Black Belt and Master Black Belt.”

Sid nodded his head and smiled. “So you understand everything about Six Sigma?”

“Well, I don’t think I really understand everything about Six Sigma, but I will try to help you.”

Sid waved his hands across his desk at the piles of books and pages.

“I have read all this stuff and it is really difficult to determine what Six Sigma is. Some of these tell me it is a philosophy. Some say it’s a quality program. All are full of statistics that are talking about things I don’t really understand. It seems they all talk about saving money with some kind of connection to quality. That seems to be an oxymoron in my experience.”

“Sid, there are various opinions on what Six Sigma is,” I said as I leaned back in the chair and smiled. “It actually began in 1964 when Dr. Joseph Juran wrote his book Managerial Breakthrough. The book

distinguishes between control, which is an absence of change, and breakthrough, which is change.

“Motorola initiated a Six Sigma program in 1986 and really perfected some of the techniques. A few companies, such as Texas Instruments and ABB, picked it up later, but it really came to prominence

with the deployments at AlliedSignal and General Electric in the mid-’90s.”

Sid shrugged and waved his hands again. “Thanks for the history lesson, but I still don’t know what it is.”

All leaders must spend time up front defining what Six Sigma will mean in their organization. The

definitions need to be as specific as possible.

“While it seems to be different things to different companies,” I admitted, “there are basic elements that are common among all the companies that have deployed Six Sigma. The program centers around using a problemsolving methodology called M-A-I-C. That stands for Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control. Those are the four steps used in the Six Sigma problem-solving methodology. The methodology is used on chronic problems selected for Black Belts to work on.”

“Wait a minute,” Sid interrupted. “What is a Black Belt and where do the ‘chronic problems’ come from?”

“Black Belts,” I said, “are people who have gone through a training process and completed projects to gain certification in the Six Sigma problem-solving methodology. The projects are selected by

Champions to address chronic problems in strategic alignment with the company’s business objectives.”

“OK,” said Sid, “so what is a Champion and where do they come from?”

The Results of Five S Implementation

The Results of Five S Implementation

T he team was ready on the morning of the presentation. They had chosen to type up a list of their accomplishments over the past few days and made copies for each of the managers in attendance. They also decided to position themselves around the meeting room in such a way so that the managers were forced to sit intermingled with the operations employees to foster open communication.

When the meeting started, I took just a minute to introduce the group to the managers and the team members took over from there. As the most vocal of the group, Michelle was “volunteered” to speak

for everyone. She was nervous, but her excitement provided her with the strength to get through the presentation.

Michelle started in a surprisingly challenging manner when she asked the managers, including Sid, “What the hell took you so long?” She then discussed what the team thought of the training and what

they’d learned. Next, she showed the before-and-after pictures. Finally, she wrapped up by reviewing the list of accomplishments; the rest of the team chimed in where they were needed.

The managers asked several questions and Michelle eventually told them that it would probably be easier to go out and physically review the changes. The difference was like night and day. Everything

was clean and well organized. The excess inventory was identified as waste. Excess walking and material moving had been eliminated from the process. Work in process flowed in a single-piece manner, which provided the employees with the opportunity to shut down the line when they observed a problem or had a concern about product quality.

Five S implementation is the first step toward a successful Six Sigma integration. It gets everyone on

board and excited about change and solving problems in the organization from within.

After the tour of the process, we retreated back into the meeting room for a wrap-up discussion. Sid was first to speak. He stood up and looked at the team.

“I’m pleasantly surprised.” Sid looked directly at George when he made his next comment.

“There were a lot of us in this company who really didn’t believe you guys would do this. None of us thought you would accomplish as much as you have. I have a new respect for my employees and I’m

embarrassed that it took an outside influence to bring this to light.”

Sid went on to talk with his employees in an open and honest dialog that included answering some basic questions about the state of the business. The operators were eager to provide more improvement suggestions and the entire room agreed at the end of the meeting to continue to apply the learnings from the past week to the rest of the processes in the facility.

Sid asked me to stay and talk with him after wrapping up the meeting and he invited George to join us. We ended the discussion by agreeing that I would return the next week and we would take it

one week at a time for the next month or so. Sid and George were starting to believe that we could seriously reduce costs without large capital investments.

As I left the office, Sid asked me to bring in some books on Six Sigma and Lean that I had mentioned previously so that he could begin to better understand the concepts.

Back in the car, I was glad to be going home because I was completely exhausted from my week with Sid’s employees—but I was also glad to be coming back the next week. There was work to do!

Key Points

->Implementing the Five S’s slowly starts the ball rolling toward Six Sigma integration. Employees get excited and upper-level managers begin to see how to change things from within.

->Dialogue between management and employees is an essential part of implementing changes in any organization.

Workplace Organization and the Five S’s

Workplace Organization and the Five S’s

The process was fed by work in process (WIP) from a subassembly area located across the aisle. The subassembly operators had produced so much excess inventory that they had built a “wall of inventory” around their work area. As we continued to tour the main work area, the subassembly process operators came across the aisle and asked what we were doing.

I stepped aside and allowed the operators on the main line to explain what they had learned. I was surprised to hear them repeat what I had told them during the previous afternoon. It wasn’t just that

they had listened to what I taught them, but that they were actually excited about what they were going to do to eliminate waste in their process.

The subassembly operators started talking about what they could do to bring their process into the main line. This move would allow them to build just what was needed to keep the main line running.

The savings for this move and the reduction of WIP inventory would more than pay for the class we were holding that week, including all the resources required (and my fees).

It was hard to rein in the team members to the point where we could get back into the classroom. They were so revved up that they wanted to get started right away. I asked them to bear with me and

we went back to the class to begin our plan for the next two days.

I started the planning session by explaining W. Edwards Deming’s Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle. I pointed out the logic of the sequence: plan for improving a process, do what you’ve planned, check the results, and act on the results to improve the process.

I made sure the group understood the importance of Planning. After some discussion, they agreed that we must plan for success or we would not get the job completed. Our first step was to list everything

that had to be done in the time allotted (two and a half days).

The first task in the Five S process was Sifting. We needed to check everything in the work area and remove everything that was not required to do the job. Next we would look at the flow of work and organize the tools and component items in such a way as to ensure safety and reduce walk and wait time in the process. The team had some excellent ideas. Once again I found myself trying to calm them down long enough to finish the planning.

Next we prepared for the Sorting of items. Each operator would be responsible for defining the location for his or her tools and equipment. All team members would provide their input, but for the final decision we would look to the process operator.

Last, the team would be Sweeping and Washing every surface in the work area and labeling all the items for semi-permanent storage. The goal of the Five S process would be to identify what was required in the work process and what, if anything, was missing—at a glance!

The final two S’s would come with time—and effort: Standardize and Self-Discipline.

After class, my pal Michelle stayed to tell me that she hadn’t seen the employees of SG this excited in over 10 years. They had apparently just given up. As the pressures of the business increased and the

company grew, Sid had apparently stopped listening to all but a few of his supervisors. Subsequently the employees stopped talking to him. Before long there was a wall between the workers and the managers that neither took the time to tear down.

I caught myself smiling that evening as I drove out of the plant. I was exhausted from working to keep the group calm long enough to get everything in line for the next day, but I was excited too. It’s not often that a consultant gets to break away from the managers of a company to work directly with the people who add value to the product. The experts of the process have always been and will always be the operators and no one can solve a problem faster than the people who do the work.

There are no shortcuts to “world class.” Bringing the tools of Lean Enterprise into an organization requires commitment and culture change. There is no more powerful tool in an organization than

the excitement of its employees. The Five S process requires that you think in a new way about what you do at work everyday.

We started the next day even earlier, at 6 a.m. The team was dressed for work in jeans and T-shirts and they gave me a pretty hard time when I arrived wearing much the same casual outfit.

The day was long. We moved out two large dumpsters full of trash, broken tools and containers, obsolete material, and basic junk from the work area. Then we cleaned everything with degreaser. The team still wasn’t satisfied. They wanted a fresh coat of paint on everything. Just about the time we were starting to put the stuff into the assigned locations, the subassembly team came over.

They wanted to talk to us again about moving their process closer to the main line. They had apparently continued their discussion after we talked the last time and had come up with some pretty good ideas. We took some measurements for their fixtures and outlined placement for the WIP on the main line. After we analyzed the proposal, everything looked like it would fit (with some minor maintenance and reworking of electricity and HVAC). We called the facility manager and asked for some help. He found a maintenance person and got the job done.

What a change the simple subassembly move turned out to be! The main line could run for over a week without the subassembly processes running. The main line would exhaust the overproduced

work-in-process inventory to reduce the storage space required. This would free up the subassembly operators to help out on the main line while the operators learned the new flow, which should speed up the process by more than 25%.

We attached the hand tools used by the operators to their workbench with retractable key chains to keep the tools at work height and readily available at all times. The operators said that this low-cost fix would probably save them about 20% of their time because they wouldn’t have to look for their tools throughout the shift.

By this point, so much had changed that the team decided to present the outcome of the workshop to the managers and asked me to invite them to the presentation. We had the foresight to take some

before-and-after pictures so the impact was pretty impressive.

Key Points

->Use Lean Enterprise tools to identify and eliminate all seven types of waste in all aspects of the organization—overproduction, correction, inventory, processing, motion, conveyance, and waiting.

->Five S is the foundation through which an efficient organization is built.

• Sifting

• Sorting

• Sweeping and Washing

• Standardizing

• Self-Discipline