Efficient Factory

 

Well… this title was supposed to be sung to the Nick Lowe tune, popularized by Elvis Costello, referencing ‘Peace, Love, and Understanding’ but I know it doesn’t quite work. My apologies to Mr. Costello and Mr. Lowe. The challenge of writing on a seemingly overwritten business subject was to try and spice it up somewhat. Now that I’ve got your attention, I hope I can hold it for a couple of minutes!

 

Realistically these three words are very important to any business or organization. Even if you are as large as Microsoft or even just starting out as a lone ranger, these are purpose statements to run your business by. Unfortunately, businesses that have taken the time to write their Vision Mission and Culture do so and it is quickly placed “out of sight, out of mind”.

 

The question to ask is “What is the purpose of these purpose statements?” Answering that question will get you a lot more mileage out of them.

 

Vision. This is the long-range goal of what you see your business becoming. It’s out there on the horizon as far as you can see. Remember; as you get closer to your ideal your horizon expands so always re-evaluate your Vision.

 

Mission. This is how you are going to accomplish your goal, the mission is simply explaining what course the company takes in day to day movement towards the horizon. It also plays a defining role and sets forth the values and beliefs that the company holds as most important. Companies love to hang a paragraph in their lobbies about themselves but there they sit. Many of the mission statements I have read as subjective, although that is the idea it’s good to get an objective view. It’s nice to let visitors know what you are supposedly all about but its real use is for you. To really understand this you really need to understand yourself.

 

Culture. This is the most overlooked of the three yet it is the most utilized in day-to-day operations. Simply put, it is the rules of the game defining how you operate as a company. It’s about what you expect from your people your customers and your suppliers. It sets behavior standards for your company. It should have tight aspects to it – absolutes and limits of what is tolerable – as well as loose aspects to it – to enable innovation.

 

Collectively these statements should be used as symbols to measure your strategies against. Does your new chosen business strategy get you closer to your vision of what your ideal company is? (Vision) Does it fit with the path you want to take? (Mission) Finally, is it capable of being fit into the set of rules by which you operate? (Culture)

 

The more clearly you can define your purpose statements the easier it will be for your employees to follow them. As well, these statements are the main things that run the company when you are not there. Your employees should understand the values inherent in them.

 

Waste; any activity that consumes resources but creates no value for the firm or customer. Waste in manufacturing is segmented into Eight Categories. The analysis comes from the forerunner of Lean Concepts: the Toyota Production System. Let’s look at these elements as an introduction.

1 Over Production – producing ahead of what’s actually needed by the next process or customer.

 If information systems are in sync throughout the plant floor. Where One machine can “keep tabs” on another machine this type of waste can be reduced or eliminated.

2 Waiting – Operators or machines idleness due to equipment failure, resource or material scarcity. Waiting is caused by improper machine settings; too slow or too fast may lead to premature wear or breakdowns.

Redirecting Idle machines are to do other jobs if they can communicate wit them will help other parts of the process. The key is timely information gathering about the availability of other appropriate jobs and material. Adjusting machine speeds and feeds can be at different accommodates upstream or downstream changes.

3 Transport – Moving parts and products unnecessarily for example moving work in process to a warehouse or holding area when the next process could be located close by. 

If machines can communicate with material handling equipment (other machines), wasted handling time and expense is reduced. Over long distances, it is cheaper to move a computer file about a part than the part itself. It’s true as long as the receiving machine can reproduce it by understanding the same protocols or language used. Distributed manufacturing is a promising solution provided the resolution of communication hurdles.

4 Over Processing – Inefficient or unnecessary work for example for poor tool design or product design. Speed and feed losses on machines.

Plant floor information systems monitor cycle times and send alerts if machines are going awry. Overburdened machines and processes need to be monitored in real time to send the appropriate alerts to supervisory staff. Information about the local events can couple with real-time data from the process. Think of it as a “bubble up” approach to information rather than “push through” or “top down” approach common in ERP systems.

5 Inventory – Having more than the minimum stocks required to keep the process flowing smoothly.

Inventory can cut both ways optimal inventory can be a moving target in a plant. Too much is an unnecessary investment tying up cash. Too little creates waiting and contributes to other wastes. Ideally, the subsequent process pulls the requirement for the previous process. The faster rate of production and leanness of the product flow requires information to be up dated faster.

6 Motion – Unnecessary or strained movement by operators, such as looking for the right tools or materials or instructions.

Plant floor information systems can couple real time data from the process with the documented processes for operators and machines.

 7 Correction – Off line inspection, rework, and scrap.

Closed loop quality feedback systems can force temporary machine shutdowns, send email or text alerts, and ultimately reset tools to account for out of tolerance situations.

8 Non Utilized Capabilites and Talents – For both machines and people.

 Two categories here are people and machines. First, people, this is the hard one. It has a lot to do with the culture of your organization which is another topic altogether. The second is machines. An amazing amount of functionality is built into today’s labor saving factory floor machines. All this increased functionality has come from proprietary sources and the problem is that these advances don’t communicate with other sources. The factory floor is made up of “islands of information” locked inside of machines that speak different languages. If the problem of communication is solved machines could perform beyond they original capability. 

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 For each of the wastes I’ve given a potential resolution that can be achieved with better communication of information about the process and the product. The keys are; communication in the same format, and as close to real time as possible. The first step is to monitor and evaluate the situation so the right metrics. Relevant, timely, information about the process can help reduce waste as an on going process.

 

 

Here is a reference guide to many things that come up on EfficicentFactory;

AWARENESS

 

1.        8 Kinds of Waste – elimination of waste including time motion and transportation

 

2.        Management by Sight – Visual displays indicate exactly what is going on in the plant

 

3.        5S – The plant is clean There is a place for everything and everything is in its place

 

4.        Team Focused Performance – Employees work in teams and are accountable for performance

 

5.        Continuous Improvement Activity (Kaizen) – A Constant effort is being made to improve all aspects of the operation

 

JUST IN TIME

 

6.        One Piece Flow – Striving to make number of pieces between each process as close to one as possible

 

7.        Multi Process/Multi Machine – Operators  perform multiple tasks on multiple machines within the work cell cycle time

 

8.        Quick setup – Reduction of setup time to the most efficient it can be

 

9.        TAKT Time – Customer requirements divided by time available in process

 

10.   Standardized the work in repeated in the same manner shift to shift and person to preson

 

11.   Pull System (KanBan) – Line operation is controlled by pulling product from previous process in controlled quantities

 

12.   Work in process Management / First In First Out – Minimal inventory between processes. Product is being used on a FIFO basis

 

QUALITY

 

13.   Failsafe Devices (Poka yoke) Devices are in place stopping product from being produced if a defect is found

 

14.   Line Stop – Operators have the authority to stop the and correct the process if a defect is found

 

15.   Root Cause Analysis – The Methods of analyzing a problem to find a root cause are being used on all issues

 

16.   Total Preventative Maintenance – Majority of maintenance is scheduled through employee involvement

 

LOAD SMOOTHING

 

17.   Load Smoothing – Production rate is leveled to demand and based on customer requirements (TAKT Time)

 

HEALTH AND SAFETY

 

18.   Ergonomics – Ergonomic guidelines are applied to product equipment and tooling to prevent injury

 

Overall this a pretty good list. there are however amplifications on some of these themes. Stay tuned.