In my experience in manufacturing and continuous improvement, there are two tools that the engineer needs to lean on heavily. Just two processes they should master and continually practice, because these two tools will make all the difference. It might seem unfair when you consider the whole workbench of Lean and Six Sigma, especially when you understand the math and analysis and impact of statistical process control – but SPC is not one of the two tools. In fact, when you look at the big players in introducing Lean, folks like Paul Akers (I am a huge fan, Paul – would really like to meet you sometime) who leverage the power of 5 (or 3) S – Sort, Set in Order, Shine, and if you use all 5 then you Standardize and Sustain. But 5S is not one of the two tools.
The two tools I know that should be the left and right holstered weapons of on-the-floor lean for the process engineer are these – Kaizen and Gemba walk.
Kaizen
I have written a lot about Kaizen, mostly because it is so poorly understood in North America. Americans are big event kind of folks. Go big or go home. We don’t do little things, we just don’t. We want earth-moving innovation, disruptive change, the big impact we can put our name on. We want revolution and out with the old. We want the next hot thing, and we will make a big deal about it. This is interesting because essentially Kaizen was started here, in the United States, as part of the factory improvement plans during World War II. There was this thing created here called Training within Industry (TWI) that was used to super-charge manufacturers in this country to build a lot of equipment that was of good and consistent quality for the troops fighting in Europe. One of these tools was called “Job Methods”, and in the book published in 1943 by the War Manpower Commission are found the mantras “If the worker hasn’t learned, the instructor hasn’t taught”, and “Improvement is a regular part of the supervisor’s daily job”. This was the coaching provided to Japan after WWII to help rebuild Japan’s economic engine. They embraced it shortly after United States industry management abandoned it.
Kaizen is the dominant-hand weapon in a Lean two-holster rig (yes, okay, I live in Texas.) When an opportunity presents itself to make a small change to improve a process, whipping out a fast Kaizen methodology gets the job done quickly. There are books on Kaizen, even one I wrote, that present this methodology and everywhere I have seen it gets used as a complicated set of rules that have mystic power. It doesn’t need to be that way. Kaizen breaks down into a quick list of steps to check:
- Identify the improvement (this already happened)
- Determine level (if it’s tiny it’s perfect)
- Get a team (don’t be alone)
- Check your tools
- Set an Agenda (if it’s tiny the agenda is “make it better, not worse”)
- Set a problem statement, or at least recognize that you should be solving a problem not just doing it to do it
- Know the current condition (for comparison)
- Do a root cause analysis (this can be ad hoc)
- Brainstorm
- Get Permission
- Prototype
- Evaluate (loop Prototype and Evaluate over and over until you are satisfied)
- Implement
There’s nothing stopping you from making a pocket reference from an index card. Put these steps on a 3 x 5 card and carry it in your pocket. In fact you can have a Kaizen report system using index cards and a polaroid camera. Use a small ‘deck’ of index cards. each with a purpose, then put them together at the end to create your improvement report (A3 or A4). Here’s a sample ‘deck’:
- Project Card
- Date
- Team
- Problem
- Current State
- Root Cause(s)
- a little Ishikawa or 5 whys
- Countermeasures
- List of results from the Brainstorm
- Scratch off those that were rejected or didn’t work
- Improved State
Of course you would always include a team picture, photos of the current and improved state, and anything along the way that helps document the work and the fun involved in making things better.
Kaizen need to happen every day, several times a day.
Gemba Walk
The book “Creating a Lean Culture (third edition)” by David Mann. Starting in the second half of his book, the author discusses the Sensei and the Gemba Walk in ways unique to this book. It starts by making it clear that most management views walking the floor as less than a priority, and points out how much weight the Lean approach loses when the leadership is not visibly involved. While this is a conundrum, David Mann does indicate that he has rarely seen a top-down approach really work in North America. What he has seen most often is a “seed” plant somewhere in the middle of the organization, and as it takes root and shows effective results the need to show this to management becomes necessary. Management, being who and what they are, have a lot of things already vying for their time and walking the production floor is something they hire managers to do. So, Mr. Mann has a whole collection of simple checklists to use on the Gemba for senior management to both get a feel for the power and results of the Lean process, PLUS the checklists help drive the Gemba walk. It is this last impact, driving the walk, that is a laser-sharp edge for the off-hand side of your lean holster.
Theme, team, and process
A process engineer should walk the Gemba every day. But if your Gemba is always the same you will become numb. So, plan your Gemba walks. Have a library of walks, identify three locations or stations or lines you want to visit for each walk. Then for each of these walks, have a collection of themes to apply – safety, following the work instructions, 5S, ergonomics, material waste, inventory, stress, productive maintenance, visual management. This gives you a nice matrix to use crossing walks with themes – now for each of the walks determine what 3 or 4 questions you would ask at each location. Make the questions so they help the operator think about your Gemba walk.
A safety Gemba walk might ask “what PPE are you supposed to use for this operation?”, and “What hazards are here when you’re doing this?”, and “How were you trained on this process?”. 5S would ask things like “Where is this supposed to be when you’re not using it?”, or “Is anything missing from your shadow boards?”, or “Was everything ready to go when you got here?” The keys to a successful Gemba walk are to go see, ask questions and show respect. Don’t challenge the operator, don’t correct. Ask and listen. Take notes and pictures. If the operator needs coaching, take that to their leader – if the worker hasn’t learned, the instructor hasn’t taught. And always, always ask what the operator knows needs to be improved, and if they want to make a change.
Two tools to use as easily and as often as breathing. Go git ’em.
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