Almanac: Ten steps for implementing leanAlmanac: Ten steps for implementing lean

If you haven’t accepted it yet, it’s time to get lean. Here’s how to start.

Implementing lean in your organization doesn’t have to apply to just one area, although typically we refer to this paradigm as “lean manufacturing.” As we’ve discovered—and covered frequently in IMM—lean is a business model that fits in all areas of business operations including molding, moldmaking, and sales/marketing. So just how does one go about implementing lean?

1) Get management buy-in. This is the first step, because without management buy-in any efforts to implement lean will likely fall flat. Some companies choose to bring in a “lean” guru in the form of a consultant to help get them started. However, someone in the company must take up the battle cry and lead the charge, and management must support that for lean to be successfully implemented.

2) Identify areas of waste (muda). These can be wasted raw materials, wasted time, wasted motion, wasted space, wasted equipment (not being used), or wasted manpower. Even things such as overproduction—running those extra parts for JIC (just in case)—and work-in-process are considered waste. There are many types of waste within any organization, and once you begin looking for it you’ll find that waste lurks in every department and every area of the company, sucking profitability and competitiveness out of your business.

“Waste is also any disruption in the flow of products from the suppliers through to your customers,” says Alan Gross, director of operations for Webster Plastics. “Unnecessary motion, moving things from one place to another, waiting for someone to do something, waiting for an answer, downtime, and of course scrap, are all considered waste.”

3) Map the value chain. A map of the value chain is simply a diagram of how the organization’s business flows from order entry to customer service to purchasing to manufacturing to assembly and packaging to shipping. Some include shipment followup, invoicing, and payment receipt. Every step in the work flow is looked at from the point of view of the customer. Why? Because if the customer values it, the customer will pay for it and ultimately the company will reap the benefits of providing that particular service. If you know what the customer values, you’ll be better able to identify waste.

4) Eliminate waste in the value chain. This is perhaps the most challenging part of implementing lean principles. It’s difficult to get rid of unused machinery. And people don’t like change. Why move machinery and equipment around when they’ve done it the same way for years? What’s a couple of bad parts out of a hundred? So what if it takes three people 2 hours to do one quote?

5) Flow the value chain. Workflow is critical. Once waste is identified and eliminated (in reality, an ongoing process), the work should flow in a process that maximizes the value to the customer and minimizes time and motion. For example, at Webster Plastics, unnecessary movement of parts was solved by putting value-added operations at the press wherever possible, with the goal of minimizing lead time and maximizing quality output. Shared assembly processes are located in cells in a separate secondary ops area.

Manufacturing cells are becoming the norm at many molding facilities, placing everything related to the production of one product in a U-shaped work area. Each employee can easily see where the parts are along the value chain and can identify any bottlenecks that develop.

6) Let the system “pull” the manufacturing requirements through from the supplier to the molder to the customer. Let the customers tell you what they want and when they want it. Using the pull or kanban system helps prevent overproduction, keeps inventory to a minimum, and improves cash flow. Producing just what is needed or producing to order is key in preventing waste.

7) Monitor the process closely. Many molding companies use real-time process monitoring systems to provide up-to-the-minute information for production floor workers on press operations, cycle time, yield, scrap rates, and other information necessary to prevent waste.

8) Employ the 5S system as outlined in lean philosophy.

9) Customers come first. Work to customer requirements, not what you think they require.

10) Ruthlessly continue to attack waste. There’s always room for improvement, no matter how far you think you’ve come in implementing lean.