Step 7-12

Building a Production System

Following Taiichi Ohno’s footsteps

HUST – Hanoi University of Science and Technology

Lecture #4
 Overview – Steps 1 - 4
• Step 1 - List Activities in the Flow Sequence
• Multiple levels of mapping
• List unnecessary activities
• List problems (defects, barriers, constraints, etc.)
• List velocity
• List work in process
• List proximity to adjacent activities
• Step 2 - Weighing Options to Make a Decision Lecture #2
• Where to start – what to start on?
• Option 1: System Constraint
• Option 2: Productivity Issue (quality too)
• Option 3: Reverse Sequence
• Option 4: “Low Hanging Fruit”
• Step 3 - Understand Root Cause of Problem
• 5-Whys +FOG
• Step 4 - Weighing the Facts and Deciding the Next Step
• Three questions
• People or process issue? (or both)
Step 1 - List Activities in the Flow Sequence

ftapping at the process level

Step 2 - Weighing Options to Make a Decision
Can I start changing things now?
Option 1: System Constraint
Option 2: Productivity Issue (quality too)
Option 3: Reverse Sequence
Option 4: “Low Hanging Fruit”

Choose a problem to solve based on the current facts.

Solving a problem that will make a difference in the system performance.
Solving a problem that will make the work easier and safer for the operator.
Create a standard to improve quality and productivity.
Step 3 - Understand Root Cause of Problem
• For problems that have been around a while, the solution
not usually obvious.
• This is because the problem description is a symptom, not a
root cause.
• 5-Whys is a process for peeling back the layers to uncover
the root cause of the problem.
Step 4 - Weighing the Facts and
Deciding the Next Step
Is it People or Process?
 Overview – Steps 5 & 6
• Step 5 - Create Work Standard
• Select task to create a job breakdown for
• Team of three – (two subject matter experts)
• Validate job breakdown
• Step 6 - Train People and Observe Results Lecture #3
• Make your training schedule
• Get ready
• Arrange the work area
• Prepare the learner
• Present the operation
• Try out performance
• Follow up
 Step 5 - Create Work Standard
Job Instruction is a critical skill every engineer needs to master.

“Without a standard, there can be no improvement.”

標準のないところに改善はない
- Taiichi Ohno
Getting to Standard Work
 Step 6 - Train People and Observe Results
Do you have a process?
(a Job Breakdown Sheet)

Three
Questions Do you follow
the process?
Test for the need
of Job Instruction

Is the process capable?

Teaching the “One Best Way”

 Step 7 - Improve the Standard
ftaking an improvement requires you to be not satisfied with the current process results.

Disrupt the Status Quo

“Preparation, Setup, Process, Put Away” and other external factors

 McDonald’s “Speedee System”
The beginning of “fast food”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t--nPZLDFOU&feature=youtu.be https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTageuhPfAM&feature=youtu.be

The system at work. Designing the system.

 Removing Barriers and Snags
Visual Work
Setup Reduction
Least Taught Value Stream ftap
Most Used Kanban
5-S
Most Valuable Poke-Yoke
Cells
Layout

Kaizen is what most people see as ‘Lean’

What is the basis for the challenge?
Solving for:
System Constraint
Productivity or Quality Issue
Reverse Sequence (starting at the end of the line)
“Low Hanging Fruit”
Or, none of the above…
 Not just the individual process
• Layouts
• Part placement
• Logistics
• Information (communication)
• Labor balance
• Synchronization You can look at anything
• Labor content connected to the process
• Ergonomics
 Problem Wishlist
1. Problems the operators want solved
Ideas the operators suggest for resolving issues
2. Problems you noticed during observing process
Ideas you think might improve the process
3. Problems noticed while creating the job breakdown
Ideas you think might resolve these problems
Just a starting point…

If I had asked the customers what they wanted, they would have told me ‘faster horses’.
- Henry Ford, developer of the ftodel T automobile
Improve Process = Solve Problems

Discovering the symptoms to disruptions of flow

What are you improving? How your effort is spent:

Adding Value Spending ftoney

Poor Layouts and Adding Costs
Transforming
Step Poor part presentation

Piling up work
Baby-Sitting
ftachines
Looking for part (in
(7 - Wastes) the pile or bin)
Unpacking –
unwrapping parts
Loading tray to move
Work-Arounds to next operation
(people adapting to quality
and machine issues) Walking
Part of Lean is removing
Rework - Sorting Repacking ‘Unnecessary Activity’

To effectively and efficiently deliver the product or service to the customer.

Lean is not about working harder or faster.
 Guide to Activities
An ACTIVITY is:
• Every single thing that is done Can be more than the
• Operations work you observe
• Inspections
• Transport
• Storage Snags and Difficulties
• Delays Examples are:
It helps to find activities if you think in terms of: Effects of delays
Awkward movements
• Getting or Placing temporarily
Distances to walk
GET READY activities
Reaching
• Working on or Checking Dangers
KEY activities Unpleasant parts of job
• Placing temporarily or Placing finally Quality affected
PUT AWAY activities Waste, etc.
 Understand and Challenge

You cannot effectively challenge an activity unless you understand it.

 Challenge Sheet
Activity you are
challenging

ftuda – ftura - fturi

 Proof of Necessity
• Why is it necessary?
• If you can’t answer this, you might need to dig a little deeper with the 5-Whys to
understand why the details was done in the first place. The reason why may have
been a special cause in the past, but they continued the process detail long after the
reason why disappeared. When in doubt, do an experiment and see what happens
when you leave this detail out. Make sure the reason why is not much further
downstream in the process flow.
• Remove the unnecessary details, steps, activities, etc.
• What is its purpose?
• What is achieved? What else could be done?
• If you have a valid reason why, then understand the purpose. When you understand
the purpose of a detail, then you are able to consider other methods of achieving the
same effect. Can you do it easier, simpler, quicker, cheaper, etc.?
• Don’t try to reinvent the wheel, look around to see how others have solved a similar
issue. (Google and YouTube are great starting points for research.)
• Testing for necessity is a big contributor to the Eliminate step, or your ‘Stop Doing’
list.
 Layout / Sequence
• Where should it be done?
• Why there? Where else could it be done?
• Are there any constraints that require a specific step to be done in a specific
location?
• For instance, large stamping presses require special foundations that are isolated from the
surrounding floor.
• Large painting operations require special air handling and fire suppression systems.

• When should it be done?

• Why then? When else could it be done?
• This question helps you to develop understanding whether this detail must follow in
a certain sequence to work. Some details have a time based need, so it is more
difficult to move their location or sequence. For details that have flexibility, we can
use these to help balance the work content.
• For instance, you have a process step upstream that has some unused cycle time, can you
move this operation there to better balance the work loads?

Airbus assembly line Lotus assembly line

Layout – How you use workspace

Suggestions
for layout
 Layout can include the whole facility
1949 - Intermediate warehouses abolished
(secondary storage locations)
1965 - kanban adopted for ordering outside
parts, 100% supply system, began teaching
Toyota system to affiliates
1950 - Machining and assembly lines synchronized - visual
control and andon system adopted in engine assembly
1962 - kanban adopted company wide Flow where you can,
(machining, forging, body assembly, etc.) Pull where you can’t.
- Taiichi Ohno

Line 1953 - supermarket system

in machine shop Line
Customer
Line
Line

The Kanban is the ‘pull’

Process Grouping - Batch Production system that you implement
where you can’t create flow
 Simplification
• Who is best qualified to do it?
• Who does it? Why that person? Who else could do it?
• These questions can help reveal that you have a training weakness if one person is
the only one qualified, or if one person is significantly better than anyone else.
• If you only have a single person able to do the job, is it because of the difficulty or
because no one else has been trained?
• If one person is much better than anyone else, revisit the job breakdown and
discover what key points they do that make them so much better. Add these key
points to the JBS and retrain to see if this improves the skill level of everyone else.
• If the skill is difficult to master, understand why. What detail makes it so difficult?
What can you do to make the job easier?
• How is the ‘best way’ to do it?
• How is it done? Why that way? How else could it be done?
• Don’t reinvent the wheel, look to see how others have solved the problem, or a
similar problem. Can you use their ideas?
M OS T - Maynard Operation Sequence Technique

Can help you see the

complexity… all the
very small details

Reference materials - https://www.slideshare.net/nakhateyogesh/most-complete

 Practice Exercise – Sweet Packing Shop
• Workshop size – approximately 12 m x 7.5 m
• Machines - six semi-automatic sweet-wrapping machines
• Fills pans in about 20 minutes
• Platform Scales
• About 6 meters from wrapping machines
• Pans weigh about 13 kg
• Bottling bench
• 1 meter away from scales
• Trolley to transport to labeling bench
• Loaded trolley weighs about 120 kg
• Labeling bench
• About 6 meters away from bottling bench
Workshop size – 12m
x 7.5m
Machines - six semi-
automatic sweet-
wrapping machines
(Fills pans in about 20
minutes)
Platform Scales
(About 6 meters from
wrapping machines. 10 people
Pans weigh about 13 kg)
Bottling bench (1
meter away from
scales)
Trolley to transport
to labeling bench
Loaded trolley
(weighs about 120 kg)
Labeling bench
(About 6 meters away
from bottling bench)
 Step 8 - Idea Development

The challenge process should trigger all sorts of ideas.

Make sure you develop multiple ideas, at least three different possible
solutions; ECRS (Eliminate, Combine, Rearrange, Simplify) is a
suggested improvement sequence.
Will the suggested solution help flow?
Will it make the job easier or safer?
The first round of ideas are really guesses, even if you are an expert.
 More than one way to do things

Challenge yourself to find at least 5 different ways to solve the problem

 Developing Ideas with Experiments
Before you start buying equipment, test the idea with cardboard and tape
 Start with simple solutions

Don’t limit your possible

solution by starting with the
complex ones.
Objective is to quickly
resolve problems in
less than 24 hours

TWI skills
 Break Down Complex Problems
Start untangling from both ends

People Training

Product Design Process Standards

Process Layout
Machine Design
Tooling and Fixtures

Complex problems are often seen as common symptoms with multiple sources.
Be aware that you may be solving multiple problems, not a single cause.
34
Workshop size – 12m
x 7.5m 10 people
Machines - six semi-
automatic sweet-
Work sequence
wrapping machines 1. Wheel to
(Fills pans in about 20 scales
2.Slide pan on
minutes) scales
Platform Scales 3.Enter weight
(About 6 meters from on card
4.Lift pan and tip
wrapping machines. contents on
Pans weigh about 13 kg) bench
5. Bottle sweets
Bottling bench (1 6.Push to
meter away from Labeling and
scales) Capping
7.Label and cap
Trolley to transport bottles
to labeling bench 8.Place bottles
on trolley
Loaded trolley 9. Pull to Dispatch
(weighs about 120 kg)
Labeling bench
(About 6 meters away
from bottling bench)
 Work sequence ECRS
1. Wheel to scales
2. Slide pan on scales ELIMINATE
3. Enter weight on card - carrying
4.Lift pan and tip -crossing busy
contents on bench
5. Bottle sweets
walkway
6.Push to Labeling and - safety hazard
Capping SIMPLIFY
7. Label and cap bottles - layout
8.Place bottles on -now all on one
trolley side
9. Pull to Dispatch COMBINE
- benches
REARRANGE
-cupboard,
scales and
benches

10 people
9 people
9 people
6 people
3 people
 The Reasons Why: for 5-S
What the program is for:

3rd Level:
To help Supervisor Solve Problems
Taiichi Ohno used 4-S To make abnormalities obvious
Complained that supervisors abused
it as a lining up competition.

2nd Level:
ftake Job Easier for People
Job Instruction + Job
ftethods (Kaizen)

1st Level:
Basic Housekeeping
To better see flow 42
Step 9 - Weighing Possible Solutions
to Make a Decision

You may go through many iterations of challenge, idea development, experiments, evaluation… more ideas
 Choosing ideas to test
• Which ideas will you choose to evaluate?
• The ones most likely to succeed?
• The ones that are the least expensive to implement?
• The ones that are the easiest or quickest to implement?
• The ones that help the operator the most?
• The ones that help the team the most?
• The ones that help the organization ion the most?
• Or, will you focus the test on the biggest unknown?
• Validate the guesses.
Running tests without interfering with production…
 Changeover is a Process
All production lines have changeover requirements.
The process to reduce setup times and improve
responsiveness or flexibility are the same.

ftost training materials are focused on

improving setups for heavy equipment
like presses.
Changing over 5 machines – 47 minutes before Changing over 20 stations – 45 minutes before,
11 minutes after improvements 5 minutes per section after improvements (3 sections)
 Step 10 - Design Experiments
Don’t rush out to implement the idea without validating whether it
works like you thought it would.
When you design an experiment to validate an idea, it includes the
expected outcome.
You must be able to state, “If we do ‘X’, then we expect ‘Y’ to
happen.”
Unexpected results give you the opportunity to learn.

How many tests, how long, what support is needed, etc.

 Development Experiments

The first experiment. Second experiment, flow Third experiment yielded a

was a bit smoother, but did better layout.
not satisfy them.

The ftcDonald brothers experiment to develop

their system before building any equipment.
 Experiment Record

Test your ideas

“First we guess…”
Test your guesses

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OL6-x0modwY
 Step 11 - Evaluate
Did the experiment meet your objectives?
If yes, develop a new standard (Step 5), train everyone to the
new standard (Step 6), then implement the improvement.
If not, what did you learn?
Do you need to return to Step 8 – Idea Development?
Or return to Step 7 – Challenge?
Or even return to Step 3 (root cause - 5-Whys), then
challenge process again.
Comparison Worksheet
This is for the internal team

Are the results

good enough?

Do you need to
test more ideas?
New Method Proposal
Sell the new
method to all
concerned

In larger companies you

may need to document
the difference between
the original method and
the proposed method.
 Step 12 - Choose the Next Problem

“Grow people to build

adaptive production systems
that create value.”

Return to Step 1 and review your list of issues to be resolved.

(ftake sure you keep it updated.)
 What your results can look like…
Before, there
Started challenge in May. was no space to
Department had more walk around
than one year backlog of the benches.
work to do.
Reorganized the shop
almost weekly until flow
was stable.
Reduced backlog to two Shop after 3
weeks and increased months of
revenue in just three coaching.
months.
Doubled capacity
without increasing space,
added one table,
Team continued
modified carts, merged
to improve
two departments.
processes.
 End of Session
Assignment 1: Develop ideas on how to
improve a process at home, school or work.
Assignment 2: Define how you will validate
your idea. What sort of experiment is needed
to test your idea.