What is a changeover in manufacturing?

Changeovers are periods of time at the end of each production run when a manufacturing process stops to prepare for the next production run. It is a special form of planned downtime. A changeover process typically involves one or more of the following…

• equipment or tooling change
• equipment settings change
• raw material change
• product change
• paperwork

How is changeover time measured?

Changeovers are typically measured in minutes or hours. Changeover time is the total time measured from the last part in the current batch run to the first part in the next batch run.

How changeover time impacts productivity

Every minute that a process, cell or assembly line is stopped to carry out a changeover process is one less minute of productive time. If we consider a typical changeover event on a ten person assembly (flow) line, each operator in the sequence will have to complete a changeover process in turn. If each operator is stopped for 30 minutes to complete the changeover process (setup, paperwork, materials, line clearance), then that amounts to 5 hours (10 x 30 minutes) of lost production time in total, a significant chunk of production time!

The benefits of reducing changeover times

The obvious benefit of reducing changeovers is that productive (value add) time increases. That gives your production team more time to produce the required output. Reducing changeover times can also avoid the risk that any momentum that was generated before the changeover is lost. Another positive impact is that batch sizes can be reduced meaning that lead times can reduce and customer satisfaction improves as a result. This also means that inventory levels and WIP (work in process) levels reduce, which frees up space and cash to grow the business.

How to reduce changeover times

Here is our 3-step guide to reducing changeover times…

1. Measure changeover time
2. Plan for changeovers in advance
3. Run a workshop to streamline the changeover process (SMED)

1. Measure changeover time

As the old adage goes, what gets measured gets improved. While changeover times for high volume, automated equipment might be well characterised using traditional OEE software, changeovers are often overlooked in manual or semi-automated manufacturing environments. Traditionally where companies rely on paper-based methods for tracking downtime, changeovers are either poorly measured or ignored

Kt-Pulse enables production operators to track changeovers accurately and quickly through a simple app interface Changeovers (see how) can be paused if a problem arises, allowing the problems to be measured separately.

The Kt-Pulse live dashboards indicate precisely how long changeovers are taking so that support teams can respond accordingly, when there is a problem. The trend dashboards show how long changeovers are taking over the longer term and accurately quantify how problems are impacting on changeover time. This provides a roadmap for improvement.

2. Plan for changeovers in advance

A goal without a plan is just a wish. Make sure you have a plan for changeovers if you want to meet your production target more consistently. Changeovers will eat into your scheduled time but you can minimise their impact by being prepared…

• Figure out the best sequence in which to build your production batches. For example, if you have one group of products (type A) that have the same setup and another group of products (type B) that have a very different setup, minimise the number of times you switch from type A to type B, and vice versa, throughout the shift. This will reduce the total amount of setup (changeover) time required. This is only possible, of course, if the demand plan allows for some flexibility in the build order.
• Kit the next 2-3 production orders in advance. If the changeover process typically takes 10 minutes but the production operators have to wait 15 minutes to be told what to build next, then this is an extra 15 minutes lost unnecessarily. Make the plan visible and make sure that paperwork and raw materials are prepared in advance so that the production operators hit the ground running at changeover time.

Kt-Pulse enables you to add batch and part numbers into the system so that the production operators can see what work order is coming next. You will also be able to see precisely when a changeover process starts and finishes in the events list

3. Run a workshop to streamline the changeover process (SMED)

In order to create a step change in how long changeovers take, it can be very useful to run a focused workshop to do so. SMED (Single Minute Exchange of Die) is a popular approach. SMED was developed by Shigeo Shingo in the 1950’s and 1960’s to improve efficiency and to reduce the amount of inventory that is held in reserve.

The SMED approach can be summarised in these six steps…

• Observe the current changeover process and document it (involve a cross functional team including operators)
• Split the changeover process into a sequenced list of steps
• Categorise each sub task as Internal Setup (tasks that occur while a process or machine is down) and External Setup (any preparatory work that can occur while the process or machine is running)
• Convert as many of the Internal tasks to External as possible, i.e. tasks that can be done while the process is still running is beneficial over doing them when the process has stopped. This is where a team lead can be very useful!
• Optimise the sequence of tasks and how each one is carried out by brainstorming improvement opportunities during a changeover process. The goal is to remove any unnecessary tasks and to make the changeover process faster and more consistent
• Document and train employees on the new changeover process to standardise how they are carried out in the future

Make sure to have experienced production operators on the SMED team. They have a huge amount of knowledge of the processes and if they are involved in developing the solution, it is more likely to stick.

Very often the SMED process is an iterative process that happens on a periodic basis. The Kt-Pulse analytics dashboards can spot negative trends in the changeover process, which is very useful during a SMED exercise. Examples of how Kt-Pulse has helped quantify problems…

• switching from product type A to type C is three times longer than switching from product type B to C
• operators have to search for a tool when carrying out the changeover process, which delays them by ten minutes
• changeovers take twice as long on night shift versus day shift because there is a longer wait time for technical support

Request a free demo: Measuring and reducing changeover times will reduce the amount of lost time per shift. Kt-Pulse is the first app-based product that accurately measures changeovers in manual and semi-automated manufacturing environments. Kt-Pulse highlights, in real-time, if changeovers are taking longer than necessary, so that appropriate action can be taken quickly. It also produces analytics that point to how changeover times can be reduced. If you’d like to see for yourself how Kyzentree’s software, Kt-Pulse, can help you to reduce your changeover times, book a one-to-one, no obligation consultation today and we’ll showcase the benefits to you

About Kyzentree: We are a recognised leader in improving productivity by making it easy to visualise and manage manufacturing operations. We specialise in operator-driven processes. We have brought together a team of manufacturing, lean-sigma and technology experts to bring you our flagship product Kt-Pulse™. Kt-Pulse is an app-based software solution built exclusively for monitoring any type of manual assembly, inspection or packaging process.

The post How to reduce changeover times in your manufacturing process appeared first on Kyzentree.

OEE is an important performance measurement in most modern manufacturing facilities. It is a measure of how effectively a process is performing versus its maximum potential. It has gained a lot of traction in automated machine environments where software can be used to measure it. However, in manual assembly lines and cells, where paper or excel-based systems are traditionally used to track performance, this is not so easy. We’ll talk later in the article about how Kt-Pulse is helping companies to measure OEE in manual assembly environments, but first…

What is OEE?

OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) is a method of measuring the performance of a piece of equipment or a process versus its theoretical maximum capacity. It is only measured for the time that the machine or process is scheduled to run. For instance, if the machine is scheduled to run for 8 hours per day, Monday to Friday, it is measured against the theoretical maximum output for 40 hours. If it’s a 24/7 machine, it is measured against a theoretical maximum of 168 hours

There are three components that make up OEE. OEE is the product of all three…

Availability is a measure of how much of the scheduled time a machine or process is available to run. When a machine or process is scheduled to run it has one of two states; it is either running (known as uptime) or it is not running (known as downtime). The aim is to maximise uptime by minimising downtime or stoppages. When a process is running it is producing parts, which creates value for the customer. When a process is stopped, it’s creating a cost to the business (e.g. staff must still be paid, customers may choose an alternative vendor, etc). There are many issues that impact on availability such as equipment issues, raw material outages, production operator issues, safety concerns and scheduling delays. Availability is calculated by comparing the actual run time of the process to the scheduled time of the process, expressed as a percentage.

Performance is a measure of how many parts are produced on the machine or process compared with the ideal number of parts. It only takes run time into account, i.e. the time that the machine was available to run. The time that the machine or process is stopped is not taken into account as that is factored into the Availability calculation. Examples of issues that impact performance include poorly maintained equipment that cannot run at optimum speed, short stoppages to adjust a machine or process, impromptu stoppages to check quality or trainee operators who are not experienced enough to run at full speed

Quality is a measure of how many good parts are produced on the machine or process compared with the total parts produced. Total parts includes defective products that must be discarded. Sometimes it is possible to rework defective parts so that they meet specification. Rework is a waste activity but if the cost of rework is negligible compared to the cost of scrapping the product, then a business decision may be made to allow it. However, like defects, rework should be eliminated where possible. In the OEE context, quality is often described as process yield (good parts ¸ total parts). First pass yield is a measure of how many good parts are produced at the first attempt versus the total parts produced. If a lot of parts are reworked (i.e. not successfully produced at the first attempt), then the first pass yield will be much lower than the final process yield.

A machine or process that has 100% OEE means that there is no downtime (100% availability), no performance loss (all parts are produced at the ideal speed) and no quality losses (100% of parts are good at the first attempt).

Sample OEE calculation

To explain the concept a little further, let’s take a look at a simple example of a process that was scheduled to run for 80 hours last week…

Availability

Performance

Quality

Tip: There is a quick way to calculate OEE, if all products produced have the same cycle time. In the example above, there were 80 hours available to build 90 parts per hour. In an ideal world, the process would have produced 7,200 good parts (80 hours x 90 parts per hour). 5,850 good parts were actually produced or 81.3% of the potential (5,850 / 7,200).

In reality, the calculation is much more complex for various reasons; break times have to be taken into account (for manual processes), hourly output rates can change when switching from one product to another, etc., etc. Kt-Pulse is very useful for measuring the components of OEE because it takes all of this, and more, into account for manual processes.

Benefits of OEE in manufacturing

The benefits come when OEE is measured correctly and then acted upon. Companies use methodologies like lean manufacturing and six sigma to identify and implement improvements that will increase OEE. An increase in OEE has many benefits

• Equipment is utilised to its fullest capacity, avoiding the need to purchase additional equipment unnecessarily
• Product / process quality improves (less material waste, increased customer satisfaction, less risk of product recalls)
• Output is more predictable, which improves production planning and customer on time deliveries
• The ability to scale improves
• Space utilisation is optimised
• Production operators become more efficient (less overtime needed, new people hired only when necessary)
• Market competitiveness improves (critical in many industries, such as medical devices and electronics).

How OEE can be applied in manual assembly environments

OEE is traditionally used to measure the performance of high volume, automated equipment. However, it can also be applied to manual processes that are run by production operators. The three components of OEE still apply to any operator-driven manufacturing process…

Availability: Operators work in a defined shift pattern with fixed breaks. If their process stops for unplanned or planned reasons, they log each event as downtime. This could be machine related or non-machine related

Performance: When the process is running, operators count and log output, usually on an hourly basis. Operators are expected to produce a certain number of parts per hour, which is a measure of performance

Quality: Operators detect defective parts as they work. Typically they will make a decision on whether the part should be scrapped or reworked and log it accordingly.

How Kt-Pulse extracts OEE data through the production operators

Tracking downtime, output and defects for manual or semi-automated processes is not easy when traditional paper or excel-based methods are used. Kt-Pulse makes it really easy to log downtime, output and defects in real-time through a simple app. A tablet or iPad is placed in a flexible holder right where the production operator is working. With quick button presses they can log each event as it occurs. Logged events are sent wirelessly to the Kt-Pulse database where it is instantly turned into real-time analytics. As new events come in, the dashboards are updated automatically, giving a real-time view of OEE, output, downtime and defects

OEE is traditionally used to measure equipment performance. Data is pulled from one or two sensors on machines, which means it has limited benefits in a manual assembly environment. Kt-Pulse, on the other hand, extracts data from the production operators, which is why we call it OLE, or Overall Line Effectiveness. Production operators rely on far more than one or two sensors; they use their 5 senses as well as their intuition every day on the manufacturing floor. This gives them a much deeper understanding of their manufacturing process. Using Kt-Pulse, the operators can now give instant feedback on everything that occurs at their manufacturing process in a fraction of the time, and with much greater accuracy, than a retrospective view captured on paper or Excel

Request a free demo: Kt-Pulse was designed exclusively for monitoring manual and semi-automated processes. Basically, any process run by a production operator. It simplifies how companies measure their processes and eliminates all of the time lost in creating production reports in Excel and PowerPoint. If you’d like to see for yourself how Kyzentree’s software, Kt-Pulse, can help you to monitor your processes in real-time, book a one-to-one, no obligation consultation today and we’ll showcase the benefits to you.

About Kyzentree: We are a recognised leader in improving productivity by making it easy to visualise and manage manufacturing operations. We specialise in operator-driven processes. We have brought together a team of manufacturing, lean-sigma and technology experts to bring you our flagship product Kt-Pulse™. Kt-Pulse is an app-based software solution built exclusively for monitoring any type of manual assembly, inspection or packaging process.

The post OEE in manual manufacturing environments appeared first on Kyzentree.

To run an effective manufacturing floor, you must give your manufacturing teams the right tools and empower them to use them properly. The following three components are key to getting this right:

• Real-time, accurate data: Real-time visibility of how the manufacturing floor is performing is crucial. Without it, you are flying blind and cannot make quick decisions throughout the shift. Whether it is tracking output to plan, monitoring defect levels, addressing unplanned downtime issues quickly or measuring the overall effectiveness of the operation (see OEE article), data is king. As W. Edwards Deming once said, “without data, you are just another person with an opinion”.
• A Good meeting structure: Whether it’s a quick huddle at the start of a shift between the supervisor and production operators or a top level review with the operations management team, manufacturing meetings can be effective in just 5 minutes. But they need to have a clear agenda, where everybody leaves the meeting knowing what the priority actions are for the day (see Meetings article).
• A structured approach to solving problems: Sometimes a problem is well defined and the root cause is obvious. Other times it is not. Regardless, a consistent approach to looking at and solving problems brings many benefits to a manufacturing company and increases the likelihood that old problems won’t re-emerge in the future.

What is structured problem solving and root cause analysis?

Structured problem solving is a methodology for solving problems in a systematic way in order to prevent them from reoccurring. It is a widely used approach in many industries but has gained a lot of traction in the manufacturing sector under lean manufacturing and sig sigma umbrellas. Although there are many different methods, they all have the same principles; understand the problem properly, find the root cause and put a solution in place that will prevent a problem from reoccurring

The benefits of effective root cause analysis

1. It stops issues from reoccurring

Firefighting is the practice of reacting to problems with quick fixes. It is about focusing on addressing the symptoms of a problem without fully understanding the problem or its root cause. For example, a common problem that Kyzentree’s clients have is that the output target for the first hour of the shift is not hit. Overtime is a common fix to address the shortfall, which does nothing to address the root cause of the problem. Very often the root cause is that production operators are waiting for materials, paperwork or tech support to get their process up and running properly. Using Kyzentree’s software, Kt-Pulse, clients can quantify exactly what is happening at the start of shift and how much time is lost. Once the root cause is understood, a solution can be put in place to prevent it from happening in the future.

2. A well-defined problem is often 50% solved

If a problem is well defined it very often makes the practice of finding a root cause and implementing a solution much easier. Using data rather than opinions to define the problem is a must. Avoid statements such as “this problem is always happening” or “we never see that happening”. Once the problem is defined based on data, it generally makes it far easier to find the root cause and solution.

For example, let’s say we are producing a product where some parts have scratches on the surface that must be discarded. The problem could be defined as…

“We are always producing parts with scratches on the surface and we have to throw lots of parts away”

Or the team could go further and generate more facts…

“5% of products that are produced on the ABC line have scratches on the surface. 90% of the scratches are on the top surface of the handle component. The problem only affects the large product size. The small and medium parts are unaffected by this issue. The problem started happening on the 4-May-2020”

The more prescriptive the problem statement, the more clues you have to find the root cause. Kt-Pulse provides more in-depth analysis on defects and is widely used in the root cause analysis process.

3. A boost to team morale

A core principle of structured problem solving is that it is a team-based activity; the responsibility is shared among the whole team. A problem shared is a problem halved, which avoids the issue becoming overwhelming for any one individual. Furthermore, there is a great sense of achievement when the root cause of a problem is discovered and a robust solution is implemented. Acknowledging the successes is also important, giving the team a sense that their efforts are recognised and worthwhile

4. A reduction in costs

Spending time “fixing” the same problem multiple times has many cost implications; material costs if it is a scrap problem, labour if it is a downtime problem and a drop in morale if the same team keeps encountering the problem over and over. Solving a problem once is clearly the most favourable outcome. Structured problem solving and root cause analysis is a skill your teams will become better and better at whilst continually improving the processes they work on.

Root Cause Analysis (RCA) methodologies

There are numerous methodologies used to determine the root cause of problems in the manufacturing industry. From the basic 5 Whys approach to the more complex 8D methodology, here is a snapshot of a few popular methods

4-step Problem Solving Roadmap

The 4-step problem solving roadmap is both simple and powerful. It concentrates on the four critical steps in problem solving. It works very well for more complex problems when the problem and root cause are not well understood.

Step 1 Define the problem

This step involves finding out as much about the problem as possible. It also means finding out what the problem is not (e.g. the problem is affecting large product sizes but is not affecting small product sizes). Every fact that is gathered about the problem could be the vital clue in determining the root cause. The following tools are popular for defining a problem…

• Is/Is-Not Charts
• Checksheets
• Process Mapping

Step 2 Implement containment action

This step gives the team a chance to step back from the problem and see what, if anything, can be done to contain the issue in the short term. It offers the possibility to put a temporary solution in place while the team works on step 3 in parallel. Typical containment actions include…

• Implementing additional inspections to screen out defective products
• Replacing a part on a tool or piece of equipment that keeps breaking
• Removing a suspect batch of material, tool or piece of equipment
• Putting suspect batches on hold for further investigation
• If there is no obvious containment action, the manufacturing process may need to be shut down for a period of time, which is usually the last resort

Any action taken at this point should be seen as a short term fix (containment) rather than a long term solution. However, on occasion, a really good containment action may become a really good permanent solution.

Step 3 Identify root cause

This is very often the most difficult step in a structured problem solving investigation. The more well defined a problem is, the easier it is to find a root cause. During this step it is useful to pull a wider team together to brainstorm potential causes of the problem. This includes everybody from production operators through to senior engineers and management. The collective brain power of the whole team can create a more comprehensive list of potential causes.

Once the list of potential causes are identified, they are usually prioritised as low, medium and high for investigation, based on the team’s experience. From here the process involves a mixture of investigative work (e.g. digging through historical paperwork) and experimentation (e.g. running experiments to recreate the root cause)

Finding the root cause of a problem is often a pivotal moment in the process and a welcome relief for all involved. Useful tools during this step include…

• Brainstorming (yes, it’s a tool in itself!)
• Cause & Effect Chart (Fishbone Diagram)
• Fault Tree Analysis
• Design of Experiments (for more complex problems)
• An inquisitive mind

Step 4 Implement solution

Very often, once the root cause is found, the solution is obvious. However, that doesn’t mean that the solution is easy to implement. The danger at this stage of the process is that the solution is not followed through fully. This is especially true if the containment action is doing a reasonable job of containing the issue. Focus on planning out the solution and track it as a project in itself. Useful tools include…

• PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act)
• Gannt Chart (if it is a complex solution)

Process validation and documentation may also need to be created in order to complete the solution, depending on the industry.

Request a free demo: Solving problems is part of the everyday fabric of the manufacturing floor. And access to good data is fundamental to doing it effectively. Kt-Pulse is the first app-based product that accurately captures output, quality and downtime data in real-time from any manual or semi-automated process. The data has been instrumental in helping to solve many problems on the manufacturing floor. If you’d like to see for yourself how Kyzentree’s software, Kt-Pulse, can help you to carry out more effective root cause analysis, book a one-to-one, no obligation consultation today and we’ll showcase the benefits to you

About Kyzentree: We are a recognised leader in improving productivity by making it easy to visualise and manage manufacturing operations. We specialise in operator-driven processes. We have brought together a team of manufacturing, lean-sigma and technology experts to bring you our flagship product Kt-Pulse™. Kt-Pulse is an app-based software solution built exclusively for monitoring any type of manual assembly, inspection or packaging process.

The post How to perform effective root cause analysis appeared first on Kyzentree.

What is a Visual Factory?

Visual Factory is a concept that is widely used in lean-sigma methodologies to communicate information quickly and easily. The term “visual factory” describes how data and information are conveyed in a lean manufacturing environment. At its core, the goal is to indicate, at a glance, if something is performing well or if action needs to be taken to address a problem.

In a lean manufacturing environment, time spent gathering and collating the information is necessary, but it is also one of the 8 wastes. Therefore, spending less time gathering the data and more time acting on it is a critical part of running an effective factory floor. By using a combination of simple visual controls along with digital data, information can be communicated much more effectively and efficiently to those who need it, when they need it.

Examples of good visual controls include…

• Clearly labelled walkways within the factory
• Signs on equipment that is undergoing preventative maintenance
• Slip warning signs that indicate spillage areas
• Hourly tracker boards for tracking output (whiteboard or digital)
• An escalation process for production operators to flag issues (e.g. Andon lights or digital monitor)
• A team meeting board that shows live action items that are specific, measurable and timebound

How Does a Visual Factory Work?

The first step in implementing a visual factory strategy is to identify what needs to be communicated. This can be broken down into three categories…

Manufacturing process metrics:
Production operators like to see how they are doing versus plan. It is also critical that the support teams can see how processes are performing so that they can respond to negative trends immediately. Typical process metrics include plan versus actual output, defects and downtime issues. This information is most effective when it is clearly visible and displayed in real-time. This is where digital information has clear advantages over the traditional whiteboard data that is difficult and time consuming to keep up-to-date.

Work instructions:
Work instructions are necessary to ensure that employees can complete tasks in the correct manner. They are typically posted in the production areas within easy reach of the production operators. Less words and more photos and graphics work best to ensure the instructions are interpreted correctly. This will also help minimise production errors. Bottom line, the more critical information that can be conveyed visually, the more it will improve communication and standardisation across the factory floor.

General plant information:
General plant information is typically posted in central locations throughout the factory where everybody has easy access to it. General information can alert employees to risks or dangers, can inform them of any upcoming events and also motivate them by communicating good news stories.

The second step in implementing a visual factory strategy is how to present and share the information. This is most effective when the information is displayed as close to the relevant work spaces as possible. These include:

Digital data:
Digital monitors that display real-time information about the status of a production process, cell or line and alerts support teams when production operators need assistance

Floor markings and signs:
Different coloured tapes and signs can quickly and effectively indicate areas where employees should walk but as importantly, where they shouldn’t walk. Entrance and exit signs can also create a quick visual cue as to how employees should move through a building

Signage and labels for materials:
Signs and labels that clearly identify raw materials, tools, key equipment and production aids can ensure that the right material or component is identified quickly but can also ensure that components are put back in the correct location after use. Companies often implement a 5S program in conjunction with their visual factory strategy to ensure that everything is assigned a “place” and that everything is kept in that place to ensure everybody has access to it as needed

Benefits

The ‘visual factory’ concept provides numerous benefits throughout the factory floor and beyond including:

• Increased productivity
• Quicker responses to downtime issues
• Fewer quality defects
• Fewer errors
• Less work in process (WIP) across the floor
• Safer workplace
• Increased employee motivation
• Better communication at all levels of the organisation

What does ‘good’ look like when monitoring manual processes?

At Kyzentree, we believe that the 1-10-20 rule is paramount to minimise disruptions and to maximise productivity…

• In 1 second, the visual controls should be able to tell if a process is running normally and is on track to meet the output plan. Using green to represent good status (e.g. output on track) and red to flag problems (e.g. workstation is in downtime) make this possible
• In 10 seconds, the visual controls should tell what the problem is if it’s not normal
• In 20 seconds, the visual controls should tell what action is to be taken, who is responsible for this and what support is needed

What is equally important is the effort required to gather and present the data. Less time gathering data and more time acting on it is critical to running an effective and efficient factory floor. Check out how our software, Kt-Pulse, can help you to monitor any manual or semi-automated process in real-time with 95% less effort than the traditional paper or whiteboard based systems.

Request a free demo: If you’d like to see for yourself how Kyzentree’s software, Kt-Pulse, can help you to visualise your manufacturing floor more effectively, book a one-to-one, no obligation consultation today and we’ll showcase the benefits to you.

About Kyzentree: We are a recognised leader in improving productivity by making it easy to visualise and manage manufacturing operations. We specialise in operator-driven processes. We have brought together a team of manufacturing, lean-sigma and technology experts to bring you our flagship product Kt-Pulse™. Kt-Pulse is an app-based software solution built exclusively for monitoring any type of manual assembly, inspection or packaging process.

The post Visual Factory Benefits appeared first on Kyzentree.

Lean manufacturing and waste activity

Taiichi Ohno was a Japanese industrial engineer who created the seven wastes as part of the Toyota Production System. His methodologies have been adopted worldwide under the lean manufacturing banner and are commonly used today both within and outside the manufacturing sphere. As lean manufacturing principles and methodologies gained traction over the last few decades, an eighth waste was added; non-utilized talent. The acronym DOWNTIME is often used to remember the 8 wastes. The concept of 8 wastes is simple; identify waste activity, remove it and experience transformations in productivity across your business.

What is waste activity?

In a lean manufacturing environment, time spent gathering and collating the information is necessary, but it is also one of the 8 wastes. Therefore, spending less time gathering the data and more time acting on it is a critical part of running an effective factory floor. By using a combination of simple visual controls along with digital data, information can be communicated much more effectively and efficiently to those who need it, when they need it.

Value add versus non-value add

Every activity on the factory floor can be described as value add, non-value add or necessary non-value add. This terminology is very useful when you are reviewing processes in order to identify waste activity.

• Value add is any activity that a customer is willing to pay for, such as the assembly of components to make a product they wish to purchase
• Non- value add is any activity that does not add any value to the product, such as placing a semi-finished or finished product in a storage container in the hope that a customer will order it in the future
• Necessary non-value add is any activity that does not add value to the product but is essential to the supply of the product, such as critical inspection processes

The 8 wastes

1. Defects

When a product is not built right the first time it is classified as a defective product. If the product is discarded, then the time it took to make the product as well as the raw materials involved are classified as waste. If the defect is reworked, then this is also a waste in the form of extra time and possibly extra materials. Also, should the defective product get shipped to a customer, this will result in customer dissatisfaction or even the loss of a customer. Examples of defect waste…

• Products produced outside of specification
• Cosmetic defects that are considered unacceptable to ship to customers
• Errors in documentation that cause a delay in a process and/or the need to re-process the documentation

Well defined procedures, standardised methods to complete tasks, robust equipment and fixtures and standardised documentation templates are effective ways to control defect waste.

2. Overproduction

Overproduction is when products and materials are produced before they are required by the next downstream process. This creates excess work in process (WIP), which has many negative impacts on the factory floor…

• Storage containers and trolleys must be purchased to store the WIP
• Space must be found to store the WIP trolleys, which take up valuable manufacturing space
• Quality problems that could have been detected much earlier if the product moved on to downstream processes are instead detected when larger volumes of product are built. This results in higher scrap costs than necessary
• Over producing hides virtually every other type of waste activity by camouflaging their impact on the manufacturing floor
• Build-up of WIP awaiting access to shared equipment (due to poor planning and lack of a First In First Out process)

Production managers may be tempted to “build ahead” in order to cover up the many causes of over-production, such as:

• Unreliable processes (build as much as we can in case the process breaks down)
• Inaccurate forecast and demand information (we thought the customer needed it)
• Unpredictable production schedules (poor planning)
• Long changeover times (build in bulk to minimise batch changeovers)

Implementing pull systems, setting max WIP levels and balancing out the work content between each process step are common methods to minimise the build-up of WIP. Improving process stability is a very useful strategy to build confidence associated with unreliable processes. Stopping over production does take courage as you are, in effect, removing a safety net in order to make things more efficient.

3. Waiting

Waiting is any delay that prevents a product from moving to the next process. It includes any delay waiting for materials, information, people or equipment. Time is money and any time spent waiting for something is lost opportunity. In manual assembly manufacturing environments, this can have a ripple effect where a delay at one process eventually affects multiple other processes. This means that lost work hours can be multiples of the downtime duration (e.g. 5 people experiencing a 1 hour wait time = 5 lost hours of productivity). Waiting costs the company in terms of direct labour costs. This is exasperated if overtime is required to address the shortfall. Also, if the production operators have to “work faster” to compensate, this can result in an increase in defect waste. Common causes of waiting waste include…

• Unbalanced processes (work not evenly divided between operators)
• Quicker responses to downtime issues
• Unplanned downtime due to unreliable equipment or processes
• Long changeover times
• Production operators waiting for instructions (poor planning)

Implementing standard work and balancing the work between production operators are commonly used to minimise wait times. For example, let’s say the takt time is 60 seconds. If one operator has 60 seconds of work per cycle and the person next to them has only 40 seconds of work, the first operator is going to struggle to hit takt consistently whereas the second operator will experience a lot of wait time over the course of a production shift. Measuring and addressing the biggest causes of unplanned downtime and streamlining the changeover process are also common methods used to minimise waiting waste.

4. Non-Utilized Talent

Non-utilised talent is a unique form of waste. It is the only form of waste that is not manufacturing-process specific and is more about how management sees the people working on the manufacturing floor. When the talents of the manufacturing team are not fully utilised, this represents waste in the form of lost opportunities. This type of waste occurs when the management team fails to inspire, motivate and encourage all employees to utilise their talents to maximum effect. Examples include…

• Failure to involve all employees in improvement activity, especially production operators
• Failure to involve all employees in problem solving investigations, especially production operators
• Assigning employees to tasks without appropriate training (e.g. promoting a production operator to team lead without appropriate training)
• Poor communication of instructions to employees

This waste was added to the other seven types of waste to help incorporate employee learning and development initiatives into the overall lean manufacturing program. By engaging all employees, providing them with appropriate training and empowering them to utilise their talents fully, overall productivity and efficiency improve. In essence, eliminating this type of waste will reduce all other forms of waste..

5. Transportation

Transportation waste involves the movement of people, materials or equipment more often, or over longer distances, than necessary. Apart from the extra time involved, excess movement can lead to other types of waste such as…

• Excessive handling and damage to products
• Waiting waste when waiting for the retrieval of products or materials
• Energy waste in the form of trucks or forklifts that move products around a manufacturing facility

It is very beneficial to periodically (e.g. annually) look at the whole plant layout with a view to simplifying how products flow through the plant. Value stream mapping and plant layout models are powerful tools to help visualise what is possible before executing any changes. Once the plan is visualised, careful planning and execution will ensure that there is minimal disruption to manufacturing operations during the re-layout. Unless it’s a complete radical overhaul, it is usually possible to execute the plan on a phased basis, one section at a time. The benefits are not just seen in transportation waste reduction. Highlighting the product flow routes, or lack of, in a plant can expose other wastes such as waiting or inventory waste that can be more easily addressed once exposed

6. Inventory

Holding excess raw materials, WIP and finished goods are all forms of inventory waste. The more inventory that is held, the more money that is tied up in the business unnecessarily. This can turn into a very expensive form of waste, especially when inventory expires and needs to be written off. Furthermore, if there is excess inventory it can be difficult to find the raw materials or WIP when they are needed. Imagine buying a year’s worth of groceries in one shopping trip. How much extra storage would you need to hold everything? How much would expire? How difficult would it be to find what you need when you need it?

Common causes of inventory waste include…

• Overproduction of goods due to poor planning (more finished goods than customer demand)
• Overproduction of goods “just in case they are needed” (safety net – fear of running out)
• Purchasing excess raw materials (purchasing 2 years’ worth of inventory for a price break increases storage costs)
• Excess transportation waste (transferring inventory to other parts of the plant for storage)

There is a lot that can be done to minimise inventory waste, including…

• Defining min and max levels of raw materials and finished goods. If min and max levels are adhered to, this will indicate when to trigger a re-order or a re-build (min level reached) or when to stop ordering or building (when max level reached). Labelling storage containers and marking out spaces on the factory floor can act as visual cues if inventory reaches the max level. Another aspect of this is to stop purchasing storage containers, trolleys and racking for holding the excess inventory. Chances are there is already an abundance of storage solutions in place.
• Implementing flow between processes eliminates the need to store expensive inventory. If there is a storage area there and the principles of flow are not implemented, they will be filled with more inventory. If a product cannot flow from one process to the next (e.g. bulk loading of products into an oven), implement a FIFO (First In First Out) system instead
• Purchase raw materials only when needed (just in time). This saves the time and space of storing materials that may or may not be needed in the coming weeks and months
• Make a strategic decision not to stockpile inventory, just in case it is needed. This is a management decision that requires courage, strong will and determination

Remember that holding inventory is a safety net to avoid exposing weaknesses in the manufacturing and supply chain. Getting rid of the safety net will expose the barriers to flow, which can then be addressed one by one.

7. Motion

When people use excessive physical motion such as bending, lifting or reaching in order to complete their work, this is known as motion waste. All unnecessary motions result in extra effort and puts the body under unnecessary strain, which results in excess time to complete tasks. It also risks injury to workers. Common causes of motion waste include…

• Poor workstation layout (e.g. equipment placed out of comfortable reach)
• Shared equipment and fixturing (e.g. operators must walk to a designated area for shared equipment)
• Poor product or process design (e.g. excess movements of parts to assemble components together)
• Poor work instructions (e.g. operators create their own methods for completing tasks with excess motion)

Much of this motion waste can be removed by working with the production operators…

• Analyse how much the operator, product, materials and tools move within each individual workstation and identify opportunities to reduce each motion
• Process map each line or cell and identify opportunities to re-layout the factory floor to reduce the movement of people and products
• Implement standard work for each process that describes the sequence of steps that must be followed when carrying out a task. This eliminates operators creating their own techniques

8. Extra Processing

Extra processing is where production operators carry out tasks that are not required by the customer and do not add value to the product or service. There are many examples of extra processing waste that happen every day, including…

• Reworking products because they were not produced correctly the first time
• Storing work in process (WIP) in containers and then removing them later on for processing
• Shipping the wrong product to customers resulting in handling returns and re-shipping the correct products
• Re-sending emails or re-printing information due to missing attachments or typos

Causes of extra processing waste include…

• Poor product design or unstable manufacturing processes that produce excessive defects
• Production lines not set up to facilitate flow, resulting in storage of WIP offline
• Poor communication between departments resulting in incorrect shipments
• Not adhering to email prompts that detect typos or missing attachments

Designing products with manufacturing in mind (design for manufacture or DFM) is a very useful strategy for ensuring extra processing waste is minimised during the development of new products and processes. Also, defining the optimal workflow helps identify unnecessary process steps. Once identified, steps can be taken to remove unnecessary processes. In addition, six sigma methodologies can radically improve the stability of processes, thereby eliminating costly rework processes.

Request a free demo: Eliminating the 8 wastes is made easier when the performance of the production processes are more visible. Kt-Pulse is the first app-based product that captures data directly from the production operators in real-time, thus quantifying and visualising productivity and problem areas on easy-to-read dashboards. If you’d like to see for yourself how Kyzentree’s software, Kt-Pulse, can help you to measure productivity and quantify waste on your manufacturing floor more effectively, book a one-to-one, no obligation consultation today and we’ll showcase the benefits to you.

About Kyzentree: We are a recognised leader in improving productivity by making it easy to visualise and manage manufacturing operations. We specialise in operator-driven processes. We have brought together a team of manufacturing, lean-sigma and technology experts to bring you our flagship product Kt-Pulse™. Kt-Pulse is an app-based software solution built exclusively for monitoring any type of manual assembly, inspection or packaging process.

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2020 is a year in which many manufacturing businesses have had to show resilience and agility, just to survive. Although the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed some significant weaknesses, this is giving manufacturers an opportunity to transform their factories for the better. McKinsey maintains that “successful companies will redesign their operations and their supply chains to protect their business against a wider and more acute range of potential shocks and disruptive events.”

If we let it, this pandemic will help manufacturers to redefine their standards: how products are supplied, how improvements are implemented and how manufacturing floors are digitised. We owe it to all of those who kept manufacturing plants open throughout this pandemic; those who learned to adapt in the face of adversity and uncertainty.

Here are three important lessons that the pandemic has thought us in 2020 and how these lessons are turning into opportunities to create more robust and dynamic manufacturing companies:

1. Supply chains don’t have to be so rigid

Covid-19 has shown companies that they need to move to more flexible manufacturing and supply chain models to avoid raw material stockouts and shortfalls in giving customers what they need, when they need it. Diverse sourcing and digitization will be key to building more robust and smarter supply chains. Here are some developing trends…

Less reliance on one major supplier: Manufacturers are identifying which suppliers are at risk of experiencing production slowdowns and are looking for alternative suppliers

Increased visibility on parts: Implementing technologies such as cargo-tracking, GPS and RFID are helping to increase visibility into nearly every part of the supply chain

Less concentration in one country or region: Many manufacturers are starting to diversify the physical locations of their supplier base. Some sectors, such as medical devices, electronics and automotive, are even considering moving parts of their supply chains out of China to the U.S. or EU. Although this increases costs, it reduces exposure to running out of stock

Bulk-buying and stockpiling: As bulk-buying and stockpiling become more common, some manufacturers are considering a change from just-in-time inventory to a just-in-case strategies. Although this is “anti-lean” manufacturing and ties up revenue, some businesses are seeing this as the lesser of two evils, to avoid the risk of running out of a product

2. Manufacturing businesses can pivot how they work very quickly

Covid-19 has shown that it is possible to significantly accelerate the pace at which improvement activity or change is implemented. A “just do it” and “can do” attitude goes a long way. There are some impressive examples of manufacturing companies pulling out all the stops to keep their doors open during the pandemic…

Rapid production floor re-layouts: Although many businesses had to close their doors or adopt a “work from home” policy to keep their staff safe, manufacturing businesses had to figure out how to keep their manufacturing operators a safe distance apart, yet still work together as a team. Many switched from a 1 shift to a 2 shift pattern almost overnight in order to ensure that employees could be positioned far enough apart on the manufacturing floor. Others erected perspex screens between workstations, staggered shift start and end times and implemented face masks and gloves long before they were the norm

Rapid kaizen events: Manufacturing work practices and processes had to be adjusted in order to ensure that they could be carried out safely in the new work environment. Kaizen events are a powerful tool for identifying and implementing improvements quickly. Many businesses realised how quickly and effectively they could implement change when there was an urgent need…and a will to do so

Short-term product pivot: There are numerous examples of companies pivoting their business in a matter of weeks to produce PPE gear and ventilators for the healthcare industry. It highlights the potential of human ingenuity when the shackles are off and the bureaucracy is removed.

3. Digital transformation can be implemented one step at a time

In less than 12 months, the COVID-19 crisis has brought about years of change in the way companies in all sectors and regions do business. According to a new McKinsey Global Survey of executives¹, their companies have “accelerated the digitization of their customer and supply-chain interactions and of their internal operations by three to four years”. COVID-19 has helped manufacturing companies to realise that digital transformation strategies are nothing to be scared of and will form a critical part of their future growth…

Digital transformation strategies can be implemented quickly: Most businesses implemented digital solutions during the pandemic to help them to run their business more effectively. The Mcinsey Global survey demonstrated that the pace of change was much quicker than businesses ever thought possible before the crisis.

Digital transformation is here to stay: The level of investment in digital initiatives has increased significantly and most businesses are realising the economic and operational benefits. Focus is now switching to how they can scaleup these digital solutions and embed them into how they run the business permanently

Digital transformation is of strategic importance: Businesses are realising that digital transformation goes beyond the question “how much will it reduce our costs?”. From a manufacturing perspective, the cost savings are quickly realised in the labour and material cost savings alone. But manufacturing businesses are discovering other benefits from implementing digital solutions. Take Kyzentree’s software Kt-Pulse for example. Kt-Pulse monitors any manual or semi-automated manufacturing process in real time. The analytics are helping remote workers to keep up to date with the manufacturing floor, increasing team collaboration on addressing issues, standardising how processes are monitored and identifying new ways to reduce downtime and scrap that are just not possible with the traditional paper-based systems.  

¹ The online survey was in the field from July 7 to July 31, 2020, and garnered responses from 899 C-level executives and senior managers representing the full range of regions, industries, company sizes, and functional specialties

Conclusions

It’s the companies with a positive and agile attitude that will rise above the current challenges. Manufacturers now have a chance to embrace new ways of working that COVID-19 has forced upon us.

According to the McKinsey survey, digital transformation initiatives are helping manufacturers to increase output by 10% to 200%, reduce costs by 5% to 40% and decrease time to market for new products by 30% to 90%. To succeed in scaling digital manufacturing in this way, manufacturers must have a robust digital strategy with clearly defined financial and performance goals that are linked to real business needs. Manufacturers that can move quickly to digitally transform will be better placed to respond to the changes in the operating environment that COVID-19 has triggered and give them a massive lead over slow-moving competitors.

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Anthony Cahill has over twenty years’ experience in various roles within the manufacturing sector. He has primarily worked in manufacturing operations that rely on people working with their hands, fixtures and semi-automated equipment to produce discrete goods across a range of industry types. With a background in lean manufacturing and six sigma principles, he has a passion for looking at challenging manufacturing environments and working with cross-functional teams to transform them into safer and more efficient work spaces for all concerned.

The post How the manufacturing sector is changing for the better appeared first on Kyzentree.

When it comes to meetings, they are often seen as a necessary evil, and that’s no different in manufacturing. Any of these sound familiar?

• “We spend all morning talking about yesterday”
• “There is no clear structure”
• “We’re always going off on a tangent”
• “The meeting never starts or finishes on time”
• “Let’s not flag that issue – the managers will flip!”

There are some tips and tricks that can help turn meetings into a powerful tool to get everybody aligned and motivated. Here are a few of our tried and tested techniques…

1. Set the right tone

Set a positive tone that encourages team engagement…

• Focus on the positives: Nothing ever goes perfectly well. Pick out the positives even when mistakes are made. This will avoid deflating the team
• See problems and mistakes as opportunities: If the reaction to problems is to throw the toys out of the pram, don’t be surprised if a culture of cover up is created. Encourage the team to identify problems and see them as opportunities to improve
• Encourage data-based decision making: “This always happens” or “that never happens” are common reactions to problems. Insist on making decisions based on data and look for the right data if none exists. Kt-Pulse is a great way to capture and present manufacturing performance data from any manual or semi-automated process
• Switch the mindset of who serves who: If you’re a type 1 organisation (see figure below), try the gradual shift towards type 2. Type 2 organisations put their energy into helping the frontline workers in whatever way they can, bringing new levels of productivity and efficiency.

2. Set an agenda with clear objectives

If your team turns up at a meeting without a clear purpose, it will be of limited value. To make the most out of the meeting, here’s a few pointers…

• Make the overall objective very clear and visible, particularly for daily meetings (e.g. the objective of the meeting is to identify the priority actions for the day, in order to hit our planned output)
• Create a small set of questions (preferably 5 or less) that are asked every day and that are linked to the overall objective (e.g. are there any issues that are likely to prevent us from hitting our output plan today?). Time spent doing this properly can save an abundance of wasted time on poor meetings.
• Define who should attend and what their role is at the meeting and ensure that every question has an owner

3. Start on time

This is a no-brainer but very important. If the senior person at the meeting is routinely late, it creates a mindset that their time is more important than everybody else’s time…

• Set a good example by being on time, particularly if you are one of the senior attendees
• If there are back-to-back meetings, allow time to travel to the next meeting
• Everybody is late sometimes. If so, apologise and don’t make it a habit
• Start the meeting without latecomers. Try out a charity jar; €1 for each late arrival!

4. Be dynamic

Manufacturing meetings are best run on the shop floor. They are dynamic environments, much like the meeting should be. Here’s how you can make your meeting dynamic…

• Keep it short – maximum 10 minutes, preferably 5
• Stand-up meetings are best; around a screen or whiteboard
• Mix up who runs the meeting to keep everybody aligned on the format
• Be open to changing the format if it’s not achieving the meeting objectives
• Avoid getting into deep discussions. Factor in time for spinout conversations in smaller groups

5. Keep the language simple

Talking in acronyms might make it seem like you’re very knowledgeable but don’t assume everybody understands them…

• Keep the language simple and minimise jargon so that nobody feels overwhelmed or left out
• Avoid high tech language. As Albert Einstein once said, “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”

6. Finishing up

Starting and finishing meetings on time take discipline. And finishing on time with clear actions for the day ahead is a great sign of a well-run meeting…

• Finishing on time might mean stopping the meeting in the middle of a conversation, but that sends a powerful signal that it’s not okay to run over. Nominating a timekeeper might help
• Leave the meeting with clear expectations for the day. For daily meetings, focus mainly on the next 24 hours. If a task takes several days to complete, break it into subtasks for the daily meeting
• Highlight where support is needed from peers and managers in order to get things done
• Get into the habit of assigning an owner and target date for every task
• Put an escalation process in place so that everybody knows whom to flag if support is needed
• Take issues and discussions offline, with the relevant people
• Aim to finish the meeting on a positive note every time

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Anthony Cahill has over twenty years’ experience in various roles within the manufacturing sector. He has primarily worked in manufacturing operations that rely on people working with their hands, fixtures and semi-automated equipment to produce discrete goods across a range of industry types. With a background in lean manufacturing and six sigma principles, he has a passion for looking at challenging manufacturing environments and working with cross-functional teams to transform them into safer and more efficient work spaces for all concerned.

The post Keep your manufacturing meetings short and sweet appeared first on Kyzentree.

The phrase “work smarter, not harder” was coined by Allen F. Morgenstern in the 1930s. It can be applied to any work situation, but on a manual assembly line, there is an abundance of opportunities to put this mantra into practice, and to realise new levels of productivity.

If you need to boost productivity by 10-20%, asking people to work 10-20% faster is not the answer; firstly it’s not sustainable and secondly, it usually leads to a drop in quality standards. Instead, focus on monitoring and improving the following three metrics and you will achieve more stable and predictable output numbers and a happier workforce.

Availability

Availability is a measure of how much of the scheduled shift time that production operators spend manufacturing products. In many cases, it is surprisingly low. When you add up all of the stoppages, from the small 1-5 minute interruptions through to the 30 minute+ shutdowns, each production operator on an assembly line or cell typically only builds product for 40 to 70% of their shift. The rest of the time is spent waiting for machines and fixtures to get repaired, waiting for materials, doing paperwork, counting products, labelling rejects, etc, etc.

Is this constant flood of disruptions frustrating? Of course. Imagine if your laptop stopped working every 15 minutes, just when you’re getting into a rhythm.

Are many of the stoppages avoidable? Absolutely. Concentrate on the following and you will start to recover much of the lost time and give the operators more time to hit their targets…

• Quantify all of the planned and unplanned stoppages, no matter how small
• Measure how long changeovers take
• Put an escalation process in place to reduce the impact of stoppages
• Pick a project every quarter that focuses on reducing the impact of a big downtime issue

The Kt-Pulse app enables production operators to quickly and easily log downtime and changeover events at any manual or semi-automated manufacturing process. It’s very accurate and the analytics instantly flag where resources should focus, to minimise the impact of downtime issues.

Performance

Performance is a measure of how well production operators can meet the planned output, when the line or cell is running. Targets should be based on the customer demand, but it’s important to balance the work content across all of the workstations so that production operators can consistently achieve the planned output.

A timing study is a useful way to determine how much of the work content that each workstation can comfortably manage. But don’t use the fastest operator on the line to time each workstation. Instead, the timing study data should be based on the average or median time to build a unit, based on a qualified worker, without over exertion, provided they adhere to the specified method and are motivated to apply themselves. This will set you up for more predictable output numbers, regardless of who is located at each workstation on the line. It also sets a realistic expectation for the production operators to achieve.

Here are some tips when setting up lines or cells to achieve more predictable, consistent output…

• Communicate hourly targets to the operators and teach them how to track output accurately
• Implement standard work so that all operators follow the same sequence of steps consistently
• Introduce fixtures/production aids where processes require high dexterity or guesswork
• Rotate production operators, ideally every 2 hours, to keep everybody motivated
• Manage the constraint step closely; if the constraint step requires a high level of speed and dexterity, then simplify the process as much as possible. Understand which operators are capable of running the constraint step consistently and develop a cross training plan to avoid over reliance on one or two individuals.  

The Kt-Pulse app enables production operators to quickly and easily log output in real-time at any manual or semi-automated manufacturing process. The analytics clearly show if output is on track in real-time, and motivates production operators to hit planned output much more consistently.

Quality

Process Quality is a measure of how frequently a production operator can produce a product at the first attempt. If a product is defective it may be scrapped or reworked. It is justifiable to rework a unit rather than bin it when the cost of rework is low compared to the cost of building a replacement product.

When resolving scrap or rework issues, sometime it’s a case of simply changing a work practice or putting a poke yoke fixture in place to prevent an error from occurring. Other times, it is more complex to solve and a small team is put in place to follow a structured problem solving process. This will help to understand the problem and to root cause it more easily. Once the root cause is known, the solution is normally straight forward to implement.

Here are some useful guidelines when the quality level of your manual or semi-automated processes needs to improve…

• Understand defects or rework properly by tracking quantity, reason codes and where they occur
• Train the operators to flag unusual levels of defects or rework early
• Put poke yoke solutions in place to prevent defects or rework from happening
• Include production operators in problem solving investigations; they are a wealth of information

The Kt-Pulse app enables production operators to quickly and easily log defects and rework in real-time at any manual or semi-automated manufacturing process. It tells you precisely when and where the defects and rework are occurring, which is very powerful data for problem solving investigations.

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Anthony Cahill has over twenty years’ experience in various roles within the manufacturing sector. He has primarily worked in manufacturing operations that rely on people working with their hands, fixtures and semi-automated equipment to produce discrete goods across a range of industry types. With a background in lean manufacturing and six sigma principles, he has a passion for looking at challenging manufacturing environments and working with cross-functional teams to transform them into safer and more efficient work spaces for all concerned.

The post The 3 key metrics that influence productivity on the manufacturing floor appeared first on Kyzentree.

At the peak of his powers, would Usain Bolt have trained without a high precision stopwatch? Or would Lewis Hamilton have won seven Formula One titles without monitoring his car throughout the races? Absolutely not! Then why run the manufacturing floor without good data?

Peter Drucker, the famous business consultant, is credited with saying “what gets measured, gets improved”. In other words, if you don’t measure it, the opportunity to improve something remains hidden, and inefficient work practices get baked into how we do things.

Running a manufacturing floor that is heavily reliant on production operators is challenging. Doing it without good data is almost impossible. Here are 4 steps to getting the insights you need to run a more productive and efficient business.

Select the critical processes and set targets

Monitoring every process on the manufacturing floor is overkill, particularly if you have a diverse range of manual and semi-automated processes. Measuring every process will just lead to too much data…analysis paralysis. Choose wisely. Select the processes that will dictate how well the manufacturing floor is running; critical assembly processes, critical inspection processes and end-of-line packaging processes are a great place to start.

Once you’ve identified the key processes, set realistic targets so that you can tell, from the start, if they are performing well or not. If the operators are clear on when they are falling behind target or when defects and downtime are higher than expected, then they will know the right time to ask for help.

In addition, if you are hitting targets much too easily or not coming close to hitting them at all, then don’t be afraid to adjust them. Just bring the production operators on the journey with you.

Capture the basic data as accurately as possible

Whether you are managing a highly automated manufacturing cell or a labour-intensive assembly line, you must clearly define how data is captured from the process. In automated lines, you may have the benefit of machine sensors to describe how well the equipment is running. In manual assembly, on the other hand, it’s not so easy to quantify how well the processes are performing.

In saying that, you do have one very powerful “sensor” at your disposal; the production operator. In fact, they have 5 senses that they use every day to build products and to observe everything that goes on within and around their process. They are a wealth of information when it’s harnessed correctly.

If you track output, defects and downtime properly, then you are well on the way to better understanding your processes. Make it as easy as possible for the production operators to log this information and you will avoid missed schedules, delays in solving problems and confusion over why targets are not met. Collecting the data through an app-based platform, like Kt-Pulse, takes a lot of guesswork and manual input out of the process.

Visualise the data in a way that everybody understands

Visual management is a key component of lean manufacturing. The more visible you make the information, the quicker you can convey the right information to the right people and improve response times to issues.

Conveying the data through numbers and colours makes the important information stand out much more clearly than written text. The gold standard is the 1-3-10 rule…

• within 1 second, you should know if performance is on target or not
• within 3 Seconds, you should know what the problem is, if not on target and
• within 10 Seconds, you should know what to do next, to focus on fixing the problem

This is difficult in manual assembly environments, where data is typically shared through checksheets, whiteboards or clunky spreadsheets. These are time consuming and cumbersome methods to maintain and therefore, the information is often delayed in getting to the right people. Visualisation software, like Kt-Pulse, automatically displays the data on easy-to-understand dashboards, which frees up your resources to focus on running the manufacturing floor.

Have a clear plan for how you use the data

Visualising the information is critical to monitoring the manufacturing floor. But acting on the data is where the magic happens. Follow these basic rules and you will transform how your manufacturing floor reacts to problems…

• Put an escalation process in place and teach everybody how to use it. This will drastically reduce the impact of downtime
• Run short, sharp team meetings every day to discuss and agree priorities, based on the manufacturing data
• Foster an environment where problems are highlighted, not hidden. This will ensure that the most critical improvement projects are delivered first
• Realise that you can’t solve everything at once. Focus on solving one problem at a time, preferably starting with the biggest

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Anthony Cahill has over twenty years’ experience in various roles within the manufacturing sector. He has primarily worked in manufacturing operations that rely on people working with their hands, fixtures and semi-automated equipment to produce discrete goods across a range of industry types. With a background in lean manufacturing and six sigma principles, he has a passion for looking at challenging manufacturing environments and working with cross-functional teams to transform them into safer and more efficient work spaces for all concerned.

The post So, you’re running your manufacturing floor in the dark: 4 steps to enlightenment appeared first on Kyzentree.

The first thing that springs to mind for many people when they think of manufacturing is hi-tech equipment and precision fixturing. In some highly automated environments, equipment can largely run themselves, but in manual production environments, high skilled workers are required to set up and run the machines and to operate the fixturing.

In these manual, labour-intensive production environments, a cross-functional team is necessary to ensure that products are manufactured on time, to the required quality level and within budget. The information they use to make decisions and their ability to work as a team is critical to how effectively and efficiently the manufacturing floor operates. But who makes up the manufacturing frontline team and what can be done to ensure that they perform at their peak?

The most critical members of the team are the production operators. Without them there is no product, there are no sales, there is no revenue. They are responsible for manufacturing, inspecting and packaging the products that the company sells. They are directly supported by team leads and supervisors who are mainly responsible for ensuring that they have the tools, materials and information that they need to do their job effectively. Process technicians and engineers are there to ensure that the equipment, fixturing and materials operate as intended. While quality technicians and engineers ensure that everything is produced to the required quality and regulatory standards.

There are many things that can go wrong throughout the production shift. That’s normal, that’s life. But how the team responds to these issues can have a huge bearing on how the manufacturing floor operates. Here are 5 ways that middle and senior management can help their manufacturing frontline teams to hum like a finely tuned premier league football team.

1. Switch the mindset of who serves who

The traditional structure in an organisation shows the CEO at the top and the production operators at the bottom, as in figure 1a. Each line of the organisation reports upwards to the next level. This can create the cultural mindset that each layer of the organisation is working for the next layer up, rather than working together to serve customers better. This can have negative consequences in terms of driving improvement where it matters most; on the manufacturing floor.

Now let’s imagine an organisation with the production operators at the top and the CEO at the bottom, as in figure 1b. In this structure, the CEO has the mindset to ask how he or she can help the senior management, who in turn ask how they can support middle management and so on. In effect, everybody is working together to figure out how to streamline all of the processes that affect manufacturing across the entire organisation. This can have huge, positive effects on how the manufacturing floor is run, by constantly looking for opportunities to remove the barriers that are causing inefficiencies on the manufacturing floor.

2. Give the production operators a voice

Production operators live and breathe the problems on the manufacturing floor every day. And not only that, they are a wealth of knowledge when it comes to potential solutions. Okay, so they may not have the expertise to implement solutions alone, but very often there is an abundance of opportunity to implement simple solutions that they can take ownership for. Hear their voice and include them in decision making and they will feel ownership for turning those decisions and improvement opportunities into sustainable successes.

3. Base decisions on good data

W. Edwards Deming once said “without data you’re just another person with an opinion”. And this couldn’t be more relevant than on the manufacturing floor. In manual production environments, operators are required to track manufacturing performance, often using basic tools like tally counters, checksheets and whiteboards. With these tools, it is difficult to get an accurate, real-time picture of how things are going and where the biggest issues lie. As a result poor decisions are made or valuable time is lost in addressing the biggest issues of the day. The impact of this is lower productivity, late shipments and higher costs. To improve decision making and deliver better outcomes, consider investing in digital solutions that will help to…

• Capture much more accurate performance data
• Present the data in real-time without any effort from the frontline team
• Teach everybody how to interpret and respond to the information day-to-day

4. Have daily production meetings with a set structure and time

Okay, so a lot of manufacturing plants have a daily cadence around meetings. But how structured are they and, more importantly, how effective are they? The questions that are asked, the quality of the data being reviewed and the mindset that everybody should leave the meeting with a clear understanding of priorities are all critical to a successful meeting. Throw in some rules like starting and finishing on time and avoiding deep discussions and you are on track to start every shift off on the right note. We’ll talk a lot more about how to run effective daily production meetings in a future blog.

5. Encourage issues to be highlighted

Nobody likes hearing bad news, but it’s inevitable on the manufacturing floor. Accepting this is key. Manufacturing performance data should not be seen as a stick to beat the frontline team with. If the first response to hearing about an issue is to look for a culprit, then don’t be surprised if you create a culture of cover up and fear. Very few people set out to willingly make a mistake, so killing enthusiasm and desire with negative comments is a sure way to de-motivate an otherwise high performing frontline team.

Instead, focus on the positives. Even if the assembly line has an off day, focus on what can be done to improve things in the days ahead. See the “negative trend” as a tool that highlights improvement opportunities. By encouraging the frontline team to identify and quantify issues as early as possible, this will help to drive an open and honest culture of highlighting issues without fear of consequence, which will foster a stronger culture of improvement in the long run

If you want to create more rounded and loyal frontline managers, invest time and effort in helping them to grow. This will foster a culture of honesty, empowerment, positivity and willingness to improve. Ultimately you will create a world class frontline manufacturing team.

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Anthony Cahill has over twenty years’ experience in various roles within the manufacturing sector. He has primarily worked in manufacturing operations that rely on people working with their hands, fixtures and semi-automated equipment to produce discrete goods across a range of industry types. With a background in lean manufacturing and six sigma principles, he has a passion for looking at challenging manufacturing environments and working with cross-functional teams to transform them into safer and more efficient work spaces for all concerned.

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