Don’t Forget the Power of Questions.

We just uncovered a large form of “overproduction” within our office that survived under the radar for several years.  Yes, a few associates said they knew the work we were doing wasn’t necessary, but never made it clear to the right folks to have it addressed. 

Kaizen events didn’t uncover it.  Changes in leadership didn’t uncover it. 

So how did we arrive at the breakthrough?  A new employee asked a simple question… “Why are we performing this task when it doesn’t appear the downstream department has value for it?”  This “task” accounted for several hours of unnecessary production time, each week, (Work that was never charged to our clients, and as well, should not have been charged to them.) 

What’s the lesson to be learned from this discovery?  Remember the power of questions!  They can make the difference between success and failure.

Tips of the Trade: Kaizen (Continuous Improvement) – It’s All About the People

Many business owners try to implement a lean culture to gain efficiencies throughout their company but fail because they struggle to get the buy-in from their employees. You can’t just wave a magic wand and decide one day you’re going to become a lean organization. It takes planning and focus.

While the effort must be directed from the top of the organization, you must utilize your most valuable asset to gain the momentum needed for lasting change – your people. Don’t underestimate the knowledge your employees possess. An effective kaizen event will tap into this knowledge by having a cross functional group decide together on the best way to eliminate waste within the organization. Below is the process we went through to execute 12 successful kaizen events in the last two years.

• Decide on the area of your business that needs the most attention.
• Invite one or two associates from each of your departments to build a mix of talent. Optimum size is 8-15 people.
• Schedule four days to complete the event and don’t let anything pull the team away from its mission.
• Day one should be focused on lean education. Topics might include, “What is waste?”, “The Five S’s” and “Visual Management.” We employed a Lean Consultant to help us through the first three events and then took over the training ourselves after that.
• The next critical step is to have the team decide what can be done to improve the area of focus chosen in step one. Use the next three days to implement these changes together. Have fun! The group will begin to see how their impact can affect the business in a positive way! This is priceless to building a lean culture.
• Celebrate! Take time to celebrate your achievements and share your journey with the rest of your company. Everyone will want to know what’s been happening for the last few days. This will pique the interest of the remaining employees.

It’s important not to let more than 60-90 days pass before holding your next event. There is always an area that can be improved! Kaizen = Continuous Improvement so keep the momentum going and don’t let the flame fizzle out!

Francisco to speak at ICE 2011

Craig Francisco will be conducting a class on L.E. Smith’s lean journey with the attendees of the 2011 ICE convention.  Craig will share his best practices with all who attend in an effort to educate others on how to effectively implement a lean culture into their organizations.

ICE is all about the decorative surfacing professional. This is where fabricators from all over the world congregate to see the latest products, colors, textures, tools, techniques and marketing strategies.

There is an excitement at ICE that comes when the world’s most creative and talented decorative surfacing pros gather for a few short days under the same roof. ICE is engineered to provide ample opportunities for fabricators to socialize on an informal basis, thereby encouraging the free flow of ideas and information.

At the end of the day, it’s all about profitability. At ICE you will gain the knowledge and resources you need to help you increase your bottom line.

It’s where you learn the answers to the questions you didn’t know to ask.  Don’t miss out on this terrific event!

http://countertopexpo.org

KAIZEN – How far we’ve come

I recently spent some time reflecting on the kaizen events we’ve completed since starting our lean journey in April of 2009. It has been a long road with amazing results!

-Along the way we’ve had over 110 associates attend a full week kaizen with over 4000 man hours dedicated to improving our business.

-Our employees have embraced our lean philosophy and there has been a complete culture change with every employee fully engaged in the business.

-Our 100,000 square foot facility is now free of clutter and organized; which in turn has caused our scrap to decrease.

Travelling down the lean path allows problems to become more visible. When a challenge arises we attack it as an opportunity using the kaizen methodology. As a result, internal communication among our associates has improved, our Management team is more confident with our growth plans, and we’ve had a 20% increase in sales!

I believe our adoption of lean principles into our daily business has helped our organization transform into a much stronger company.  Every day we’re faced with challenges and are able to take them with stride because we understand the importance of waste elimination and working collectively as a team.  If you’d like more information about bringing lean into your facility please don’t hesitate to call me. 

Kaizen - Maintenance Department

Kaizen #11 began Monday with classroom presentation on Personal and Joint Accountability, Lean Theory, Waste Identification, Visual Management, and 5S. The team made two visits to the shop floor To identify opportunities for improvement were identified and teams were created to tackle the areas That were identified. The 11-member kaizen team was then reassigned into two teams: 5S and Visual/Layout

Team members from left to right: Aaron Walz, Shawn Eitniear, Scott Buehler, Brent Culler, Mark Apple, Jason Bailey, Craig Francisco, Joyce Russell, Jose Vasquez, Matt Bockover. (not pictured: Monica Sommer)

 5S Team

• Sort and straighten 60 years of Clutter!
• 5S entire department - Clean House
• We've recycled over 7000 pounds of steel
• Removed all items from above the maintenance area- freed up storage space!
• Organized important replacement parts and took inventory of our current state

Visual Management Team

• Created broken tool and equipment tag zone
• Label all cabinets - Easy to locate parts
• Full tool audit was conducted throughout the facility - Recommendation made to buy tools.
• Marking all floors overhead areas to easily display important items - Reduced wait time
• Finalizing a commitment plan for maintenance to have requests completed - We need to keep production moving!

This event was by far our most major 5S task since we implemented our lean initiatives in early 2009.  We had two previous Maintenance Managers that never threw anything way, regardless of its condition!  I’m proud to have been on this team and I’m continually amazed by the level of commitment our associates bring to their job each and every day.  We changed 60 years of past behaviors in 4 days!