Ls Tools And Principles

Preface

The changing business environment along with fierce competition and

pressures from the investors have forced even highly stable and mature

organizations to look for ways of improving productivity and excellence in

every echelon of business. The business gurus and perfectionists have

long been in the process of coining theories and suggesting methodologies

for transforming businesses and sustaining Excellencies. These strategic

initiatives really provide miracle benefits, alone; General Electric claims

benefits worth US $ 12b from six sigma initiatives.

The challenges faced by the various manufacturing sectors are even more

severe and required a pool of strategies to be remained in business.

Though Operational Excellence tools provide equally good mechanism of

achieving accelerated excellence in services and non manufacturing sector

yet it’s applicability in manufacturing sector have harvested un parallel

results and we believe can do even far more better.

Operational excellence is the most advance form of strategic initiatives and

combines all the theories and methodologies in the journey to excellence.

Substantial amount of material on the subject is available on the Internet in

the form of publications, books and articles. Our focus was to exploit these

sources and develop a guide book covering important principles and tools

required for embedding operational excellence as a way of life in

convenient desk top book form.

All our efforts were to precise and concise the available material into a

meaningful and useful publication. Hope, our humble effort will help in

reinforcing the understanding of Operational Excellence Philosophy.

Dr. Abid Ali Sajjad Shaukat

Operational Excellence – Principles and Tools

Table of Contents

1. Data Analysis and Presentationa. Pareto Chartsb. Histogramc. Radar Analysis

2. Issue Analysisa. 5 Whysb. Brainstormingc. Issue Diagramsd. Fishbone Diagrame. Reality Tree

3. Preparing For Changea. FMEAb. Force Field Analysisc. Gantt Chartd. Project Starte. DMAIC Process

4. Process Mappinga. Time Value Mapb. Logical Flow Chartc. Value Stream Mapping d. Load Chartse. IPO Diagram

5. Problem Solvinga. Problem Solving Method

6. Organizing the Workplacea. 5 Sb. Visual Factory

7. Statistical Process Controla. SPC / Control Chartsb. Design of Experiments (DOE)

8. Meeting Toolsa. Spacerb. AAR

9. Additional Toolsa. Prioritization Model b. Kaizen Blitzc. Six Sigma Vs Lean Sigmad. Kanbans

DATA ANALYSIS & PRESENTATION

Pareto Charts

Purpose: To focus efforts on the problems that offers the greatest potential for improvement by showing their

relative frequency or size in a descending bar graph.

When To Use It

It can be used to help a team focus on the causes that will have the greatest impact if solved. It displays the relative importance of problems in a simple, quickly interpreted, visual format. Pareto Charts also help prevent “shifting the problem” where the “solution” removes some causes but worsens others. Underlying Principle

The theory behind Pareto Charts originated in 1897 when an Italian economist called Vilfredo Pareto created a formula representing the uneven distribution of wealth. It showed that 20% of the Italy’s population earned 80% of the wealth. This is otherwise known as the 80-20 rule. The Pareto Principle was extended to: 20% of the sources are responsible for 80% of any issue. This principle was then applied to defect analysis, separating the ‘Vital Few’ from the ‘Trivial Many’. The graphical illustration of this, the Pareto Chart, shows the relative frequency of the sources to provide a prioritisation tool to help organise process improvement activities.

Construction:

PLEASE NOTE THAT GUIDELINES TO TAKE YOU THROUGH THE EXCEL SPREADSHEET PRODUCTION OF PARETO CHARTS ARE

PRESENTED AT THE END OF THIS SECTION.

1. Decide which problem you want to know more about. E.g. Being late to work

2. Choose the causes or problems that will be monitored, compared and ranked.This can be done by brainstorming or with data collection.

For brainstorming (see Brainstorming Module) ask what might be the typical causes, issues or problems surrounding your general problem area.Collect all ideas and then choose the top six - ten issues.

If using the brainstorming method, use Post It notes, with only 1 idea clearly written on each Post-It note in felt tip pen.

E.g. reasons for being late:- Oversleeping (oversleep)- Things to be done at home (house tasks)- Arguing with spouse/ children (argue)- Leaving things behind (go back)- Traffic (traffic)- Had to take kids to school (kids)For data collecting, base these top six - ten issues on existing data.

3. Choose the most meaningful unit of measurement for your issues. This will normally be one of:

- time- frequency- cost- size- errors

E.g. frequency

4. Choose the relevant period of time to be studied.For example, if measuring late deliveries to the customer, doing it over a month may show a different pattern to collecting data over a week. While Fridays may regularly show late deliveries, it may actually be that the bulk of the problems occur at month end or at a particularly busy period in the month. Longer studies tend to translate to better information.

E.g. 1 month

5. Gather the necessary data on each problem category either by ’real time’ or reviewing historical data.

L = lateSEPTEMBER 2001

MON TUES WED THURS FRI SAT SUN1 2

3 L- kids 4 L- go back

5 6 7 8 9

10 L- traffic

11 12 13 L- Oversleep

14 15 16

17 18 L- kids

19 L- kids

20 L - oversleep

21 L- oversleep

22 23

24 L- traffic

25 26 27 L- oversleep

28 29 30

6. Put the data into a table reflecting the unit of measurement and its percentage of the overall total.

REASON FOR LATENESS FREQUENCY PERCENT OF TOTAL

Traffic 2 20%Oversleeping 4 40%Take kids to school 3 30%Left something behind at home 1 10%Arguing with spouse/ kids 0 0Things to be done at home 0 0TOTAL 10 100%

7. Compare the relative frequency or cost of each problem category.

8. Construct your chart.Place the problem categories along the bottom axis (the horizontal one).At the beginning of this axis, place the problem category that has the highest measurement unit, (in our example, frequency) from your data compilation. Then place the next highest frequency category, then the next highest etc.

On the tall axis (the vertical one) place the numbers measuring the frequency of each problem category.

TIP: If you started out with more than 5 or six categories, you may like to group the remaining categories with insignificant frequencies into an ‘Other’ category.

9. Draw the cumulative percentage line showing the portion of the total that each problem category represents.

We can now see from our Cumulative Frequency line that the first two causes contribute 70% of the total reasons.

However it is important to remember that this chart only shows one measurement. If for example, our late to work chart was then calculated with how many minutes each event made you late, you may get quite a different picture.

REASON FOR LATENESS FREQUENCY(from original graph)

HOW LATE (MINUTES)

TOTAL MINS LATE

Traffic 2 15 30 minsOversleeping 4 10 40 minsTake kids to school 3 45 135 minsLeft something behind at home 1 20 20 minsArguing with spouse/ kids 0 5 0 minsThings to be done at home 0 10 0 mins

By incorporating this into our graph, we can see that even though we are most often late by oversleeping, it is when we have to take the kids to school that causes the substantial lateness.

TOOL TAKEAWAY : (remember this if nothing else!) – The most important thing about Pareto charts is to make sure you are analysing the right unit of measurement, in order to effect the real underlying issue.

Computer Tips

Use Excel to complete your Pareto charts.

Make the table of your data collection into an excel spreadsheet. Make sure you include the column titles for whatever unit of measurement you have used, along the top of the table with the causes listed down the left hand side and the frequency recorded in the columns. Your table should have three columns, with the Causes, Frequency and Cumulative Percentage total in the third column. Make sure your Categories are in the correct order with the most frequent at the top of the table.

Once your table is complete, highlight the table, then use the Chart Wizard button to complete the Chart.The chart wizard button looks like

Alternatively on the Chart drop down menu at the top of the page, select the ‘Chart’ option.

Click on the chart wizard and a dialogue box will come up with two option tabs at the top; Standard Types or Custom Types.Select Custom Types, scroll down the chart types until you reach “Line – Column on 2 Axes”.

Once this is selected, click on ‘next’ button at the bottom of the dialogue box.

The next step of the Chart Wizard will bring up the text you have previously highlighted from your table.You should have the Series to be displayed in ‘columns’.Once this is done, click on

At Step three of the chart wizard you should enter in the title of your chart, and the titles of the axes. The X axis is the title of your categories i.e. Reasons For Being Late, while the Y axis is the unit of measurement used, i.e. Number of times late.Click on Next once these boxes are complete.

Select the option to have the graph as an object in either your current worksheet, or if you want the graph on a whole separate page, then select it to be placed as a new sheet.Click on finish and your graph will appear.

To change any of the details, highlight your chart again and go through the steps until you reach the information you want to change.

Alternatively if you click on the part of the chart you want to change (i.e. titles, formatting etc) it should let you change it.

Note any changes to the data in your original table will automatically be reflected in your Pareto Chart.

Interpretation

Generally, the tallest bars indicate the biggest contributors to the overall problem. So normally you would pick these categories to deal with first.

However you need to remember that Pareto charts only deal with one dimension at a time, and other variables may have an impact on your decision making.

See some of the variations suggested below to provide further ideas on interpretation.

Variations

The Pareto Chart is one of the most widely and relatively used improvement tools. The variations used most frequently are:

A. Major Cause Breakdowns in which the “tallest bar” is broken into subcauses in a second, linked Pareto.

For example- breaking down the causes for oversleeping might come down to:- forgot to set alarm- late night the night before- children up all night- slept through the alarm

B. Before and After in which the “new Pareto” bars are drawn side by side with the original Pareto, showing the effect of a change. It can be drawn as one chart or two separate charts.

C. Change the Source of Data in which data is collected on the same problem but from different departments, locations, equipment, and so on, and shown in side-by-side Pareto Charts.

D. Change Measurement Scale in which the same categories are used but measured differently. Typically “cost” and “frequency” are alternated.(in this module, frequency and time were used)

Example Problems (Good to practise on)

* There is never enough milk in the fridge* Types of errors on letters* Types of department complaints

For Further Information:

See your mentor expertSee your local advocateCheck the ‘Memory Jogger’ book (held by advocate)


Histograms

Purpose: It is a visual summary of data that is often difficult to understand in a spreadsheet or tabular form. A histogram summarises data from a process that has been collected over a period of time, and graphically presents

its frequency distribution in bar chart form.

When To Use It

Histograms are useful when you are looking at one issue or problem and trying to make sense of the data collected. It helps you to see whether a piece of data is in the mainstream or is an extreme.Histograms also reflect a range of information, for example, how long it takes people to do a certain task, heights of people in a group etc.

PLEASE NOTE THAT GUIDELINES TO TAKE YOU THROUGH THE EXCEL SPREADSHEET PRODUCTION OF HISTOGRAMS ARE PRESENTED AT THE END OF THE CONSTRUCTION SECTION.

Construction:

1. Decide on the area you wish to investigate.

2. Decide what you want to measure about the issue. Your data must be variable, i.e. measured on a continuous scale. For example: temperature, time, dimensions, height, weight, speed, cost.

i.e. monthly rental on 1 bedroom flat in London

3. Collect data on the issue. The more data points you have the more useful your graph will be.

50 is a good number of data points, as it will reflect any trends. Normally over 50 data points should be collected to see meaningful patterns.

MONTHLY RENTALS FOR 1 BEDROOM FLATS IN LONDON

710 735 740 800 935 980 820855 920 840 870 790 800 880910 1010 790 695 840 820 860870 870 660 835 945 910 995990 1000 1040 880 845 780 785775 710 715 875 890 875 930750 750 965 1000 840 840 695835 910 780 840 780 900 975

4. Divide your data into ‘classes’. This is a measure of grouping all your data into sections.

One way to determine how many classes you should have is the square root rule. Take the number of data points

TIP: You might also want to consider collecting data for a specific period of time, depending on the topic. These may be values recorded on an issue within an hour, a shift, a day, a week etc.

collected, and find the square root. Round it up to the nearest whole number

i.e. n = 56 √56 = 7.48 = 8

5. Determine the range.Take the lowest value in your data points and subtract it from the highest value.i.e. 1040 – 660 = 380

6. Now you know how many classes you are going to have, you need to know how big to make those classes.

To do this, divide the range by the number of classes and round up.i.e. 380 8 = 47.5 = 50 (rounded up to nearest 10)

TIP: as a rough guide, consider this for the number of classes.

NO. OF DATA POINTS NO. OF CLASSESUnder 50 5-76-107-12Over 250 10-20

TIP: It is usually more useful if all class widths are the same. It is easier to compare the areas of 2 rectangles of equal width than to compare the areas of 2 rectangles with different widths.

TIP: Depending on your data, you may find it easier to start at your lowest value and go up in groups of 1, 10, 20, or 100 – whichever seems most obviously appropriate for your data.i.e. heights – classes of 2 inches at a time rents - £50 intervals at a time

7. Now construct your classes.It is important that your first class should contain your lowest value and your last class should contain your highest value.If the first or last class is empty, you may need to change the class width, the number of classes or the anchoring (the number system) of the classes.

650 - 699700 – 749750 – 799800 – 849850 – 899900 – 949950 – 999

1000 - 1049

8. For a final check on your classes, look to make sure they are:- exhaustive – so every data point can be inserted into a class. The classes must span the entire range of data collected.- mutually exclusive - the classes do not overlap and each data point fits into only 1 class.

The usual procedure is to assume that each class interval opens on the left and closes on the right.

Class 1 = 0 – 5 , not incl. 6Class 2 = from 6 up, but not incl. 12Class 3 = from 12 up, but not incl. 18Class 4 = from 18 up, but not incl. 24Class 5 = from 24 up, but not incl. 30Class 6 = from 30 up, but not incl. 36

So the data point 18 would belong in the 4th class, not the third class.

9. Now distribute your data amongst your classes.

6 12 18 24 30 36

650 - 699 660 695 695700 – 749 710 735 740 710 715 750 – 799 790 790 780 785 775 750 750 780 780800 – 849 800 820 840 800 840 820 835 845 840 840 835 840850 – 899 855 880 860 870 870 880 875 890 875 870900 – 949 935 920 910 945 910 910 930 900950 – 999 980 990 995 975 9651000 - 1049 1010 1000 1040 1000

10. Plot the classes along the X (horizontal) axis.

11. Decide on the intervals for the Y axis. This should be in whole numbers and may be in intervals of 1, 2, 5 or 10 depending on how many data points are collected. Once again it will depend on the range or frequency of your data.

12. For each of your classes, count the number of data items that fall into that category (see Variations section for Stem and Leaf diagram). Bring the bar up to this level on the Y axis.

650

- 699

700

– 74

975

0 –

799

800

– 84

985

0 –

899

900

– 94

995

0 –

999

1000

- 10

49

Monthly Rent (£)

Repeat for each one of your classes.

Computer Tips

Use Excel to complete your Histograms.

Make the table of your data collection into an excel spreadsheet. Have a column containing your classes and a second column of their frequency.

Once your table is complete, highlight the table, including column titles then use the Chart Wizard button to complete the Chart.The chart wizard button looks like


Click on the chart wizard and a dialogue box will come up with two option tabs at the top; Standard Types or Custom Types.Select Standard Types, and highlight “Column”.



At Step three of the chart wizard you should enter in the title of your chart, and the titles of the axes. The X axis is the title of your categories i.e. Monthly Rent (£), while the Y axis is the unit of measurement used, i.e. Frequency.Click on Next once these boxes are complete.




Note any changes to the data in your original table will automatically be reflected in your Histogram.

Interpretation

Histograms show centering, dispersion (spread) and shape (relative frequency) of data.

The shape of the Histogram (the frequency distribution) tells us a lost about probability. If a height Histogram was representative of the overall population, we could conclude the probability of finding people v. short (under 65 inches) or very tall (over 72 inches) is low.

The shape of this distribution is called the normal distribution and looks like a bell shaped curve.

Most sets of data fall into a ‘normal’ distribution i.e. there are a lot of medium height people and a few tall and a few short in most populations.

As a Histogram picks up these patterns and expresses them in a graphical form it makes it easy to highlight whether a piece of data is in the mainstream or at an extreme.

Not all data falls conveniently into a normal distribution.Other main possibilities include:

POSITIVELY SKEWED NEGATIVELY SKEWED

BI-MODAL FLAT OR UNITARY

To interpret your Histogram you need to ask:Why this shaped distribution and what is it telling us?

For example, if assessing how long it took to perform a certain task and it falls into normal distribution, you may look to cut out the extremes, in order to have more values fall into the centre.

Alternatively if it is a skewed distribution you may only need to adjust 1 extreme.

Histograms can be good comparison diagrams. Constructing a second Histogram some time after the original may reflect the changes made as steps taken to improve processes.

JUNE DECEMBER

TIME TAKEN TO ANSWER TELEPHONE (seconds)

Here you can see an improvement in times from June to December, suggesting that measures put in place after June have had an effect and increased performance.

Histograms can also be used to examine your data for accuracy and/or process changes.

FIGURE A FIGURE B

10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26

10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26

(seconds)

Figure A is a Histogram with a fairly symmetrical shape with no obvious outliers (extreme data values) which might be due to an error or process change.

However figure B may reflect that the far right data is not a part of the symmetric shaped Histogram.

So it may be a good idea to investigate the far right data in order to check whether it is incorrect, inaccurate or something in the process changed when that data was collected.

Variations

Stem & Leaf Display

The Stem & leaf Display is a cross between a frequency distribution and a histogram.It reflects the shape of the histogram, but displays all the original data points, providing some more detail. While a histogram will show you how many values may fall in a class, it will not reflect the pattern of that data, i.e. Whether or not all the data in the class 18-24 is made up of mostly 18 scores or if it is evenly distributed across the class.

The ‘stem’ of the diagram is normally determined by the leading digit in your collected data.The following ‘leaves’ are then all the numbers in that data set.

For example, if I was collecting data on ages of people buying the latest Oasis CD, I might come up with the following data collection:

18 16 30 29 28 21 1741 8 17 32 26 16 2427 17 17 33 19 18 3127 23 38 33 14 13 2611 28 21 19 25 22 17

12 21 21 25 26 23 2022 19 21 14 45 15 24

Given that all our data was all integers with one or 2 digits, we can use the tens digit as our choice for the stem. The leaf is then the following digit, as illustrated below.Alternatively you can use the classes already determined in preparing your histogram.

Sort or order the data, then the following diagram can be displayed.

Stem Leaf0 81 1 2 3 4 4 5 6 6 7 7 7 7 7 8 8 9 9 9 2 0 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 5 6 6 6 7 7 8 8 9 3 0 1 2 3 3 4 84 1 5

So the Stem & Leaf display still shows the individual elements in each class, while still retaining the ‘feel’ or ‘shape’ of a histogram.


* ages of people at work* how many cups of tea people drink* how long it takes people to get to work


See your mentor expertSee your local advocateCheck the ‘Memory Jogger’ book(held by advocates)


Radar Charts

Purpose: To visually show in one graphic the size of gaps among a number of both current performance

areas and ideal performance areas.

When To Use It

Radar Charts are useful to illustrate strengths and weaknesses in important areas of performance.

Construction:

PLEASE NOTE THAT GUIDELINES TO TAKE YOU THROUGH THE EXCEL SPREADSHEET PRODUCTION OF RADAR CHARTS ARE

PRESENTED AT THE END OF THIS SECTION.

1. Decide on the issue to be assessed. It may be the performance of an organization, groups or process.

i.e. skill areas I need to improve to go for a job promotion

2. Assemble the right team of people capable of rating the selected organization, group or process. Try to get varied perspectives to avoid ‘blind spots’.

i.e. probably just me, or if appropriate, my boss or my partner

3. Select the rating categories. On average, choose between 5-10 categories you want to rate performance on.

Brainstorm to create the categories. Alternatively, if you have done previous study of this issue, you may like to use the category headings from an Issue Diagram (see Issue Diagram Module)

i.e. people managementbudgetingproblem solving & facilitationcommunication skillscomputer skillsindustry knowledge & experience

4. One you have your headings, if possible see if there are any similarities between them.

For example you may like to have the categories of Financial Performance and Share Price close together or Number of Staff and Training for example.

i.e. people managementcommunication skillsproblem solving & facilitationbudgeting computer skillsindustry knowledge & experience

5. Once selected, define your rating categories. Determine the definition on non-performance and full performance within each category so that ratings are done consistently. For each definition assign it a number in a range. Make it the same number for all categories.

i.e. 1 = non performance, 5 = full performance

CATEGORY 1 2 3 4 5People Management

No experience managing people

Managed teams of at least 5 people

Managed teams of at least 10 people in a variety of situations. (min 5 different situations)

Communication Skills

Problem communicating with people; formally or informally

Good at presenting on topics to various groups

Comfortable with communicating with all levels of staff in many situations

Prob Solv & Facilitation

Unable to work through Prob Solving process independently

Can demonstrate problem solving skills in small groups

Comfortable taking unfamiliar groups through complex problem solving workshops

Budgeting No experience of managing or being responsible for a budget

Able to budget and stick to budget on less complex projects

Advanced level of budgeting skills; able to deliver accurate budgets on complex issues

Computer Skills Limited knowledge of Microsoft word and excel

Substantial knowledge of word, excel, powerpoint and access

Advanced knowledge of Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Access and Microsoft Project

Industry Know. & Exp

Role experience in 1 sector

Worked in wide range of roles within the company over the last five years

Worked in more than one company in the industry, in a range of roles over last 10 years.

6. Decide what rating your ideal should contain in each of the categories. This can be done based on a subjective assessment, or on information available, but should be agreed upon by the whole group.

JOB XYZ COMPETENCIES RATING REQUIRED

People Management 5Communication Skills 5Problem Solving & Facilitation Skills 5Budgeting 3Computer Skills 3Industry Knowledge & Experience 4

7. Using a large piece of flipchart paper, draw as many spokes as there are rating categories.

Write down each rating category at the end of each spoke around the perimeter of the wheel, paying attention to any links you highlighted between categories in step 4, placing them next to each other.

Mark each spoke on a 0 to ‘n’ scale where n is the highest number on your scale in step 5 = highest performance. The ‘0’ at the centre is equal to ‘no performance’.

8. Rate all performance categories. Performance can be

measured objectively or subjectively.

Get each individual to make their own rating. These ratings can either be recorded on your Radar Chart using markers or coloured stickers directly on to the flipchart or they can be written down.

Once individual ratings have been determined, the final ratings for each category should be decided by either consensus or an average of individual scores.

JOB XYZ COMPETENCIES CURRENT RATING

People Management 3Communication Skills 4Problem Solving & Facilitation Skills 3Budgeting 4Computer Skills 3Industry Knowledge & Experience 2

9. Record final ratings on chart, as well as the required rating measures.

10. Connect the team ratings for each category and highlight as needed.

TIP: make team ratings highly visible on the chart – make sure it is distinguishable from individual team members ratings if these have been recorded directly on to the flipchart.

Computer Tips

Use Excel to complete your Radar Charts.

Make the table of your data collection into an excel spreadsheet. Have one column for your Category heading, one column for your Required Rating and one column for your Current Rating. Once your table is complete, highlight the table, then use the Chart Wizard button to complete the Chart.The chart wizard button looks like


Click on the chart wizard and a dialogue box will come up with two option tabs at the top; Standard Types or Custom Types.Select Standard Types, and highlight “Radar”.



At Step three of the chart wizard you need to enter in the title of your chart.Click on Next once this is complete.




Note any changes to the data in your original table will automatically be reflected in your Radar Chart.

Interpretation

The interpretation of your Radar Chart lies in the difference between the two shapes. The Radar chart will show you what areas you have not yet reached the required performance level and also what areas you have exceeded the required performance level.

Using our example, our skill level was fine for the competencies of Computer Skills and Budgeting, but our skill levels were not up to the required level for Industry Knowledge & Experience, People Management, Communication and Problem Solving & Facilitation Skills.

The overall ratings will identify the categories with the biggest performance gaps. However it will not show the relative importance of the categories themselves.

For example, the potential employer may believe that not being up to scratch on People Management is not as important as having the right level of skills for Communication. They may decide that sending you on a course will take you near enough to the required level.

When selecting a performance measure to improve, work on the biggest gap in the most critical category.

For our job at XYZ, the area requiring the most work might be our Industry Knowledge & Experience and our Problem Solving & Facilitation skills.

The Radar Chart works well as a visual ‘report card’. It can be used to review progress towards a required

state over time. Post the Radar Chart in a prominent place. Review progress regularly and update the chart accordingly.Variations

A Radar Chart doesn’t have to measure performance but can also be a pictorial reflection of the ‘shape’ of the issue, reflecting its priorities.

Given the same categories the shape can then be redrawn to reflect the change needed to move away from the ‘old’ shape to the ‘new’ shape.Work can then begin on how to achieve this process.

One Radar Chart can also reflect the range of ratings within the team, the average team rating, the deserved level of performance for each category and the level required to be world class standard per that category.


* 5s in your area (see module on 5S)* options for buying a new car


See your mentor expertSee your local advocateCheck the ‘Memory Jogger’ book (held by advocates)

ISSUES ANALYSIS

5 Whys Analysis

Purpose: To be able to move past symptoms and get to the true root cause of a problem.

When To Use It

The 5 Whys Analysis is a good tool to use when you quickly want to get to the root cause of a problem. It can be used in conjunction with a Fishbone Analysis (see Fishbone Analysis Module) and Pareto Chart (see Pareto Chart Module).

Construction:

The 5 Whys Analysis is a brainstorming technique that identifies root cause by asking WHY events occurred or conditions existed.

The simple yet powerful tool gets you write down the problem and ask why, peeling back the layers unitl you get to a root cause. It involves selecting one event associated with an action and asks why the event occurred. This produces the most direct cause for each event. Then, for each of these sub events or cause, in turn you need to ask why that happened.It has been found that by the time you ask why 5 times, and got 5 sensible answers, you can normally see where the problem originated, thereby enabling you to treat the root cause rather than the symptoms.

Example of Using 5 Whys To Discover Root Cause

PROBLEM: There is a damp patch on the ceiling

Because water is dripping through from the roof

Because there is a hole under the eaves

Because birds have been nesting there

Because they can’t nest in the trees

Because there are no trees tall enough for them to stay out of reach of the cat!!

So need to secure hole in eaves and provide birdhouse that cat can’t get to.

If you can’t finish the 5 Whys, because you get stuck on an ‘I don’t know’ answer, you need to go out and find out why, before continuing with the 5 Whys Analysis.

TIP: Ensure that the 5 Whys still make sense when you read them backwards.

Example from a kitchen range manufacturer

PROBLEM: There is too much work in process inventory, yet we never seem to have the right parts.

The enamelling process is unpredictable, and the press room does not respond quickly enough.

It takes them too long to make a changeover between parts, so the lot sizes are too big, and often the wrong parts.

Many of the stamping dies make several different parts, and must be reconfigured in the tool room between runs, which takes as long as eight hours.

The original project management team had cost overruns on the building site work, so they skimped on the number of dies they traded dedicated dies and small lot sizes for high work-in process (which was not measured by their project budget!)

ROOT CAUSE:Company management did not understand lean Manufacturing and they did not set appropriate targets when the plant was launched.

Example using the template:

WHY? 1

WHY? 2

WHY? 3

WHY? 4

WHY? 5

TIP: Quite often, a 5 Whys Analysis will point to the root cause being a management or training issue!

This template gathers information to help you complete your 5 Whys Analysis. This form captures historical data, problem priorities, Pareto analysis, corrective action and verification.

1. As you can see from the template, the first step is to establish the primary cause of the error. You can do this by either using a Pareto Chart (See Pareto Chart Module) or a Fishbone Diagram (See Fishbone Diagram Module).

2. Once the top cause has been selected, then ask the question as to why that happens 5 times.

3. Once root cause is determined, establish temporary and permanent measures to correct the error.

4. Update in three months time to show improvement.

Historical Example:

FOR WANT OF A NAIL A SHOE WAS LOSTFOR WANT OF A SHOE A HORSE WAS LOSTFOR WANT OF A HORSE A RIDER WAS LOSTFOR WANT OF A RIDER AN ARMY WAS LOST

FOR WANT OF AN ARMY A BATTLE WAS LOSTFOR WANT OF A BATTLE A WAR WAS LOST

FOR WANT OF A WAR A KINGDOM WAS LOSTAND ALL FOR THE WANT OF A LITTLE HORSESHOE NAIL.


* why is the monthly report always late?* why do I always get injured playing sport?* why do we have high staff turnover in our department?


See your mentor expertSee your local advocate

ISSUES ANALYSIS

Brainstorming

Purpose: To establish a common method for teams to creatively and efficiently generate a high volume of ideas on any topic by creating a process that is free of criticism

and judgment.

When To Use It

Can be used individually, but is usually more effective in a group when you need to generate a lot of ideas; whether they be solutions or causes or data.Brainstorming is a well known but often badly practised technique – it is important to learn to use it properly.

Also remember that many solutions to complex problems come from ideas that might seem ‘crazy’ at first, so brainstorming is intended to encourage fresh thinking and ‘crazy’ ideas.

Rules For Brainstorming:

There are five simple rules designed to prevent barriers to the flow of ideas.

1. NO CRITICISMThere should be no criticism of any ideas thrown up during a session. This means suspending any judgement of ideas and suggestions until the appropriate time.

No criticism is important as what may seem unrealistic and way off base can sometimes be enough to develop into a good idea or inspire someone else along a different track altogether.

Remember that the brain is a complex machine and our thoughts are rarely in a logical ordered fashion, but instead tend to jump around randomly – there is no telling what can spark off a great suggestion from someone else.

2. FREEWHEELINGOften we have our best ideas when our brain waves are in the so-called ‘Theta’ pattern. This occurs when we are just dropping off to sleep, just waking up, driving on a long journey or relaxing in a bath or shower, times during which our minds roam free. It is this state you should try and encourage in a brainstorming session.As such, freewheeling encourages people to come up with random ideas ‘off the top of their heads’. Don’t worry about how

TIP: This can be very challenging and difficult to deal with! Perhaps have a forfeit of penalty system for those “Yes, but…” people. This should also apply to body language as well, which can also be negative and critical.Also, make sure you don’t succumb to self censorship, criticising in your head what you are thinking that might stop you from suggesting ideas.

TIP: Maybe spend a few minutes concentrating on the most way-out ideas possible concerning the current topic as part of your brainstorming session.

impractical the ideas are. In fact brainstorming sessions are much more effective if really crazy ideas are encouraged.

There are two ways to record the ideas from the brainstorm.The first is to have everyone call out the ideas and have a scribe write them down. This lets others generate ideas from everyone else’s ideas, but it can be difficult to get all the ideas down and quieter members of the group may not be heard. The second approach is to have individuals’ complete Post-It notes, using 1 Post-It per idea. This approach is effective where you may have a mix of seniority or someone that exerts personal power and others withdraw. It can also let you move the ideas around once the brainstorming process is finished. However, be aware that the Post-It note approaches which can sometimes mean people get caught up in their own thinking channel without an opportunity to be inspired by the ideas from everyone else. If the Post-It note approach is used, ensure there is time set aside to read out each of the Post-It notes – with NO criticism – and then a few further minutes for any last minute brainstorms.

To decide which approach to use, the facilitator should ask the group which approach they would prefer, and try and gain consensus.Whichever approach is used, the facilitator needs to make sure the points noted are accurate and specific enough.

3. QUANTITYBrainstorming promotes quantity over quality. Take existing suggestions or ideas and use them as a springboard for further possibilities.

Typically groups might like to aim at producing 100 ideas in 20 minutes, although if a brainstorming session is going well, a list of 250 ideas can easily be produced.

4. RECORD ALL IDEASEvery single idea must be written down, however extraordinary it may seem, and even if it is that same as a previous idea but expressed in a different way.

It is also important to make sure the group can see the list being compiled.The scribe, who should be someone different to the facilitator, needs to write the ideas on flipchart paper and the sheets need to be posted around the room when full so that they remain in view and therefore ‘live’.

5. INCUBATEIf possible, give yourself an opportunity to process the ideas. ‘Sleeping on it’ ensures you have had the chance to really think about the brainstormed suggestions. This is not always possible but do try and put some kind of break in there, even if it is just for 5 or 10 minutes.

Steps For Running Brainstorming Meetings:

As well as the rules of brainstorming there are also some steps to note in running a successful brainstorming meeting and evaluating the ideas after they have been incubated.

Step One:

TIP: All team members should be prepared to help the scribe get all ideas down by repeating themselves. The scribe should abbreviate as much as possible without changing the content of the suggestion.

TIP: Many problem solving groups incubate their brainstorming sessions for a week and come back to the lists at the next group meeting with a further few minutes of brainstorming to see if any more ideas have occurred to anyone during the week.

Restate, write up and reinforce the rules of Brainstorming! It can be easy to assume everyone can slot into the role of brainstorming- they won’t. So make sure you promote the rules and stick to them.

Step Two:Write up the subject to be brainstormed.

This can either be a problem statement, or a subject proceeded by the phrase “what are all the ways we can…?”

Make sure you do write the heading up clearly to make sure the group stays focussed on the topic at hand.Ensure the statement is clearly stated and everyone has the same understanding.

Step Three:Start the ideas coming.

You can do this in a structured way by going around the room and taking it in turns to call out ideas. If someone can not think of a suggestion he or she just says ‘pass’ and the next person carries on so as not to halt the flow of ideas.

TIP: If using a problem statement, make sure it doesn’t seem to suggest a solution. Problem statements that read “We need more space” suggest a solution that will have everyone only thinking down one track. A better problem statement would be “The work area is congested”.

1. NO CRITICISM2.FREEWHEEL3.QUANTITY4.RECORD ALL IDEAS5. INCUBATE

This way makes sure everyone is involved and ideas come one at a time which makes it easier to record them.

However the unstructured approach is generally more popular.This is more a free for all session, letting anyone call out an idea at any time. This is more difficult for the person writing to keep up with, but has the advantage of letting the ideas come more freely which results in better quality brainstorming.

Let people know how long the generating ideas part will go for; this will make it easier for people to suspend their negative tendencies to criticise and evaluate immediately if

they know how long they have to suspend them for.However make sure you remain flexible with this rule. Sometimes there can be a lot lost by restricting people to time – if ideas are flowing, or conversely not flowing at all, people may need a bit more time.

The role of facilitator is important here. The facilitator should be able to appreciate when to step in to start off the flow of ideas and when to ease off and let the ideas run. Once the flow of ideas has started to plateau or stall, the facilitator should step in and try rephrasing the topic to get a different angle. Example questions might be:

- What would you like done differently about XYZ?- What’s dumb about what we do?- What do other people perceive as problems in this area?

- What things or areas could we make better?

Towards the end of the time ask for any last suggestions to give people a chance to get any last thoughts down.

Step Four:Record all ideas and make sure the list is visible to all group members as mentioned in Brainstorming Rule 4.

Step Five:As mentioned in rule 5 of the Brainstorming rules, incubating the ideas is an important and valuable part of the process.Maybe post the list of brainstormed suggestions somewhere in the work area. This keeps the subject in mind and can help the incubation process.

Step Six:Now you need to evaluate the ideas. The best way of organising the evaluation is to begin by grouping the items on the list into themes. This should be before any items are rejected as being impractical.

Once sorted, each theme can then be examined to find instant winners, ideas that can be quickly and easily implemented.For a problem solving session you can also evaluate the ideas using the Pareto Principle (see module on Pareto Charts) to isolate the one or two ideas that would solve most of the problem.

Variations

To generate the flow of ideas you may like to switch between the structured and unstructured method of brainstorming. If the group is silent early on, or if the manager has had a lot of input early on, start off in the freewheeling mode and then switch to the round robin, structured fashion.Or if people start to fidget waiting for their turn, switch to the free wheeling session, but ensure everyone gets a turn to be heard.

Try and make your brainstorming sessions something different. Another rule could be: Don’t Treat It Like A Meeting. Sitting around a table can be boring, so encourage people to get up and pace around or even just stay standing - this can contribute to the ‘Eureka!’ effect. You may also like to give everyone access to paper and bright coloured pens. Sometimes just doodling can spark off ideas, or alternatively instead of writing the statement to be brainstormed, draw the situation to further stimulate creative minds.

One further idea is to bring in at least one employee whois NOT affiliated intimately with the initiative being discussed. This allows an impartial witness to any short-sightedness and lets you show other departments how good you are!!

The following are two articles written about the brainstorming process at Ideo, one of Silicone Valleys foremost creative product design companies.

7 Secrets to Good Brainstorming

Generating rafts of good ideas is Ideo’s business. Here’s how this world-class product-development firm keeps the lightbulbs blazing bright. by Linda Tischler

According to The Economist's Innovation Survey, half of the U.S. economy's current growth comes from companies that didn't exist 10 years ago. Corporate titans have learned to fear the prodigy in his dorm room or the garage-based whiz kid who's forging a bullet with their company's name on it. "Innovate or die" is not an idle threat. It's the harsh reality of the modern, fast-forward economy. Silicon Valley-based Ideo has sparked some of the most innovative products of the past decade -- the Apple mouse, the Polaroid I-Zone Pocket Camera, and the Palm V, among others. But Ideo staffers don't just sit around waiting for good ideas to pop into their heads. The company has institutionalized a process whereby ideas are coaxed to the surface through regular, structured brainstorming sessions. At Ideo, idea-generation exercises are "practically a religion," Kelley says. On any given day, multiple brainstorming sessions may spawn hundreds of ideas and burn through just as many chocolate-chip cookies, the preferred fuel of world-class idea mongers. Indeed, collective idea generation is so important at Ideo that a staffer caught trying to noodle a problem alone at his desk may be called on the carpet for wasting his time and the client's money. "The social ecology at many American companies says that when you're stuck, you're supposed to go back to your desk and think harder, because you were hired for your skills," Kelley says. "At Ideo, the culture is exactly the opposite. You have a social obligation to get help." But a poorly planned brainstorming session could cause more harm than good, That's why Ideo follows strict rules for sparking good ideas. Some are simple truths: Morning meetings work best; 3 - 10 participants should take part; and cookies always spur creativity. Some, like those outlined below, are a bit more refined.

1. Sharpen the focus.Start with a well-honed statement of the problem at hand. Edgy is better than fuzzy. The best topic statements focus outward on a specific customer need or service enhancement rather than inward on some organizational goal.

2. Write playful rules.Ideo's primary brainstorming rules are simple: "Defer judgment" and "One conversation at a time." The firm believes in its rules so strongly that they're stenciled in 8-inch letters on conference-room walls. "If I'm the facilitator and somebody starts a critique or people start talking, I can enforce the rules

without making it feel personal," Kelley says. Other rules include, "Go for quantity," "Be visual," and "Encourage wild ideas."

3. Number your ideas."This rule seems counterintuitive -- the opposite of creativity," Kelley says. "But numbered lists create goals to motivate participants. You can say, 'Let's try to get to 100 ideas.' Also, lists provide a reference point if you want to jump back and forth between ideas."

4. Build and jump.Most brainstorming sessions follow a power curve: They start out slowly, build to a crescendo, and then start to plateau. The best facilitators nurture the conversation in its early stages, step out of the way as the ideas start to flow, and then jump in again when energy starts to peter out. "We go for two things in a brainstorm: fluency and flexibility," Kelley says. "Fluency is a very rapid flow of ideas, so there's never more than a moment of silence. Flexibility is approaching the same idea from different viewpoints."

5. Make the space remember.Good facilitators should also write ideas down on an accessible surface. Ideo used to hold its brainstorms in rooms wallpapered with whiteboards or butcher paper. Lately, however, the group has started using easel-sized Post-it notes. "When the facilitator tries to pull together all the ideas after the session," Kelley says, "she can stack up nice, tidy rectangular things instead of spreading butcher paper all the way down the hall."

6. Stretch your mental muscles.Brainstorming, like marathon running, should begin with warm-up exercises. Ideo studied various methods of prepping for a session. For a project on the toy industry, for example, Ideo divided the group into three teams: The first team did no preparation. The second listened to a lecture on the technology involved and read background books. The third team took a field trip to a toy store. Far and away, the toy-store team produced ideas in greater quantity and quality than the other two.

7. Get physical.At Ideo, brainstorming sessions are often occasions for show-and-tell. Participants bring examples of competitors' products, objects that relate to the problem, or elegant solutions from other fields as springboards for ideas. Ideo also keeps materials on hand -- blocks, foam core, tubing -- to build crude models of a concept.

Six Surefire Ways to Kill a Brainstorm

Coming up with good ideas -- even in an ideal environment -- is hard work. But these tactics will guarantee failure. by Linda Tischler

A poorly planned brainstorming session could cause more harm than good. And more frustration than anything else. That's why Silicon Valley design firm Ideo follows strict rules for sparking good ideas. These are not those rules. The six strategies below are absolute no-no's -- surefire innovation killers from Tom Kelley, general manger of Ideo Product Development.

1. Let the boss speak first.Nothing kills a brainstorming session like a dominating CEO or the brownnosers who rush to agree with his every statement. Ideo recommends that bosses lock themselves out of idea-generation sessions all together. Send him out for doughnuts, and you'll get better results.

2. Give everybody a turn.Kelley remembers packing 16 people into a room for one particular meeting. Each person had two minutes to speak. It was democratic. It was painful. It was pointless. It was a performance, not a brainstorm. "In a real brainstorm, the focus should never be on just one person," Kelley says.

3. Ask the experts only.When it comes to generating truly innovative ideas, deep expertise in a field can actually be a drawback. "In a brainstorm, we're looking for breadth," Kelley says. Cross-pollination from seemingly unrelated fields can lead to authentic breakthroughs.

4. Go off-site.By conducting off-site brainstorming sessions, you only reinforce the concept that great ideas only come on the beach or at high altitudes -- not in the proximity of your daily work.

5. No silly stuff.Kelley remembers one brainstorming session doomed by the boss's opening remarks: All ideas had to result in something the firm could patent and manufacture. The silence that followed was deafening. Silly is important. Wild ideas are welcome. Brainstorming should be fun.

6. Write down everything.Obsessive note taking is toxic to brainstorming. It shifts the focus to the wrong side of the brain. It makes the session feel like History 101. Doodles and sketches are fine. A short note that preserves a thought is acceptable. But detailed writing destroys momentum, dissipates energy, and distracts

from the main purpose of the exercise: unfettered thinking. Each session should have an assigned scribe who records suggestions. And that person should not be the group facilitator.


* Where to go for my birthday* Christmas presents* Coming up with a name for a rock band* Promotion ideas for a business



ISSUES ANALYSIS

Issue Diagrams

Purpose: To identify the problem attributes and the specific areas that you are going to address. It will not

provide solutions.

When To Use It

The Issue Diagram is a tool that you can use as an individual when you have a specific problem/ objective or in a team environment where you are trying to get consensus in what the problem is. It can be especially powerful in multi-functional discussions. You can use the Issue Diagram when you have a lot of issues around a topic as it allows you to organise and summarise natural groupings to understand the essence of a problem.

Construction:

Two methods: Top Down and Bottom Up.Generally Bottom Up is easiest to use.

Bottom Up:

1. Place 2-3 pieces of Flipchart paper on the wall.

2. On a whiteboard, or separate piece of Flipchart paper, write a broad problem statement. It should be as generic as possible and brought into by everybody.i.e. “I can’t afford to buy a house”Alternatively you can write down an effect i.e. “The Zido cycle is too long”

3. Brainstorm by asking “what are all the issues contributing to this problem?”.Follow the brainstorming rules (see Brainstorming Module). A quick summary of the brainstorming rules are:

4. Use thin tipped felt pens on Post-It notes. This makes it easy for everyone to read. It is also important to use

1. NO CRITICISM2. FREEWHEEL3. QUANTITY4. RECORD ALL IDEAS5. INCUBATE

TIP: You may like to initially limit the number of Post-Its given out in order to make it easier to pull the diagram together. Aim for a potential total of about 30-40 issues and distribute a set number of Post-Its to group members (depending on the number of people in the group), remembering to stick to 1 issue per Post-It.

Post-Its so that you can shift ideas into groups as necessary. Make sure there is only 1 idea per Post-It.

5. Be prepared to put things to one side if you are getting bogged down – return when appropriate. Don’t allow solutions to be discussed. Don’t lay blame – encourage openness and honesty.

6. Collate the issues into groups. You should aim to have

3-6 major categories. If you have too many more you will end up with too much detail.

7. It should be up to the facilitator to decide the process for grouping. Depending on time, the facilitator may like to start grouping while everyone else is brainstorming. The facilitator may also like to do the sorting if they have a pre determined idea of the sort of groups they would like to see it split into. This doesn’t need to be a hard and fast sorting process but good as a prompt.

TIP: Don’t make your points too technical. Outputs are often shared with people outside the meeting or workshop – so try to avoid using language they might not understand.

Interest rates too high

In competition with other buyer Haven’t saved

enough for deposit

Problem with bank & savings history

Preferred house too big and expensive

Started smoking

Don’t earn enough

Market prices too high

Bank requirements too strict

Only looking in expensive area

Need to keep savings for backup – job situation

Not earning good interest rate on savings

Bills too highMoney tied up in shares

I CAN’T AFFORD TO BUY A HOUSE

Alternatively, without talking, get everyone to sort the ideas simultaneously. Sorting in silence will focus everyone on the meaning behind and the connections among all ideas, instead of emotions and ‘history’ that often arrives in discussions.Move the Post-Its where they fit best for you; don’t ask, simply move any notes you think belong in another grouping.

If an idea is moved back & forth, try to see the logical connection the other person is making. It may be a good idea to create a duplicate Post-It if agreement can’t be reached.

TIP: It is ok for some notes to stand alone. These loners can be as important as others that fit into groupings naturally.

I CAN’T AFFORD TOi BUY A HOUSE



Money tied up in shares



Don’t earn enough

Haven’t saved enough for deposit

Bills too high

Started smoking



In competition with other buyer



8. Write a statement that summarises each group on a header card or Post-It. It is possible a Post-It within the grouping becomes a header card. However don’t just choose the “closest one” because its convenient. Creating a new, accurate header card can often lead to breakthrough ideas.

9. Test each ‘major category’. Are they mutually exclusive? If not, why not? Review the categories to make them mutually exclusive.

10. Refine and tighten the original problem statement.

11. Review the diagram.

Have all the issues been captured? Can any of the major categories be broken down further? Do they need to be?

BANKEARNINGS & EXPENSES

HOUSE MARKET

I’M HAVING PROBLEMS SAVING FOR A HOUSE DEPOSIT

I’M HAVING PROBLEMS SAVING FOR A HOUSE DEPOSIT

BANKEARNINGS & EXPENSES

HOUSE MARKET



Money tied up in shares



Don’t earn enough

Haven’t saved enough for deposit

Bills too high


Started smoking


In competition with other buyer



Top Down:

1. Place 2-3 pieces of Flipchart paper on the wall.

2. Start with a problem statement. Place it at the top of the page.

3. Brainstorm ‘major categories’ that are contributing to the problem. Write them descending from the problem statement. Aim for 3-6 major categories

SPENDING INVESTMENT AMOUNT FOR DEPOSIT

EARNINGS

TIP: Make sure your problem statement doesn’t seem to suggest a solution. Problem statements that read “We need more space” suggest a solution that will have everyone only thinking down one track. A better problem statement would be “The work area is congested”.

I AM HAVING PROBLEMS SAVING FOR A HOUSE DEPOSIT


4. Test each ‘major category’. Are they mutually exclusive? If not, why not? Review the categories to make them mutually exclusive. Make sure there is no overlap between categories. This is because you want to spend your time sorting your issues – not arguing over the most appropriate category!

5. Take each ‘major category’ and break down into specific components. Brainstorm.

Following the brainstorming rules (see module on Brainstorming), brainstorm all of the issues that are contributing to the problem.A quick summary of the brainstorming rules are:

6. Use thin tipped felt pens on Post-It notes. This makes it easy for everyone to read. It is also important to use Post-Its so that you can shift ideas into groups as necessary.

7. Be prepared to put things to one side if you are getting bogged down – return when appropriate. Don’t allow solutions to be discussed. Don’t lay blame – encourage openness and honesty.


8. Review the issue diagram have all of the issues been captured? Can any of the major categories be broken down further? Do they need to be?



EARNINGS

Rent

Transport

Amount Invested

Interest Rate

Other Buyers

Type Of Job

Bonuses

Overtime available

Promotion Opportunity

Qualifications

Job Stability

Salary

Area House is In

Amount Already Saved

Savings History

Lenders Requirement

Size Of House

Road

Luxuries i.e cigarettes

Clothes

Money Tied Up In Shares

Type Of Account

Bills

Children

Entertainment

Holidays

Insurance

Hobbies



EARNINGS

Rent

Amount Invested

Interest Rate

Other Buyers

Type Of Job

Bonuses

Overtime available

Promotion Opportunity

Qualifications

Job Stability

Salary

Area House is In

Amount Already Saved

Savings History

Lenders Requirement

Size Of House

Money Tied Up In Shares

Type Of Account

Bills

Transport

Food

Luxuries i.e cigarettes

Clothes

Entertainment

Insurance

Hobbies

Children

Holidays

GasPhoneElectric

ContentsCarMedical

Interpretation

Look at the issue diagram and through the team identify the perceived major causes for the problem. Prove the major cause i.e. collate data to prove the theoryMove to Solution mode – identify what you are going to do.You may choose to deal with the area with the most causes, or some causes may stick out as being more significant than others.


Deciding what school to send your children toDeciding where to go on holidayA process is taking too longThe work area is too crowded


See your mentor expertSee your local advocateCheck the ‘Memory Jogger’ book(held by advocates

ISSUES ANALYSIS

Cause & Effect / Fishbone Analysis

Purpose: To determine the root cause(s) of the problem so that solutions will have an impact on the real problem and not just the effects of the problem.

When To Use It

When you need to explore, identify and graphically display, in increasing detail, all of the possible causes or variables related to a problem, condition or process to discover its root cause.

Construction:

1. Decide what you are trying to achieve. Are you trying to solve a problem or are you trying to identify variables in a process?

For a problem solving tool, devise the problem statement that best describes the issue you want to determine the root cause of.This statement should describe the problem, be clear and concise and understood by everyone. i.e. The car is going through petrol faster

If using the tool to identify variables in a process, then write down the name of the process. E.g. hplc method reference

2. Tape together 3 pieces of flipchart paper and place on wall.

3. Write the problem statement/ process name in a box in the middle of the far right hand side of the paper, at the ‘head’ of the fish, followed by a line which is the ‘backbone’.

4. Depending on which version you are using, there are two ways to categorise the causes.

The causes can be determined by a) representing each step in the process involved (a

process classification type fishbone) or b) deciding the ‘major’ causes for problem solving and

then asking of each major cause: - ‘why does this happen?’ (a dispersion analysis type fishbone)

5. From the ‘back bone’ of the fish, draw one fishbone for each major cause category or step in the process.

PROBLEM STATEMENT/

PROCESS


For a Process Classification Type Fishbone, a maximum of 6-8 major steps should be identified, to ensure major classes of cause.

For a Dispersion Analysis Type Fishbone, the most common way to group the major causes is under the 6 M categories: Manpower/ Machines/ Measurement/ Methods/ Materials/ Mother Earth (Environment).

6. Generate the major causes to build the diagram. These causes many come from:

- brainstorming (see Brainstorming Module)- data collection

TIP: Other types of groupings may be Places/ Procedures/ People/ Policies or Surroundings/ Suppliers/ Systems/ Skills.Don’t confine yourself to these however; add and delete categories as you feel are appropriate. Make the categories fit the problem. For example, particular problem statements may mean you need to focus on areas such as Communications or Training, so you should add a ‘fishbone’ for this.

PROBLEM STATEMENT

MEASUREMENT METHODS MATERIALS

MANPOWER MACHINES ENVIRONMENTAL

Group members can call out suggestions for causes/ variables to the facilitator. The group member should also state which category the cause comes under. If they don’t know, then the facilitator should decide, as opening up a discussion for each cause will make the process very long!

Another recommended alternative is to use Post It notes for each idea. This makes it easier to move causes around between category as well as re-word them at a later date if necessary. Also use thin tipped felt tip pens so that everyone can read the Post Its.

If you are having problems getting ideas started, use the cause categories as catalyst questions.For example, what in “materials” might cause the car to be going through petrol faster?

7. Make sure you follow the Brainstorming rules to get the best ideas. Remember Brainstorming is about quantity over quality. (Refer Module on Brainstorming).

A quick summary of the brainstorming rules are:


8. Place the brainstormed or data based causes from Step 3 in the appropriate categories on the ‘bones’.

9. For each cause listed on the bones, ask repeatedly:-why does it happen? OR-what could happen?This will give rise to a deeper understanding of the problem and identify further causes.

MEASUREMENT

METHODS MATERIALS

MANPOWER MACHINES MOTHER NATURE

Odometer faulty

Petrol gauge reading incorrect

Car not being maintained

Driven with window open

Car used to tow caravan

Poor quality of petrol

Air filter blocked

Car being used more

Different driver

Car is getting older

Handbrake left on

Petrol Leak

Blown head gasket

Tires are wearing

Air conditioning on

Spend more timein traffic jams

Bad weather conditions

THE CAR IS GOING THROUGH PETROL FASTER

THE CAR IS GOING

THROUGH PETROL FASTER

MEASUREMENT

METHODS MATERIALS

MANPOWER MACHINES MOTHER NATURE

Odometer faulty

Been damaged

Petrol gauge incorrect



too busycan’t afford forget about it

Driven with window open

window broken hotmuggy

Car used to tow caravan

Poor quality of petrol

change of supplier now using unleaded bits in petrol

Air filter blocked

getting old

Car being used more

daughter using car more shopping more holidays train strike

Different driver

daughter just got licencechange of owner

Car is getting older

Handbrake left on

Petrol Leak

Blown head gasket

Tires are wearing

Air conditioning on

inexperienced driver

hole in tankdamaged pipes

not enough airbeing driven badly by daughter

muggy hot weather

Spend more time in traffic jams

new jobnew route to workroad worksmore accidents

Bad weather conditions

English ‘summertime’need to drive cautiously due to road conditions

10. Check for sufficiency along each bone – are all aspects of cause addressed?

If not, then add new category type and roots.

Interpretation

Interpret or test for root causes or drivers of the effect by one or more of the following methods:

Look for causes that appear repeatedly

Looking for obvious clues – i.e. one branch of your fishbone having the majority of causes attached to it.

Select key causes through an unstructured consensus process or one that is structured, such as multi voting.

Gather data through check sheets or in other formats to determine the relative frequencies and weightings of the different causes.

The Cause & Effect Fishbone is an integral part of the PF/ CE/ CNX/ SOP process. For further details on this, please contact your mentor expert.

Variations

FISHBONE SOLUTIONS DIAGRAM

The Fishbone diagram can also be used as a solution generating tool, as opposed to a cause discovery tool.

To use it as a Solutions tool, follow Steps 1-3.Then decide which categories you are going to brainstorm for solutions to the problem. You may use the same category titles as you have used for the Cause & Effect Fishbone.

Then follow the Brainstorming rules to come up with solutions in each area.

OPEN AIR FISHBONE

Traditionally, Cause & Effect Diagrams have been created in a meeting setting. The completed fishbone is reviewed by others and or confirmed with data collection.

An effective alternative is to display a large, highly visible blank fishbone chart with a problem statement at the head in a prominent work area. Everyone posts both potential causes and solutions on post-it notes in each of the categories.

Causes and solutions are reviewed, tested and posted.

This technique opens up the process to the knowledge and creativity of every person in the operation.


PROBLEM SOLVING

There is never fresh milk in the fridge The lawn mower keeps breaking down I can’t get my reports in on time

PROCESS VARIABLES

Planning to go on holiday Getting documents authorised

Remember the Fishbone diagram only represents a point in time and it can be useful to revisit the tool to see if there are new causes or variables affecting the situation since improvements were made.


See your mentor expertSee your local advocateCheck the ‘Memory Jogger’ book (held by advocates)

WORKING WITH IDEAS

Reality Tree

Purpose: To determine the root cause(s) of complex problems so that solutions will have an impact on the real

problem and not just the effects of the problem.

When to Use It

When you need to identify, understand and clarify complex cause and effect relationships to find the causes and solutions to a problem and to determine the key factors in the situation under study. They are particularly suitable when there are multiple interrelated problems, and when it is felt that the problem under discussion may only be a symptom. The reality tree is a form of cognitive map that shows links and causal relationships between variables. Reality Trees help promote multi-directional rather than linear thinking, and so are a more free and broader version of a cause and effect (fishbone) diagram.

Construction:

1. Decide what you are trying to achieve.

The central idea, problem or issue to be discussed must be described clearly and accepted by everyone involved.

Write down the problem statement that best describes the issue you want to determine the root cause of, and ensure everyone shares a common understanding of it.

I.e. The site speed limit is frequently exceeded.

2. Tape together 3-6 pieces of flipchart paper and place on wall.

3. Write the problem statement in a box in the centre of the paper.

4. As a group, generate the issues, causes and related problems which are believed to be affecting the central problem(s). These generally come from both brainstorming and data collection.


TIP: The bigger the better, since these diagrams can get quite large and complex.

Each issue or cause should be recorded, in summary form, on a Post-It note. Only one issue or problem should be recorded on each Post-It.

Think:What undesirable effects (UDE’s) are we seeing that are associated with the central problem(s).

5. Make sure you follow the Brainstorming rules to get the best ideas. Remember Brainstorming is about quantity over quality. (Refer Module on Brainstorming).A quick summary of the brainstorming rules are:

6. Place the brainstormed or data based causes from Step 4 on the edge of the flipchart paper, and review these as a group. Remove any duplicated Post-It's. As a group, reword any unclear or ambiguous Post-It’s. Pick the Post-It believed to have the strongest relationship with the central


TIP: Thin marker pens should be used to make the issues easily visible from a distance. Writing should be large and clear.

problem, and place that on the flipchart near to the central problem / issue.

7. As a group, systematically build the cause and effect relationship between the various issues identified on Post-It notes.

On the flipchart, position the Post-It notes developed during the brainstorm adjacent to other Post-Its where a cause and effect relationship is evident.

The facilitator should seek clarification by asking questions: Why does this happen? What could happen? Is the cause/effect relationship direct? Are other factors involved / do other factors contribute? Which other factors? Why do these happen?…….

This will give rise to a deeper understanding of the problem and identify further causes. These should be captured by generating additional Post-It's.

8. Check each linkage for sufficiency since there could be other factors contributing towards or compounding the problem – is the relationship between causes and symptoms direct, or is there some other factor that contributes.

Are all aspects of cause addressed by the Post-It notes?If not, then add further Post-It notes.

9. Move the Post-It notes around until the group is happy that the relationship is properly captured. Once the group reaches consensus, apply arrows between the Post-It notes to highlight how the causes and effects are related. Arrows should point from cause to effect. This is illustrated in the

following excerpt from the book by Eliyahu M. Goldratt, “It’s not Luck” (Gower Publishing Ltd., 1994).

Reality trees are read in the direction of the arrows to indicate the cause and effect relationship. For instance, the excerpt above would be read thus: If ‘companies have already cut all costs….’ and ‘…they are falling short of their stated financial targets’ then ‘there is an unprecedented pressure to take actions that will increase sales’.

10. As the “tree” expands and multiple linkages form, it is common for feedback loops (“doom loops”) to develop (see example below).

There is unprecedented pressure to take actions that will increase sales

Companies have already cut all costs they know

how to cut

Companies are falling short of their stated

financial targets

TIP: If two or more factors together are responsible for an effect (as in the example above), then it is common to circle them. This shows that the factors do not work in isolation. Such linkages are often noticed when you check the diagram for sufficiency (Steps 7-8).

Pressure to increase sample throughput

Low Morale More analytical errors

Feedback loops are self-perpetuating unless the cycle is broken by one or more factors being resolved. They thus offer key leverage points. These loops should be clearly marked on the reality tree by using marker pens of a different colour, or a different style of line.

11. Define a stop point, and keep to it. Reality Trees have a tendency to take more time than you initially plan!

Interpretation

Interpret or test for root causes or drivers of the effect by one or more of the following methods:

Review all the issues, and determine whether there is data to substantiate the issue, or whether the issue is based on “gut-feel”. If data is lacking, undertake further research to substantiate or discount the issue.

Look for issues / causes that have many arrows into them, and relatively few out. These are likely to be strong leverage points. Review the “branches” feeding these issues for areas to tackle.

Look for feedback loops. One or more of the issues in the feedback cycle will need to be resolved.

Material that cannot be allocated

Orders cannot be

fulfilled

Select key causes through an unstructured consensus process or one that is structured, such as multi-voting.

Gather data to determine the relative frequencies and weightings of the different causes.

Example Reality Trees are given as Appendices 1 and 2.

Variations

The Interrelationship Digraph (ID) can also be used as a variant of the reality tree to systematically identify, analyse and classify the cause and effect relationships that exist between a range of critical issues.

This tool has the benefit of being easy to apply, easy to train-out, and is likely to take less time than the reality tree. It is also more appealing to those who like to follow systematic logical processes. Similar to reality trees, Interrelationship Digraphs are created in a meeting setting, often with teams of 4-6 people. They work best if the team are reasonably knowledgeable of the subject under discussion.

1. Agree on the issue/ problem statement. Make sure that it is clearly understood and bought in to by all team members.

2. Then follow the Brainstorming rules to come up with a range of issues / ideas associated with the original issue or problem. It is suggested that Post-It notes are used.

3. Review the issues / ideas, and agree the ones that are likely to be most pivotal. Ideally, you are looking for between 5-25 issues / ideas. (TIP: The techniques of grouping ideas or voting may help you refine the output from the original brainstorm).

4. Arrange the selected Post-it notes in a large circular pattern, leaving as much space as possible for drawing arrows. Mark each Post-it with an identifying number or letter for easy reference.

5. Look for cause / influence relationships between all the ideas and draw relationship arrows. Arrow direction should be from cause to effect.

6. Tally the number of outgoing and incoming arrows and select key items for further planning.

A large number of outgoing arrows indicate an item that is a root cause or driver.

A large number of incoming arrows indicate a key outcome.

An example Interrelationship Digraph is given as Appendix 3.


PROBLEM SOLVING

Why do people drive too fast?

TIP: Work through each Post-It systematically. Ask of each combination:Is there a cause / influence relationship?If yes, which direction of cause / influence is stronger?

Why do we miss customer orders?

What are the reasons for unauthorised staff absences?


See your mentor expert See your local advocate Check the ‘Memory Jogger’ book(held by advocates) The reality tree is also described by Eliyahu M. Goldratt in his

book “It’s Not Luck” (Gower Publishing Limited, 1994).

PREPARING FOR CHANGE

Failure Mode And Effects Analysis (FMEA)

Purpose: A tool for systematically reviewing the causes, effects and risks of systems or process failures. It lets you identify what can go wrong, what’s the impact of it going wrong and then if its important enough, what actions you need to undertake to make sure it doesn’t go wrong in the

first place!

When To Use It

An FMEA is used to prompt action to improve the design or robustness (reliability) of a process.An FMEA highlights weaknesses in the current design or process IN TERMS OF THE CUSTOMER and it is good for prioritising and organising continuous improvement efforts on areas which offer the greatest return.

It should be applied when you want to carry out a significant change to make sure the change takes place smoothly, i.e. you don’t start off only to find out that something down the track will stop you from completing it.It is also useful to carry out when you have a plan defined in a new area so you aren’t following any type of existing blueprint or template.

Introduction:

An FMEA asks two basic questions:- how (i.e. in what ways) can this element fail [failure

modes]?- What will happen to the system and it’s environment if this

element does fail in each of the ways available to it [failure effects] ?

This module will mostly refer to FMEA in terms of systems or processes. However it can also be applied to any new ways of working or implementation of any change process or required action.

FMEA looks at both potential failures and faults in a system. This includes the systems:

- inability to function in the desired manner or operating in an

undesired manner (a fault)

- a fault or breakage, wear out, compromised construction (a

failure).

A failure mode is the manner in which the fault occurs, i.e. where or how the element fails.Effects can be analysed in terms of each of the targets - the effect on the inputs should it fail. These may include categories such as personnel/ people, product or equipment.

Construction

TIP: Don’t forget to include human error and hostile environments in your analysis, as they can often be overlooked as sources of failure modes.

1. Define the process, product, problem area, system or defect to be studied. For a process, use a process flow diagram. (see module on Logical Flow Charts)For a product use blueprints or a prototype.i.e. taking a phone order for flowers

2. Through brainstorming, experience, collected data or review, list all the possible failure modes for the issue. This includes everything that could possibly go wrong, where things could break down, not turn up, malfunction etc. A Fishbone Analysis diagram can also be used. (See Fishbone Analysis module).

PROCESS STEP POSSIBLE FAILURE MODESAnswer phone Phone disconnects

Phone not answered before customer hangs upTake order Misunderstand order

Don’t have specific request of customerGet delivery address Write down wrong deliver address

Customer gives wrong addressGet credit card details Write down wrong details

Customer reads out wrong numberGet card message Misspell customers name Thanks and hang up Hang up before customer has finishedProcess payment Card number is rejected

Machine breaks downWait until delivery date Forget about order

Answer phone

Take orderProcess Payment

Get cardmessage

Get delivery address

Get creditcard details

Thank and hang up

Make up order

Courier delivers flowersGive flowers & address to courier

Wait until delivery date

Wait for courier

Make up order Run out of stockWait for courier -Give flowers & address to courier

Give wrong details to courier

Courier delivers flowers Courier delivers wrong order/msg to wrong address

3. Once the failure modes have been identified and listed, a number of assessments have to be made in relation to each one of those modes.

For each failure mode you need to assess:a) how dangerous a failure it is (severity)b) how likely it is to happen (probability of occurrence)c) if it does happen, how likely is it to be noticed

(probability of detection)For each of these questions a rating of 1-5 should be given.

PROCESS STEP POSSIBLE FAILURE MODES SEVERITY PROB OF OCCURENCE

PROB OF DETECTION

Answer phone Phone disconnects 4 1 4Phone not answered before customer hangs up

4 3 4

Take order Misunderstand order 3 3 2Don’t have specific request of customer

2 2 4

Get delivery address Write down wrong delivery address

5 2 5

Customer gives wrong address 5 1 5Get credit card details Write down wrong details 4 2 4

Customer reads out wrong number

4 1 4

Get card message Misspell customers name 2 2 4Thanks and hang up Hang up before customer has

finished1 1 3

Process payment Card number is rejected 5 2 5Machine breaks down 3 1 1

TIP: Normally 5 will be high (i.e. bad) and 1 low, but you should always indicate this on your chart as well. These assessments may be made on historical data or on a subjective guess.

Wrong number inputted 4 1 2Wait until delivery date Forget about order 5 1 5Make up order Run out of stock 4 2 4Give flowers & address to courier

Give wrong details to courier 5 1 5

Courier delivers flowers

Courier delivers wrong order/msg to wrong address

5 3 5

4. Once you have made these three assessments multiply the numbers together to get your RPN, your Risk Preference Number.

PROCESS STEP POSSIBLE FAILURE MODES SEVERITY PROB OF OCCUR-ENCE

PROB OF DETECTION

RPN

Answer phone Phone disconnects 4 1 4 16Phone not answered before customer hangs up

4 3 4 48

Take order Misunderstand order 3 3 2 18Don’t have specific request of customer

2 2 4 16


5 2 5 50

Customer gives wrong address 5 1 5 25Get credit card details Write down wrong details 4 2 4 32

Customer reads out wrong number

4 1 4 16

Get card message Misspell customers name 2 2 4 16Thanks and hang up Hang up before customer has

finished1 1 3 3

Process payment Card number is rejected 5 2 5 50Machine breaks down 3 1 1 3Wrong number inputted 4 1 2 8

Wait until delivery date Forget about order 5 1 5 25Make up order Run out of stock 4 2 4 32Give flowers & address to courier

Give wrong details to courier 5 1 5 25



5 3 5 75

5. Rank your failure modes in order according to their RPN. Concentrate resources to work on avoiding the failure modes with the biggest RPN’s.

TIP: If completing many FMEA’s, to make the RPN’s as objective a possible, establish set guidelines for assessing the values of severity, occurrence and detection.

PROCESS STEP POSSIBLE FAILURE MODES SEVERITY PROB OF OCCUR-ENCE

PROB OF DETECTION

RPN



5 3 5 75


5 2 5 50

Process payment Card number is rejected 5 2 5 50Answer phone Phone not answered before

customer hangs up4 3 4 48

Make up order Run out of stock 4 2 4 32Get credit card details Write down wrong details 4 2 4 32Get delivery address Customer gives wrong address 5 1 5 25Wait until delivery date Forget about order 5 1 5 25Give flowers & address to courier

Give wrong details to courier 5 1 5 25

Take order Misunderstand order 3 3 2 18Take order Don’t have specific request of

customer2 2 4 16

Get card message Misspell customers name 2 2 4 16Get credit card details Customer reads out wrong

number4 1 4 16

Answer phone Phone disconnects 4 1 4 16Process payment Wrong number inputted 4 1 2 8Thanks and hang up Hang up before customer has

finished1 1 3 3

Process payment Machine breaks down 3 1 1 3

6. Check your failure modes and identify any that have controls already in place to deal with this issue.

7. Create an action plan to rectify some of your potential failure modes.

i.e. - Attach address card to flowers and make sure courier double

checks cards address with delivery address - Add in a process step that involves reading all details back to

the customerget contact details from customer in case order can not be

filled, wrong details given etc

- make sure there are enough staff in flower shop to answer the phone

8. Have one person own the FMEA. They can then be responsible for assigning actions to rectify faults and following up on the progress of those actions.

9. If you are using a project plan you should identify these actions and build those actions into the plan at the appropriate place to make sure that the change occurs smoothly.

Interpretation

An FMEA is used to prompt action to improve the design and reliability of an action.Once you have ranked your RPN, work on the failure mode with the biggest RPN, as this is the one that demands the most urgent improvement activity. This one will also make the biggest impact on providing a better service or product to your answer.

Variations

More complex FMEA’s can be done on whole systems. This involves a complex procedure of breaking a system into its subsystems, assemblies, components, piece parts and interfaces.At each level, the question is asked, starting at the general system: - will a failure of the system result in intolerable/ undesirable

loss? If the answer is no, the analysis ends. If the answer is yes, the same question is applied to each of the subsystems. If the same question asked for each of the subsytems has an answer of no, the analysis ends. If yes, the question is applied to each assembly and so on until all FMEA have been identified on the process.

Note however this can be very time consuming and tedious and is best used in conjunction with an FMEA software program.A FMEA can also be seen as a more detailed complex form of Forcefield Analysis. (see module on Forcefield Analysis)

A further variation on an FMEA is called a FMECA. This is a FMEA with an extra component in it that measures Criticality.


A meeting goes badly What can go wrong on holiday Having your in-laws to stay! Changing how the kids get to school




Forcefield Analysis

Purpose: To identify the forces & factors in place that support or work against the solution of an issue or problem so that the positives can be re-informed

and/or the negatives eliminated or reduced.

When To Use It

To review the preferred solution from Kaizens & Baselines or other problem solving sessions to determine whether the solution will be successful or not

To identify the reasons why the preferred solution would not be successful and come up with actions to make sure the implementation is successful

To present the “positives” and “negatives” of a situation so they are easily compared.

To help people to think together about all the aspects of making the desired change a permanent one.

To encourage agreement about the relative priority of factors on each side of the “balance sheet”.

To provide honest reflection on the real underlying roots of a problem and its solution.

Construction:

1. Agree a solution to review following on from a problem solving session, a kaizen or baseline. (see Problem Solving module)

2. At the top of the flipchart write a description of the ideal situation or solution you would like to achieve

Eg Ideal Solution/Situation: Buying a new car

3. On flipchart paper draw a grid with three columns.

IDEAL SOLUTION: BUYING A NEW CAR

DRIVING FORCES RESTRAINING FORCES COUNTER-MEASURES

4. Brainstorm the forces that are driving you towards the ideal situation. These forces may be internal or external and are reasons that support the ideal solution.

A quick summary of the brainstorming rules are: (refer Brainstorming module for more information)


Some questions to ask might include:Are people behind it? How powerful are they? Are there resources to support it? Is there a business need? Is there a financial benefit? List them on the left hand side under a heading that says “POSITIVES” or “FOR” or “DRIVING FORCES”



Car is old & unreliable

High repair costs

Car will fail MOT

Safety features are not present in current car

5. Brainstorm the forces that are restraining you from reaching the ideal situation. These forces may be internal or external. These may include corporate systems/policy, regulatory, GMP, monetary constraints, time, ownership, resources, supporting functions, or culture as well as the converse of your drivers. List them on the middle column under a heading that says “NEGATIVES” or “AGAINST” or “RESTRAINING FORCES”



Car is old & unreliable Cost of Purchase

High repair costs Fear of buying a car with hidden problems

Car will fail MOT Higher insurance requirements


6. Prioritise the driving forces that can be strengthened. (This can be done by either circling or underlining the most important ones, putting coloured dots beside them or numbering them upwards)







7. Prioritise the restraining forces that would allow the most movement towards the ideal state if they were removed (This can be done by either circling the most important ones, putting coloured dots beside them or numbering them upwards)







8. Weigh up the drivers and restraining forces. Where the restraining force is more than the driving force, identify a counter measure that can be taken that will make the driving force more powerful than the restraining force. Highlight what counter-measures could be put in place to eliminate or reduce the effect of the opposing force in the right hand column.


DRIVING FORCES RESTRAINING FORCES

COUNTER-MEASURES

Car is old & unreliable Cost of Purchase Shop around for pricesShop around for car loan deals


Involve AA in assessing car conditionBuy from reputable dealerTake a mechanic to review car


Shop around for pricesRelate higher costs to lower running costs


Interpretation:

When choosing a target for change, remember that simply focussing on the positive factors for a change can have the opposite effect. It is often more helpful to remove barriers. This tends to break the change bottleneck rather than just pushing on all the good reasons to change.

Remember, if the restraining forces are greater than the driving forces then the solution will become more difficult to implement. If there are too many strong restraining forces you may need to reconsider your solution.


Forcefield Analysis For Fear Of Public Speaking (see attached example when completed)

Forcefield Analysis for introducing a system of planning for repairs & maintenance

Variations

Forcefield analysis is an important step in brainstormingForcefield analysis can be considered a simpler version of an FMEA. (see module on FMEA for further information).



FORCEFIELD ANALYSIS

This diagram shows the forces acting in favour of the change, and the opposing (resisting) forces. The forces for and against are not necessarily equal and opposite, but for each opposing force there must be at least one effective counter-measure:

IDEAL SOLUTION :

FOR OPPOSING COUNTER-MEASURES

FORCEFIELD ANALYSIS


IDEAL SOLUTION : To operate an effective planning system within repairs & maintenance


Higher productivity - 50% more jobs per week on East Site, leading to:

The extra workload in screening work.

Should be more than made up for by the Productivity gains. Involve tradesmen in screening work?

Reduced backlog

Reduced Out of Tolerance (OOT) %

Higher plant availability

Opportunity to re-deploy staff to FMECA etc.

Necessary platform to operate Stores delivery system etc.

The impact on the organisation when staff put in place to deal directly with work are bypassed and work is being screened first.

1. Ask the Customers on the East Site if they prefer the new system or the old one.

2. Emphasise the improvements to Production in improved budgetary control.

Changing culture of staff in Prodn. and Maint. to plan more work.

Record data and substantiate the benefits.

Implementation of ERP programme may block other work, yet ERP may not happen at Dartford for several years.

"If the spec reflects the new GBP documents being produced then their support is almost guaranteed." SNC

CSV issues may prevent CMMS being linked to other systems, or data extracts from it.

Understand the CSV concerns and find a compliant, workable solution.

FORCEFIELD ANALYSIS


IDEAL SOLUTION : To speak confidently , clearly and concisely in any situation


Increases self esteem Past Embarrassments 1. Practice beforehand either with friends or by yourself

2. Things can only get better

Helps career Afraid To Make Mistakes Practice beforehand either with friends or by yourself

Communicates ideas Lack of knowledge on the topic 1. Spend some time revising.

2. Make the point early in presentation that you are not that familiar with area

Contributes to a plan/solution Afraid people will be indifferent Think of ways to make talk interesting – viuals, audience participation

Encourages others to speak Afraid people will laugh Practice beforehand either with friends or by yourself

Helps others to change May forget what to say Use index cards for key points

Increases energy of group Too revealing of personal thoughts Get views from friends

Helps clarify speakers ideas by getting feedback from others

Afraid of offending group Find out what the likely views of audience are in advance and tailor presentation accordingly

Recognition from others Fear that nervousness will show Practice beforehand either with friends or by yourself

Helps others to see new perspective

Lack of confidence in personal appearance

Buy some new clothes


Gantt Charts

Purpose: To represent visually a plan for a project or other activity.

When To Use It

1. To show the sequence of activities and when they should happen. This helps agree a realistic completion date for the project or activity.

2. To monitor progress against the plan, and if necessary forecast a new completion date to compare with the original one.

Construction:

Here is a Gantt Chart:

The Gantt Chart view displays basic task information in columns and a bar graph. Because the Gantt Chart makes it easy to see the schedule for tasks, most people use this view to build their initial plan, view the schedule, and make adjustments to the plan.

TOOL TAKEAWAY: (remember this if nothing else!)While the appearance and level of detail in the Plan may be important, even more important is to plan the project properly.That should throw up issues and challenges which could be vital to the project. Hence the maxim: "the plan is nothing - planning is everything."

Creating a PlanLet's start with a non-work example to get the feel of it, something simple like "Make a cup of tea". Of course it's easy but we would also apply the following approach to much more complex activities.

1. List all the necessary tasks. You could get to lots of detail. Not just pour in the milk, but get it out of the Fridge. You might also like to check it's not gone off before pouring it in. In equivalent work situations you can generate a task list by brainstorming, from a project Scope or User Specification and so forth. So here's a list of tasks for making the tea:

Get a cup out.Warm the pot.

Tasks down here

The task start dates and durations shown as bars across here.

Leave the tea for 5 minutes.Get the pot out.Find the tea-bags.Pour the tea.Check the cup is clean.Boil the water.Turn on the tap.Fill the kettle.Add the milk and sugar.Switch on the kettle at the mains.Stir the tea.Find a spoon.

Is this the complete list? Are the tasks in the right order? Will you waste time and money if you don't plan better?

2. With more complex activities, planners group the tasks. This helps them sequence the tasks. It also helps them check if any are missing. Let's do it. Groups could be:a. Check ingredientsb. Boil the waterc. Brew the tea.d. Serve the tea.

Sorting these:Check ingredients

a. Get the pot out.b. Find the tea-bags.c. Find a spoon.d. Get a cup out. e. Check the cup is clean.

What about the milk? Here's a benefit of grouping activities logically.

a. Get the milk out and check it's fresh.Boil the water

a. Turn on the tap.b. Fill the kettle.c. Switch on the kettle at the mains.d. Boil the water.

Brew the tea

a. Warm the pot.b. Here's another one: empty the pot and add the tea-bags.c. Pour in the waterd. Leave the tea for 5 minutes.

Serve the teaa. Put the milk and sugar in the cup.b. Pour the tea.c. Stir the tea.

This logical grouping of tasks is called a Work Breakdown Structure. It is often represented as a pyramid:

Here we have the project name at the top, the main tasks below, then groups of sub-tasks beneath. For clarity, only one branch is shown.

The Team, or Sub-Teams, can add as many levels of detail as necessary.

d. Once you have listed the tasks in sequence you need to assign a duration to each task, to record how long each task will take.

You will also need to record a start date/time so you can look at tasks which can be performed at the same time.

Make sure your list of activities is in the correct order and then transfer to a Gantt chart program. This will produce your chart for you. In Microsoft Project your Gantt chart looks like this:

TIP: This is like an Issues Diagram. The Team can use the same techniques of brainstorming, 5Why's etc. to create the Work Breakdown Structure.

Summary task duration

Or in Excel:Plan to Make a Cup of Tea

Time 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25Check ingredients Check ingredients

Get the pot out.Find the tea-bags.Find a spoon.Get a cup out. Check the cup is clean.Get the milk out.

Boil the water Boil the waterTurn on the tap.Fill the kettle.Switch on the kettle at the mains.Boil the water.

Brew the tea Brew the teaWarm the pot.Empty the pot and add the tea-bags.Pour in the waterLeave the tea for 5 minutes.

Serve the tea Serve the teaPut the milk and sugar in the cup.Pour the tea.Stir the tea.

Key: Main TasksSub-TasksComplete - enjoy it!

Note that the tasks are in order of their start times.

To produce the chart in Excel you need to list the activities in Column A. Put in the summary activities; i.e.

Check ingredientsBoil the waterBrew the tea.Serve the tea.

Under each one of the summary activities then also list each of the breakdown activities in Column B. i.e.

Check ingredients1. Get the pot out.2. Find the tea-bags.3. Find a spoon.4. Get a cup out. 5. Check the cup is clean.

Summary task duration

6. What about the milk? Here's a benefit of grouping activities logically.

7. Get the milk out and check it's fresh.

From Column C onwards, list each of the time segments, whether it is in minutes, days, weeks etc.

For each of the summary activities, show the entire duration of that set of activities by filling in the set number of time segments.

i.e. Check ingredients1. Get the pot out. 1 min2. Find the tea-bags. 1 min3. Find a spoon. 1 min4. Get a cup out. 1 min5. Check the cup is clean. 1 min6. Get the milk out and check it's fresh. 1 min

Total Duration for Check ingredients is 6 mins.This means you need to fill in the time segments for 1-6 minutes.

For the following tasks under the summary activity then fill in the duration of each activity individually.

Interpretation

These Gantt Charts show the activities and when they are

due to start. It is simple to mark up how far each is

complete. The snag is that it does not show which tasks depend on other(s), so it is not clear whether Item 3 can start if Item 2 is delayed. Professional planning packages like MS Project solve this by having a database behind the scenes. This shows the links between tasks with blue arrows:This can be important on projects with many simultaneous tasks.

Using MS Project

The market leader in Gantt Charts is MS Project, but it is not part of MS Office. Order it through the link below if your need justifies it. Otherwise use the attached template in MS Excel. Other features that MS Project, and other planning packages have, include: Critical Path - this shows the quickest time for the

project. Any delay to any tasks on the Critical Path, by definition, delay the project. Other activities have some spare time, also called float or slack.

The percentage progress can be added to each task. MS Project then goes further by predicting a revised completion date if tasks finish earlier or later.

This view shows what happened when the milk was found to be off, and some-one was sent out to get some quickly from the shop! Now 2 people are involved and there are some parallel activities:

Another useful feature is the Baseline, (the original plan). It is often important to compare the current position with the Baseline:The original plan is the Baseline, and these are compared here:

Quiz Time: (Answers upside down at the bottom of the page)a. Is Will on the Critical Path? Yes/Nob. How much longer will it take to make the tea because the

milk was off?c. By good planning, the problem with the milk was found

early. How much longer would it have taken if the milk was only checked when it was about to be poured?

Answers:


Plan a party Plan a holiday


See your mentor expert See your local advocate

Preparing for Change

Application of Accelerating Change Methodology to facilitate change.

This tool is designed for application to any project that will result in people experiencing change, for example, changes in ways or working or changes in job roles. The application of ACM will make the project run smoother and help make the changes sustainable. This tool has been customised from the ACM training provided by IMA for specific application to LeanSigma projects, but it could be applied any project that involves change.

This approach generates links between the development of the Project Plan (PDP Project Development Plan) and the application of ACM (Accelerating Change Methodology).

The approach requires a kick off workshop involving the Project Manager, key team members, and the Sponsor (The sponsor need not be present at the whole workshop, but must be present for the section on Sponsorship, and ideally at the start)

PROJECT KICK OFFWORKSHOP

One and a half days

Project Initiation Form

Draft PDP

Project team identified and present

Facilitator (knowledgeable about

ACM application)

Team understands the change

Responsibilities assigned, understood

and committed to

Expectations of and from Sponsor clear

and agreed

PDP agreed including:-Plan

InvolvementCommunications plan

The sections of the PDP and sections of the Workshop agenda are linked as follows: -

PDP section Workshop/Presentation Agenda section

Objectives Define the changeScope Define the changeBenefits Define the changeCritical Success Factors Critical Success FactorsApproach ApproachIssues & Risks Issues & RisksOrganisation- Sponsorship Organisation Part 1- SponsorshipOrganisation- Roles and Responsibilities Organisation Part 1 SponsorshipOrganisation- Targets Organisation Part 2- Target readinessOrganisation-Agents Organisation Part 2- Build agent capacityThe Plan- Main tasksThe Plan- Communications Communications PlanningThe Plan- Motivation Motivation and Involvement PlanningThe Plan- Time frame and resource requirements

Define the change (by when)

What to doIf you want to use this approach you will need to download the PowerPoint presentation “Application of ACM to project start up”. Read the presentation including the facilitators notes that are in the notes view. If you haven’t used this approach before or are unfamiliar with it you should engage the help of a facilitator that is. Most of the LeanSigma Experts at Dartford Primary Supply are trained in ACM, otherwise contact the site Training and Development Department for a list of people trained in ACM.The presentation and notes pages contain most of the materials you need, but for a complete list of handouts with links open the Word file called “Handout List”

Other LinksGSK has an ACM website which contains the original ACM materials from which the above was developed.

http://acceleratingchange.ggr.co.uk/home/

Preparing for Change

DMAIC ProcessIn order to eliminate COPQ and detect variation and process spread, Six Sigma uses the five-step Design, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control (DMAIC) process shown below.

The DMAIC process applies statistical tools to analyze facts and data with detailed attention to the optimization, improvement, defect elimination and re-engineering of processes, whether operational or transactional.

Phase 1 – DefineDefine Phase Activities

The first step in Six Sigma is to define the problem. Too often, the Define phase is overlooked even though it can be the most critical phase, setting the direction for the entire project. A poorly defined project can cause many problems and delays during later stages.

Remember, time spent on this stage is time well spent!

Establish Problem Definition, Customer Requirements, and ScopeDefine the Project/Problem

Prior to defining the project, it is necessary to define the problem that you are trying to fix.

What is the problem: Write the problem statement from the customer perspective.Who is the customer: When determining customer requirements, establish who the customer is from available data.What is the cost of poor quality?: Cost of poor quality is the financial cost of activities and lost opportunity as a consequence of waste and variation within our processes.

What are the critical-to-quality definitions? : Establish what is important to the customer as far as quality is concerned. Gather this information from discussions with the customer.

What are the operational limitations? Make sure that you understand your own and the customers operational limits.

Problem Statement

A good problem definition should include:

What needs to be accomplished? Quantify this if possible. When does the problem need to be resolved by? Which key metrics will be tracked?

Take a look at the example on the right to see an example of a good problem statement.

http://us8n87.glaxo.com/docent/content/sixsigma/content/section02/s02t03p01.htm#%23



Tools used to support these activities: QFD Surveys Pareto 7 Wastes

A good problem definition should include:

What needs to be accomplished? Quantify this if possible. When does the problem need to be resolved by?

Which key metrics will be tracked?

Map the Process and Establish BenefitsMap the Process

Once the project scope and target have been defined, the next step in the Define phase is to map the process and identify the hidden factory operations. This can be done by Value Stream Mapping (VSM) or by developing a process map as shown on the right. Make sure to map the process as it is and not how you think it should be.

Establish Benefits

Next, determine if the benefits can be quantified in terms of:

Manpower or hours saved Materials saved Waste reduction Yield improvements Sales increase or volume variances Cost avoidance

Tools used to support activity Process Mapping Value Stream Mapping (VSM) SIPOC

Project PlanningIdentify previous experience

Prior to developing a project charter, review past projects using People Connect and LiveLink to search for information on similar projects or to identify people with previous experience or knowledge that may be utilised.

Generate Project Charter/PIF

Leverage information from existing projects to generate a project charter and/or PIF. These documents detail the project scope and benefits and should be generated in consultation with the appropriate stakeholders. Make sure to carefully identify correct stakeholders and ensure resources are available. You may want to include a Failure Mode and Effect Analysis in the project charter.

Note, at this point in time no analysis of the problem has occurred and there is no identified solution. The project plan may not detail all aspects of the project. In particular, the Improve phase of the DMAIC process. The time and detailed steps to complete this will not be established until a root cause has been identified and solution specified.

Tools used to support activity LiveLink People Connect PIF Project Charter FMEA ACM (also known as AIM) 5 Whys

Sponsor MappingGenerate stakeholder/sponsor map

Finally, develop a stakeholder/sponsor map to identify internal stakeholders who will be critical to the successful creation and implementation of the Six Sigma project. This map clearly

identifies all key stakeholders, the roles they will play in the project, and it enables effective communication.

Phase 2 – MeasureMeasure Phase Activities

The purpose of the Measure phase is to gather information on the current situation to provide a clearer focus for your improvement effort.

Often a problem is caused by a number of factors that influence it to varying degrees, as shown in the IPO chart below.

During the Measure phase, each of the potential causes of the problem should be identified. Later we'll want to focus on the factors that have the most influence on the problem, but at this stage, no suggestions should be ignored, dismissed, or considered unimportant.

Gather Data and Determine Data TypeGather Data

During the Measure phase, we refine the work that was done during the Define phase by gathering additional information on inputs and outputs. The collection process should be driven by the data and not by prior conclusions and assumptions. (Your future recommendations should only be made with adequate data and should not be accepted without strong data-based support.)

Data collection methods may include computer run data, surveys and logs, observation and journaling, and content analysis.

Determine Type of Data

Processes are assessed based on the type of data. Some processes have attribute data, where the outcome is good or bad, such as on time or not on time. Other processes have continuous data, such as minutes late. When possible, continuous data is preferred over attribute data because continuous data provides more information about the process for a given sample size.

Data Analysis and Customer SatisfactionVisualise and Summarise Data

Once data has been collected, it must be sorted and analysed in order to identify areas that consume time, resources, or space that do not contribute to satisfying the customer. Data analysis methods may include determining the number of occurrences, summaries or conclusions from data sets, averages, trends, or totals.

The data should be as visual as possible. Refined data will begin to clearly point out issues and potential direction of the team.

Challenge Metrics/Measure Against VOC

Once the data is summarised, variation is measured to see how closely the process meets customer requirements. Variation represents the number of defects in a process. The higher the Sigma level, the lower the number of defects produced in the process and the closer you are to meeting customer satisfaction.

Tools Used: Process Maps Pie Charts Pareto Histogram Run Charts Control Charts Summary Statistics QFD Flow-down

Carry Out MSA on Outputs

A Measurement Systems Analysis (MSA) is a test to see how much variation is coming from the measurement system itself. Conducting a MSA is important because it will discover how much "noise" is occurring due to the measuring system.

In order to accurately measure a variable it is necessary to use an accurate gage or measuring instrument. Six Sigma requires that


all measurements made are accurate, precise, and can be used to make comparisons. The image on the right shows what the output might look like if there was variation between operators or gages.

In order to compare variables, it is necessary to reduce the amount of variation in the measuring system. If measurements of the same variable differ and fluctuate, then it is difficult to compare the results. Often it is necessary to calibrate measuring instruments and processes in order to ensure accuracy.

Re-define the Problem/Project Based on Data

The data collected during the Measure phase will help you to pinpoint the location of the problem. You will also have a better idea how well the process measures up against customer requirements. Make sure to use this new information to refine the problem statement and project scope that was the output of the Define phase.

Remember, now is the time to make changes. Redefining the project later in the process will cause rework!

Phase 3 – AnalyseAnalyse Phase Activities

The purpose of the Analyse phase is to identify the root causes of defects and to confirm them with data.

Verify Gap between Current State and Target

During the Analysis phase, we use all of the data that was collected and summarised during the Measure phase. A major goal of this phase is to compare the current state of the process to where we want the process to be according to what the customer has specified. This comparison helps us determine the "gap" or the difference between the two.

When making this comparison, it is very important to use recent data and not historical data or data depicting where you think the process should be. Recent data is data that has been collected within the last month.

Tools Used: Hypothesis Testing Sample Size Determination Confidence Intervals

Review Changes in Current StateAssess Input and Output Stability

Once you've done an analysis of the current state, you are ready to identify the reasons for the gap between the current state and the target. Look at the data in terms of whether or not the process is stable. Ask yourself if the defects are due to variation, because

the mean needs to shift, or both. This information will also help you clarify which of the Analysis tools to use.

Identify Special Causes

At this stage, you can also hypothesise a number of theories (using one or more of the Analysis tools) and validate each with data. Validate to confirm that there is a correlation between your hypothesis and the actual root cause.

When determining root cause, consider the following.

Use Cause and Effect diagrams to brainstorm all causes of the undesirable effect (UDE).

Indicate causes that are under the organisation's control, those that are "noise" and those that can be experimented with.

Use matrix weighting based on impact and ease of solution to select primary candidates.

Tools Used: Hypothesis Testing Histograms Control Charts Cusums Normality Checks Historical Data Analysis Correlation Regression Cause and Effect Diagram 5 Whys PF/CE/CNX/SOP MSA

Review Change in TargetDetermine if Target was Previously Achieved

Previous projects within GSK or even within your own operation can be a good source of information. When conducting Six Sigma projects, make sure to determine whether or not your target has been achieved by a similar project to gather any key learnings. Knowledge Management Tools such as Livelink, People Connect, and AARs can help you with this task.

Identify Potential Improvement Opportunities

Try to identify lessons learned such as best practices and possible improvement ideas that you can use during the Improve phase.

Tools Used: Knowledge Management Tools Brainstorming Reality Tree Inter-relationship Diagraph Load Charts Layout Tools

Phase Four - Improve PhaseImprove Phase Activities

The purpose of the Improve phase is to:

Develop, try out, and implement solutions that address the root causes

Use data to evaluate results for the solutions and the plans used to carry them out




Analyse Causes/Improvements and Identify Possible Solutions

The Analysis phase feeds information to the Improve phase on the KPIs that need to be improved and the direction that they need to change. These changes can include reducing the measure, improving it in terms of target, or reducing the variation around it.

Next, the team brainstorms solutions and selects the most reasonable solution by asking:

Will it control the problem? Can it be easily implemented? Is payback reasonable? Can

we obtain buy-in? Try to identify lessons learned such as best practices and

possible improvement ideas that you can use during the Improve phase.

These questions allow you to compare how well the possible solutions fit into the specifications of the ideal solution, enabling you to filter numerous solutions down to a couple of realistic ones.

Tools Used: DoE Brainstorming Solution Selection Tools Value Stream Mapping Process Design Process

Implement the SolutionDevelop Implementation Plans

Once a solution has been selected, document who will do what, when, and look for opportunities for the team to begin some implementation as soon as possible. Having something to show at the end of the day builds a lot of team pride.

Run Trial/Pilot

Pilot ideas, to determine their effectiveness rather than debate them endlessly. Walk through the new process with specific products and pilot with a range of products, from simple to complex.

Six Sigma is very much about trial and error. During an implementation event, the team follows a cycle of implementing a change, testing it out, and then modifying it and retrying. This process is called the continuous improvement cycle and it exemplifies the commitment to constant progress and enhancement of our corporation.

Tools Used: Project Planning Tools FMEA ACM (also known as AIM) Kaizen Control Charts Hypothesis Testing Sample Size Determination Confidence Intervals

Measure Results and EvaluateDevelop Implementation Plans

Once you've implemented a solution, you need to measure the results and evaluate whether or not the KPIVs have had an actual anticipated effect on the KPOVs as stated in the project statement that was developed during the Define phase.

Has the target been achieved?

If the improvement can be validated, you are ready to move on to the Control stage.

If you have not made the anticipated improvement, then you need to go back and look at the KPIVs. (You may have picked the wrong KPIV or you may have made an error during the Analysis phase.) Go back to the Analyse phase and determine root cause again to make sure you pick the appropriate KPIV that has a significant impact on the KPOV.

Tools Used: Control Charts Hypothesis Testing Sample Size Determination Confidence Intervals

Phase Five - Control PhaseControl Phase Activities

To ensure improvements gained are sustained long after the end of your Six Sigma project, it is essential the appropriate mechanism is put in place to maintain the levels of performance achieved by the project.

The purpose of the Control phase is to:

Maintain the gains that you have achieved by standardising your methods for processes

Anticipate future improvements and make plans to preserve the lessons learned from this improvement effort

Sustain Improvement

At this point in the process, the improvements that we set out to achieve have been made. We've demonstrated a short-term capability of having an impact on the key process measures. Now the aim of the Control phase is to find a mechanism to ensure that the improvement has a sustained impact on the critical measures.

SOPs should be updated and personnel should receive training on process changes. These activities help establish and implement a methodology to sustain improvements.

A monitoring protocol should also be established and implemented. The SPC tools can be used to measure the process and keep track of the critical variables that have an impact on the process output. Refer to the SPC eLearning course for more information on these tools.

Tools Used: Standard Work ACM (also known as AIM) Performance & Development Planning (PDP) Control Charts RACI MSA Visual Factory

Project Closure

The second part of the Control phase is focused on project closure. The first step in closing the project is to conduct an After Action Review (AAR). AARs are a simple, fast, and an extremely effective way of capturing the key learnings and benefits delivered from your projects and sharing them with others. Through the AAR, you will summarise and communicate learnings to the rest of GSK.

Areas of improvement that were identified during the project that were not included in the scope of work should be recommended

for future consideration. These improvement areas may turn into other Six Sigma or Lean projects!

Finally, validate the benefits achieved by working with Finance to make sure we have captured the project in terms of financial measures. Financial measures may include reporting and adjusting budgets. Non-financial benefits should also be captured.

Tools Used After Action Review (AAR) Project Closure Report Communication Plan Livelink People Connect ERA Lean Sigma Benefits Capture Tools


Problem solving New initiatives


See your mentor expert See your local advocate:

PROCESS MAPPING

Time Value Map

What is it?

The Time Value Map is a chart, which describes graphically the proportion of time in a process spent on value adding activities, non-value-adding activities and waiting time.

Why use it?

The concepts of value-adding, non-value-adding and waiting time (one of the 'Seven Types of Waste') are central to LeanSigma. The Time Value Map is used to understand how long a process takes and of this time, how much was used performing value-adding activities, non-value-adding activities and how much time was spent waiting.

When to use it?

When you need to analyse what opportunities are available to increase velocity (speed) and decrease waste in processes. It is used in productivity, throughput and velocity projects.

How to use it?

1. Determine the total processing time of the process being investigated.

2. Draw a horizontal arrow across a large sheet of paper to represent this processing time.

3. Analyse the steps in the process (refer Process Flow Diagram) and create segments representing these activities with the thickness of the segment being proportional to the time taken.

4. Determine the waiting time between sequential steps. Value-added activities are colour coded green and appear above the horizontal line representing the total cycle time.

Non-value-added activities are colour coded red and appear below the processing time line. Waiting time is left as white space on the chart.

5. Arrange the activities in order and in the right position relative to the time that they occur, leaving waiting time between the activities. Place the value-added (green) activities above the line and the non-value-added activities (red) below the line.

6. Draw in any feedback loops (for example for rework) and label these feedback loops with yield (i.e. how much product feeds back through this loop). Calculate the proportion of total activity time (total of green and red) to the total time. This gives the proportion of waiting time to activity time. Also calculate the proportion of value-added time to non-value-added time.

Further Information If you require any further information on the Tools provided or how to use them, please contact you Mentor Expert.


* getting ready for work* making a cup of tea



PROCESS MAPPING

Logical Flow Charts

Purpose: To divide up a process into consecutive unit operations and show them visually. Flow charts also illustrate the actual flow or sequence of events in a

process that any product or service follows. The resulting ‘map’ will provide key information to help in problem

solving, statistical process control, and standard work design.

When To Use It

This tool should be used to map out all processes before applying variation reduction and standard work methodology etc. It can be useful for allowing a team to gain agreement on steps of a process. It also highlights which activities may impact the process performance. Flowcharts can also be used as a training aid to understand the complete process.

Construction:

1. Clearly define the boundaries of the process, ie where it starts and where it ends

i.e. cooking a roast dinnerstart – in the kitchen, all ingredients available (so does not include shopping for ingredients)finish – dinner served on the table

2. Decide on the level of detail required. The flowchart may be at a macro level showing major functions or activities or at a micro level, going into greater detail.A macro level will give you an understanding of the general process flow; a micro level will show every action and decision point.

3. Brainstorm a list of all the steps in the process. It may be a good idea to get the team members to write these down on Post-it notes.

These steps may include activities, inputs, outputs or decisions.

Prepare Roast chicken

Prepare all vegetables

Roasting dish

Test chicken

Carve chicken

Put vegetables on to boilPut vegetables

in roasting dish

Put chicken in roasting dish in preheated oven

Put chicken in roasting dish

Roast chickenServe dinner

4. Arrange the Post-it notes in sequential order. Make sure parallel steps are shown in parallel etc.

5. Complete a sanity check of the process and include any missing steps. You can do this by completing a mental ‘walk-through’ of the process.

6. Draw the flow chart using appropriate symbols.

Examples of an operation or activity might be manufacture or analysis

Examples of a Wait step might be the delay when a procedure is sitting on someone’s desk to be authorised.

Wait


Prepare all vegetables


Roasting dish

Put chicken in roasting dish preheated oven

Roast chicken

Put vegetables in roasting dish

Put vegetables on to boil

Test chicken

Carve chicken

Serve dinner

TIP: Unless you are flowcharting a new process, sequence what actually happens instead of what the ideal is. This will help you identify where any probable causes of problems are in the process.

An example of a Transport step might be moving an intermediate from store to a manufacturing building, or taking a sample to the laboratory.

An example of a Store might be putting material into a warehouse.

An example of a Decision activity might be passing a batch through QA analysis. It may also represent a Yes/No question being asked.

7. Arrows should be added in to show the direction of the flow of material through the process.

Store


Prepare all

vegetables

Test chicken – is it cooked??

Wait for chicken to cook

Serve dinner to the table



Put vegetables in roasting dish in preheated oven



Carve chicken

8. Don’t forget to identify your work. Include the title of your process, the date the diagram was made and names of all the team members.

Interpretation


Prepare all

vegetables

Test chicken – is it cooked??


Serve dinner to the table



Put vegetables in roasting dish in preheated oven



Carve chicken

YES

NO

Flow chart diagrams can show up any of the following things:- unexpected complexity- problem areas- redundancy- unneccessary loopsAll these are areas where simplification and standardization many be possible.

You can also use this technique to compare an actual versus ideal flow of a process to help identify improvement opportunities.

Variations

Top-down Flowchart

This chart is a picture of the major steps in a work process. It minimises the detail to focus only on those steps essential to the process. It usually does not include inspection, rework, and other steps that result in quality problems. Teams sometimes study the top-down flowchart to look for ways to simplify or reduce the number of steps to make the process more efficient and effective

Planning a Party

Deployment Flowchart

1.0Determine party

size

2.0 find

Location

3.0Invite gudes

1.1 Decide on budget

2.1 Decide theme

3.1 complete invitations

1.2 Decide on guest list

2.2 Select location

3.2 Send invitations

This chart shows the people or departments responsible and the flow of the process steps or tasks they are assigned. It is useful to clarify roles and tract accountability as well as to indicate dependencies in the sequence of events.

Chris Karin Lauren

Workflow Flowchart

This type of chart is used to show the flow of people, materials, paperwork, etc., within a work setting. When redundancies, duplications, and unnecessary complexities are identified in a path, people can take action to reduce or eliminate these problems.


* getting ready for work* making a cup of tea



Plans ad

Writes adIs

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dogr

aphi

cs

Draws graphics

Ad complet

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Sends ad out

No

Check the ‘Memory Jogger’ book(held by advocates)

Process Mapping

Value Stream MappingA Value Stream is all the actions/activities involved in producing a product starting from scratch. Value Stream encompasses "door to door" production flow, from customer demand back through production and all the way back to the raw materials which either formulate or are used in primary packaging of the product. You notice that we start at the customer end ("Consumer") and work backwards. This is because the customer drives the Value Stream for our product.

Value Stream is the stream of events that bring a product to market.

Example: Manufacturing Toothpaste

The Value Stream follows a single component or product family. A family is a group of products that pass through similar processing steps and use common equipment. Drawing all product flows on one map is too complicated; therefore, we need to draw the processing steps (material and information) for one product family from door to door.

To help you understand the concepts of Value Stream Mapping, and Current State/Future State Mapping, we're going to use a simple example, manufacturing toothpaste.

As with any product, the consumer is the ultimate reason for our production. For toothpaste, the consumers are everyone. Upstream of them is the finished goods, in our case, the finished toothpaste in the package, ready to ship to the store. Going upstream one more step, we have the product manufacturer or in the case of toothpaste the "Mixing" station that puts all the ingredients of the toothpaste together. The next upstream step is our component manufacturer, or "Pre-Mixing" station where the intermediates get put together, such as gum into "gum slurry".

And finally, there are the raw materials such as water, sodium fluoride, flavor, silica, gum, and the packaging components (tubes, boxes, shippers). These items make up the high-level Value Stream for our toothpaste example.

What is Value Stream Mapping?

Value Stream Mapping is a way to look at the production processes through the eyes of the product. It is a tool that helps to depict the flow of material and information as a product makes its way through the Value Stream. Value Stream Mapping deals with tracking product, not money.

To create a Value Stream Map, first follow a product's production path from customer to supplier, and carefully draw a visual representation of every process within the material and information flows - this is referred to as a "Current State Map". Next ask a key set of questions and draw a map depicting how value should flow - this is called a "Future State Map". These key questions will be explained in detail in the Future State Mapping section.

Remember, Value Stream Mapping deals with tracking product, not money.

Why Value Stream Mapping

It helps us in identifying and ultimately removing waste and inefficiencies in our process, so we can improve our overall productivity and profitability.

Types of Waste

Overproduction: Producing more than what is needed before it is needed.Inventory: Maintaining excess inventory of raw materials, parts in process, or finished goods.Transportation: Wasting effort to transport materials, parts, or finished products into or out of storage, or between processes.Waiting: Wasting time waiting for tools, supplies, parts, etc.Motion: Wasting motion to pick up parts or stack parts. Also wasted walking between locations as part of an operator task.Processing: Doing more work then necessary.Defects: Repairing or completing rework.

Value-Added Versus Non Value-Added

Now that we have a good idea of the types of waste in the process, we need to know how to classify them and determine which items can and should be eliminated. To do this, we need to understand what is value-added or non value-added to the process.

Notice that there are actually two kinds of waste. Non value-added work is a waste that can and should be eliminated. Non value-added but necessary work quite often cannot be eliminated, but where possible, we should work to reduce them and minimize their impact on the overall value of the product.

Current State MappingWhat is a Current State Map?

A Current State Map is a visual representation or blueprint of a plant's current Value Stream, including the material, products, information, and how these items flow or move within the plant.

The Current State Mapping process for a product begins with mapping the entire Value Stream within a single plant.

Value added work is anything that changes the fit, form, or function of a product or process. Value added items are anything the customer is willing to pay for.

Non value added, but necessary work is required to run the business, but does not change the fit, form, or function of the product. It will be termed as non value added.

Non vale added, not necessary work is any item that does not change the fit, form, or function and thus does not add value to the final product and should be eliminated.

This map must be a living document and be constantly updated as we make improvements in the plant. Letting the information stagnate quickly diminishes the validity of the content.

Why is it Useful to Create a Current State Map?

Mapping the current state of a plant helps to identify waste and the sources of waste in the production process. Once we identify them, we can develop a plan to get rid of them.

However, Current State Mapping will not ensure that our plants become lean. It is only a tool to help assess the current plant situation and identify issues with the current situation. Then you can focus on creating a vision of an ideal state. Once you have achieved your ideal state, it will become your current state from which you can continuously improve.

To summarise, creating a Current State Map:

Provides a visual depiction of flow to use as part of the decision making process of where to improve the process.

Allows for identification of the sources of the seven wastes in the Value Stream.

Demonstrates the linkages between information flow and material flow.

Becomes the basis for developing a plan for improving flow and eliminating waste throughout the Value Stream.

Mapping the Current Information and Material Flows

The first step in Current State Mapping is assessing the plant's current situation.

We need to understand the different flows and processes. Current State Mapping visually presents all of the processes necessary to make a product and shows a linkage between the different types of material flow and information flow.

We must map both of these flows in a Current State Map to easily see how the information flowing in the plant links to the material flowing in the plant. For this process, we will use a variety of icons that will be introduced throughout the remainder of this course.

Current State Mapping IconsMaterial Icons

Manufacturing Process Box: Indicates a manufacturing Process, one process box equals an area of flow, this icon can also be used to indicate processes for departments within the process, such as planning.Out Side Sources: Shows customers, suppliers and outside manufacturing processes.Truck Shipments: Indicates shipments made to and from the factory along with the frequency of these shipments.Inventory Triangle: Tracks inventory between processes; the count and time data information noted directly below this triangle is considered to be a part of this Icon.Stripped Arrow: Shows movement of production material that is produced and moved forward before the next process needs it; usually based on a schedule (Called push method)Solid Arrow: Shows movement of finished product to the customer or incoming raw materials.

It provides the process information that tells each process or materials what to do or what to make next.

It is the movement of product through a production process.

Manufacturing Process Box

Out side sources Truck Shipment Inventory triangle

Stripped Arrow Operator IconSolid Arrow Data Box

Operator: Represents a person viewed from above. It is used to show the number of operators at a given operation. The number of operators is next to the icon in parentheses. Data Box: Records information concerning a manufacturing process, department and customer. This icon is placed under manufacturing process boxes.

Information icons

Information icons are used to indicate the flow of material, along with the physical data being transmitted. This can be either electronic or manual.

Straight Arrow: Represents manual information flow – for example production schedule or shipping schedule.Lightening Bolt Arrow: Shows Electronic information Flow – for example compute information transfer (electronic data interchange), telephone, and fax.Information Box: Describes an information flow such as weekly or daily schedules; these boxes are part of the straight arrow or lightening bolt arrow.

Starting a Current State Map

Consider our toothpaste example. Who do we make toothpaste for? The customers! Without the customer, we would be out of business.

So, the customer is the driving force behind any product and Value Stream. If you improve a Value Stream starting from anywhere else, you risk making improvements to a process that do not give the customer what they want or need. So, let's start to build our Current State Map with the customer.

We begin to map the current state by identifying the customer using the outside source or factory icon.

Straight Arrow Lightening Bolt Arrow Information Box

Now that we have the first piece of our Current State Map, where should we look next?

Let's go ahead and add the icons for the other processes in the product's development, working from the customer, back to the beginning of the process.

You may notice that the manufacturing process box icons we are adding to the Current State Map are not for discrete workstations, they are for job families. The general rule is that a process box indicates a process in which the material is flowing. Our Current State Maps will be unmanageable if we draw every single process and it will be difficult to identify the Value Stream, and more importantly, the non value-added items. So we use a manufacturing process box to indicate one area of material flow. The process box stops wherever processes are disconnected and the material flow stops. Even though we start at the end of the process, the flow of a product through the plant is from left to right. These icons are placed on the bottom half of the map in the order of processing steps. Keep in mind that this won't necessarily reflect the physical layout of the plant.

Now that the Current State Map includes all of the job families within the factory walls, the next item to add is our supplier information. Remember, we create the map working back from the customer to the start of the value stream, and with the supplier, we are now at the start of the material flow.

Notice that the supplier icon is an outside source or factory icon. Next we added a solid arrow from our supplier to our first process box, indicating incoming raw materials. We also added a truck icon to represent how often we receive shipments.

Next we need to consider the information that drives our process. Are we building our product based on our customer requirements, or are we making as much product as possible? To determine this information, we look at the information flow. This comes from our Planning office, which tells the plant what to build and when. The

information flow can come in either electronic (indicated as a lightening bolt) or paper based (indicated as a straight arrow).

For example, starting at the customer, we receive their requirements by a fax (shown as a lightening bolt). The Planning office creates production schedules and walks these paper schedules to the plant (shown as straight arrows). And finally, the Planning office faxes or emails the suppliers a schedule of materials required for the specified time (shown as a lightening bolt).

A key to information flow is to know how often we receive orders from the customer. If it is not often enough, we are guessing on what to manufacture and not making product based on customer requirements.

Now that the Current State Map has most of the process items and information from the Planning office, we need to look at how material flows at our plant.

If we are making as much product as possible, which is very common in non-lean production, material flow is drawn as a striped push arrow between the process boxes. Push means that material is being pushed from one process to the next without any regard for what is needed. This happens when each process is operating as an independent island, disconnected from the customer requirements. Material is being pushed by the producer and not pulled by the customer. We will learn how to correct this condition later in this text.

For now, we will assume that our plant is producing toothpaste this way.

Now that we have the supplier information and information flow, we need to add the flow of material from the plant to our customer. This should be based on how we supply our product to our customer.

In our example of manufacturing toothpaste, we show this as a solid arrow from our last process box to our customer. We also added a truck icon that indicates the frequency of shipments made to our customer.

When material is pushed through the process and not pulled by the customer, we overproduce and end up with material in storage.

So, we need to consider where material is accumulating as inventory between processes or job families. These accumulation points tell us where material is stopping and shows a potential opportunity to remove one of our seven wastes - Inventory. To

indicate this accumulation, we use a triangle icon to represent the inventory between processes.

Keep in mind that if inventory accumulates in more than one place between processes, we need to draw a triangle for each place.

We now have the majority of our icon information for our Current State Map, a great first step. But, we do not have all of the information necessary to determine the Value Stream, identify opportunities for improvement, and begin to eliminate waste. In the next section, we will determine how to gather the additional information necessary to create the remainder of the Current State Map.

Collect and Record Data

Now we will begin to fill in the necessary process date for our Current State Map. We'll also look at some typical process data and identify potential areas for improvement.

In the Current State Mapping section, we identified how to capture and identify material and information flow in a Current State Map, using the production of toothpaste as an example.

The next step in the mapping process is to collect and record data. To complete this task, you will need to walk the factory floor to gather the true processing data. Record your information into data boxes, like the ones shown here.

Notice that the data boxes are placed under each manufacturing process box icon. These boxes allow us to record data specific to each of the plant processes.

Typical Process Data

Before gathering the data, we need to understand the requirements for the Current State Map to be effective. Let's look at an example of the data we might use.

Next, we'll define these data fields. Let's review the typical process data in our example.

Beyond the typical data captured in the data box, additional information will help when creating the ideal or future state of the plant. This additional data includes customer and supplier data and other plant information. Although some data captures identical information, each process box contains unique data.

Next, we will create a Current State Map for our toothpaste plant.

Toothpaste Plant: Process Example

Cycle time is the amount of time it takes an operator to do all of their work elements before repeating them.

Change over time is the time required to change a process area from performing one function to another.

Uptime is the amount of time the machine is actually running and producing materials.

Pack size is the size of the batch that is moved on to the next process.

Work time is the number of minutes or seconds worked in a day. This can be stated as shifts per day.

Scrap rate is the calculated amount of scrap in a process.

Before we start mapping the Toothpaste Plant, let's look at one of the processes together. The first process in the production of toothpaste is "Incoming Quality Assurance".

We gathered the following information from the Incoming Quality Assurance department as we walked our plant floor.

All areas of the plant work 2 shifts per day, 5 days a week. One operator begins a new QA check every 50 seconds. To change to a different QA check, they need approximately

40 minutes for changing over the lab equipment. Their test equipment does not operate efficiently and they

are only able to produce QA lab results about 60% of the time.

About 12% of the raw materials have to be thrown out based on the lab results.

Let's fill in the data on our Current State Map.

Evaluating the Current State Map

Now that the basics of the Current State Map are complete, what do we do with this information?

Remember, the reason for creating the Current State Map was to see how to improve our manufacturing process and eliminate waste.

Although this shows our current state, we are still missing some vital data - timing. By knowing the amount of time required for a product to progress through the entire process, along with the time within each individual process, we can determine where to

make adjustments to level out the time, remove inventory, eliminate waste, reduce costs, and maximize our profit.

Current State Map TimelinesThere are two sets of times that need to be added to the Value Stream:

Production Lead-time : The time required for a single product to move through the entire process – beginning to the end, including supplier inventory and shipping to the customer.

Processing Time : The time when the process is changing the fit, form, or function of an aspect of the product. This can be seen by adding up all of the cycle times for each area of the production.

http://us8n87.glaxo.com/docent/content/vsm/content/s04t07p01.htm#%23


As you read these consider this; the shorter your production lead-time, the shorter the time between paying for the raw materials from the supplier and getting paid for the finished products. Let's look at production lead-time and processing time in our plant.

Production Lead-time for our Toothpaste

We've added a timeline at the bottom of our Current State Map under the process boxes and inventory triangles to help record our production lead-time. The first inventory triangle in our production process is between our supplier and our Incoming QA process. It takes five days. This ensures enough inventory in the plant between shipments. We put that time on our first upper line of the timeline. To complete the timeline, we transfer all the inventory days to the timeline

Process Lead-time for our Toothpaste

Next, we need to determine our cycle times or processing time for each process. As with the production lead-time, the information

for the processing time is contained within the Current State Map. For example, the Incoming QA department has a process time or cycle time of 50 seconds. We put that time on our first lower line of the timeline.

To complete the timeline, we transfer all the cycle times to the timeline.

Examine the Current State Map Timeline

Now we know that the production lead-time is 16 days from the time we receive our raw materials from the supplier until we get a shipment of toothpaste to the customer. The process time is 282 seconds. That tells us that of those 16 days, it takes us only 282 seconds or approximately 4 ¾ minutes to actually make toothpaste for delivery to our customer.

So clearly, the very next thing to do is to use the map to find and eliminate waste!

Identifying Areas for Improvement

The Current State Map provides a visual representation of our Value Stream and potential areas for improvement. Some common improvement opportunities include:

Difference between production lead-time and process time Overall equipment effectiveness Excess inventory Scrap Change over time

Future State MappingUsing the Current State Map

In the Mapping Process Data section we created the Current State Map. It provides a lot of information, but it only shows the current state, not the ideal state. Now we need to identify areas for improvement on the Current State Map.

To accomplish this, we'll explore some lean manufacturing strategies. The proper application of these strategies is fundamental to Future State Mapping and an improved Value Stream.

Takt Time

How often a process produces one part or product, based on the rate of sales, to meet customer requirements.

One of the first strategies we'll look at is the concept of takt time.

When we started creating our Current State Map, we identified that customer requirements drive every process in the plant. With that in mind, the first step to take towards making our plant more efficient is to calculate the rate we need to produce our product to meet our customer's demand. This rate is called takt time.

Calculation

To better understand takt time, let's complete a takt time calculation for our Toothpaste Plant.

The Current State Map shows that the customer requires 4600 cases every week. Viewing the map we also know that the plant works two 8-hour shifts a day, 5 days a week with two 10-minute breaks every shift.

As stated earlier, takt time is the available time (in minutes and seconds) divided by the customer demand.

To begin, we need to calculate the number of minutes or seconds available per shift - the top number in the calculation.

We know that there are 2 shifts per day of 8 hours each and a total of 20 minutes of breaks per shift (2, 10-minute breaks per shift).

Using this information, we can determine that there are 27,600 seconds available in each standard shift day to make toothpaste.

The calculations below show how we arrived at this number.

Next, we need to determine the number of cases we need to produce each shift to meet our customer's toothpaste demand:

the bottom number in the calculation. Knowing that the customer needs 4600 cases per week, we use this calculation to determine that the plant must make 460 cases each shift.

Using this information, the takt time for our plant can be calculated by dividing the 27,600 seconds per shift by the 460 cases to be produced per shift. The result is the production of a case every 60 seconds, which is our takt time.

Cycle-time versus Takt Time

Now that we've defined and calculated takt time, let's look at cycle-time and how the two fit together.

Cycle-time: The amount of time it takes for an operator to move, start to finish, through one complete work cycle.

When creating a Future State Map, our goal is to bring cycle-time and takt time within a few seconds of one another.

It is important to remember that takt time is a target time of the ideal production rate necessary to meet customer demand requirements. However, all production processes have some downtime. For this reason we do not exactly match takt time and cycle-time because we need to leave some room for potential quality issues or line stoppages.

When looking at trying to bring cycle-time close to the takt time, we need to consider the following factors:

Unplanned equipment downtime Equipment changeovers Necessary inventory Lead-times for supply material Other external factors

Although these factors do not affect the cycle-time, they do affect the time required to make a product and they impact our ability to bring the cycle-time close to the takt time.

Strategies to Migrate from a Push System to a Continuous Flow System

Now that we are familiar with the first strategy of takt time versus cycle-time, we need to see how it can help us improve our process and Value Stream. During the next few pages, we will discuss each of the following strategies: push, pull, FIFO, and continuous flow. Keep in mind that our goal is to go from a push system to a continuous flow system.

Pull versus Push Systems

In traditional manufacturing, a push system produces as much product as possible with the goal of producing to capacity. This, in turn, produces so much excess inventory that there is a demand for more storage, driving up cost. This situation can also create damaged product due to accidents in the storage area or the production of obsolete or outdated items that will sit in inventory, waiting for a customer.

A pull system bases its production requirements directly on product consumption. This system is based on companies watching how U.S. supermarkets managed floor inventory by routinely filling the empty spaces produced when a customer pulls a product off the shelf. Typically, with a pull system, line-side flow racks are replenished from a local storage location, (often referred to as a supermarket) based on the amount of parts actually consumed in the production process. In our pull system, the downstream process or external vendor "pulls" the product based on the consumer. The upstream process then produces and ships enough parts to the supermarket to replace the number of parts that the supermarket sent to the line. Remember the customer should be the main pull!

Our goal is to move from a push system to a pull system.Push is a method used to build to capacity. Push systems produce as much inventory as possible.

Push System

Pull System

FIFO - First In, First Out

Up to this point we have talked about pull systems that use just-in-time delivery. However, there are instances where it is not practical to keep an inventory of all possible part variations in a pull system supermarket. For these situations we use a concept called FIFO - First In, First Out.

Specifically, we use FIFO when the process uses:

Parts that have a short shelf life Costly parts that are used infrequently Custom parts that have a long lead-time

If we have situations where FIFO is necessary, we implement a FIFO lane. The FIFO lanes bridge the gap between two decoupled processes to substitute for a supermarket and maintain a flow between them. FIFO lanes contain room for only a certain number of parts; once the FIFO lane is full, it allows for no additional product to be built until the product in the FIFO lane is used.

Continuous Flow

The next strategy we need to examine concerns how our product moves through the Value Stream. Ideally, the product should move continuously through our plant.

Although continuous flow is ideal, it is not always possible. For example, some processes are designed to operate at very fast or slow cycle-times and need to change over to serve multiple product families. Other areas require products that are built in a distant plant.

So what do we do? We flow where we can and pull where we cannot.

Production Kanban

Another important strategy in the process is the concept of Kanbans. Kanbans are used in a pull process to signal to the operator or the previous process what to make and pass on.

Kanbans provide a physical and often visual signal to a material handler of what product he should pull from the supermarket. There are two types: a Production Kanban triggers production of parts, while a Withdrawal Kanban is a shopping list that instructs the material handler to get and transfer parts.

Inventory Control

One of the key steps that can help achieve the future state is to reduce the waste of excess inventory, sometimes referred to as a controlled buffer. How can you tell if the excess inventory is required or wasteful?

As a general rule, if inventory is not required to allow for continuous flow or to overcome normal equipment downtime, the inventory should be eliminated.

Excess Inventory that is not required = Waste

Excess inventory may be required if;Uneven cycle times existSuppliers are far from the plantSome processes do not continuously flow with other

processes

A plant will always have some inventory for specific needs. Identifying inventory that is waste requires careful review of existing inventory and the reason for carrying this inventory. When looking at a stockpile of inventory, consider the questions below to determine if the inventory is necessary or if it is waste that can be eliminated.

Is the inventory obsolete materials? Dispose it off

Is the inventory required by the subsequent process (line balance) or to keep the product line moving smoothly? Keep the inventory but get the level as low as possible.

Must we purchase or bring in items in large lot sizes? Keep the lot sizes as small as possible. Trade off between inventory waste and volume discounts.

Is the manufacturer producing products in small lots? Keep the inventory as low as possible.






Future State Mapping Icons

Supermarket: Represents a controlled inventory of parts used to schedule production at a point further along in the manufacturing process.Withdrawal or Pull Arrow: Shows the pull of materials, usually from a supermarket. Fifo: This icon indicates a device to limit quantity and ensure FIFO flow of controlled quantities of material between processes. Maximum quantity should be noted.Production Kanban: Tells a process how many of a specific product can be produced and gives permission to do so. (Dotted line indicates production Kanban path)Withdrawal Kanban: Tells a process how many of a specific product can be withdrawn and gives permission to do so. (dotted line indicates withdrawal Kanban path.Kanban Post: Indicates the place where Kanbans are collected and held for pick up.

There is one last type of icon to discuss. It is the Kaizen Lightening Burst. It is used as a visual indicator on the Current State Map to help you decide how to transition from your Current State to the Future State. We will show you how to use these next.

Toothpaste Plant Future State Map

Now that we have covered the various procedures used to help transform from a mass production system to a lean one, let's use the new icons to create a Future State Map of the Value Stream at our Toothpaste Plant.

Using the strategies we've covered in this section, we need to identify how to improve our process, reduce waste, and increase quality.

Our goal is to build a line of production where individual processes are linked to the customer either by continuous flow or pull. This ensures that each process only produces what is needed - when it is needed.

Keep these key items in mind as we walk through creating the Future State Map:

Takt time - 60 seconds Strive for a cycle-time slightly less than the takt time Cycle-times for all areas should be as close as possible to

takt time Excess inventory increases costs, causing unnecessary

expenses associated with building our toothpaste cases Excess inventory makes it more difficult to meet the

changing customer requests

Let's begin by highlighting the sources of waste in our Current State Map using the Kaizen lightening burst icon. As we progress through the process of creating a Future State Map, we will address each item identified by the Kaizen lightening burst.

Let's begin the Value Stream improvement effort by looking at the flow of information from the Planning office. In particular, we will look at the frequency that the office sends schedules to the supplier and receives schedules from the customer.

By increasing the frequency of receiving and sending out schedules, we can receive inventory in smaller batches to ensure the plant is only building what the customer wants when they want it. This will also reduce the costs for excess parts we are going to keep in our shop.

There are three areas of communication with the Planning office that we need to examine:

Customer - Smile-Mart sends weekly orders along with 30, 60, and 90-day forecasts to Planning

Supplier - Planning sends Silica & Stuff weekly schedules along with 6-week forecasts

Plant Processes - Planning sends a weekly schedule to every process in the plant.

We examines the Current State Map to see if there's any way to change the frequency of the flow of information in order to reduce the amount of inventory that needs to be held in the plant due to:

Receiving smaller batch sizes from suppliers Sending smaller batch sizes to customer

Improving ability to build based on customer demand requirements

Now that we have looked at the information flowing into and out of the Planning office, let's look at the number of shipments going into and out of the plant. We need to look at the shipments of toothpaste from the plant to the customer and the shipments of raw materials from the supplier to the plant.

Benefits of controlling shipments from the plant includes reduced inventory due to:

Reduced inventory for raw materials Reduced paperwork associated with each shipment Increased ability to adjust orders on short notice

Next let's look at how we can utilize supermarkets and Kanbans to reduce excess inventory.

By implementing a supermarket and Withdraw Kanban between the Incoming QA department and Planning, costly inventory and storage in the plant has been eliminated. We now receive only what our plant needs, when it needs it.

By implementing another supermarket area and Production Kanban between Incoming QA and Mixing, overproducing product is prevented and the plant only makes what they need, when they need it.

In summary, benefits of implementing supermarkets and Kanbans include:

Reduced inventories between processes Improved scheduling processes with the supplier while

reducing Planning office involvement A trigger to tell upstream processes what to produce

When the material is pulled to the incoming QA department, a card is placed in a Kanban post. The planning office will then pick up the card and that will signal them to tell the supplier what to produce and deliver at the plant.

When mixing receives its hourly schedule from planning and pulls what it needs from the supermarket, a signal will be sent to the incoming QA area to tell them how much to replenish the supermarket. This area is now driving the schedule for the upstream processes.

Now let's look at ways that we can create continuous flow in the plant. If we can combine the Pre-Mixing process with the Mixing process then we can create a continuous flow. We determined that this was possible by reviewing the cycle-times, inventory, and synergies between the two areas.

Benefits of merging processes include:

Levelled cycle-times Operators potentially freed-up to work on additional

improvements Elimination of inventory between these process areas

To further improve continuous flow, let's look at where FIFO (First In, First Out) may help. We have identified three areas that will benefit from adding a FIFO lane:

By creating a continuous flow we reduced the inventory between Pre-Mixing and Mixing. We also were able to equalize the work between the workers in the process area. Combining these two areas removed the inventory storage between the work stations, improved the flow, removed the production lead time associated with these areas, and provide a method to equalize work load. At some time in the future we may consider removing an operator from this area and using that person to begin looking for additional waste elimination efforts.

Between the Mixing area and the Filling and Packaging department

Between the Filling and Packaging department and the Final QA department

Between the Final QA department and the Shipping area

All of these FIFO lanes reduce inventory and the associated production lead-time we hope to get these inventories further reduced in the future, but see these reductions as a great start.

Benefits of implementing FIFO include:

Reduced production lead-time between process areas Decreased time in inventory and inventory carry costs Reduced inventory requirements A trigger to tell downstream processes what to produce and

when to produce it

Next let's turn our attention to improving the process areas. To improve these areas, we implemented standardized work processes and other quality processes. We then began to monitor the data associated with each area, maintaining a watchful eye to ensure that the cycle-time was approaching the takt time, but not exceeding it. The changes we made occurred over time as we tried many improvement efforts and sought help from the workers in our plant. Some improvements were immediately effective, some did not work well, and some actually decreased quality. We continued to try new methods and ideas, keeping those that worked and removing those that did not improve quality or time.

Benefits of cycle-time levelling include:

Reduced overproduction Inventory inefficiencies identified Work process inefficiencies identified

FIFO lane with a maximum of three hours of inventory. This FIFO lane will signal filling and packaging how much to produce, and they will only produce what is needed, when it is needed.

FIFO lane with a maximum of 3 hours of Inventory. This will signal final QA how much to send on to shipping.

FIFO lane with a maximum of 2 hours of inventory. This will signal shipping what quantities to ship, based on customer orders.

Periodically, we recalculate the production lead-time and cycle-times for our plant. This can help identify other areas for improvement. We do this the same way we did for the Current State Map.

Benefits of periodically reviewing production lead-time and cycle-time includes identifying additional areas for improvement, such as:

Inventory waste Merging of processes Information flow General waste and inefficiencies

We'll calculate the new lead-time and cycle-times and then compare them to the Current State Map.

We determined that we could slow this process from 50 seconds down to 55 seconds and concentrate on the other quality items. Our data shows that this area reduced the scrap rate from 12% to 2%, increased uptime from 60 to 80% and reduced change over time from 40 to 15 minutes

In the combined mixing process, we balanced out the work in this area between two workers so both workers are working equal time with a cycle time of 57 seconds. The two operators were able to implement other quality processes to reduce the scrap rate from 2% to 1% improve uptime from 50% to 85% and reduce changeover time from 20 minutes to 5 minutes

In the filling and packaging area, we worked to speed up the process so this area completes a process every 58 seconds. Our data shows that this area reduced scrap rate from 2% to .5% and increased uptime from 65% to 92%.

In the final QA area, we slowed down the cycle time a small amount from 55 to 57 seconds. Again, implementing quality processes, we reduced scrap rate from 1% to .5% and increased uptime from 90%to 97%.

If you remember from the Mapping Process Data section, it took 16 days from the time we received parts from the supplier to get a finished case of toothpaste to our customer. Of those 16 days, it took approximately 4 ¾ minutes to actually make the case of toothpaste.

Since we calculated the new lead-time and cycle-time, we see that it takes 3 days from the time the plant receives raw materials from the supplier to get a finished case of toothpaste to our customer. Of those three days, the plant has improved the processing time from 282 seconds to 227 seconds or approximately 3 ¾ minutes.

It is now taking 1 minute less to make the same amount of toothpaste and we have much less money tied up in inventory just sitting in our plant.

To calculate the lead time, transfer the inventory times to the timeline . This shows that the production lead time is 3 days.

Next, bring down the cycle – times. This shows that the total process time is now 227 seconds.


* Getting ready for work* Preparing for a meeting



PROCESS MAPPING

LOAD CHARTS

Purpose: To provide a visual comparison of the workload of either machines or operators

When To Use It

Load charts are used to determine the load on plant kit or operators when looking at capacity utilisation. The Load Chart will show you where you have an issue with capacity i.e. a bottleneck or under utilisation.

How To Use It

Analyse the activity of the plant or operator(s), using the 7-cycle analysis tool documenting each activity and time spent on it.

Translate this data in to a stacked bar graph – see example below.

Annotate the chart with the known capacity of the machine or operator.

Analyse the data to determine where there are bottlenecks and determine a plan to remove them.

The work is a 5 stage process and each stage is must be performed by each machine.

Each operator runs one machine As you can see Fred spends a lot of time on tasks which are

not Useful. He is a bottleneck in this process and this is therefore the area to concentrate on.

Dick is also a bottleneck but that is because he is spending the most time out of all of the operators on Useful Tasks. In this instance you can look to see if you can spread his workload across other operators e.g. Tom and Harry who have capacity available.


* Worker efficiency comparisons* Capacity utilization analysis



PROCESS MAPPING

IPO Diagrams

INPUT PROCESS OUTPUT

Purpose: To visually represent a process or activity and illustrate the relationship between inputs and

outputs.

When To Use It

To seek clarification on the expected outputs of a process or activity, and be able to provide the appropriate inputs and process to gain the required outputs. To illustrate how input variables determine output variables.

Construction:

1. Define the process or activity. This could be a set of manufacturing steps, a budgeting process or a meeting.e.g. baking some cookies for the next team meeting

2. Decide on the ‘Outputs’. These can be anything from performing a service, completing a task or producing a product. Specifically they should list the quality characteristics of your end goal. They may be critical success factors or specific things that need to happen or be present, or a list of criteria for the outcome of the process.

The Outputs should usually be defined from a CUSTOMER PERSPECTIVE.Questions to help you list the outputs might include:- What makes this process valuable to the customer?- What key responses define this process as good or bad

from the customers point of view?

E.g. baking some cookies for the next team meeting

Out Puts would include:

TIP: The Output(s) may be one thing or they may be six things. However, all outputs should be as MEASURABLE as possible.

IPO:

Perform A Service

Produce A Product

Complete A Task

INPUTS PROCESS OUTPUTS

3. Once you know what you need to achieve your outputs, you need to look at everything you need to meet these goals: the Inputs.

You need to provide all the parts or information that you require in order to produce/ achieve your outputs.

These may include the right people, materials, equipment, policies, procedures, methods and environmental resources that have an effect on your desired output

COOKIES IPO:

At least 24 cookies

No Nuts (Tim is allergic)

Need to be not too chewy


Chocolate chip!

Ready for Thursday morning

TIP: You can do the Inputs part, by using a Fishbone Analysis (see Fishbone Analysis Module)

4. Once you have determined these two parts of the diagram you need to decide on the process.

This process is the relationship between what you need to do to your inputs in order to get your expected outputs.

COOKIES IPO:

A cook (Me !)

Ingredients

Make time in diary to bake!

Baking Tray, mixer etc

Clean kitchen

Recipe

At least 24 cookies

No Nuts (Tim is allergic)

Need to be not too chewy


Chocolate chip!

Ready for Thursday morningContainer to take

cookies to work.

Oven at right temp

Cook for right time

Empowered People

Material

Environment

Equipment

Policies

Procedures

Methods

Perform A Service

Produce A Product

Complete A Task


TOOL TAKEAWAY: (remember this if nothing else!)Once your outputs have been determined from the customers perspective, if you then focus on ensuring you have the right inputs into the process, your outputs will take care of themselves.

IPO:

Empowered People

Material

Environment

Equipment

Policies

Procedures

Methods

Perform A Service

Produce A Product

Complete A Task

ACTIVITY: A blending of

Inputs to achieve the

desired Outputs.


Interpretation

AN IPO diagram is useful in providing a 50,000 foot high overview. It is good for gaining a common understanding of all requirements of a process or activity.

Variations

IPO diagrams are particularly useful as meeting preparation tools.

The following instructions are the same as those at the beginning of the module, but refer more specifically to use IPO diagrams for meetings.

1. Decide that you need to hold a meeting to deal with a specific topic.

2. Decide what you want to get out of the meeting. These are your ‘Outputs’.They could be critical success factors or specific things that you want to happen. It can include decisions that need to be made, or a list of actions. It can involve things such as performing a service, completing a task, or producing a product.Outputs should usually be defined from a CUSTOMER perspective.

TIP: The Output(s) may be one thing or they may be six things. However, all outputs should be as MEASURABLE as possible.

3. Once you know what you want your meeting to achieve, you should look at all the resources you will require to meet these goals; the Inputs.These could include that you make sure all the right people are invited; ideally everyone with a say in how you will achieve your meeting objectives, as listed in your Outputs.So check that all those necessary to make the decision you require are going to be present, ensure everyone there is empowered and that you have all the supporting information required that they might need.

Inputs also cover the list of resources you will need; any equipment, handouts, other team members experience, or a review of a similar exercise completed in the past.

4. Once you have determined these two parts of the process you can either determine a process before the meeting , or come up with a process in the meeting. This process should utilise your inputs in order to achieve your specified outputs.

Benefits of using IPO diagrams in meetings

So the organiser knows what they want to achieve out of the meeting.

So everyone else has a clear idea of what the meeting is trying to achieve.

You can ensure you have all the support information and resources ready before you go into the meeting.

To determine a specified process that matches resources to outcomes.

TIP: You can do the Inputs part, by using a Fishbone Analysis (see Fishbone Analysis Module)


* IPO for making toast* IPO for team meetings* IPO for your next holiday* IPO for hanging wallpaper



PROBLEM SOLVING

Problem Solving Method

Purpose: A structured and well organized way to look at a problem, consider alternative ways to deal with it and

help select the best, most workable solution.

When To Use It

The problem-solving model can be used in many situations to provide a structured way of investigating and resolving problems. It can be used to assist in solving problems with chemical processes, admin processes, ways of working or any organisational issue.Essentially it is a methodology that stops you from jumping to a solution – which is frequently wrong. It means all potential ways forward are brought out and it is decided with the support of everyone involved, not just the most senior person!

Construction:

1. Place 6 sheets of Flipchart paper on the wall of the room.Head up each sheet as follows:

A. B. C.

PROBLEM STATEMENT

PROBLEM STATEMENT WHY?

IDEAL SOLUTION SPEC

PROBLEM STATEMENT

D. E. F.

Heading each flipchart in this way will help you work through the method in a visual way that lets everyone in the session follow what is happening. It also gives you a storyboard to go through, should you have to present your solution or process to anyone outside the meeting or in an out brief.

It may also help you build a business case for your output because others can see you have followed a well structured objective process.

Note: You may need to use more than one piece of flipchart paper per section, this is just a guideline.

2. Write Your Problem Statement

Decide on the problem to be looked at and construct a problem statement.The problem statement should describe the issue you would like a solution to.It may come from previous analysis tools used such as baselines, kaizens, issues diagrams, fishbone analysis, or can be agreed upon in the session to deal with a specific problem.The problem statement should document the problem, which the group is to solve so that every team member has the same understanding of what it is that must be improved. It should be clear, concise and understood by all.

ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS

ALTERNATIVE SELECTED:

FORCEFIELD ANALYSIS

ACTION PLAN

The problem statement should be written as a single sentence stating what the problem is, on Flipchart A.

i.e. Need to think of somewhere new to go on holiday

SUGGESTED TIME LIMIT FOR SIMPLE JDI: 10 minutes.(increase for more complex situations)

3. Ask Why?

Below you Problem Statement on Flipchart A, ask ‘why?’ to establish the reasons the problem occurs and list all responses received.

You can do this using a brainstorming process, reviewing any existing data or using root cause tools such as Fishbone Analysis or 5 Whys (see modules on Fishbone Analysis and 5 Whys).

A quick summary of the brainstorming rules are: (see Brainstorming Module for further information.)

TIP: Try and make your problem statement understandable by people who may not be present during the construction. This will stop you from making too many assumptions about everyone’s understanding of the issue.

i.e Our last holiday not very enjoyable because:- kids not entertained- weather awful- accommodation not clean/ comfortable/ tidy- restricted in time spent there- in noisy, built up area- very little public transport


4. Determine the Impact

The next step is to look at your list of whys and consider the impact this has.Go back and review data or brainstorm and list the impact of the problem on the issue.Write the list of impacts up on Flipchart B.

This part of the process underlies the foundations of the Problem Statement and generates a common understanding to the group


of the impact in different functional areas and provides a broad picture of the area being investigated.

i.e. kids get bored easilymum & dad stressedlots of housework to docan’t unwind & relax easilyworried about kids playing outside due to traffic

etcpeople not very friendly


It is important that steps 1-4 are completed properly – it can be too easy otherwise to move straight to solution mode without clarifying the problem so everyone has the same understanding of the issue. Going straight to solution mode can also result in an action plan that doesn’t necessarily attack the core problem.If no real impact can be determined, then the may be no point in following on with the process, so it is important to consider this.

5. Create your Ideal Solution Specification.

This is a list of the criteria you want your solution to meet. It is not going straight to what you think the ideal solution should be, but rather what sort of things your ideal solution should contain, a description of what your solution should ‘look & smell like’.If your Problem Statement is Point A, i.e. where we are now, then the Solution Specification can be seen as Point B. The next step, will look at ways to get from A to B.

Have the team brainstorm the attributes of a perfect solution to the problem onto Flipchart C. These should include any critical success factors, i.e. things the solution won’t work without. It may

include resources required, particular people you need to involve or get support from, or constraints re timing, cost and communication.This should be easier to generate given you have already examined the impact of the problem. Your Ideal Solution Specification should aim to alleviate as much of the problem as possible, particularly those impacts listed in Step 4.

Once the brainstorming is completed review all suggestions and group into 3 areas:MUST HAVES: final action plan must focus on these (M)NICE TO HAVE: final action plan may include these but not

essential (N)UNREALISTIC: remove (xx)

Highlight the MUST-HAVE attributes using brightly coloured markers or rewrite them onto a new Flipchart.

i.e. Ideal Solution Criteria Must have/ Nice to haveKids entertainment MReasonably priced MEducational/ cultural NSunshine MRelaxing for Mum & Dad MCreche available NBabysitting service available MTransfers to accommodation included NBeach MPool M

TIP: This can also be viewed as ‘clean sheet’ thinking time. That is, if you could start it over from the beginning and do it perfectly, what sort of things would you identify as being important?

Sports facilities (tennis, bikes) NOther families MLimited housework involved NNo more than 2 hour flight MAt least 6 days long N

SUGGESTED TIME LIMIT FOR SIMPLE JDI: 10 mins brainstorm(increase for more complex situations) 5 mins sort

6. Generate Alternatives

This part of the process involves listing all the alternative solutions to a problem.Brainstorming can do this, but it is important to list each alternative in a clear and concise way. This step is where you look at your current point , where you are (Point A) and look at where you want to be (Point B) and examine all the different ways to try and get from A to B.

The advantages of doing this include:- Stopping the team from jumping straight into a solution mode

which may be the wrong one.- Showing others an objective thought process has been

undertaken and it is not just a tick-the-box activity, has not been driven by a single function and is really aimed at doing the best for the business/ customers.

- Allowing everyone to contribute. This can be especially important in a situation where someone is in a senior position, exerts personal influence or just shouts the loudest!

This stage just involves listing the alternatives and they should not be evaluated or deleted at this stage.Brainstorm using Post-It notes onto Flipchart D.

i.e.- Self catering holiday in Spain- All inclusive hotel deal on Greek Island- Hotel at Disneyland Paris- B&B in Blackpool

- House in Lake District- Villa in Tuscany- Hotel in Canaries- Camping in Brighton- Visit grandparents in Glasgow- Have daytrips locally- Bargain package holiday to Majorca


7. Select an Alternative

Review the list of alternatives generated.Assess each alternative, or combination of alternatives against your ideal solution spec to determine the solution of best fit

Compare the alternatives to your original solution specification defined in Step 2, on flipchart C. Choose the alternative that meets the most criteria, most importantly in the ‘must-haves’ list of criteria on Flipchart A.

If there is agreement that none of the alternatives meet the solution specification to an adequate degree, either the solution specification or the alternatives generated may have to be reviewed.

At this stage you also need to consider practicalities such as being cost effective, the ease of implementation and ability to meet business needs.

You may like to use a Radar Chart to display these and compare these criteria. (See module on Radar Charts).

Before moving on, seek agreement from all team members that the best alternative has been selected.Write the solution on Flipchart E.

It is important you aim to reach consensus. Normally consensus is possible when- everyone agrees on the current reality- everyone agrees on the major causes- you have a clear and well understood problem statement- you have a rigorous and fair process for evaluating

alternatives.If you don’t get consensus, determine what data will convince the ‘objectors’ and go out and collect it. If that doesn’t work, try your preferred approach as a ‘pilot’ solution.i.e.

Holiday Option

Kid

s E

nte

rtain

-m

ent

Co

st

Su

nshine

Re

laxin

g

Ba

bysitting

service

Be

ach

Po

ol

Oth

er fam

ilies

Ma

x. 2 hr

flight

TO

TA

L:

Self catering in Spain 5All inclusive Greek island 7Hotel @ Disneyland Paris ? 6B&B in Blackpool ? 4House in Lake District ? 3Villa in Tuscany 5Camping in Brighton ? 4Grandparents in Glasgow 3Local daytrips ? 4Package holiday in Majorca 9


8. Complete a Forcefield Analysis

Once your preferred solution has been selected it is useful to look at drivers supporting the solution implementation, as well as barriers that will need to be overcome or minimised.

Divide this section of Flipchart E into three columns. On the far-left column, list the forces driving the solution. I.e. those things supporting the solution. Are people behind it? Are there resources to support it? Is there a business need? Is there a financial benefit?

In the middle column, list the constraints or restraining forces that will hinder the preferred solution. These may include corporate systems/policy, regulatory, GMP, monetary constraints, time, ownership, resources, supporting functions, or culture as well as the converse of your drivers.

Weigh up the drivers and restraining forces where the restraining force is more than the driving force, identifying a counter measure that can be taken that will make the driving force more powerful than the restraining force.

Remember if the restraining forces are greater than the driving forces then the solution will become more difficult to implement. If there are too many strong restraining forces you may need to reconsider your solution.

(For further information see the Forcefield Analysis Module).i.e.

DRIVING FORCES RESTRAINING FORCES

COUNTER MEASURES

Haven’t been to Spain May not like food Find out what sort of food hotel has

DRIVING FORCES RESTRAINING FORCES COUNTER MEASURES

COUNTERMEASURE: gain resources or drop something else

DRIVING FORCE:financial benefit £50k per year

RESTRAINING FORCE:no resources to carry out work

beforeLearn about new culture Don’t speak language Learn some basic phrases

Find out if hotel staff speak EnglishFun for kidsNice long break Kids get bored away too

longFind lots for them to doCheck out hotel entertainment options

Friends loved it No friends out there Be prepared to meet new peopleCheck with tour companies other families will also be thereInvite other friends to join us

Good weather Might get sunburned/ ill Take sunscreen/ medical kit


9. Write Up An Action Plan

Once you have reviewed progress and the solution(s) you will undertake, you need to identify:

- actions- who is responsible for each action- deadlines for each action- further team reviews (if required)

Make sure everyone thinks it makes sense and agrees with it. Write up on Flipchart F.

i.e. ACTIONS LIST

- book holiday- pay for holiday - book dog into kennel

TIP: Review the whole process and make sure it makes sense by reading your findings back like a story.

- get neighbour to feed cat- buy sunscreen, sun hats etc- check passports valid- check kids happy with decision!- Confirm leave at work- Cancel papers and milk- Ask friends if interested in joining us

Have a nice time!!! Variations

Use this as an alternative approach to work through Just Do Its (JDI’s)


Your next JDI Buying a new TV/ Fridge/ Car Deciding what to do for your next birthday



ORGANISING THE WORKPLACE

5S

Purpose: It is a methodology for creating and maintaining an organized, clean, high performance workplace.

When To Use It

At the start of any improvement effort it is useful to step back and look at the work area to understand the support requirements for any given activity. An organised, clean working environment will help to reduce waste, errors, improve the efficiency of the operation and the working environment. 5S provides the tools to do this in a structured way.

Introduction

5S is a 5 level standard for organisation of the workplace. The 5 levels (from most disorganised to most organised) are:

1S = “Seiri” = Sort = Clearing up: eliminating non needed material

2S = “Seiton” = Storage = Organizing: a place for everything

3S = “Seiso” = Shine = Cleaning: eliminating dirt/spills, etc.

Sort

Store

Shine

Standardise

Sustain

4S = “Seketsu”= Standardize = making all spaces and places the same

• 5S = “Shitsuke” = Sustain = Maintaining - continued compliance automatic

Construction:

You need to train the whole of the work team to get a common understanding of the system and to get buy in to the actions that are required by everyone to make it work. Links to a 5S slide presentation that can be used for this are given below; this should take no more than1.5 hours and ideally will include a ‘first impressions’ assessment of the area. The following generally covers the material included in the presentation.

1S – “Seiri” = Sort = Clearing up: Get rid of what is not needed.

Clear workplace and remove all un-needed items such as racks, tools, containers, equipment, excess materials

What Can We Get Rid of? Check Points for Your Workplace: Can you find any unnecessary things cluttering up

your workplace? Is there any unnecessary material or equipment left

lying around? Are there any tools or materials left on the floor? Are all unnecessary items sorted out, classified,

stored and labeled? Are all gauges and tools properly classified and

stored?

Sort

Throw out rubbish

Create a “Red Tag Program” This is a simple way of ensuring that you don’t really annoy everyone by throwing out their most cherished possessions – well at least not without giving them an opportunity to object – and basically involves identifying those items not required for disposal/removal.

Red tagging visually identifies what is not needed in the workplace. Red Tags ask “Why am I here?”

Establish rules for what is needed and where it belongs. Attach Red Tags to all unneeded items and out of place items.

Write the specific reason for Red-Tagging, sign and date each tag.

Remove and store Red Tagged items in a temporary holding area.

Sort through and dispose of those items that are truly unnecessary. Prepare all other items for relocation. Ensure that all interested parties agree.

Determine ways to improve the workplace so that unnecessary items do not accumulate.

Continue to Red Tag regularly.

The holding area is a temporary local storage place for items that need to be removed from the work area but cannot be discarded until interested parties have agreed upon disposal.

Tips: Define personal space first (and stay out). Start at one corner touch everything. Ask questions about each thing: How often do you use it? Where does it go? Place stuff based on frequency of use. Place red tags (see next section) on unnecessary stuff.

The Holding area should have a designated individual who looks after the area ensuring that it is cleared in a timely manner according to an agreed standard.

2S = “Seiton” = Storage = Organizing: a place for everything - Organize what’s Left! Arrange and Identify for ease of use. Everything has a place: Everything in it’s place Designate locations in a variety of ways Lines on the floor Signs hung from the ceiling Tool boards…..

Fix Storage Methods and Places

This is a simple label printed out and stuck on the items considered to be surplus to requirements for whatever reason. The link gives access to the spreadsheet for printing these out.

Store

Find a suitable storage area for

everything

Check Points for Your Workplace: Are the positions of main corridors, aisles and storage places

clearly marked? Are tools divided into specialized use and “regular items?” Are all pallets always stacked to the proper heights? Is anything stored around fire extinguishers? Does the floor have any depressions, protrusions, cracks or

obstacles?

3S = “Seiso” = Shine = Cleaning: eliminating dirt/spills, etc. Clean up what’s left! Clean Daily.

Paint, refurbish, etc….Get the remaining items into the same condition as when they were new!

Cleaning is careful checking!

Check Points for Your Workplace: Look carefully at the floor, aisles and around

equipment. How much, dirt and dust can you find? Are any parts of the equipment dirty? Are any air, electrical supply lines or gas & water pipes

oily, dirty or need of repair? Are service outlets clogged with dirt? Are light bulbs, reflectors or shades dirty?

Tips: A place for everything, everything in its place. The LeanSigma part of 5s is to be organized... know what you have and where it’s kept to get rid of waste of searching. Tool boxes are a bad idea .... cause redundant tools, and you have to go to them to get the right tools, tools not visible nor at workstation, few will know where they are.

Shine

Clean all surface areas

4S = “Seketsu”= Standardize = making all spaces and places the same - Standardize cleanup methods. Make Sort, Storage, and Shine a daily habit A state that exists when Sort, Storage, and Shine

are maintained in their fully implemented state Assign responsibilities to apply these procedures Integrate Sort, Storage, and Shine into regular

work activities Check on the maintenance of Sort, Storage, and

Shine Do you have standards, procedures, and

assigned responsibilities for Sort, Storage, and Shine?

Tips: The goal of the forth S is to achieve a state in which the first three S’s are thoroughly maintained and consistently applied in all work areas. Check to make sure you are sharing information so there is no unnecessary searching and no errors.Standardize how organizing and cleaning will be done and make standards visible so any abnormal condition can be easily and immediately recognized. Maintain and devise methods for maintaining adherence to this state and prevent deviations from standards. For example: Prevent accumulation; ensure that everything is returned to its home; maintain cleanliness (clean up after yourself). Devise ways to monitor effectiveness of your control efforts.

Standardise

Communicate the 5S

procedure for your

area

5S = “Shitsuke” = Sustain = Maintaining - continued compliance automatic - Set discipline, plan, schedule

Follow the Rules That You Set! Involve Workers in the production of Standard

Documents and Check Sheets Develop Habits You Won’t Forget! Check Points for Your Workplace: Do you have a daily inspection routine and is it

followed? Are work order reports executed properly and at

the right time?• Do you have a regularly maintained 5S radar

chart?

Assessment

Assessment is a key activity and should be carried out on a regular (weekly, two weekly or monthly) basis depending on the overall status of the 5S activity. Initially the assessments should be carried out more frequently and reduced gradually to monthly as progress is made.

Links to typical assessment checklists for a laboratory and office are given at the end of this module.

Tips: Sustaining ideas: Shadow boards, Check sheets, Recognizing good areas, Management participation in the activities.

5S RADAR CHART

The radar chart is used to map progress using the data from the assessment checklist within the area. It should be displayed in a prominent location and updated on completion of the assessment.

Links to the chart template shown below are provided. This format allows progress to be monitored over a twelve month period as well as indicating clearly the current status.

(Also see module on Radar Charts)

Tip: laminate the chart at A3 size and use dry wipe pens to avoid having to print out it out every time it is updated.

Lessons Learned• Start with cross functional team

• Discuss benefits

• Train then immediately do

• Agree on a vision

• Agree on standards

• Define the area to do

• Define roles

• Don’t let participants walk away

Keys to Success

• Get everyone involved

• Get commitment and authorization for facility wide improvement

• Have leaders set expectations & do follow-up

• Establish standards

• Establish routines

• Keep it simple


* your own kitchen or bedroom* your bathroom cabinet* your own work area



VISUAL FACTORY

Purpose: To show information, signals and controls by use of simple visual indicators within the workplace.

What are the Objectives of Visual Factory

The objectives of Visual Factory are that every member of staff at their workplace can quickly recognise:

For example: What work needs to be done What work has been done and the performance that has

been achieved When and when not to carry out an activity How to do work and to schedule other set standards Whether they are or are not meeting the schedule and other

performance standards How to do work without error Whether they are, or are not performing the work without

error How to operate equipment and whether equipment is

operating correctly How materials and work pieces should move When and how to replenish materials

When To Use Visual Factory

Anywhere and at any time that information, signals or controls need to be communicated to a number of people within a work area. It allows information to be commonly available at a glance for all to view.

The Benefits of Visual Factory

In combination with the implementation of other lean manufacturing methodology, visual factory can provide and help to sustain a wide variety of benefits:

For example: Clarity of a team or individual’s role and tasks, Create an environment that allows staff to motivate

themselves Adherence to standard work i.e. gaining all the advantages

intended in a standard work design Meeting required performance standards Reducing error and variation Improving work flow velocity and overall lead times Reduced work in progress, inventory and storage space

needs Reduced planning and replenishment effort Reduced need for supplemental monitoring, auditing and

work checking Increased compliance Increased individual productivity Fewer defects and higher quality Fewer breakdowns of equipment and therefore improved

overall equipment effectiveness Efficient and effective navigation and organisation; choices

are made clear Savings in time and cost Improving the maintenance of the workplace Improvements to production schedules

Making inventories simple Reductions to waste and motion

A Successful Visual Factory

There are a number of success criteria that good visual factory implementation needs to meet in order to maximise the chances that the audience will successfully recognise and interpret the information, signal or control:

Highly visible Highly visual Simple e.g. ‘go’ vs ‘no go’, pass-fail, in control – out of

control, etc. Immediate and ‘live’

Ideally the visual factory information, signal or control will not add work in it’s own right, ie. the information, signal or control arises as a natural consequence of the work load rather than requiring staff to routinely do extra work to generate it .

Once implemented the success of the visual factory will rely on:

The material shown in the visual factory being regularly updated

There is an effective system in place to update the material That responsibilities for maintaining the visual factory are

clearly defined

Operation of Visual Factory concepts at different levels in an organisation

Visual factory concepts can be applied at a number of different levels within the organisation. Different concepts meet different objectives.

Selection of these visual factory concepts can be done by reference to the ‘table of application’. The table below summarises the level of application and the type of objectives which would typically be addressed. The lower the level the more detailed and specific the visual factory information, signal or control.

Level Objective

Site Share of factory information e.g. KPI’sOperations Area / functional area

Share of Operations area performance information e.g. Schedule Adherence

Work TeamShare work team performance informationSignal what work needs to be doneSignal what work has been done

Individual

Signal what work needs to be doneSignal what work has been doneIndication how to do work correctly Vs incorrectlyReal time feedback – if work is being performed correctlyMaintain work and material flowIndicate equipment performance


* Educating Lab personnel* Standard operating procedures



4a

4b

4c

4d

STATISTICAL PROCESS CONTROL

SPC Control Charts

Statistical Process Control (SPC)“Listening to the voice of the process”

Purpose: Provides an ‘early warning system’ that provides you with information on what is process

critical. It allows you to take corrective action before a process failure occurs.

When To Use It

If your manager asks you to walk through a river and that the water was 3 feet deep on average you may want to but ….. if you were then told it ranged from zero to 15 feet deep you may change your mind ! Control Charts work on this principle in that the average value may sound okay but ….. the range is too large.

Control charts can be used on any process where measurements can occur. For example, they can be applied to batch yields, batch processing times, documentation approval times, analysis times, material dispatch times etc.

They allow you to analyse variation in the process.

Control Charts are extremely powerful tools especially when used in ‘real time’, i.e. control chart analysis is undertaken at the time

the measurement is taken. Corrective action can be taken at this time instead of weeks after the event !.

However, prior to introducing Control Charts make sure that there is no impact upon Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP). Refer to Operational Quality and/or QA Validation for advice.

Introduction

Statistical Process Control (SPC) methodology is based upon the performance of the process that you are measuring. It is not based upon meeting a specification or limit that has been set. This is referred to as ‘Listening to the Voice of the Process’.

A control chart looks like this:

A control chart displays the recorded measurement of a process. It also shows the boundaries that measurement SHOULD fall into. This makes it easy to see when the process is performing outside of the range required.

PLEASE NOTE THIS MODULE WILL PROVIDE ONLY AN OVERVIEW OF A VERY COMPLEX TOOL. PLEASE REFER TO A LEANSIGMA EXPERT FOR FURTHER ADVICE.

Data collection:

1. Define the process or activity where the Control Chart is to be applied.

2. Construct an IPO diagram for your process or activityThis lists the inputs and outputs to the process.Identify what inputs and outputs are, or can be, measured (Refer to the module on IPO diagrams for details)

3. Determine the variable (the input or output) where you are going to apply the Control Chart.

4. Confirm that the measurement system used will provide you with the required data for constructing the Control Chart.

You cannot proceed until a relevant measurement system is available.

5. Collate the data to be used in the construction of the Control Chart. Place in an Excel spreadsheet.

The data should be as accurate as possible, e.g. batch … weighs …..kgs.

It is critical that the data is correctly ordered according to what you are trying to measure. For example, the quality of a batch is determined when the batch is manufactured.

TIP: Apply the Control Chart to the input if you know that variation leads to a detrimental effect on the output. Apply the Control Chart to the output if you do not know what causes the detrimental effect.

Control Charts looking at batch quality must be related to the order of manufacture and not the order of analysis.

A minimum of 25-30 data points must be available although the larger the number of data points the more realistic the Control Chart, i.e. outliers are smoothed out. (Outliers are extreme data that doesn’t fit in the limits of the bulk of the data and are often due to process or data collection error).

Significant outliers can be removed but only of there is a clear reason identified and that this reason is resolved so that it will not occur again.

Simple Control Chart construction using SPC KISS software

1. Confirm the SPC KISS drop down menu is available.

2. Select the data for SPC analysis using the left hand button on your mouse.

3. From the drop down menu select.

SPC KISS>Diagrams>Histograms

The software will give you the option to change the visual format of the Histogram.

Anchor point The first data point used

Class widthThe range contained in each bar

No. of classes No. of bars

4. The Histogram can be formatted using the routine Excel menus. (Refer to the module on Histograms)

5. Look at the Histogram created. Confirm that it contains the correct range of data points then look at the distribution of the data. Is it normally distributed?

DO NOT create a Control Chart if you do not have normal distribution. It will not provide you with the correct information.

Ask yourself these questions.

Is the data normally distributed? Is there a clear reason for it being non-normal distribution? Can you make it normally distributed?

Seek assistance from a qualified Statistician in PPT-A if you do not have normal distribution. Do not proceed.

6. From the drop down menu select.

SPC KISS>Control Limits>Individual Moving Range

Select 3 standards deviations Select display zones on chart Do not select any other function

7. The software will create an Individuals Chart and a Moving Range Chart. Delete the Moving Range Chart as it is not relevant to simple control chart construction.

8. Look at the Individuals Chart. The following information should be noted:

The software shows the following:

The Lower Control Limit (LCL) which is the data mean - 3 standard deviations

The Upper Control Limit (UCL) which is the data mean + 3 standard deviations

Data points fall into Zones which can be shown as follows:

Control Chart Implementation

1. Determine the level of control that you want to employ. There are two options:

Control limit breaches Apply the LCL and/or UCL and whilst values fall between these values no further action is required

Trend analysis Looks at data trends within the LCL and UCL

2. Control limit breaches

For control limit breaches document the limits and communicate to users how these are to be used.

It is strongly recommended that you determine how investigations should be undertaken prior to introduction to ensure that a consistent approach is followed by every user.

3. Trend analysis

Using manual ‘tick charts’

A ‘tick’ chart is a paper system that can be used to track data and a key benefit from this approach is that it can be displayed in the area where the data is obtained. It does not require access to a PC. An example tick chart is attached as an appendix.

The process to follow is:

Obtain the measurement Enter the value on the control chart in the relevant zone Check the trend against ‘Out of Control Symptoms’ criteria.

These are:

- one or more points are outside the control limits

TIP: Trend analysis should be employed when your LCL and/or UCL is close to the specification or target, i.e. when the control limit is close to the target it is highly probable that a breach will be outside the target. This provides little/no benefit.

- 7 consecutive points are on the same side of the centerline

- 7 consecutive intervals are either entirely increasing or entirely decreasing

- 2 out of 3 consecutive points are in the same Zone A or beyond

- 4 out of 5 consecutive points are in the same Zone B or beyond

- 14 consecutive points alternate up and down repeatedly- 14 consecutive points are in either Zone C (i.e., in center

third)

If these are not met do nothing. If one of these is met it is indicative of a potential loss of control which if not resolved will lead to a failure to meet the target. Undertake an investigation to determine why this has occurred and undertake corrective action.

Using SPC KISS software

Add extra data to the spreadsheet that as used to establish the control limits. Recalculate the control chart by selecting from the drop down menu

SPC KISS>Control Limits>Individual Moving Range

Select 3 standards deviations Select display zones on chart Select out of control checking Do not select any other function

The software will check the data against the ‘Out of Control Symptoms’ and will highlight that fail to meet the criteria. Look at the Individuals Chart(s).

The following shows points where some of these symptoms have been met

The advantage of the software is that you enter data and it performs the checking for you.

The software is not validated and MUST not be used to make GMP decisions. Refer to Operational Quality/

QA Validation for guidance if unclear

Benefits of using Control Charts

It provides everyone with process knowledge It allows you to stop significant issues arising as you have

spotted them and have dealt with them at the time that a detrimental trend has been identified

It allows you to spot the ‘real’ issues that need resolution

There is consistency in that everyone uses the same rules and that ‘gut feel’ is removed.

Alternatives to SPC KISS

If you do not have access to this software you can use either Excel or a calculator to calculate the mean and the standard deviation and use the above approach


* Preparation of graphs* Process capability studies



TIP: Create a Histogram before doing this. The data must be normally distributed.

STATISTICAL PROCESS CONTROL

Design of Experiment (DOE)

Scope

This document gives some background to what Experimental Design is, what it can be used for and the LeanSigma approach to carrying it out. It is not a detailed training package for carrying out Design of Experiment. If after reading this document, you believe you have a process that may benefit from Design of Experiment then you are advised to contact your Mentor LeanSigma Expert or a Product and Process Technology Statistician for guidance.

Definitions:

The term experiment is defined as the systematic procedure carried out under controlled conditions in order to discover an

unknown effect, to test or establish a hypothesis, or to illustrate a known effect.

Design of Experiment or Experimental Design is defined as the purposeful changing of inputs (factors) to a process or activity in

order to observe the corresponding changes in the outputs (responses).

Purpose: To improve any process that has measurable inputs and outputs by:-

Obtaining the maximum amount of information using the minimum amount of resources.

Determining which factors (inputs) shift the average response, which shift the variability, which shift both and which have no effect.

Build empirical (mathematical) models relating the response of interest to the input factors.

Find factor settings that optimize the response and minimize the cost.

Validate (confirm) results.

Components of Experimental Design

Consider the following diagram of a cake-baking process (Figure 1).

Figure 1

There are three aspects of the process that are analyzed by a designed experiment: 1. Factors or inputs to the process.

Factors can be classified as either controllable or uncontrollable variables. In this case, the controllable factors are the ingredients for the cake and the oven that the cake is baked in. The controllable variables will be referred to throughout the material as factors. Note that the ingredients list was shortened for this example - there could be many other ingredients that have a significant bearing on the end result (oil, water, flavoring, etc). Likewise, there could be other types of factors, such as the mixing method or tools, the sequence of mixing, or even the people involved. People are generally considered a Noise Factor (see the glossary) - an uncontrollable which causes variability under normal conditions, but we can control it during the experiment using blocking and randomization. Potential factors can be categorized using the Fishbone Chart (Cause & Effect Diagram) available from the Toolbox.

2. Levels, or settings of each factor.

Examples include the oven temperature setting and the amounts of sugar, flour, and eggs.

3. Response, or output of the experiment.

In the case of cake baking, the taste, consistency, and appearance of the cake are measurable outcomes potentially influenced by the factors and their respective levels. Experimenters often desire to avoid optimising the process for one response at the expense of another. For this reason, important outcomes are measured and analyzed to determine the factors and their settings that will provide the best overall

outcome for the critical-to-quality characteristics - both measurable variables and assessable attributes.

Where can DOE be Applied?

Traditionally DOE is thought of as a scientist's tool being used by Chemists, Physicists and especially in our industry by Pharmacologists to identify the best chemical reaction conditions or the optimum dosing regime for new products. In primary we tend to think of it applying to our chemical process, as below.

Although the diagram above is a good example of where DOE can be used it is important not to be constrained by the paradigm that Design of Experiment is only for scientists. DOE can and is applied to any process where the factors and responses can be defined and measured. Responses that are continuous e.g. time, % provide for better experimental analysis but categorical responses can also be used e.g. Poor, Fair good and very good if there are sufficient levels that can be assigned integer values (i.e 1, 2, 3 &4) therefore allowing analysis.

Examples of Processes that can have DOE applied:-

Behavioural :- How to get people to cross the road at a Zebra crossing, filling out a batch record sheet. Negotiating with your partner.

Physical:- Chemistry, pump operation to avoid breakdown, reliability of HPLC system, Delivery route planning. Petrol consumption. Wine making.

What’s different about DOE?

Traditional experimentation typically uses one of the following two techniques:-

One factor at a time:- A popular, but inefficient way to conduct a designed experiment. No mathematical model can be generated to predict the response for a large number of variables. No ability to estimate if factors (inputs) interact. To test all factors a large number of resources are typically required.

Best Guess :- Precisely that. The most common approach to experimentation relying on the technical knowledge of the experimenter(s). No mathematical model can be generated to predict the response for a large number of variables. Cannot be sure that all key factors are taken into account. No ability to estimate if factors (inputs) interact. How many guesses are needed before you get the answer?

Design of Experiment aims to get the best information about a process with the minimum amount of effort. Typically DOE uses

a screening experiment to isolate the key 2-6 factors before carrying out a modelling experiment. Both types of experiment involve changing more than one factor at a time but in a controlled manner that allows statistics to differentiate between the effects. This ultimately allows-

A predictive mathematical model for the process to be generated that allows different scenarios to be assessed without having to experiment in the future.

Interactions between factors to be considered not just the factors themselves.

Variation effects as well as changes in the average response to be evaluated.

An enormous increase in knowledge about the process.

The benefits of DOE are undisputed but the amount of resources required to ensure the best outcome should not be underestimated. That is why a structured and thorough approach is necessary to ensure that all factors and responses have been considered and can be adequately measured and controlled before experimentation starts.

Potential Objectives of DOE's

Designed experiments are a powerful tool in making improvements to processes and have many potential uses:- 1. Comparing Alternatives.

In the case of our cake-baking example, we might want to compare the results from two different types of flour. If it turned out that the flour from different vendors was not significant, we could select the lowest-cost vendor. If flour were significant, then we would select the best flour. The experiment(s) should allow us to make an informed decision that evaluates both quality and cost.

2. Identifying the Significant Inputs (Factors) Affecting an Output (Response).

Separating the vital few from the trivial many. We might ask a question: "What are the significant factors beyond flour, eggs, sugar and baking?"

3. Achieving an Optimal Process Output (Response).

"What are the necessary factors, and what are the levels of those factors, to achieve the exact taste and consistency of Mom's chocolate cake?

4. Reducing Variability.

"Can the recipe be changed so it is more likely to always come out the same?"

5. Minimizing, Maximizing, or targeting an Output (Response).

"How can the cake be made as moist as possible without disintegrating?"

6. Improving process or product "Robustness" - fitness for use under varying conditions.

"Can the factors and their levels (recipe) be modified so the cake will come out nearly the same no matter what type of oven is used?"

7. Balancing Tradeoffs when there are multiple Critical to Quality Characteristics (CTQC's) that require optimization.

"How do you produce the best tasting cake with the simplest recipe (least number of ingredients) and shortest baking time?"

LeanSigma Structured approach to DOE

The following 2 pages describe the 12 steps in the LeanSigma approach to DOE which if followed accurately and diligently will make for a successful experiment. Various other LeanSigma tools are used as part of the process. E.g. Process or Logical Flow Chart, Problem Solving Method, Cause and Effect (with variable partitioning Constant, Noise EXperimental and Standard Operating Procedure). Before starting to go through this approach it is recommended that your Mentor LeanSigma Expert is contacted.

VI. DETERMINE THE NUMBER OF RESOURCES TO BE USED IN THE EXPERIMENT.Consider the desired number, the cost per resource, time per experimental trial, themaximum allowable number of resources and Rules of Thumb (Appendix M)recommendation.

VII. WHICH DESIGN TYPES AND ANALYSIS STRATEGIES ARE APPROPRIATE?(Discuss advantages and disadvantages of each. See Rules of Thumb (Appendix M)recommendation.)

VIII. SELECT THE BEST DESIGN TYPE AND ANALYSIS STRATEGY TO SUIT YOURNEEDS.

IX. CAN ALL THE RUNS BE RANDOMIZED? _________________________________

WHICH FACTORS ARE MOST DIFFICULT TO RANDOMIZE? _________________

X. CONDUCT THE EXPERIMENT AND RECORD THE DATA. (Monitor both of theseevents for accuracy.)

XI. ANALYZE THE DATA, DRAW CONCLUSIONS, MAKE PREDICTIONS, AND DOCONFIRMATORY TESTS.

XII. ASSESS RESULTS, MAKE DECISIONS, AND DOCUMENT YOUR RESULTS.(Evaluate your new state of quality and compare with the quality level prior to theimprovement effort. Estimate your return on investment. If necessary, conduct moreexperimentation.)


* Chemical Analysis* Changing formulation of a product



MEETINGS PREPARATION

SPACER

Purpose: A tool to help you prepare for any type of meeting

When To Use It

SPACER can be used to prepare for meetings, site visits, or as an introduction to training, coaching or mentoring sessions. Once completed it should be sent to everyone else involved in the meeting and mentioned in the SPACER.

Construction:

SPACER is a very easy tool to use and simply involves filling in the relevant information for each one of the sections.

SPACER is a mnemonic for the following categories.

1. S = SAFETY – this involves any safety issues you need to be aware of and you need to let all other participants know about.

This can include fire exits and procedures, particularly if you are using an unfamiliar training room or meetings room.

Safety may also involve any particular safety equipment required. For example if the meeting involves visiting part of the production area you should specify what safety equipment should be worn (i.e. safety goggles, overalls, shoes, hard hat) and who is responsible for supplying these.Or this section may just identify who is responsible for notifying participants of any safety requirements.

2. P = PURPOSE. This should describe the reason for the meeting. This should be kept as simple and brief as possible, with a description of what final outcome is expected. It may also cover any relevant history as to why the meeting was called.

3. A = AGENDA. In this space include your agenda for the session. This lets people know what topics are being covered, who is responsible for reporting on the item and introducing it and how much time has been allocated to each agenda item.

TIP: The agenda may be derived from the process part of a meeting IPO diagram (see IPO module).

4. C = CODE OF CONDUCT. This may be added to during the meeting but initial expectations regarding code of conduct or ground rules should be indicated. This may include how questions are to be dealt with – whether a Q & A session will follow any presentations or if questions are welcome at any time. It may also include specifications such as if the invitee is unable to attend the meeting, whether or not they are required to send someone to represent them/ their area.

5. E = EXPECTATIONS – this should include what it is hoped participants will gain from the session. Providing this information is useful as people can plan further work based around what they intend to gain from the meeting. Conversely, if information or decisions are not included where participants expected them, these can be nominated to be included as part of the agenda, or as part of the ANY OTHER BUSINESS section on the agenda.

6. R = ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITES. This item outlines who is responsible for all items about the meeting. It may include administrative responsibility such as who is responsible for arranging rooms, refreshments, and transport. Or more meeting related requirements such as who is responsible for providing data, who is chairing the meeting, timekeeping, minute takers etc. It may also identify any pre work required.

Benefits of using the SPACER template for meetings

So the organiser knows what they want to achieve out of the meeting.

So everyone else has a clear idea of what the meeting is trying to achieve.

You can ensure you have all the support information and resources ready before you go into the meeting.


Try using this tool for your next CORE brief or team meeting.



MEETINGS PREPARATION

After Action Review

When To Use It

After Action Reviews (AAR’s) are of particular use after a workshop, kaizen or baseline event. However, it is good practice to carry out a brief After Action Review (AAR) at the end of every meeting.

It is important that an AAR is completed as soon as possible after the actual event, since people’s memories of the event will fade very quickly once they return to their normal work duties.

Construction

1. If possible, plan a time slot for an AAR as an agenda item at the end of the meeting or workshop. This is generally the

Purpose: To elicit group feedback, following a meeting, workshop, kaizen or similar event, to gain an

appreciation of which aspects went well and which areas could be improved upon. This learning can then be

applied to future events to make them more successful.

most effective approach, since you will have all the relevant people present and things will be fresh in their minds.

It is common for workshops and kaizen events to have representation from several different working shifts, with some attendees coming in on rest days. It can thus prove difficult to assemble the whole team post-event.

2. If it is not possible to hold the AAR during the actual workshop or kaizen event, perhaps because of the timing of an outbrief at the end of the event, then schedule a 30 minute meeting to be held within 1-3 days of the event.

If there is a longer time interval between the workshop or kaizen event and its AAR, then it is likely that the feedback will be less focussed since people will have forgotten aspects which they might have had strong views about during the event itself.

Where it proves difficult to get feedback from one or two of the participants, for instance due to participants working different shift patterns, it may be useful to nominate one person to see those participants individually, and to record their views.

3. The areas to be discussed in an After Action Review are:

The plan (prior to the event)

TIP: After Action Reviews that are conducted remotely (e.g. an AAR template sent out electronically to those that attended the event) are more likely to fail. It is likely that you will have to chase the attendees for their feedback, and that there will be

little thought put into their responses.

Objectives / Goals (overall and personal) Steps actually undertaken Differences between actual and plan (what/why) What went well What didn’t go so well Suggestions for improvements An overall ranking of the event.

TIP: An AAR of a meeting may review some, or all, of the following:

Preparation Was all relevant information availableWere presentations received in timeWere justified apologies received in timeIf deputies attended, had they been adequately briefedWere the facilities suitable

Was the purpose of the meeting clearHad the right people been invitedDid everyone know why they were invited

Was the meeting effectively chairedWas the agenda followedDid the meeting keep to timeWas the focus of the meeting maintainedDid attendees have space for their views and were they heard

Were actions adequately capturedWere they SMART and allocated to an appropriate attendee to champion

Suggestions for improving the next meeting

It may not be necessary to formally record all discussion points from an AAR of a meeting, but proposed improvements should be captured (either formally or informally).

4. Time can be saved at the AAR by preparing the flipchart sheets in advance with the headings shown in Step 3 above. It is generally possible to chart the original plan and the Objectives / Goals in advance of the AAR, since these are generally non-contentious.

Completed flipcharts should be stuck up on the walls so that they are clearly visible to those attending the AAR. They prove a useful reference point whilst other areas of the AAR are being discussed.

5. If some attendees are not familiar with the AAR process, it can prove useful to establish some ground rules.

Some people may feel uncomfortable in expressing negative views about the event or its organisation, since they may have concerns about some future retribution.

It may be necessary to reinforce the messages that all views are valued, that without honest feedback it will be difficult to improve future events, and that comments will be anonymous in any write-up of the AAR. This should reduce inhibitions about expressing their views openly.

6. Under each heading, the views of attendees should be recorded on the flipcharts as bullet points. It is usual to draw out these points by applying brainstorming techniques. Discussions on each topic should continue until ideas dry up.

It is usual for some points to generate discussion, and this discussion should be encouraged since it may help to generate suggestions for improvements.

7. It is common at an AAR to find one or two of the participants to be more vocal than others.

It is important that the facilitator listens and watches closely for vocal or visual agreement or dissent. Where the facilitator suspects alternative views that are not being voiced openly, they should attempt use of open questioning techniques to draw out alternative views from the less vocal attendees.

8. At the end of the AAR, it is helpful for those who attended

the workshop of kaizen event to give their overall rating of the event.It may be helpful to use an anonymous voting system for this.

Each person present at the AAR could be given a sticker to place in the appropriate place on a chart as they leave the room.

Organisation of Event

(or "Content")

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Interpretation

Make sure that you incorporate the lessons learned when planning your next event.


* Your next meeting* Day at office



AFTER ACTION REVIEW TEMPLATE

Event for review:

Participant Group:

The Plan (prior to the event):Objectives/Goals (overall and personal):

Steps actually undertaken:Differences between actual and plan:(what/why)What went well:

What didn’t go so well:

Suggestions for improvements:

How would you rank the event:

Poor Satisfactory Good


Event for review: Zidovudine Baseline 30 July to 3 August 2001

Participant Group: SY,HW,EJ,IM,PJ,BT,MR,CP,AB,RC,CS,CW,JW,TP,AS,BSS,AM,JS,GG

The Plan (prior to the event):

Data collection not completed early enough, therefore data analysis not progressed Experts not full time week before Good pre-training event Data presented well e.g. Production, QA already available in graphic form Room was excellent Scope agreed well beforehand with Value Stream Nominees good, Warehouse rep would have been an advantage

Objectives/Goals (overall and personal): Shifted from outset , emphasis on cost to immediate supply

Sponsor “wants” rather than baseline team Should have included an objective on cost The original objectives were too specific “Out of box” didn’t come out

Steps actually undertaken: Followed baseline process

Introduction was good Lack of understanding of objective part on Monday Tues/Wed/Thurs were good Absence of Monday outbrief was missed Friday outbrief cancelled but planning morning gave good end to event to relax team Attendance at outbrief was patchy

Differences between Event went as planned apart from already mentioned in previous areas


actual and plan:(what/why)What went well: Good team

Lot of good quality data Process went well (apart from Monday) Reality trees – went well Right projects arrived at (ca 50 – 60% correct?) Facilities were good Sponsors presence very helpful, SMC dropping in appreciated

What didn’t go so well: Finance data not posted clearly enough Outbrief attendance (Monday attendance has to be pre-arranged) Unexpected absences during week for other “essential” meetings Repetition because of process Some of the critical data not presented although available Objective setting with the team SMC outbrief behaviours Experts unable to commit themselves to the output from the baseline

Suggestions for improvements:

Less specific objectives/targets from the sponsor, team to decide based on data Cost targets incorporated earlier in week “Steering” group to high leverage projects should be in expert’s minds! Aim data requests at reducing waste/variability Impetus at end of week needs to be kept going by having a plan for continuation Expert commitment beyond baseline needs to be sorted out before the event

How would you rank the event:

Poor Satisfactory Good

ADDITIONAL TOOLS

Prioritisation model

Purpose: This process provides a structured approach for prioritizing & challenging Initiatives to ensure only those that support delivery of business goals and add value, are progressed

When To Use It

This relatively simple prioritization model will be of use where multiple initiatives are competing for limited resources (manpower,

time & money) in order to be implemented successfully. The model provides a logical and objective framework to identify those initiatives that add significant value and can be implemented with minimal difficulty.

Construction:

1. To kick things off it will be worth answering the following questions for each of the initiatives being considered:

Is there a business case? Is it in line with the 2/1 plan? Does it replace existing projects? Does it require incremental resource? Why does GMS need it? How will it improve or enable achievement of financial

targets?

How will it improve or enable achievement of non-financial scorecard measures?

How will it improve ways of working ? Is it more important than other projects that already

have resource?

The answers to the above questions should be incorporated in a Project Initiation Form (PIF). A link to a PIF template is provided at the end of this document.

2. Develop & agree assessment criteria for Value & Difficulty.The attached table will provides an example of possible criteria and scoring guide. The actual criteria and Low/Med/High thresholds used should be agreed with the stakeholders. It is recommended that the number of criteria be kept at or below 5.

Value

Score (Low) 1-3 (Med) 4-6 (High) 7-10

Criteria

Non-financial benefits – KPIs

<25% of KPIs favourably impacted

25-75% of KPIs favourably impacted

>75% of KPIs favourably impacted

Financial<100k 100k-1m >1m

Alignment with goals GMS strategy GMS/site divisional

Short term

Medium term

Long term

<30% alignment with strategy -

-

30-70% alignment with strategy -

-

70% alignment with strategy -

-

Benefit delivery<30% chance of delivering the benefit

30-70% chance of delivering the benefit

>70% chance of delivering the benefit

DifficultyScore (Low) 1-3 (Med) 4-6 (High) 7-10

Criteria

Probability of success

>70% 30-70% <30%

ResourcesLocal impact only (site)

Divisional impact GMS wide impact

Risk to business supply/ business continuity

<30% chance of supply interruption

30-70% chance of supply interruption

>70% chance of supply interruption. Major interruption of supply likely

Compliance<30% chance of internal or external failure

30-70% chance of internal or external failure

>70% chance of internal or external failure

3. For each Initiative assess by Site and / or Function:- Value of Initiative when implemented Difficulty of implementation

A spreadsheet is available to help achieve this and an example is shown below. A link to a blank spreadsheet is provided in the link section at the end of this document.

4. Plot on a Value versus Difficulty Matrix.

5. Discuss with Stakeholders to review and determine agreed position on matrix

6. Develop strategy and response to owner / stakeholders..e.g.:

Assess initiatives against value to be delivered and difficulty of implementation.

Propose implementation of high value, low difficulty initiatives - resource constrained?

Challenge all others with the owner to reduce difficulty of implementation and increase value delivered.

Stop initiatives that have low value and high difficulty.Example Problems (Good to practise on)

* Labour Allocation* Capex decisions



ADDITIONAL TOOLS

Lean Sigma KaizenWhat is a Kaizen Blitz?

Kaizen is a Japanese term that means "to make better" or a continuous, incremental improvement of an activity to create more value with less waste.

Blitz is a German term that means "lightning" or a fast hit to achieve a tactical objective.

A Kaizen Blitz is typically a one-week "event" where cross-functional teams focus on making process improvements to achieve defined business objectives. A Kaizen Blitz is:

A data driven process applying Lean Sigma tools and pre-work before the event

Facilitated by a "Sensei" or "Master" in the application of Lean Sigma

Supported by management for quick response on decision making and resource prioritization

A Kaizen Blitz event should ideally aim to support three cycles of learning as shown in the image below.

Why carry out Kaizen?

Kaizen Blitz is important for two main reasons - business results and employee motivation.

Employee MotivationKaizen Blitz improves morale by giving employees the opportunity to see their improvement ideas taken seriously, implemented immediately, and make a difference. It involves employees in Lean Sigma by exposing teams to practical applications of the Lean Sigma Tools. Plus, Kaizen Blitz is a great opportunity to reinforce a continuous improvement culture by modeling the desired behaviors and approach.

Business ResultsIn the Kaizen Blitz event, objectives are set and tied to key metrics, such as improving efficiency and cycle time reduction. By achieving business results and implementing improvements within a week, a Kaizen Blitz highlights the power of Lean Sigma. Because a Kaizen Blitz focuses on understanding and improving processes that often have Site wide implications, results can improve safety, quality, cost and delivery. The image below shows a chart highlighting the %age

of line time attributed to downtime and changeovers – good topics for a Kaizen Blitz

Where should we conduct Kaizen Blitz events?

Kaizen Blitz is best applied to process improvements that are critical to business from a quality, cost, or delivery perspective.

What are the elements of a successful Kaizen Blitz?We can anticipate whether or not a Kaizen Blitz is going to be successful by looking at certain factors.

1. Goals must be tied to critical business issues2. Resources requirement must be catered for and there

should be no obstacles. Speedy implementation is the goal.3. Must be led by a leader who will and can make decisions

and would be held accountable.4. Members must have an understanding of continuous

improvement, Kaizen Blitz, and the selected area. Teamwork across functions and a non blaming attitude are essential.

Overview of Kaizen Blitz process

There are three phases in the Kaizen Blitz process - initiation and planning, execution, and closeout.

1. Initiation and Planning

a) Identify the subject and scope of event

Area selection

The Kaizen process must start with the process owner or the person who is in charge of the area to ensure that change can be made and will stick. Typically, the process owner or a Lean Sigma expert will recommend a particular area for a Kaizen Blitz, such as a machine, line, or department. Process owners and Lean Sigma experts should choose areas where risks of unforeseen consequences to ongoing operations in that area are minimized.

Problem selection

Elimination of waste and reduction in variation should be the focus of a Kaizen Blitz.

Defining the scope of the event is important to ensure the Kaizen goal and objectives are realistic. The scope of the event should be focused on implementing Lean Sigma methods to identify and eliminate waste

Considerations for selecting Kaizen Blitz focus

Process owners and Lean Sigma experts should consider certain factors when deciding whether or not a particular area is suitable for a Kaizen Blitz Process owners and Lean Sigma experts should consider certain factors when deciding whether or not a particular area is suitable for a Kaizen Blitz. The factors that should be considered are;

Logistics Required

Availability of meeting locations near the process area

Availability of support services (moving people and rearrangements of floor space)

Impact of handing over the process area to team for trials

Risk assessment

What can go wrong?

How severe can the impact be

What can be done to prevent consequences

Resource Availability

Will the proper resources be available

b) Gather initial data

Now that a Kaizen Blitz area and rational have been determined, we are ready to start collecting data to determine the Kaizen Blitz objectives and team requirements.

The Lean Sigma expert should work with someone familiar with the process to map the current process and to gather the initial data. At

this phase, it is important to collect as much data as possible. Team members should ask for all data possible and not worry about data gaps at this point.

c) Team selection

A Kaizen Blitz team is made up of a group of individuals with a variety of job roles, with the core of the team being the individuals who actually do the work in the area of focus. These individuals are often people who can, with the support of management, make change stick. Team members may take part in the entire event or may be brought in for specific reasons.

Sponsor

The sponsor has the resources to support the team and the powers to remove the barriers. The sponsor sets objectives and maintains focus on achieving results.

Area supervisor

He is a subject matter expert who has to live with the results and has a lot at stake, a strong sense of ownership, experience with lean sigma and commitment to objectives. He will be involved in the day to day activities of the exercise.

Team members

Team members are chosen for their knowledge, innovation, creative thinking, credibility, and teaming /communication skills. These individuals are the doers and will participate in all the Kaizen Blitz day to day activities.

Lean Sigma expert

He works to keep the team on track, has significant experience in applying lean sigma Tools, and an ability to drive team towards the

http://us8n87.glaxo.com/docent/content/kaizen/content/s02t05p01.htm#%23




desired outcome using a Lean Sigma Approach. He may assist multiple teams but must be 100% dedicated during the week.

Other members

These members help the team out on part time basis and may include support staff like painters, electricians, maintenance workers, administrative assistants, and individuals with specialty knowledge.

d) Communicate with team members and their managers

Once the team has been selected, the team leader and Lean Sigma expert should plan the date of the event and verify team member availability. It is also a good idea to send letters to team members and their managers outlining the importance of the event and time commitment.

e) Data collection

What role does data play?

Data collection is a vital part of the initiation and planning process because it is the data that will define the team's focus for the week. The collection process should be driven by the data and not by prior conclusions and assumptions. Recommendations should only be made with adequate data and should not be accepted without strong data-based support.

How is the data collected?

Typically, two or three team members are selected to collect data. These team members may be a subject matter expert (SME) and the Lean Sigma expert. They will employ a variety of data collection methods over several weeks to prepare for the Kaizen Blitz event. Data collection methods may include computer run data, surveys and logs, observation and journaling, and content analysis.


Data analysis

Once data has been collected, it must be sorted and analyzed in order to identify areas that consume time, resources, or space and do not contribute to satisfying the customer. Data analysis methods may include determining the number of occurrences, summaries or conclusions from data sets, averages, trends, or totals.

Communicating data to the team

No team should have to sift through the entire initial data during a Kaizen Blitz. A couple of team members should prepare the data for the team. The data should be as visual as possible. Refined data will begin to clearly point out issues and potential direction of the team. Data presentation methods may include pie charts, histogram (bar chart), trend lines, and matrix weightings.

f) Prepare the team

Because Kaizen events are fast paced and are aimed at producing considerable improvements in a short amount of time, it is important to ensure that each team member is ready to get started on day one. Team members must be familiar with the area selection and the Kaizen process in order to add value during the event.

Gather the full team the week prior to the Kaizen event (Thursday or Friday before) and do a pre-training of Kaizen and the subject area.

Here is a sample pre-training agenda.

Pre-training agenda

Kaizen Blitz review/process review Objectives (ex. 50% reduction in cycle time) Discuss the area of focus Current state/data Specifics of Kaizen process, 5S, visual factory, etc.

Future state Initial data charts

2. Kaizen event (Execution)

It is now the week of the event. All the preparations have been leading up to this moment. Management has agreed to the goals and objectives, the data have been collected, and the team is ready to get started! Let's take a look at the agenda for the week.

a) Conduct kick-off meeting

The entire Kaizen Blitz team, along with senior management, gathers for the kick-off meeting. The meeting consists of a leadership briefing, discussion of current state, presentation of objectives and targets, and savings if targets are hit.

Here is a typical Kaizen Blitz kick-off agenda:

Kaizen Blitz kick-off agenda

What is a Kaizen Blitz? (15 minutes) Brainstorm on focus topics (10 minutes) Prioritize topics based on business needs, objectives, and

strategy (10 minutes) Identify areas in business to apply topics (15 minutes) Select three Kaizen Blitz objectives (10 minutes) Name Lean Sigma master (facilitator) and team leaders (5

minutes) Assign action items (10 minutes)

b) Confirm scope and objectives

Once the current state has been reviewed and the processes have been mapped out, the team should return to the meeting room and confirm the scope and objectives for the week.

c) Review current state

After the kick-off meeting, the team agrees on the targets for the week and begins reviewing the current state of the Kaizen Blitz area. Often, teams will start reviewing the current state by observing the process on the shop floor and by looking at the data collected during the planning phase.

d) Analyze undesirable effects (UDEs)

Next, the team analyses the UDEs to determine the root cause of the problems.

How are UDEs identified?

Let's take a look at the steps involved in identifying UDEs.

Using stick on notes or cards, apply the data to the current state map. Data may indicate volumes, times, delays, etc.

Next, use the data graphs to highlight areas of greatest waste. Wastes may be in the form of time, scrap, inventory, motion, etc.

Finally, identify areas with the "biggest bang for the buck".

e) Identify Just Do Its (JDIs)

When going through UDEs, the team should identify JDIs and other "low hanging fruit".

JDIs should be simple or "quick to do" fixes.

When identifying JDIs, it is important to look at the scope of the problem and make sure that the problem is isolated in nature and within the control of the business unit. Some things that look like JDIs are in fact Lean Sigma Projects which need to have a risk analysis carried out to check that they will not adversely affect other processes which are further downstream.

JDI activities often extend past the week of the Kaizen Blitz, carrying over the next 30 days. Additional people may need to be pulled in if the right people are not on the team. These people might be part-time people for specific tasks. Management approval is required for the addition of new team members.

f) Determine root cause

Getting to the root cause of the UDE may require several cycles back to the field as required. When determining root cause, consider the following.

Prioritization of causes

Use Cause and Effect diagrams to brainstorm all causes of the UDE. Refer to the image above to see how a cause-effect diagram for the problem of being late for work might be constructed.

Indicate causes that are under the organization’s control, those that are "noise" and those that can be experimented with.

Use matrix weighting based on impact and ease of solution to select primary candidates.

Generate "problem statements"

"Problem statements" clearly document the problem which the group is to solve so that every team member has the same understanding of what it is that must be improved. Problem

statements must be clear, concise, and understood by all. They document:

What is the problem? Why is it important to address? What is the impact in terms of key metrics?

g) Implement the solution

A large part of a Kaizen Blitz event week is about generating solutions. The team brainstorms solutions and selects the most reasonable solution by asking:

Will it control the problem? Is it easily implementable? Is payback reasonable? Can we obtain buy-in?

Once a solution has been selected, document who will do what, when, and look for opportunities for the team to begin some implementation as soon as possible. Having something to show at the end of the day builds a lot of team pride. Pilot ideas to determine their effectiveness rather than debate them endlessly. Walk through the new process with specific products and Pilot with a range of products, from simple to complex.

Kaizen Blitz 80/20 rule

Remember to keep the 80/20 rule in mind when generating and implementing solutions. Avoid "analysis paralysis" or you can waste 80% of date collection time and effort collecting the final 20% of the data. When you have sufficient information to make an informed decision (usually about 80% of the relevant data), stop data collection and move on. Finally, act on the data and learn from doing. Did the solution work? Process modifications will probably result from this exercise - don't be surprised.

h) Apply the continuous improvement cycle

Kaizen Blitz is very much about trial and error. During an event, the team follows a cycle of implementing a change, testing it out, and then modifying it and retrying. This process is called the continuous improvement cycle and it is the commitment to constant progress and enhancement of a corporation.

3. Event closure (Closeout)To make sure that improvement changes stick well after the week of the event, it is important that the Kaizen Blitz process is properly closed and that loose ends are not left hanging.

a) Present proposals and alternatives

The last step in the Kaizen Blitz week and the first step of the closeout process is the final presentation to Executives and Sponsors highlighting the week and results. It is important to make sure that all team members are "on board" and in agreement with the results being presented.Proposals and alternatives should be presented, and all team members should be encouraged to participate. The team has worked hard to achieve the week's results and so it is important to recognize all members for their efforts. To help you better understand what to expect, take a look at the typical leadership presentation agenda below.

Objectives for the week Team members Approach or explanation of what was done by showing

some examples of data collected and tools applied Solutions implemented, including before and after photos,

drawings and/or data Results achieved, including the completed objectives form Open action items listing the item, who is responsible, and

the date of completion

b) Ensure ownership

Why?

Too often, people tend to want to go back to the previous state. Management buy in is key to preventing this from happening. Remember, the people doing the work will not be motivated if the management is not motivated.

How?

After presenting the results to the site leadership team, the Kaizen team leader and Lean Sigma Expert should ensure ownership from

leadership and identify next steps. Take advantage of the power of the Kaizen Blitz and obtain management approval for changes now. All Kaizen Blitz solutions should aim to be fully implemented within 60 days.

c) After Action Reviews (AAR)

We suggest you perform an After Action Review (AAR) following each Kaizen Blitz to improve your application of Kaizen. The team leaders should complete this review within one week of event completion.

d) Follow up review meeting

A follow up activity should be scheduled for typically two to three months following the Blitz. The focus of the follow up meeting is to ensure all open action items have been completed, to verify that the results are on track, and to capture lessons learned since implementation.

Follow up review meeting agenda

Review open action items to ensure closure (15 minutes) Look at the last few months of actual performance versus

projected results from Kaizen (30 minutes) o Are results on track?

Root cause for any variation Corrective action plans

o What is being put in place to sustain the gains? o How well have employees adapted to the new ways

of working? Discuss lessons learned post implementation and

suggested improvements (30 minutes) Walk the process (~60 minutes

Kaizen Blitz tools

This section provides you with an overview of typical tools that you may use when participating in a Kaizen Blitz.

IPO Chart Standard work

o Standardised Work Sheets o Work Combination Sheets o Takt time

Quick Changeover Error proofing 5S and Visual Factory Just Do It (JDI) Layout Kanban

Kaizen Blitz Hints and Tips

To help make your Kaizen Blitz successful, take a look at these hints and tips.

Break complex issues and processes up between sub-teams.

Ensure the room for the event is big enough. (Think of a size then double it. Remember that you require a large wall space for the preliminary data display and additional space for the teams work.)

Clearly label all data in a story format. When the team is split into sub-teams, appoint team leaders

for each team and agree to touch base during the day to ensure progress is in line.

Attempt to record the event electronically whilst underway. This will save time, effort and confusion after closure, giving a very accurate record.

Display data on flip chart pages for ease of collation after closure.

Keep all the data, you may need to book the room for an extra day to collect and collate.

Reward and celebrate the team's work!


*. Office Layout Redesign*. Flow of Materials



ADDITIONAL TOOLS

Six Sigma in a Lean EnvironmentLean means to exceed customer expectations in terms of quality, cost, and delivery time using minimum resources to maximize profit. Lean manufacturing is a very hands-on methodology focused around 5 principles (from Womack & Jones' "Lean Thinking"):

Specify value in the eyes of the customer Identify the value stream Make value flow without interruptions Let the customer pull value from the producer Pursue perfection

Lean manufacturing makes production and non-manufacturing systems more efficient and reduces the seven wastes inherent in a system.

Overproduction: Producing more than what is needed before it is needed.Inventory: Maintaining excess inventory of raw materials, parts in process, or finished goods.

Transportation: Wasting effort to transport materials, parts, or finished products into or out of storage, or between processes.Waiting: Wasting time waiting for tools, supplies, parts, etc.Motion: Wasting motion to pick up parts or stack parts. Also wasted walking between locations as part of an operator task.Processing: Doing more work then necessary.Defects: Repairing or completing rework.

The Lean Temple

Customer: Customer expectations in terms of quality, cost, and delivery time should be met using minimum resources to maximize profit. Tools that ensure customer focus include;

Quality functions deployment (QFD) Calculating Takt Time Voice of customer (VOC)

Highest Quality, Lowest CostCreating the highest quality products with the lowest cost is met by applying a Kaizen Culture, conducting Kaizen Events, using problem solving tools, and creating workgroups focused on problems and counter measures.

Human Centered Work: People are assets and need to understand business objectives and goals. Human centered work is based on clear roles and responsibilities, a no blame culture, and a workgroup structure. Tools that reinforce human centered work include;

Policy deployment Continuous improvement teams

Just – In – Time: Inventory represents hidden cost. Just in time is having the right part in the right place at the right time in the right quantity. Just – In – Time tools include;

Theory of Constraints (TOC) Materials Systems Production Smoothing Flow/Pull SMED

Built In Quality: Built in quality is important in meeting customer expectations. Tools that ensure built in quality include;

Design of Experiments (DoE) Automation Visual Control Design for Manufacturability (DFM) FMEA

Problem Solving: A problem is an issue that deviates from the standard. There are three main factors to consider – the standard, the deviation away from the standard, and the time period over which the problem has been monitored and data has been compiled.

Stability and Standardization: Stability and standardization is about improving process capability and documenting standard ways to perform tasks, centered around human movement, in a manner that will provide for continuos improvement through the elimination of waste. Stability and standardization tools include;

Measurement system analysis (MSA) Statistical process control (SPC) 5S Standard Work

Total Productive Maintenance (TPM)

What is Six Sigma?

Six Sigma is a management philosophy and methodology focused on satisfying customer requirements and increasing profits.

Six Sigma uses a five step process and applied statistical tools to analyze facts and data with detailed attention to the optimization, improvement, defect elimination and re-engineering of processes, whether operational or transactional.

We will learn more about Six Sigma on the following pages.

Where did Six Sigma originate?

Six Sigma was originally packaged by Motorola.

Throughout the 1970s and 80s, Motorola was experiencing strong competition from Japanese companies. The Japanese manufactured electronics products with dramatically reduced levels of defects, even when operating in the United States.

Finally, Motorola executives recognized that in order to compete and survive in the electronics market, they needed to improve their quality levels. To do this, they created the Six Sigma methodology in 1982.

Six Sigma tools

Several tools are used throughout the Six Sigma process to achieve high-performance results. We will reference these tools throughout this course. The most common Six Sigma tools are:

Basic and advanced statistical analysis Process capability Cp, Cpk Probability Hypothesis testing Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) Regression analysis Design of Experiments (DoE) Statistical Process Control (SPC)

Response Surface Method analysis (RSM)

Lean and Six Sigma

Now that we've outlined the fundamentals of Lean and Six Sigma, let's look at them in relation to each other.

Both Lean and Six Sigma aim to reduce waste and eliminate non value-add work throughout the organization in order to improve customer satisfaction. Lean aims to exceed customer expectations in terms of quality, cost, and delivery time while minimizing resources and eliminating the 7 wastes. Six Sigma aims to reduce variation in business processes by re-engineering and optimizing processes, eliminating the causes of defects and problems.

Six Sigma

Six Sigma is an analytical and statistical set of tools that reduce variation in production processes, eliminates the root causes of defects and problems, and helps to eliminate problems that might arise in the future. Six Sigma results in;

Measure of Process Capabilities Understanding of Root Cause Variation Reduced Process Variation

Lean Manufacturing is a very hands on methodology focused around five principles;

Specify value in the eyes of the customer Identify the value stream Make value flow without interruptions Let the customer pull value from the Producer Pursue perfection

What is the result of combining Lean manufacturing and Six Sigma?The combination of lean manufacturing practices and Six Sigma methodology results in a synergy that;

Enables true “world class” manufacturing practice Facilitates adaptation of agile manufacturing capability Focuses on root cause analysis of poor productivity Demonstrates rapid improvements with sustained cost benefits

Lean and Six Sigma Example

In order to see how Lean manufacturing and Six Sigma could be used together successfully, let's look at the elements of producing a drug capsule.

http://rtpsamyl001.corpnet1.com/docent/content/sixsigma/content/section01/s01t09p01.htm#%23


Lean Manufacturing Focuses on the dynamics of a process to improve productivity and remove waste, such as;

Improving Material Flow Reducing Machine Set Up Removing Unnecessary steps in the process Increasing Machine Efficiency Removing factors that drive costs, e.g. Cost of poor quality,

time, and inventory.

In other words lean manufacturing focuses on everything that surrounds a process in order to improve customer service and value.

Six Sigma focused on the mechanics of a process to remove sources of variation and unpredictable quality, such as;

Variation in preparing paper work Material Variation Process Variation Tool wear Mechanics of a machine

By combining both techniques, we effectively improve process capability and overall productivity in a controlled and sustained manner!

What is Six Sigma?

So, what is a Six Sigma? Sigma is a Greek letter used, in statistics, as a symbol for a measure of variability called the standard deviation. The sigma level of a process refers to how many standard deviations the process mean is from the nearest specification limit. When we refer to a Six Sigma process, we are referring to having 6 standard deviations from our process mean to the closest customer specification limit.

1 sigma is the same as 1 standard deviation from the mean, as shown on the right. A Six Sigma level process equates to 3.4 defects per million opportunities. (This commonly used definition of Six Sigma does include a 1.5 sigma shift for long term performance.)

Remember, the higher the Sigma level, the lower the number of defects produced in the process!

The Route to Implementing Six Sigma

Now that you are familiar with the fundamentals of Six Sigma, let's look at how and why Six Sigma gets implemented.

A five-step process and applied statistical tools are used that focus on:

Satisfying customer requirements Reducing the Cost of Poor Quality (COPQ) Increasing profits

We will learn more about COPQ next.

Why is it Important to Combat COPQ?

Examples of Sigma Level1 Sigma Level ProcessSpelling: 170 Misspelled words per page of a book.Time: 31.75 years lost in a century2 Sigma Level ProcessSpelling: 25 Misspelled words per page of a book.Time: 4.5 years lost in a century3 Sigma Level ProcessSpelling: 1.5 Misspelled words per page of a book.Time: 3. 5 months lost in a century4 Sigma Level ProcessSpelling: 1 Misspelled words every 30 pages of a book.Time: 2.5 days lost in a century5 Sigma Level ProcessSpelling: 1 Misspelled word in a set of encyclopedias.Time: 30 minutes lost in a century6 Sigma Level ProcessSpelling: 1 Misspelled word in all of the books in a town library.Time: 6 seconds lost in a century


As we mentioned before, Motorola developed Six Sigma when it recognized that its market share was rapidly diminishing since people were buying higher quality Japanese goods. In order to compete, Motorola decided to improve the quality and the price of their goods for their customers.

Motorola recognized that the cost of a product is made up of manufacture and delivery costs plus profit. They also recognized that some of their manufacturing and delivery costs were due to the Cost of Poor Quality (COPQ).

Over the lifecycle of a product, the price is reduced due to competition. If the COPQ and fixed costs are not also reduced, then the profits are eroded. However, if the COPQ is reduced, then profit levels can be maintained over the life of the product, as shown in the image on the following page.

Joseph M. Juran, sometimes referred to as the "father of quality", declared in 1988 that the COPQ sustained by an average company is equivalent to 24% of its revenues.

Six Sigma systematically identifies and eliminates sources of process variation, directly combating the COPQ!

Why Implement Six Sigma?

By implementing Six Sigma, we aim to reduce process spread and process shift so that all of our business processes are operating within required specifications and tolerances.

Six Sigma allows us to identify processes that are off-target and correct them!

The images on this page show visually how process spread and process variation can be identified and what they might look like when they are corrected.

DMAIC Process

In order to eliminate COPQ and detect variation and process spread, Six Sigma uses the five-step Design, Measure, Analyse, Improve and Control (DMAIC) process shown below.

The DMAIC process applies statistical tools to analyze facts and data with detailed attention to the optimization, improvement, defect elimination and re-engineering of processes, whether operational or transactional.

Lean Transformation Implementation Method

This section describes what is involved in implementing Six Sigma within a Lean organization.

The Lean Temple and Six Sigma

So where does Six Sigma fit into the Lean Temple?

Lean and Six Sigma appear to be very different process improvement methodologies, but together they create a very powerful business improvement tool.

Implementing the Lean standardization tools will enable rapid savings and improvements to be made; a Six Sigma program may not generate savings until the first wave of projects are completed.

Five Stages of Lean Transformation Using Six Sigma

There are five stages of a Lean transformation using Six Sigma.

Stage 1: Process Out of Control

The first stage is the recognition that the processes are out of control or can be improved.

Stage 2: Implementation of Implementation of Lean Tools and Six Sigma Training

The second stage requires the implementation of Lean tools in order to stabilize and improve the processes. This includes the use of 5S activities, Visual Factory, Standardized work and TPM. This stage will have an immediate impact on processes and will eliminate externalities that would hinder the Six Sigma implementation.

Stage 3: Practical Problem Solving and Six Sigma

The third stage requires the implementation of Six Sigma and Problem Solving. This stage will enable major improvements to be made and significant cost reductions to be tackled.

Stage 4: Just In Time and Built In Quality

The fourth stage requires implementing a JIT system and improving built in quality. Major Lean Process improvements are implemented with assistance from Lean Sigma Experts.

Stage 5: Continuous Improvement

The final stage requires continuous improvements to be made to the systems, including Kaizen Activities and Six Sigma Projects. The Six Sigma Tools are used in order to continually improve systems and eliminate problems which arise. The objective should be to improve Six Sigma quality in each business process.

Problem Complexity and Scope

There are a number of different factors affecting problem solving, such as the scope of the problem, is it large or small, easy or difficult to resolve, will it generate large savings? Based on the answers to these questions, various levels of individuals are needed for problem solving.

The image on the right shows the percentage of problems that can be solved by the various levels of individuals as potential savings and complexity increases.

5% of the Problems: The top level of the pyramid is made up of large scale, costly problems which may require management involvement in order to resolve. The savings here are more significant and are usually carried out by Black Belts or other experienced Lean Sigma Practitioners.

15% of the Problems: 15% of the business problems are relatively complex and will require practical problem solving tools. These problems will generate significant savings and benefits and are usually carried out by Green Belts or Lean Sigma Experts.

80% of the Problems: Approximately 80% of the problems are relatively small and easy to resolve using 5 whys? Analysis. Individually, these problems will not be complex or generate major savings, although benefits will be found and multiple solutions will have a cumulative effect. These can be managed by those on the Job, such as team leaders and operators, usually trained to lean sigma advocate level and able to implement JDI’s. (Just do its)

Problem Resolution and Escalation

In a Lean organization, problem solving follows the Plan, Do, Check, Act (PDCA) cycle:

Plan what needs to be done Trial the changes Verify improvements Implement the changes Plan further improvements, etc.

If a problem cannot be resolved, it is promoted to a higher level that uses more complicated tools. Using Lean Sigma experts should aid to rapidly identify the tools and techniques required to resolve the problems and therefore eliminate unnecessary steps.

How Do You Find Projects?

This section prepares you for finding Six Sigma projects.

We will discuss:

Project selection Customer priorities Where to find projects

Project Selection

In many organizations projects are chosen depending on products with high costs, scrap levels, rework, etc. These projects are the easiest to see and are therefore the easiest to tackle.

One of the most important things to consider when undertaking a Six Sigma project is the customers and their requirements. An important task is to discuss the requirements of the customer with the Marketing team or with the customer directly. Before doing this,

it is important to understand who the customer is and what is important to them.

When looking for projects, it is important to identify the impact of the project on customers and also determine the value of customer satisfaction.

What Are the Customer's Priorities?

The areas below include many generic factors that are of importance to customers for any type of product. These examples are not specific to pharmaceuticals. When reviewing these areas, ask yourself, "What are the factors of importance to your customers?"

Quality : Quality factors include failures and the mean time between failures.

Cost : Cost factors include initial costs, costs to operate, maintain, and repair, and finance cost.

Service : Service factors include sales and service experience and communications.




Delivery : Delivery factors include order to delivery time and time to repair.

Performance : Performance factors include speed and accuracy.

Functionality : Functionality factors include consumer needs. Appearance : Appearance factors include size and handling.

Where to Find Projects

Finding projects is like looking at an iceberg. The obvious areas can be seen in the Visual Factory - above the water line.

But most projects can be found below the water line, in the Hidden Factory. These projects are much harder to find but can generate great savings.






Tips for Successful Implementations

The most important aspect of a Lean and Six Sigma implementation is the total support of senior management. Successful implementations require senior management support to promote the program throughout the organization.

Let's now take a look at some mistakes that Experts/Project Managers and Sponsors/Senior Managers have made on Six Sigma projects to learn more about making Six Sigma successful.

Expert and Project Manager Mistakes : Not severing themselves from their old job, at least during

training. Failing to appreciate complexity of dealing with people

following return. Failing to recognize “improve” as the most difficult phase to

implement. Spending too much time on the computer and not enough on

the shop floor. Not communicating effectively with management. Presenting results as a science project. Creating an exclusive club attitude around the program and

team. Not sharing credit for the solution with team. Generating false data Not understanding tools required to perform an analysis Not taking a road block to the champion after having tried to

unsuccessfully break it

Sponsor/Senior Manager Mistakes No concept of customer expectations or requirements No leadership at the executive level Deploying Six Sigma without a goal, strategy, or master

schedule.



Not communicating deployment plans throughout organization Believing a single initiative will solve all problems Limited project feedback Executives and champions do not show up for report outs. Not having multiple projects lined up for people who are

training in Six Sigma tools and who are appointed full time to lean projects

Project selection process does not identify projects related to business objectives.

No buy in at the process owner and middle management level. No rewards or recognition program Training people in lean and six sigma concepts without

providing them with ready access to a computer


* Process Capability Studies* Measure of Variation



ADDITIONAL TOOLS

KanbanWhat is it?

Back Ground: Kanban was developed in the 1950’s at Toyota and has been extensively used in their plants and supply base since 1962 It is now used extensively in a wide range of industries across the world Kanbans are very effective in the right circumstances

Definition: A Japanese word that means signboard. It is a signal, but not always a card, authorizing production or delivery of required materials, and is initiated by consumption.

Kanban is a system whereby production or delivery of a material is initiated by the consumption of down stream material.

Signals are used, such as cards, to inform operators that material must now be replenished.

This is distinct from the usual means of replenishment, which is based on a requirement calculated on an assumed future consumption, rather than an actual consumption.

Why use it?

Kanban is the most effective and simple way to introduce pull into a process.

Using Kanban cards, containers or squares give an immediate signal to upstream parts of the process to replenish a part or material and in what quantity.

Kanban can be used to ensure production flows at the pull of some downstream consumption.

Why Pull System• To improve the customer service • To control the stock• To reduce cycle times• To decentralize the production control

To Improve customer service

Micronisation / Blending

Filling/Assembly Packaging Distribution

Order

Customer Lead timeCustomer Lead time

Micronisation / Blending Filling / Assembly

Packaging Distribution

Order

Customer Lead TimeCustomer Lead Time

Push system

Pull system

Ka nb a n

To control the stocks

Push system

Pull system

Storage Time

Weeks

Stock Quantity

Stock

To decentralize the production control

One says to meOne says to me what I must what I must

produceproduce

Board Kanban

I decide I decide WHATWHAT and and WHENWHEN to produceto produce

Push system Pull system

Weeks

When to use it? Whenever replenishment of parts or materials must be performed

according to downstream consumption. It should be used only when the quality of materials to be moved

is known to be acceptable and when production processes are standardised and stabilised. The production plan should be load smoothed and the sequence of production finalised.

Best circumstances for a Kanban

• Constant demand or smoothed productiono unstable or erratic demand causes the greatest difficultyo Best practice companies manage demand fluctuations

• Processes are robust and of high quality • Processes are flexible

o quick setup times, o small lot productiono flexible workforce

• No conflicting priorities• Environment of continuous improvement and employee

involvement

Kanban Types • Single Card’ systems

o Authorises both movement and production• ‘Dual Card’ systems

o Production Kanban Signifies the quantity that the preceding workstation

should produce. i.e signal to make o Withdrawal Kanban

Signifies the quantity that the subsequent workstation should withdraw (move quantity may differ from lot size)

There are two withdrawal methods: Constant quantity but inconstant cycle Constant cycle but inconstant quantity

• Mizusumashi! • Heijunka

o Producing at a level load

Kanban Types at Toyota

Express Kanban : An express kanban is issued when there is a shortage of a part and is used only in extraordinary circumstances.

Emergency Kanban: Issued when there is a need to replace defective parts.

Job-order Kanban: An item that is required for a particular job and is not recurrent.

Through Kanban: If two or more processes are adjacent to each other and can be considered as a single process then a through kanban is used to control both.

Common Kanban: A combination of withdrawal and production kanbans into one - it is used where the two processes are located very close to each other and the two processes have a common supervisor.

Cart or Truck as a Kanban : For some processes the number of carts or containers used has the same effect as a kanban. When there are no empty carts then production must cease.

Label: At Toyota a chain conveyor is used to transport certain components. Labels attached to the hooks on the conveyor detail which parts are to be placed on the hanger

Electric Kanban or Full Work System: Where automated equipment feeds other automated equipment a method is

necessary to prevent one machine from continuing to produce when the subsequent machine is out of step. In this instance limit switches are used to prevent the build-up of work in process.

Visual Kanban: An extension of the cart or truck as kanban. An empty container, empty kanban square, line on a wall, diptube mark on a tank, coloured golf balls, coloured tags etc.

How to use it?

Kanban can be a very simple procedure to implement, however, the circumstances of its use must be carefully analysed to ensure the Kanban quantity is optimal.

Things to consider when introducing a Kanban:

1. What type of signal would be best to communicate the information (e.g. a card, some electronic display or a container of the right size)?

2. What is the information you want the Kanban to signal (e.g. start production, move materials, replenish materials)?

3. What is the signal that you want to initiated the Kanban (e.g. consumption of what downstream material)?

4. What is the Kanban quantity that is required to replenish the downstream process to ensure that production flows and is not interrupted?

5. What type of Kanban will work best? An in-process Kanban is used to regulate the flow of materials within the production process. A material Kanban is used to replenish materials consumed by the production process or to signal between disconnected parts of the process (e.g. between manufacturing and the laboratory). Material Kanbans include supplier, production and withdrawal Kanbans.

6. Is the quality of material sufficiently reliable to go to Kanban?

7. Is the production process sufficiently standardised and stabilised to go to Kanban?

8. Is the final production plan confirmed, correctly sequenced and load smoothed?

Kanban Rules

Rule 1• Stock can only be withdrawn by an open kanban• Only the amount indicated on the kanban can be withdrawn• A kanban should always be attached to the physical product

Rule 2• The preceding process should produce its products in the

quantities withdrawn by the subsequent process• Production greater than the number of kanbans requested is not

allowed• Schedule priority in a multi-product workcentre is driven by the

order in which the kanbans arrive

Rule 3:• Never knowingly pass on a defective product.

Rule 4:• The number of active kanbans should be continuously reduced.

Rule 5:• Use kanbans to adjust to changes in the production rate

How Many Kanbans ?

• Total number of kanbans sets the maximum inventory possible•

• The number of kanbans should be limited to the minimum number required to support the system

• • The minimum number is the number required during the time

taken to replenisho lead-time to return kanbanso lead-time to produce materialso lead-time to transport materialso make frequency (setups and capacity)

The formula for number of Kanbans can be stated as;

Number of Kanbans = ADDxR x (1+SF) k

ADD = Average Daily DemandR = Replenishment Time (Waiting Time+Processing Time)SF = Safety FactorK = Container Size (batch size)


* Ordering of Materials* Testing of Materials

