Page 270 - How To Implement Lean Manufacturing

248 Cha pte r S i x tee n

established. In addition to having a PFEP, they standardized on a specific work table design
and an external U cell and began to change the layouts of all cells to match this. Doing so,
they were able to save a great deal of space. Due to their efforts, in-plant supply lines short-
ened, materials delivery improved, and some clear Lean benefits were achieved.
After six months into the effort for some reason, the GM called me into his office and
gave me his six-month update. It was a PowerPoint presentation that described their
effort and showed the gains made. Many were paper gains, such as the space savings
achieved and reduced lead times for raw materials delivery, and quite frankly the plant
looked a lot better. The layout was improved and raw materials flowed more smoothly.
He was rather proud that through the materials-handling effort they had been able to
shorten delivery times, reduce stock outs, and eliminate three delivery positions. For a
three-shift operation that meant a reduction in headcount of nine. The other gain was
that on-time delivery had improved from a meager 68 percent to 94 percent, and it was
still rising. Considering the effort expended, with the delivery performance excluded, I
was not impressed with the results. Since their basic problem was financial in nature,
they had made very little progress on improving the operational efficiencies.
Some Specifics on the Zeta Cell
It was about this time that I was working with the production engineer to improve the
cell that provided the controller to my client. The line was clearly under-producing and
to the trained eye, the line was a “Lean-opportunity-waiting-to-happen.” I was buoyed
by the energy of their Lean implementation and thought this would be like shooting
fish in a barrel.
At this cell, the workers, who were grossly underworked, would leave the cell with-
out warning. Inventory would build up in front of their station and then the operator
would return, concentrate on the work for a while, and the inventory would move fur-
ther down the process. At times, if inventory buildups were too large—that is, they ran
out of space—a worker might leave his station to assist in the work-off of the inventory at
his colleague’s workstation. In short, it was a herky-jerky inefficient operation typical of
non-Lean production facilities. No one found it odd. In fact, they were proud of the team-
work and the level of cross-training, which made all this manpower movement possible.
Nonetheless, being a Lean practitioner, I proceeded to Lean it out—on paper, that is.
The basic time study and balancing calculations for the Zeta Cell are shown in detail
in Appendices B and C of Chap. 7.

Applying the Four Stategies to Reduce Waste

Synchronizing the Supply to the Customer, Externally
First, we did a takt calculation. Since they have a 9.5-hour shift with 50 minutes for
lunch and breaks, the takt was 39 seconds to produce the 800-unit weekly shipment
for my client. (As you read on, you will find that the actual cycle time to produce an
800-unit batch was well over 80 seconds!)
Synchronizing Production, Internally
First, we completed a time study and a balancing study, which are shown in Figs. 16-1
and 16-2.
The time study showed we had 157 seconds of work. At a takt of 39 seconds, that
would be 4.02 operators at 100 percent OEE. No one knew the actual OEE, but they
believed it was over 90 percent. With five operators, we would average 31 seconds of