Page 282 - How To Implement Lean Manufacturing

Using the Pr escription—Thr ee Case Studies 259

copy to the insertion cell and also the coil winding island. Several times each week the
production schedule would change. Local planning would send updates to all three
planning locations on the production line. Many of the required changes were due to
internal production or parts concerns. This changing of the schedule created huge vari-
ation in the process.

Some More Relevant Information
The production demand of the line was that shown in Table 16-7.

Applying the Second Prescription at QED Motors—How to
Implement Lean

The Three Fundamental Issues of Cultural Change

Leadership
Luis and I reviewed the level of leadership, for this short project. I was certain that with
both of us working together we could provide the necessary leadership.
Motivation
As for the motivation, the plant was very engaged. In spite of the problems, morale was
very high. In most activities, they just didn’t really know how to apply the Lean prin-
ciples in their situation. They knew what to do, just not how to do it. Motivation, which
is often a serious obstacle, was a strong asset at this company.

Problem Solvers
Regarding problem solvers, the company did not have enough, but with Luis and
I working full time on the effort, that temporarily met the requirements. With that in
mind, we put together a plan and felt that inside of three weeks we could increase the
production so a five-day workweek was practical, and we could get on-time delivery to
reach over 98 percent. We were uncomfortable about making scrap reduction projec-
tions. At least that was the plan we submitted to the management team.

The System Assessment

The Commitment Assessment
The commitment assessment was done by Luis and I (behind closed doors) and we
concluded that a few problems existed but nothing that we wanted to work on now.
We might do this more formally later. We were convinced that for the next two months
we had the necessary commitments.
The Five Precursors to Lean
Even though our mission was clear, Luis and I began an assessment of the precursors to
Lean. I wanted to get a clear picture of where the facility was on Lean, and I thought it
might be an eye opener for Luis. It was. The facility graded out as shown in Table 16-8.
They achieved a score of 7.5 out of a possible 25. Quite frankly, for a company that
is five years into a Lean initiative, that is not very impressive, even taking into account
the relative age of the facility. What was particularly disappointing was the poor layout,