Page 296 - How To Implement Lean Manufacturing

CHAPTER 17

The Precursors to Lean

Not Handled Well

he story of the ABC Widgets Co. is an example of a company that wanted to look
Lean more than they wanted to be Lean. Internal conflicts, along with too few
Tonsite resources, created a large resistance to becoming Lean. In spite of these
deficiencies, we assisted them in making large improvements. However, they are an
example of “How Not to Implement Lean,” in that after four years into their Lean ini-
tiative, basic and large foundational problems still persisted. They are a story of the
“Precursors to Lean … not handled well.”

Background to the ABC Widgets Story
We were called in by Miguel, the reliability manager. Our task was defined as problem-
solving assistance, not Lean implementation. The situation was this: a mature produc-
tion line, one of four within the plant, previously had 100 percent on-time delivery for
two years, but was now having serious problems: On–time delivery had dropped to
74 percent and remained there for over five months, despite repeated efforts to improve
the situation.
Also, five months earlier, the daily production demand had increased from 30 units/
day to 36 units/day, and the customer, in keeping with their own Lean initiative, had
begun daily pickups. Previously, customer demand was 150 units per week and would
be picked up in a single weekly shipment.
The reliability manager was sure one of the major contributors to the on-time prob-
lem was a welding machine with low availability, but he felt powerless to correct it. So,
he sought our assistance.
In addition, two months earlier, the plant received a visit from the home office, and
a Lean expert had assisted them in problem-solving activities. After one week of analy-
sis and meetings, the plant was given a list of 22 projects they were to work on, but after
nearly 60 days they had not been able to improve the delivery situation.

Our Challenge
The problem was stated as: “We have low on-time delivery. It is 74 percent and needs to
be greater than 99 percent.” Thus, we were asked to:

• Survey the situation.
• Make recommendations.

273