For those of us with jobs

[GreenHornet]

He he just kidding to you folks who are not working right now but I just got done with a week long LEAN class, before I go into with that is. Is there anyone else out there who's place of work going thur a type of LEAN thinking?

[TheTen-EyedMan]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lean_manufacturing

If this is what you're talking about...we have that on at the moment. It's like a Christian doctrine has taken the place over.

How can we be wasting material...we sell books.

[FunkyGreenJerusalem]

. Is there anyone else out there who's place of work going thur a type of LEAN thinking?

I'm going to say no, as I don't know what your talking about.

[TheTen-EyedMan]

I'm going to say no, as I don't know what your talking about.


Lean manufacturing is a management philosophy focusing on reduction of the seven wastes

* Over-production
* Waiting time
* Transportation
* Processing
* Inventory
* Motion
* Scrap in manufactured products or any type of business.

[FunkyGreenJerusalem]

Lean manufacturing is a management philosophy focusing on reduction of the seven wastes

* Over-production
* Waiting time
* Transportation
* Processing
* Inventory
* Motion
* Scrap in manufactured products or any type of business.

I don't think any of them actually apply to my work, so no. No we haven't.

[TheTen-EyedMan]

I don't think any of them actually apply to my work, so no. No we haven't.

I'd think at least waste of motion and scrap would apply to male prostitution, Funk.

Oh snap!

Give me a break, it's early...and that's the funniest I can be at this time.

[Clint Barton]

He he just kidding to you folks who are not working right now but I just got done with a week long LEAN class, before I go into with that is. Is there anyone else out there who's place of work going thur a type of LEAN thinking?
Ah, yes. The Great Lean Six Sigma program.

All too familiar with it. I'm a black belt now. Weee Haaaa!:rolleyes:

All I can tell you is that it's not saving our company much considering the management is tossing dollars out the windows while saving pennies on building a quality product.

[Paradox]

In my personal experience Japanese management techniques don't really work in the US because...well, we're not Japanese. It's a completely different mindset. That and management has to actually implement the stuff, not just give it lip service and pretend. I had a long experience with the "Just in time" concept and it almost always ends up "just too late". If any one vendor doesn't get you the product when you need it, almost all production comes to a standstill. And questing after zero defects is just kidding themselves. Completely unrealistic. It's also way too much short-term thinking. There's nothing wrong with inprocess inventory. You'll sell it eventually.

[i_mmmchocolate]

I didn't even know about LEAN until reading this thread.

[Clint Barton]

In my personal experience Japanese management techniques don't really work in the US because...well, we're not Japanese. It's a completely different mindset. That and management has to actually implement the stuff, not just give it lip service and pretend. I had a long experience with the "Just in time" concept and it almost always ends up "just too late". If any one vendor doesn't get you the product when you need it, almost all production comes to a standstill. And questing after zero defects is just kidding themselves. Completely unrealistic. It's also way too much short-term thinking. There's nothing wrong with inprocess inventory. You'll sell it eventually.

You deserve a no-prize. You get "it".

My current company (looks like I'm going to be saddled in this mess for just 1 more month-YEE HAW) has this "thing" of implementing these types of flavour of the month programs quite often and they almost always end up in failure.

In my opinion, it's not the program itself so much...but rather the inability of U.S. business management to comprehend that in order to implement the program, they must initiate the program and practice the program themselves.

[Clint Barton]

Keith McFarland of Business Week had this opinion...and I think he's "spot on":

QUALITY ZEALOTS. Though much improved, America's quality record still isn't what it might be. Here are two traps I've seen a lot of companies fall into on the road to quality.

1. Faking a commitment. There's no way around it. Whether you're adopting total quality management (TQM), continuous improvement, or Six Sigma, these techniques require everyone in a company to learn how to think and work differently. Too many senior executives grab onto the fad phrases as they come and go -- from TQM to lean manufacturing and now Six Sigma -- without taking the time to learn what these processes are and how they work. They leave the nitty gritty of quality to the folks below them -- a sure way to have a quality program fail.

2. Letting the quality zealots run wild. On the other extreme, some companies become so quality-process obsessed that quality-management techniques cease to be a tool to improve the company's performance and instead become an end in themselves. Statistical analysis should be used for questions for which a company doesn't readily have a "good enough" answer. Instead, organizations sometimes go through long analytical processes for problems that a little common sense could have solved.

Quality-management techniques work very well for certain processes and applications -- but their efficacy is less clear in areas like sales. Nothing sours an organization on quality faster than meaningless quality busywork. Perhaps the biggest risk to companies engaged in statistical process-control methods, such as TQM and Six Sigma, is that they may lose sight of the fact that controlling errors is only part of the game.

[Paradox]

Clint Barton shares the pain:

In my opinion, it's not the program itself so much...but rather the inability of U.S. business management to comprehend that in order to implement the program, they must initiate the program and practice the program themselves.

My first week working at Stryker, Corp., I was introduced to their weekly crew meetings. The purposes of these meetings was to get brainstorming input from the people who actually do the work. Great idea, right? So right off the bat, I come up with three different time saving ideas, mostly having to do with rearranging how we set up the shop so as to reduce transport time. It involved moving tables around and maybe getting a cart to put things on instead of toting everything by hand. The leaders of this meeting loved everything I suggested, and wondered why things were set up the way they were. They said they'd take it to their bosses immediately.

Next week's meeting rolled around. I asked them if they'd gotten any feedback on it. They looked HORRIBLY disappointed and said "No, they wouldn't go for it." I asked "Did they give you any reason?" They said, "No. they just told us we had to do it the way we've been."

Attaway to listen to the people who actually do the work on a daily basis, pinheads. After that, I followed suit with the rest of the crew and never "had anything to say".

[Clint Barton]

I'm an engineer trapped in the role of a professional salesperson....or something like that.

Anyway, I was given the task of writing work instructions for an ISO 9001/2 program.

Great. No problem. I'll write them.

The problems ensued with the ISO audits.

I was instructed to essentially write the work instructions and base them on things "we want to do".....not on things as "we actually do them".

Soooo...to make a long story short, the bastiches aren't involved with ISO anymore....as it "costs too much and isn't worth it."

Actually, it is worth it and it doesn't cost much if it means that your company can continue doing business and/or gain new business with companies who require their vendors to be ISO.

Backwards thinking? Yep.

My current company's stance was to create ISO around the exisiting system rather than actually be proactive in improving our processes to meet ISO standards.

I can't help but laugh. That's the type of thinking that will eventually doom these guys who own my company.

They profess to be "forward thinkers" yet they can't see that business is running from us like Barry Sanders running from the defense.


This is why I'm getting out of here...PRONTO!

[Clint Barton]

I didn't even know about LEAN until reading this thread.

It's not too late to RUN! Run for the hills! Don't look back!:D

[Clint Barton]

Lean implementation program
In summary, an example of a lean implementation program would be:-

Senior management to agree and discuss their lean vision
Management brainstorm to identify project leader and set objectives
Communicate plan and vision to the workforce
Ask for volunteers to form the Lean Implementation team (5-7 works best, all from different departments)
Appoint members of the Lean Manufacturing Implementation Team
Train the Implementation Team in the various lean tools - make a point of trying to visit other non competing businesses which have implemented lean
Select a Pilot Project – 5S is a good place to start
Run the pilot for 2-3 months - evaluate, review and learn from your mistakes
Roll out pilot to other factory areas
Evaluate results, encourage feedback
Once you are satisfied that you have a habitual program, consider introducing the next lean tool. Select the one which will give you the biggest return for your business.


How it should be done.

[o1pickleboy]

I recently got my Green Belt in Six Sigma and lean is big part of the six sigma plan. We are budgeted for 4 hourly black belts with two of them to work soley on Lean. The article above it almost my plant to a tee. With them using Six sigma for everything. Plus using Lean and Ts in procedure but not in practice. Striving only to pass audits, not to adapt to the programs.

I feel that most of the auto industry is the same way. Just coping a program from the Japs, but it worked for them. Not understanding why it worked for them. Plus not realizing if we are just copying the Japs all the time. Then they will always beat us to the punch.

[zilch]

Oh, yah...

ConAgra plants are implementing these things.

My Wife's bro-in-law got his MBA doing his work in this area, so ive heard about it for years.

We're all about the Five S's, on the "road to Zero".

One of the nice things about this is that they order less materials to clog up the warehouse, so i can actually find things and drive the forklift.

One of the bad things is that people are given "ownership" of a certain area... one of the guys that got "volunteered" for the packaging room was told that a ladder was misplaced and it was his job to track it down and return it to its proper location. I told him to put a big chain on everything and if someone wants something they should see him.

We're real big on safety too. We have actual snitches running around. It is to laugh.

[K'Nort]

When I was at a largish company in the private sector, we got sucked into a lot of those trends. Total Quality Management. High Performance Work Teams. Something with different coloured hats.

Now I'm with the government so it's a nonissue.

[o1pickleboy]

Now I'm with the government so it's a nonissue.

It should be a issue , these are money saving programs. If followed in practice and intent.