Lean Thinking is a powerful, effective and necessary manufacturing strategy based on the best practices of the Toyota
Production System. But, could a small-to-medium sized high-mix low-volume manufacturer develop an in-house customized
training program on Lean? Yes! I myself got on the "Lean bandwagon" late in my career and self-taught myself about Lean.
Only later did I become a strident critic of those who would jam "ToyotaLean" down the throats of high-mix low-volume
manufacturers without adapting it. But, I have realized that even to implement my Quick-Start Approach to JobshopLean in
any jobshop, it is best that the managers and employees of the jobshop start by mastering the basics, and the BASICS equate
to WASTE ELIMINATION. The Eight Types of Waste are Overproduction, Queuing, Transportation, Rework and Scrap,
Overprocessing, Inventory, Operator Motion and Waste of Human Talent and Ability. For example, a jobshop may make many
different "widgets" but each widget must physically move through the facility, sometimes in and out of the facility to be
processed by vendors. Given a representative widget, does everybody in the jobshop know how to (a) recognize the wastes
embedded in the start-to-finish flow path and timeline of that widget, (b) measure the impact that these wastes have on
Delivery, Quality and Cost, and, (c) find ways to eliminate or reduce them?
Or, does everybody in the jobshop question why they do their work the way they do it today, and then strive to recognize
the VA (value adding), NVA (non-value adding) and NNVA (necessary but non-value adding) steps in the work-related processes
that they execute? This DVD integrates Lean Thinking with IE (Industrial Engineering) to systematically teach any jobshop
to recognize, measure and eliminate the wastes in their day-to-day operations. Specifically, it describes step-by-step
the complete process that I followed to teach the basics of waste elimination to a management team at a custom machine
shop - PR Machine Works, Inc. (
www.prmachineworks.com) - located in Mansfield, OH.
This DVD contains a folder (Folder Name: FILES) and a Word file (File Name: STARTHERE_HowToDevelopTheTrainingVideo.doc).
In the Word file, a section has been devoted to describe each of the following steps in the process that I followed:
- Getting Started (View this section from the DVD)
- ToyotaLean versus JobshopLean
- Plan Of Action (View this section from the DVD)
- Planning for the Facility Walkthrough
- Videotaping the Facility Walkthrough
- Preliminary Analysis of the Videotape
- Improving on the Preliminary Analysis of the Videotape
- The End Result
- Future Projects
- Suggestions and Recommendations for a Jobshop Starting their "Lean Journey"
- Bibliography on Process Analysis and Methods Engineering for Waste Elimination
Each section ends with one or more files in different formats (.doc, .ppt, .pdf, .wmv, etc.) that provide the complete details about that step.
If you click on the hyperlink to that file, it will automatically load/run. In case you have concerns or questions, please contact me at
Irani.4@osu.edu or (614) 688-4685.
Acknowledgements
I am indebted to several individuals without whose support and active participation, this unique educational and training DVD on JobshopLean would never
have been completed. In particular, I wish to sincerely thank Mark Romanchuk (mark@prmachineworks.com) who is the dynamic, knowledgeable and motivated
President of PR Machine Works, Inc. In addition, I wish to thank the following members of Team PR whose contributions to the project were invaluable:
- John Allen, Production Manager, PR Machine Works, Inc.
- Scott Washburn, Engineering Manager, PR Machine Works, Inc.
- Ben Brandt, Estimator, PR Machine Works, Inc.
Thanks a million, Team PR! Another big "Thank you!" is owed to Cedric Sze, Systems Manager, Department of Industrial, Welding and Systems Engineering at
The Ohio State University, for sacrificing his spare time to partner with me to do the videotaping, edit the videotape and prepare the DVD master.
This DVD is based on work done for the Flexible Forge Shop Design project (
http://fdmc.aticorp.org/shop_design.html) funded by the Defense Logistics Agency
and the Forging Defense Manufacturing Consortium (FDMC) managed by the Advanced Technology Institute.
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