AskLDI Case Studies – Medical Equipment Production Kaizen
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I’m going to talk about world class manufacturing and the obstacles that can occur when you are implementing the system. Take a castle, for example. If you’re building a castle, technically there are a few things that you need to get right. There’s the right type of stones, solid foundations, the right place. You have to have the right windows. Everything must be technically correct. Otherwise, you will not get a castle that stands for so many years. It’s kind of obvious.
The same goes when you build a WCM system in a production facility because what you put in place, when you implement WCM (world-class manufacturing) must be connected to the business you have. For example, if you try to implement a system that is connected more to the process industry, when you are working in a mechanical industry it could become problematic. If you have a lot of different machines where you try to flow things through, where the flow of material is more important than running one big machine, you are going to run into problems because you are choosing to run the world-class manufacturing system based on process industry when you’re not in process industry.
Then of course, there’s another side to it which is normally a much bigger issue obstacle-wise. When we measure these obstacles, we can see that there are twice more emotional issues than technical ones, when implementing a world-class manufacturing system. Of course, when you work in any workplace, the way you feel when you’re working, the way you can express yourself, the respect you feel is very important for mental health’s sake. People need to feel that they are secure and safe and feel that they can express themselves without having to worry about things all the time and not feeling listened to and respected.
In today’s world, mental health issues are very important. We need to keep our eyes open for it every day, so we can see how much that affects us and it gets more and more okay to talk about, which is something we appreciate a lot because for whom we are. The number one part of any system is the people in it. You cannot be very healthy and high-performing without healthy and high-performing people. But emotional issues often show up in disguise. It’s very rare that people will say, “I’m afraid of this. I’m worried. I don’t know what’s going to happen to me,” so instead people talk about other things and disguise it as, “We don’t have time. We have tried this before, it will never work anyway,” things like that. So, if you want to be a high-performing person in the world-class manufacturing system and handle the obstacles of emotions, you have to really pay attention to emotional intelligence and learn from people who are strong in that type of field.
And as I wrote earlier, normally from our experience, you have twice as many emotional issues as you have technical issues. Imagine if you can combine them both. imagine the power you can get from knowing what technically is correct for your business and knowing how to handle your people. That is so powerful and it’s almost unstoppable. I often use the analogy of a zipper in your jacket. When you have two sides that should connect, when you zip up your zipper it becomes strong and it’s almost an unbreakable bond and that’s what you’re looking for when you build a system like WCM.
So, do you recognize this from your business? Do you see that you need to understand what technical parts you need for your business so it’s designed correctly and it stands for many, many years technically? And how you engage people to feel that they can own it, feel respected and listened to so they can develop as well. If you feel that is a need that you have in your business, I suggest that you contact us. There’s an email address here, there’s also link below. Book a call. Let’s talk about what we can do to help you. And like, share this article, spread this around. We need your help to spread this message. We appreciate everything you do for us when it comes to that. And other people might need to read to this as well. And thank you so much.
Johan Majlov, CEO Lean Dimensions International
LetsDoIt@askldi.com
Drawing from Shortcut To Fame Ltd
Audits a key part of any business
In today’s business world Audits are a common component. Examples are Supplier Audits, Quality system Audits, Compliance Audits, Environment Audits etc.
The idea is that an outside resource Audits to find Gaps that highlights key areas of attention, if improved the business is a step better.
The issue is often that an Audit or the Auditor has the focus to find what’s wrong, that is often a uncomfortable approach for the one being Audited.
I have been to businesses that hide tools that aren’t calibrated, give answer cards to employees and basically try to doctor the results. A bit crazy since the Audit is supposed to help and drive improvements but the consequences can be severe and the business finds it important to Look Good.
When it comes to the Audits related to Improvement systems they should be handled totally different and below I go through the process of that.
The word auditing comes from the Latin word audītus which means listening, so an Auditor is a person who will come and listen. (More about the State of Mind the auditor and the audited should be in can be found The Article Taking Charge of Your Change published on LinkedIn in my name.)
This means that for an improvement team you should ask someone from the outside to Audit you. The definition of outside is outside of the team that needs the Audit. For example, if you have a steering committee or any type of management/leading team, in some different types of program you might even have pillars (a team of people who focuses on a limited part of the improvement system) they are good choices of Auditors.
Let us assume that you are running a 12-week improvement team, as a minimum I recommend that you have 3 audits, after 4, 8 and 12 weeks. The 12-week audit is also called the final audit. The objectives of an audit are to support the team to stay on target, to ensure that they understand the process and that they follow the process of the improvement team. I choose to follow the PDCA approach (Plan, Do, Check Act) in this example. I also promote that the 3 Phases of change are followed, the 3 phases are…Basic Condition, Improve and Innovate. To complete a phase, you go through the PDCA cycle, so the PDCA cycle could be gone through 3 times or more if you follow all 3 phases.
2 Min Drill 3 Phases of Change
An Auditor should follow that approach and should also be aware of which phase the team is in and to ask questions according to the PDCA approach and in tune with the Phase, to ensure that the process is followed and understood by the team. A good auditor also leaves the team with energy after the audit. The Important role of an Auditor is highlighted in the fact that the team must understand where they are, what could be needed to develop further. What an Auditor needs to understand is that the team needs support and energy; a bad auditor will leave the team deflated only considering all the problems.
A good audit process could look like this, the team is waiting for the auditor or auditors and will present where they are now using a team board, that I recommend every team have. They will tell the story about where the team is, the team leader or a representative, preferably several people that are a part of the team is presenting the status and what is achieved, and what they are looking forward to do. The Auditors are listening to where the team are and will ask questions according to the PDCA thinking. They will ensure that the planning phase, the do, check and act is done properly. The questions are normally asked open ended so that you do not have “yes” or “no” responses, and that you explain the way of thinking and the auditor will then have a better understanding. This will help confirm that the team has understood the concept and the process. Sometimes an auditor can ask a question implying that something should have been done. For instance: during the planning phase an auditor could ask “What type of root-cause analysis did you use?” This implies that you should have done a root-cause analysis and nobody can answer with a simple “yes” or “no”. This can drive the behaviour that you want in a team as an auditor. After the audit the team leader should make sure that the team understands the auditor’s comments, support and questions, as well as have a lesson learned session after the audit. Lessons learned are key for a team to gather along the whole process, the lessons learned are transferred to the next team that starts a similar type of problem-solving initiative, so we do not run into similar types of problems again.
As an Auditor, you have a choice to Put Pressure on the Team or To Inspire the Team to accomplish something. The inspiration path often has a positive effect on the climate and leaves a team energized.
If this process is followed and the principle of listening is the focus, the Audit has a positive effect on the people involved. Understanding what is done well can that being highlighted can induce energy in a team.
Johan Majlov, CEO Lean Dimensions International