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(+)+(+) The Lean Changeover e-letter
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### SEPTEMBER 2007
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I will be offering the Achieving Lean Changeover Workshop through Pharma-Bio Serv Inc at their training facility in Dorado PR on October 26, 2007. This workshop will include a a hands-on practical demonstration of changeover improvement as we take the Changeover.com Super Duper Monster Making Machine from a 15-20 minute changeover to less than 1 minute. (My personal best is 43 seconds - blindfolded!)
Come join us. For complete information visit www.changeover.com and click on the banner ad link on the home page.
SOME THOUGHTS ON...
TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE
When you go to Las Vegas (hint, hint: I will be speaking at PackExpo next month on saying no to quick changeover. www.packexpo.com for more detail) you will probably go to a casino. It is almost impossible to avoid, even for non-players. One thing you will never see in a casino is a clock. Casinos are sophisticated machines for separating the player from their money and the more time the player spends, the more money can be separated. The last thing they want is for the player to be aware of how much time they spend playing.
What about your plant floor? I am sure we will agree that the opposite principle applies. On the plant floor, time is of the essence, as the saying goes. Production is maximized by maximizing run times and minimizing down times.
So how many clocks are there in your production area? One? Stuck over by the supervisor=s station? Time is one of the most crucial variables in production. It is also the scarcest resource and once gone, it can never be recovered. Time, like anything else, can only be controlled if it is measured.
Associates need to have a sense of urgency imparted to them. This is partly cultural. Supervisors need to explain how important time is. They need to explain, in terms the associates can understand, the cost of time. One way is to explain it in terms of lost production. E.g.; if a line running 200 products/minute is down 1 additional minute/day, this represents the loss of 48,000 units or more than half a day of production. They need to have the dollar cost of this loss made clear to them.
Time flies when you are having fun. It also flies when you are working. Our internal mental clocks tend to be inaccurate. We may think we are accomplishing a task quickly when in reality we are not. Clocks need to be readily available in strategic positions along the line. These need to be big, legible, clocks and visible from anywhere on the floor. They also need to be digital clocks. Analog clocks tend to make us think in 5 or even 15 minute segments of time. Digital clocks make us think in minutes or even seconds. Red LED displays are visible over long distances if sized correctly. Simple clocks can show simple time of day. More sophisticated systems can show time since task start, time remaining or time as measured in units of production. In one plant I worked in, there was a large display screen over the end of the line. This normally displayed production information. Whenever the line stopped, though, the display would switch to a counter mode. This mode displayed dollars and updated every second. (about $0.70/second). I found out about this when I asked them if I could stop the line to take a measurement. They stopped the line and pointed out the display. I can assure you that it imparted a sense of urgency in me!!
For repeatable tasks, such as changeover, time standards must be set. Knowing how long something is taking is helpful but not as useful as it could be. Standards must be set and the employees must know what the standard is. These standards should be reasonable and realistic. That is, not so tight that they are not achievable, yet not so loose as to waste time.
Finally, employees must be held to the standards. That means the times must be measured, recorded and tracked. Unless they are, time standards become meaningless.
Having said all that, let me say this: Be careful in how you approach this. Time standards and accountability can be intimidating if dropped suddenly onto the associates. Take it gradually and be sure to explain exactly what it happening and why. Get the associates involved in reducing lost time.
Timing and standards can be very helpful if done right. They can be very hurtful if done wrong.
TIP OF THE MONTH…
CLOCKS AND COUNTERS
A source for timekeeping devices is Alzatex Corp at
https://www.alzatex.com
They have a wide variety of clocks, timekeeping and counting systems. One item that might be of interest is their line of lean manufacturing systems such as counters showing actual production vs goal on a second by second, real time, basis. See
https://www.alzatex.com/background/Lbkgnd.html
for more information. The page also has some good background information on lean manufacturing that may be of interest to many here.
One important issue is keeping all clocks in a plant synchronized. BRG Precision has a wide variety of clocks suitable for industrial use. Many of the systems can be linked wirelessly to a master clock to keep all displaying the same time.
http://www.brgprecision.com
John R Henry CPP
www.changeover.com
787-550-9650
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