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(+)+(+)
(+)+(+)
(+)+(+) The Lean Changeover e-letter
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(+)+(+) Published monthly by Changeover.com
(+)+(+)
(+)+(+) Written by John R Henry, CPP
(+)+(+)
(+)+(+) AUGUST 2008
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(+)+(+) Replies, inquires and feedback to john@...
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and running correctly right now?

These workhorses of assembly automation are too often poorly
understood by the mechanics and technicians who service them. My
workshop, "Understanding Vibratory Feeders" is based on 22 years of
working on their design, operation and maintenance. It explains the
basic and theory of operation. Once this is understood, your
technical people will find them as simple as pie.

The workshop combine theory as well as practical hands-on practice.

For more information or to schedule a session in your facility, call
me at 787-550-9650 or e-mail me at johnhenry@...




SOME THOUGHTS ON...
THE FORD PRODUCTION SYSTEM

Unless you are a hermit in the Himalayas you have most likely heard
of the Toyota Production System. It is usually held up as the
capstone of lean manufacturing.

Have you ever thought about how it came to be?

I didn't know much more than the average person about Henry Ford
until a about 8-9 years ago. Yes, I knew about the wonderful Model T,
the $5 wage and the moving assembly line but did not really know what
it meant to the world. Perusing their catalog one day I saw that
Productivity Press had published his book "Today and Tomorrow". I
enjoy reading industrial history so bought it on a whim. When I read
it, I was blown away. What really astounded me was a few years later
when I found the text to his first, 1923, book "My Life and Work"
I've read hundreds of books on manufacturing management, lean, six
sigma and related topics but this was something else. All those
things we thought we had taken from the Japanese in the 80's and 90's
were common practice at Ford in the teens. He had built the entire
company around lean manufacturing and took it to extremes.

In the process he was able to produce 20 million model T's while
reducing the price from about $850 to $250 over a 20 year period. He
almost single handedly moved the world from horses to horseless
carriages. We probably all knew that. What we probably didn't know (I
didn't) was how he did it. He did it by relentlessly applying a
philosophy of eliminating fat from his manufacturing operation. In
other words, what we today call lean manufacturing.

He eliminated as much walking around as possible. The work was
brought to the man rather than the man to the work. "Save ten steps a
day for each of twelve thousand employees and you will have saved
fifty miles of wasted motion and misspent energy."... "The undirected
worker spends more of his time walking about for materials and tools
than he does in working; he gets small pay because pedestrianism is
not a highly paid line." (Chapter 5)

He spent a lot of effort optimizing workstations before most people
even knew the word ergonomics: "We now have two general principles in
all operations--that a man shall never have to take more than one
step, if possibly it can be avoided, and that no man need ever stoop
over." (Chapter 5)

Leveling production? It's in there: "We very shortly found that we
could not do business on order. The factory could not be built large
enough--even were it desirable--to make between March and August all
the cars that were ordered during those months. Therefore, years ago
began the campaign of education to demonstrate that a Ford was not a
summer luxury but a year-round necessity." (Chapter 11)

Lean documentation? Sure: "We abolished every order blank and every
form of statistics that did not directly aid in the production of a
car. We had been collecting tons of statistics because they were
interesting. But statistics will not construct automobiles--so out
they went." (Chapter 12)

Quality? He built the business on it: "And success in manufacture is
based solely upon an ability to serve that consumer to his liking. He
may be served by quality or he may be served by price. He is best
served by the highest quality at the lowest price, and any man who
can give to the consumer the highest quality at the lowest price is
bound to be a leader in business, whatever the kind of an article he
makes. There is no getting away from this." (Chapter 9) See also, in
his later book "Moving Forward", his chapter written by Carl
Johanssen of Jo Gauge fame, on the importance of precise measurement.

Worker participation in improvements. Check: "In one of the stamping
operations six-inch circles of sheet metal are cut out. These
formerly went into scrap. The waste worried the men. They worked to
find uses for the discs. They found that the plates were just the
right size and shape to stamp into radiator caps but the metal was
not thick enough. They tried a double thickness of plates, with the
result that they made a cap which tests proved to be stronger than
one made out of a single sheet of metal. We get 150,000 of those
discs a day. We have now found a use for about 20,000 a day and
expect to find further uses for the remainder. (Chapter 10)

He lived on the "learning curve" was long before anyone thought to
give it a name. He knew that by making more cars he could drive his
costs down and, as he drove the costs down, he could make more cars.
We might call a virtuous cycle.

Ford applied his ideas not only to cars. He also tells of applying
the same principles in a railroad, a large hospital and a technical
school. All with excellent results.

This is an old book and was out of print in English for more than 70
years. I have been told that it has never been out of print in
Japanese. If you want to learn about lean manufacturing, learn from
the master who invented it, Henry Ford.

The real shame is that, in the US we knew all this stuff. Ford had
shown us that it worked and had freely shared all of his techniques.
And yet we somehow lost it. Thankfully we are getting it back.

TIP OF THE MONTH...
FORD'S BOOKS

Henry Ford, with Samuel Crowther, published 4 books in the 20's. "My
Life and Work", discussed above, is the most valuable, in my opinion.
It is available in several ways. The best is to buy a trade paperback
edition
from https://www2.xlibris.com/bookstore/bookdisplay.asp?bookid=32476
This has the advantage of a nice binding and typesetting as well as
an introduction by myself. It is also available free for download at
http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext05/hnfrd10.txt It is also
available from www.kessinger.net as a bound photocopy of the original text.

"Today and Tomorrow", Ford's second book is available from
Productivity Press www.productivityinc.com

His final book on manufacturing, "Moving Forward", written in 1929,
is available in a Kessinger edition.

Ford got his start working for Westinghouse Electric and later
Detroit Edison Electric. In his later years he and Thomas Edison
became friends and he wrote a book "My Friend Thomas Edison". It
doesn't have any manufacturing secrets but, if you enjoy biography,
is worth reading. It too is available in a Kessinger edition.





Best,

John R Henry CPP

www.changeover.com
787-550-9650

"All progress is made by a lazy person looking for an easier way" -
Lazarus Long



Best,

John R Henry CPP

www.changeover.com
787-550-9650

"All progress is made by a lazy person looking for an easier way" - Lazarus Long