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(+)+(+) S.M.I.L.E(sm)
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(+)+(+) Setup Minimization Improves Line Efficiency
(+)+(+)
(+)+(+) The Quick Changeover e-letter
(+)+(+)
(+)+(+) Published monthly by Changeover.com
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(+)+(+) Written by John R Henry, CPP
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### AUGUST 2003
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PackExpo in Las Vegas is a major packaging trade show and conference. This
year it will be October 13-15. If you are planning to attend, make plans
also to come heae me speak Monday morning. My presentation will be "At the
intersection of mass and lean" and will focus on how to resolve the
conflict between mass customization (producing more and more specialized
products for market niches) and lean manufacturing. If you attend, be sure
to come up and say hello.

More info at http://pelv2003.packexpo.com/pelv2003/content/solutions.shtml

The Superfactory website at http://www.superfactory.com is an excellent
manufacturing resource with articles, downloads, a newsletter and more. If
you are not familiar with it, you should bookmark the site and visit it
often. Also, subscribe to the Superfactory newsletter. This month is
features a reprint of my article "How to develop and implement a quick
changeover program" which was originally published in Pharmaceutical
Engineering magazine

SOME THOUGHTS ON...
BRAINSTORMING

Einstein has been quoted as saying "Imagination is more important than
knowledge." This thought seems to be particularly applicable to changeover.
Too often we get stuck in the rut of doing the same things over and over.
It becomes hard to imagine doing them any differently because "That's the
way we've always done it." Unless we can break out of this cycle, we are
doomed.

We can break out of the cycle, though it will take some systematic effort.
Our the plant floor we have some truly imaginative experts in their fields.
I am speaking of the operators, mechanics, inspectors, supervisors and the
others who work on the line. Many times we take them for granted and don't
realize what a resource we have. Getting them to share this expertise
usually is not difficult, there are only two actions required: Ask them,
then listen to the answers. Can it really be as simple as that? Yes, it
really can be. One key may be credibility. Too often in the past they may
have been asked for their ideas only to see no attention paid to them or,
worse, management implementing them and taking the credit. Listening does
not necessarily imply acceptance of the idea or that it will be
implemented. What it does mean is that it will be listened to and
considered. If it is not a practical idea or if it cannot be used for other
reasons, these reasons need to be given. Perhaps within the impractical
idea is the germ of a practical one. If so, it should be developed and the
originator given credit.

I recently read that Toyota employees generate over a million improvement
ideas each year and that 90% of them are implemented. I know many companies
track employee suggestions but I wonder how many keep statistics to see how
many are implemented? It seems to me that there will be 2 things that need
to occur to get this high rate of implementation: The employees need to
generate good ideas and management needs to take them seriously. A negative
indication that I get from this might be that employees do not generate
enough ideas. That is, if so many are good, perhaps they are only
submitting those that they know are good and withholding the crazy, blue
sky ideas from which truly radical changes might come? I don't know the
answer to this and may be all wet here.

This generation and development of ideas can be done informally and the
main requirement will be a degree of openness that encourages
communication. A more powerful tool for the generation of ideas is a
technique called "brainstorming".

Brainstorming is a technique that relies more on quantity than quality of
ideas. To begin the process a problem, issue or topic will be chosen. To
tie this to changeover, it might be something like "How can startup time
for the case packer be reduced?"

A team or group would be gathered to address the problem. This team should
include various people who are involved with or affected by the problem.
Operators should certainly be included as they are the ones most closely
affected by the problem. The problem is clearly, but broadly defined to the
group so that everyone understands it.

The group will need a moderator or leader. The job of the moderator is to
present the idea and then make sure that discussion stays on topic, that
only one person speaks at a time, that the recorder is able to keep up with
the flow and that nobody's idea is judged during the session.

A recorder is assigned to write down all ideas. Ideally, this should be
done on a recordable whiteboard or a large pad so that everyone can see
what has been said before.

The moderator then opens the floor either by soliciting ideas as they occur
or by going around the group and insisting that everyone contribute
something. The second alternative will generate more ideas though they
might not be as high a quality. Not to worry, though. Remember that the
goal here is to get as many ideas as possible, the determination of their
usefulness can come later. If the floor is simply thrown open, some members
will hang back either because they are shy or perhaps because they are
intimidated by other group members. Some may hang back simply because they
are too lazy to think of things. Requiring them to contribute something
gets the benefit of their thinking. All ideas, great or small get recorded
on the list. They should be identified by contributor so that elaboration
can be sought but also to be able to recognize the suggester if the idea
turns out to be usable.

Ideas must not be judged. If you want to stop the flow dead in the water,
all you need do is have someone suggest that someone else's idea is not
good. At this stage, all ideas are equally valid. Remember that the goal is
quantity, not quality.

Do not ask for explanation of the idea. Explanation stops the flow. Fuller
explanation of what the suggester had in mind can come later.

It is perfectly acceptable for one member to build on another member's
idea. In fact, it should be encouraged. None of us have all the answers.

Continue the above process until nobody has anything left to contribute. At
this time go back and get any explanations or amplifications that may be
necessary.

Once the ideas have been generated, they need to be evaluated for
practicality. This will include many things such as engineering or
regulatory feasibility, costs, time constraints, company policy etc. The
evaluators may be the same group or may be specialists. The optimum
solution is then selected and, most importantly, implemented.

In his excellent book of 20 years ago, "In search of excellence", Jim
Peters quoted a GM worker as follows:

"I guess I got laid off because I made poor quality cars. But in my sixteen
years, not once was I ever asked for a suggestion as to how to do my job
better. Not once."

They have the expertise. It is management's job to ask for it.

TIP OF THE MONTH...
LEAN GLOSSARY

Tired of mudaing your time trying to remember the difference between andon
and autonomation? Kanban and kaizen? Need to know what a "flexible
manufacturing system" is? An excellent glossary describing these terms and
more can be found at paranet.digivis.com/pdf/lean_glossary.pdf I use it in
my operations management classes and my students find it very handy. If you
are involved with lean manufacturing or if you just want to know what it is
about, you will too. It contains brief descriptions of a large number of
lean concepts.



Best,

John R Henry CPP