Made-to-Order Lean-Excelling in a High-Mix, Low-Volume Environment

224 Pages·2007·14.527 MB·\224

by  Greg Lane (Author)

Made-to-Order Lean
Excelling in a High-Mix,
Low-Volume Environment
by Greg Lane
Foreword by
John Shook
Boca Raton London New York
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lane, Greg.
Made-to-order lean : excelling in a high-mix, low-volume environment / by
Greg Lane.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-56327-362-9 (alk. paper)
1. Production management. 2. Industrial efficiency. 3. Organizational effec-
tiveness. I. Title.
TS155.L2524 2007
658.5—dc22
2007027867
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Table of Contents
Foreword vii
Introduction: Method and Overview ix
Chapter 1: Managing Visually 1
Using the Right Metrics 2
Characteristics of Poor Visuals 4
Characteristics of Good Visuals 4
Four Types of Visual Boards 7
Visuals to Emphasize Abnormal Conditions 14
Summary of Key Points 15
Color Examples of Red, Yellow, and Green Visuals from Other Chapters 20
Chapter 2: Management Auditing: Standardized Work for Managers 29
Building an Audit Schedule 29
Looking at an Example 31
Summary of Key Points 33
Chapter 3: Associating a Time with All Work 35
Takt Time 36
Estimating Sheet 37
Summary of Key Points 43
Chapter 4: Utilizing Day-by-Hour and FIFO Boards 45
The Role of Production Control 46
Day-by-Hour Boards 46
First-In, First-Out Boards 59
Joining the Combined Kanban and Work-Order Board and the
FIFO Board 61
Recognizing the Danger of Putting Up Too Many Boards 61
Getting the Required Support 61
Knowing Where to Begin with the First Boards 62
Summary of Key Points 62
Chapter 5: Making Improvements When You’re Short of Capacity 65
Changeover Time Reduction: SMED 65
Increasing Machine Feeds and Speeds 71
Bottleneck Analysis 71
Machine Performance (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) 74
Standardized Work 74
Dedicated Material Handlers 77
Team Leaders 78
iii
Table of Contents
Outsourcing 80
Summary of Key Points 82
Chapter 6: Making Improvements When You Have Excess Capacity 83
In the Office 84
On the Shop Floor 87
To Reduce the Excess Capacity 92
Summary of Key Points 95
Chapter 7: Using Value Stream Mapping in a Low-Volume Environment 97
Getting Started 97
Total Product Cycle Time 98
Value Stream Mapping in Low-Volume Manufacturing 99
Summary of Key Points 105
Chapter 8: Becoming Aware of Your Inventory and Using Pull Systems 107
Inventory Awareness and MRP 107
Shortening Lead Time 111
Kanban Defined 111
Short Lead Time Equals Small Inventories 124
Using both MRP and Kanban 129
Moving Materials within Your Plant 129
Summary of Key Points 131
Chapter 9: Making Manpower Improvements 133
5S 134
Standardized Work 135
Operator Balance Wall 142
Day-by-Hour Charts 145
Cross-Trained Team Members 146
Motion Kaizen 146
Teamwork 147
Andon Systems 147
Summary of Key Points 149
Chapter 10: Improving Machine Performance and Plant Layout 151
Overall Equipment Effectiveness 151
Total Productive Maintenance 153
Machine Kaizen 157
Changeover Time and SMED 159
Shift Patterns 159
Layout Kaizen 160
Summary of Key Points 166
iv
Table of Contents
Chapter 11: Making Improvements through Office Department Kaizen 167
The Kaizen Method 168
Summary of Key Points 178
Chapter 12: Making Improvements through Office Process Kaizen 179
Where to Start: Inputting an Order 180
Reducing Incomplete and Inaccurate Information 182
Reducing Wait Time 182
Reducing Processing Time 183
Following Up with Action Plans from the Workshop 183
Examples of Opportunities during an Office Process Kaizen 184
Summary of Key Points 185
Chapter 13: Improving Your Product Costing 187
Product Costing As it Applies to High-Mix, Low-Volume Businesses 188
Solutions for Poor Allocations 190
Summary of Key Points 194
Conclusions 197
Glossary 199
Index 201
About the Author 209
v
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Foreword
Finally, here is a practical guide to simply introduce the Toyota Production Sys-
tem (TPS) in job shop environments.
Experienced lean hands know that TPS was born in what had traditionally
been managed as job shops, machining operations with low volume and rela-
tively high variety. But, as Toyota grew in fortune and TPS grew in fame, the
lean production application that came to be held up as the example to study is
the moving conveyor line in a large vehicle assembly plant. This has caused
many who work in smaller job shops to scratch their heads wondering how to
apply the techniques and tools they saw on Toyota’s assembly lines to their
own highly variable environments.
The problem all along was that the key was not to focus on applying the
tools and techniques but to apply the principles. A large, assembly plant-style
Kanban system may not seem to translate directly or easily to a small job shop
with hundreds or thousands of low-volume or even single-run SKUs, but the
principles of Just-In-Time (producing the right part at the right time in the
right amount) of building-in-quality while respecting the people who do the
work certainly apply. The question managers must address is simply how to
adopt and adapt the principles to make them work in different environments.
The translation is more straight-forward than you might expect, but a neces-
sary one nonetheless.
Your guide, Greg Lane, is highly qualified to help you through the transla-
tion process. Greg learned lean directly from senior Toyota Production System
sensei during his stint at GM’s venture with Toyota, New United Motor Manu-
facturing Inc. (NUMMI), as one of the fortunate few to go through highly spe-
cialized “TPS Key Person Training” at the hands of Toyota’s most experienced
TPS sensei in Toyota City, Japan. Following years of learning TPS in diverse set-
tings, Greg directly managed the implementation of TPS ion his own job shop
precision machining company.
If you own, manage, or work in a job shop and will simply give a try to the
ideas, tools and principles described in this book, I predict you will find great
success and will refer to this book over and over for years.
John Shook
The TWI Network
Ann Arbor
July 2007
vii
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Introduction: Method and Overview
The Toyota Production System (TPS) and lean principals can generally be
applied to high-mix, low-volume environments, although the implementation
methods are not always directly applicable. Often, the implementation process
requires different methods and tools based on TPS and lean principles that will
work in a high-mix environment. The proven tools and methods that are pre-
sented in this book are based on years of hands-on experience.
Within the context of this book, “high-mix, low-volume” refers to manufac-
turing businesses that have hundreds to thousands of active part numbers, with
few (or none) of these parts having ongoing forecasted volumes. Orders are
not predictable, and planning is safer after a firm order is in hand. This scenario
applies to firms that are responsible for design and configuration of a product
and to job shops that build only to order. It can also apply to companies that
remanufacture or repair products.
The obvious assumption that “time is your most valuable resource” is the
underlying philosophy on which everything in this book is based. In addition,
all methods presented in this book assume the involvement of everyone
affected during the development and implementation of the tools. By being
included in the development, everyone will understand and will likely support
the change; otherwise resistance is natural.
The primary foci of this book are eliminating non-value added activities
(those activities that do not actually work on and transform a product) and
improvements that bring immediate benefits. It is further recommended that
you focus your improvements on your most repetitive jobs—your “bread and
butter” work—a strategy that gives you more time to produce your low volume
work or one-offs. It is assumed throughout this book that you either build to
order or assemble to order and therefore rarely have influence on the produc-
tion lot size. The lot size is only addressed if you decide to convert a compo-
nent or finished good to kanban.
How to Use This Book
1. If you are aware of a specific opportunity or have an explicit business
need in your high-mix plant that is covered in the scope of this book,
check what is covered in each chapter in the Table of Contents or on the
Implementation Flow chart at the end of this introduction and consult
the relevant chapter or chapters.
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