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LMAC: The Lean Management Machine
(Part 2 of a 2-part article on Lean Certification)
As the saying goes, own the proper tools, and any job is made easier. This old adage, most often used in the building trades, is equally applicable to the “building” of efficient operations and improved productivity in manufacturing, processing and office environments. And for that job, the best toolboxes come equipped with Lean Management.
Productivity Inc. is bringing Lean Management to the workplace - or more appropriately stated, is bringing the workplace to Productivity - through a unique hands-on learning experience known as the Lean Manager Certificate Program (LMAC). And there are no better people to discuss the success of LMAC than a few of the program’s graduates: Jim Farrand of Appleton, the world’s largest producer of carbonless paper; Denise Roberts of Aquarium Pharmaceuticals, an industry-leading manufacturer of aquarium and pond products; and Paul Bedell of Tri Palm International (formerly Oasis Corporation), a global leader in the design and manufacture of bottled water coolers. All of them were able to successfully apply what they learned from LMAC to their company’s day-to-day operations. These quite diverse businesses ended up sharing very similar results: all three experienced dramatic improvements in efficiency and productivity – and have the numbers to prove it.
Farrand, Roberts and Bedell graduated from Productivity’s four-week LMAC program, co-sponsored and hosted by the Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University in Columbus. The comprehensive and highly interactive program teaches a carefully sequenced array of Lean concepts and provides the tools that are easily adapted to virtually any organization. The program uses simulations, group exercises, problem-solving discussion sessions and shop floor applications to transform theory into real-life, practical implementation and in-house successes.
During the four non-consecutive week program, each participant experiences both in-class and hands-on working environments that drive them towards the program’s primary objectives:
- Lead an organizational Lean implementation
- Create a detailed deployment plan based on baseline analysis
- Perform as principal change agent
- Lead site teams to deploy plant-wide Lean methodologies
- Mentor project leaders, area managers & supervisors and suppliers’ change agents
One of the innovative features of LMAC is in its unique program design. After each week of class and hands-on project training, participants return home for three-week intervals to immediately begin applying the Lean methodologies they have learned. These highly structured “homework assignments” must be completed and reported on in the subsequent classroom week, where they are discussed and analyzed for the benefit of all participants. Successful completion of the homework also counts towards the attendees’ final grade.
Results That Cut Time and Costs
“One of the more significant advantages of the LMAC program is its perfect mix of classroom sessions and practical, on-the-job training,” says Jim Farrand, Manager, Operational Excellence at Appleton. “Typically, we’d spend an entire day learning an important Lean tool like Quick Changeover or TPM [Total Preventive Maintenance], with the first half of the day devoted to learning theory and methodologies, and the second half simulating an actual project. The simulation not only made it easy to understand how a particular tool is applied and what the direct benefits from it would be, but it enabled us to take this information back to our facility and immediately begin implementing a better process.” Two methodologies in particular that Farrand and Appleton are most proud of and that achieved dramatic results back at their facility are the efficiencies and cost savings achieved under their Quick Changeover and 5S programs.
Quick Changeover, for example, is a critical component of Lean Manufacturing. With customers demanding lower order quantities and rapid delivery time, businesses are being driven to minimize waste and move quickly from one product, one order, or one service to the next. Also known as SMED (named for its original intent of Single Minute Exchange of Dies), make-ready or set-up reduction, Quick Changeover is aimed primarily at eliminating or reducing non-value added activities in the manufacturing environment. Although often used to improve equipment setup and teardown processes, it can be applied anywhere that people and processes interact, efficiently making changes from one process to another.
Appleton produces specialty-coated papers using several monster-size paper machines, each about the length of a football field and costing as much as $100 million a piece. They are comprised of thousands of components, and any type of reduction in changeover time brings a corresponding boost in productivity. Applying what was learned during the LMAC sessions and utilizing SMED principles, the employee involvement team was able to come up with an innovative quick change design for one specific machine component (the coater), with the result being a 73% reduction in changeover time at the coater. Overall, changeover time for the entire paper machine was reduced by 46%, despite a 25% increase in changeover frequency. This is a classic example where shorter runs, needed to meet customer demands, leads to an increase in changeover frequency. Consequently, SMED has allowed Appleton to improve productivity, while making more grade changes. From that SMED project alone, Appleton achieved savings of over $200,000 and was better able to respond to customer demand. Appleton won’t be resting on their accomplishments; they plan to continue applying SMED to future projects to further reduce changeover times.
“A single engineer working a lifetime would not have been able to come up with the same ideas our cross-functional team developed in a 2.5 day Quick Changeover session,” continued Farrand. “It’s quite gratifying being able to bring something this important back from a classroom environment and watch it make a real difference in the workplace.”
5S’s Are Better Than One
The term 5S is Lean Manufacturing lingo for a process known as the Visual Workplace Organization System. It is made up of activities designed to help you clean up and improve workplace organization, establish process standardization and instill a culture of continuous improvement. The original five S’s stood for specific Japanese words to describe the elements of visual control. In America, these activities are known as Sort, Set in Order, Shine, Standardize and Sustain, or 5S.
Farrand and Appleton believe that 5S is the foundation of Lean, and that it is the driving force behind adopting and nurturing a culture of continuous improvement in any business operation. Appleton is presently spending the majority of its time focusing on obtaining 5S certification for its entire plant, 17 acres under one roof. “If your workplace is not organized, how can you expect to be successful in implementing any of the higher level tools,” says Farrand. “The more organized your individual areas are, the easier it is to identify defects that can be overcome.” Farrand goes on to say how Productivity’s LMAC program made 5S one of the simplest tools to understand; yet he recognizes that it is fairly extensive and must be viewed as an on-going process in order to achieve continued dramatic successes.
As one example, Farrand points to Appleton’s motor storage area and how employees from the electrical department completed this particular 5S project on their own. With the significant investment and large number of spare motors inventoried by Appleton, if a failure occurs on a paper machine, now workers can quickly locate and transfer a spare motor in order to greatly reduce equipment downtime.
“There is not one person out of 430 employees that is not being affected by 5S,” continues Farrand. “ It is very much a people thing, and typically employees not only enjoy having their work areas organized, but find their work performance and productivity improving dramatically.”
The Fish Doctor Is In
Aquarium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (API) began operations in 1965 developing tropical fish medications. Forty years later they are an industry leading manufacturer and international supplier of a complete line of aquarium and pond products, including medications, water conditioners, water test kits, carbon and filtration products, algaecides, aquatic plant products and aquarium accessories. When a new General Manager familiar with the advantages of Lean methods took the reins of API two years ago, he initiated a Lean program and felt strongly that the organization needed a dedicated person to continue the fight towards improved efficiencies. His answer was to send Denise Roberts off to college – Fisher College to be exact.
“Before our new GM came on board, we had major problems - over extended inventory, a need to improve and better organize our work procedures, extensive and time consuming changeovers, and next to no involvement or input from employees,” says Roberts, Aquarium’s Continuous Improvement Manager. “During the three-week intervals between LMAC classes, I’d return to our facility to complete my homework assignments – that is, implementing what we learned from Productivity, recording the results and discussing them in class.”
Right after Roberts graduated in May 2004, a facility-wide Lean philosophy began driving Aquarium through its improvement journey. Small groups of employees and managers began meeting to map existing processes and design ways to improve them, all the while encouraging buy-in from all parties related to each process
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