{"id":6722,"date":"2021-09-22T14:55:05","date_gmt":"2021-09-22T13:55:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.solidapps.co.uk\/blog\/?p=6722"},"modified":"2021-09-22T14:55:05","modified_gmt":"2021-09-22T13:55:05","slug":"lean-manufacturing-is-perfect-for-smaller-businesses-part-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solidapps.co.uk\/blog\/2021\/09\/lean-manufacturing-is-perfect-for-smaller-businesses-part-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"Lean Manufacturing Is Perfect for Smaller Businesses (Part II)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In\u00a0Part<\/a>\u00a0I, we discussed some practical principles of Lean manufacturing (I hope you tried the Five Whys on someone you know). Today we will discuss how to apply these principles at your company, associated challenges you may face, and what results you might expect. As you saw in Part I, Lean is rooted in common sense and is more straightforward than most people assume. Below are some of the keys ideas to successfully implementing Lean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Secure Agreement from All Involved<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, because Lean changes a company\u2019s behavior, you need to have buy-in at all levels. You can\u2019t change design and manufacturing teams if managers or executives are not willing to change. And if managers and executives are willing to change but they don\u2019t respect the teams themselves, Lean won\u2019t work, either. You need to have agreement across the entire organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t Treat Lean as a Project<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you treat Lean as a project with a start, middle, and end, the transformation will end when you get to the end of the project. The tendency is to snap back to the way things were tends to happen upon project completion. Kaizen<\/em>, part of the Lean philosophy or mantra, is about continuous improvement<\/em>. It indicates a change in company culture and behavior, which goes way beyond the idea of completing a project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Walk a Mile in Your Employees\u2019 Shoes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You must start at the beginning. That means knowing exactly what\u2019s happening at your company today. Toyota uses the term gemba,<\/em> which literally means go and see what\u2019s happening, <\/em>walk the shop floor, and live a day in the life of the workers. So, you go and look, and you go watch and you go see. If someone says, \u201cI can\u2019t do this because it\u2019s pretty difficult,\u201d try it for yourself and see what happens. That\u2019s the first process. First understand, from the worker\u2019s perspective and experience, what\u2019s happening. Then you can truly understand the issue at hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then consider digital visual management tools to make standards known and easily communicate issues to your departmental teams. This is a vital part of company and culture transformation: clearly showing people what\u2019s happening. Digital whiteboards and sticky notes are simple management tools that enable people to see the problems and discuss them. Visuals such as traffic-light indicators (green for good, yellow for warning, and red for bad) can be very effective. Making it easy and convenient to visually go and see what\u2019s happening<\/em> is key to continuous improvement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No Finger Pointing<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another concept is to focus on the solution rather than point fingers.<\/em> The Lean philosophy has many concepts around mutual respect, whether it\u2019s respecting a manager, a team member, a peer, or a subordinate. The focus should be the solution (rather than pointing fingers) and then making sure the goals are reasonable and attainable over time versus a big-bang project (with a ludicrous goal regarding production rates or reducing costs) that just isn\u2019t realistic. A series of smalls wins, over time, equals big wins. It takes time and patience and focus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remember, there are digital visualization tools to assist your company in enacting changes. The digital tools for Lean also include other problem-solving tools like Five Why diagrams that help you quickly solve problems on the fly. Digital tools often make it easier and faster to implement Lean practices and make critical cultural and operational changes to your business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What to Expect from a Lean Implementation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some results will be hard values like reduced costs, material expenditures, and time, which you\u2019d expect from implementing Lean across an organization. Other results include significant reduction in product quality issues or an increase in the rate of production. But there are also soft values; one of the most important ones is having autonomous teams<\/em>. Gone is rigid management structure, where problems get escalated and often stuck at higher levels in the company. Lean teams are able and entrusted to basically solve problems themselves. The Lean methodology enables them with the practical tools necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without a Lean and efficient manufacturing process, the only other way to satisfy customer demand is by throwing money at it. If you throw inventory at customer demand, you make sure you have finished goods when customers ask for them because you\u2019re not agile enough to create them on-demand or in a shorter time frame. Again, given the competitiveness of some industries today and the level of disruption, smaller companies just can\u2019t afford such a strategy. It\u2019s not sustainable for them, and they\u2019ll jeopardize their business if they try. So Lean is all about doing more with less or the same with less without adding excess waste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why Lean Can Be More Successful at Smaller Companies<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a specific purpose in mind, smaller companies are better at adopting Lean methodologies. It\u2019s much easier to get buy-in because you can typically get the CEO\u2019s attention reasonably fast to get approvals, a process that is much more complicated in larger companies where politics and bureaucracy can prohibit quick decision-making at all levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Changing the culture of an organization is not a project. It\u2019s about small continuous changes. Every manufacturing stand-up meeting is an opportunity to do something slightly better or to improve in some way. It\u2019s not about sending a team off to a six-week training course to become Six Sigma black belts and expecting them to bring about change when they return, because that\u2019s not the way people change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People change continuously when there\u2019s a slight change to behavior that\u2019s beneficial and reinforced over time. People don\u2019t change quickly. Going to boot camp for a week and coming back a different person doesn\u2019t happen. So, start small and improve continuously. It\u2019s a marathon, not a sprint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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People are More Important than Products<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remember: it is the people that make it happen. A product doesn\u2019t make itself, so the key is focusing on the team and the human element and the relationships and how they can improve, as a team is critical to success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even in highly automated industries, it\u2019s still the humans behind the machines that effectively solve the problems and make the industry work efficiently. No amount of artificial intelligence will solve a design problem or fix a part of a process that isn\u2019t working properly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teams are the lifeblood of organizations. Without teams, business doesn\u2019t work, and every company is an aggregation of various teams at different levels, including manufacturing. If you can improve each one just a little bit, the cumulative benefit can be enormous to an organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Technology Can Help<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colleagues that used to meet in person now are dispersed\u2014especially from precautions regarding COVID-19. Collaborating in hybrid environments is likely here to stay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s another reason cloud-based applications\u00a0like 3DLean<\/a>\u00a0are becoming so popular. You can be at home or the office or traveling and still attend daily Lean stand-up manufacturing meetings to help solve issues with your team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Originally posted in the SOLIDWORKS Blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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