Kaizen: continuing improvement

Dr. Ron Tibben-LembkeSCM 462

Kaizen A philosophy of continually improving all areas.

Personal life, home life, social life, working life Workplace: continuous improvement involving

everyone- managers and workers alike Quality:

There is very little agreement on what constitutes quality. In its broadest sense, quality is anything that can be improved. When speaking of “quality” one tends to think first in terms of product quality. When discussed in the context of KAIZEN strategy nothing could be further off the mark. The foremost concern here is with the quality of people. … Building quality into people means helping them become KAIZEN conscious.

Masaaki Imai – Kaizen, 1986, McGraw-Hill. Pp. xx-xxi, xxiii

Kaizen

How to measure and define quality? Other side of the coin is KAIZEN Nobody can dispute the value of improvement These improvements will lead to

improvements in quality and productivity Quality = anything that can be improved

Products and services, The way people work, way machines are used

Who started it all?

July 1950, Deming 8-day seminar on statistical quality control

July 1954 J.M. Juran seminar on quality-control management.

First time QC dealt with from the overall management perspective

SDSA PDSAPLAN

DO

STUDY

ACT

Toyoda’s Ambitious Plans Post-WWII Japanese industry in

ruins “Catch up to Americans in 4

years!” Toyoda made delivery trucks and

motorcycles, and not many of either

First two Toyotas imported to U.S. 1957

, the early years

Elimination of Waste

Knew they wouldn’t beat U.S. with product innovation, concentrated on licensing patents, and producing more efficiently

Costs prevented mass-production, volume strategy of American firms.

Must reduce waste & cost Shigeo Shingo (at right) & Taiichi Ohno, pioneers

Waste

Waste is ‘anything other than the minimum amount of equipment, materials, parts, space, and workers’ time which are absolutely essential to add value to the product.

--Shoichiro Toyoda President, Toyota Motor Co.

7 Types of Waste (Ohno 1988) Overproduction Time on Hand Transportation Waste of Processing itself Stock on Hand - Inventory Movement Making Defective Products

Couldn’t Emulate GM GM huge batches in huge factories Japan’s area is 10% less than

California and 70% agricultural. Put entire population of CA into 30%

of state, then add 6 times as many people. (and you thought LA was crowded).

Land extremely expensive Sprawling factories not an option

Small Batches GM’s large batches require large

amounts of storage space. GM produces in large batches because

of significant setup costs. If Toyota had the same large setup

costs, it could never afford small batches.

Reduce setup cost to reduce batch size. GM didn’t think of doing this.

Setup Reduction Can’t afford to do huge runs Have to produce in small batches SMED:

Single Minute Exchange of Dies under ten minutes Toyota Die Change: 3 hours down to 3

minutes

Setup Reduction Techniques Internal setups – line has to be

down External setups – can be done

while production continues Make internal setups into External Eliminate Adjustments Eliminate the Setup

Ask ‘Why’ 5 Times

5W = 1H1. Why did the machine stop? Overload and

fuse blew2. Why the overload? Not lubricated3. Why not lubricated? Oil pump not pumping?4. Why not pumping? Pump shaft worn out.5. Why worn out? No screen, scrap got in

Two Pillars of Toyota System Just-in-Time: produce the right

parts, at the right time, in the right quantity

Autonomation: ‘Automation with a human touch’

(make machine mistake-proof)

Just-in-Time

Downstream processes take parts from upstream as they need.

Like an American Supermarket: Get what you want when you want it in the quantity you want.

Kanban

Japanese for ‘signboard’ Method for implementing JIT In order to produce, you need both

material to work on, and an available kanban.

Each work station has a fixed # kanbans.

Kanban

Worker 2 finishes a part, outbound moves over

2 has a blue tag avaliable, so 2 gets another part to work on: 2 takes off 1’s green tag giving it back to 1, and puts on her blue tag and moves it into position.

Flow of work

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Kanban

When 3 finishes a part, Finished parts move over one spot He has to have a red tag available to

put on, He gets a part from 2’s outbound pile, And gives the blue back to 2

Flow of work

32

Kanban

When 3 finishes a part, Finished parts move over one spot He has to have a red tag available to put on, He gets a part from 2’s outbound pile, And gives the blue back to 2

3’s production will be taken by 4, offstage right. Tag goes back into 3’s bin

Flow of work

32

Kanban

Red finishes his part next.

But 4 hasn’t freed up any of the red kanbans, so there is nothing for 3 to work on now.

3 could maintain his machine, or see if 4 needs help

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32

How is this Different?

Processes can become idled (blocked) or starved

This makes you painfully aware of problems in your system.

Material moves through the system so quickly no in-process recordkeeping is needed.

Importance of Flow Ohno was very clear about this:

“Kanban is a tool for realizing just-in-time. For this tool to work fairly well, the process must be managed to flow as much as possible. This is really the basic condition. Other important conditions are leveling the product as much as possible, and always working in accordance with standard work methods.-- Ohno, 1988, p. 3

Total Quality Management

Not a lot of parts to sift through to find a good one

Can’t afford high defect rates Since low WIP, get quick feedback

on errors

WIP Level

Less WIP means products go through system faster

reducing the WIP makes you more sensitive to problems, helps you find problems faster

Stream and Rocks analogy: Inventory (WIP) is like water in a stream It hides the rocks Rocks force you to keep a lot of water (WIP) in

the stream

Lowering Inventory Reduces Waste

WIP hides problems

Lowering Inventory Reduces Waste

WIP hides problems

Lowering Inventory Reduces Waste

Reducing WIP makesproblem very visible

STOP

Lowering Inventory Reduces Waste

Remove problem, runWith less WIP

Lowering Inventory Reduces Waste

Reduce WIP again to findnew problems

Poke-Yoke

Dr. Ron Tibben-Lembke

Shigeo Shingo

Non-slip screws

Computer Poka-Yokes

Other Poka-Yokes ATMs that beep to take your card out Can’t get any cash until your card is out Indentations in surgery trays Lawn mowers stop running when you let

go of bar 3.5” disks only go in one way

Cross Training To maintain the flow, workers have

to be able to help out as needed Rotate workers through jobs:

Keep skills sharp (managers too - prove they know what they’re doing)

Reduce boredom & fatigue Expand understanding of overall

picture Increase potential for new ideas

Suppliers Buyer & Supplier form JIT

partnerships JIT partnerships eliminate:

Unnecessary activities In-plant inventory In-transit inventory Poor suppliers

Characteristics of JIT Partnershps Few, nearby suppliers Supplier just like in-house upstream

process Long-term contract agreements Steady supply rate Frequent deliveries in small lots Buyer helps suppliers meet quality Suppliers use process control charts Buyer schedules inbound freight

Supplier Relationships American model:

keep your nose out of my plant. Gain info to force price cuts Lack of trust between suppliers

Firm encourages suppliers to share knowledge, because they don’t worry about competing

Firm helps supplier increase quality, reduce costs

Employee Input Employee has a brain, why not use

it? Quality circles look for ways to

improve Emphasis on Continuous Process

Improvement

Preventative Maintenance Unexpected loss of production is

fatal to system and must be prevented

Additional maintenance can prevent downtime, or minimize length of interruptions, when they do occur