Which is the most effective lean tool you have ever used and why?
5S, Kaizen , A3, kanbans........etc.
Good Answers (4)
Michael D.
Optimizing Operations
Best Answers in: Manufacturing (2), Quality Management and Standards (2), Change Management (1), Supply Chain Management (1), Product Design (1), Computers and Software (1)
Which is the most effective lean tool - people.
I can hear it already - people aren't tools. If we define a tool as; anything used as a means of accomplishing a task or purpose - you will hopefully see my point.
Lean is not a difficult concept.
5S simply means you organize the organization - didn't do that on purpose but does hit a point, the word organize is in organization yet we seldom give it much attention. Back to 5S, it's putting things in the right place, being orderly, having what you need - simple, so what makes it difficult to implement; culture, attitude, change; ie: people. It is the people that will implement, put things where they belong, make the process work.
A3 - putting everything on one piece of paper - a simple solution that can fit on 11 by 17 - what makes that difficult to do - thinking differently, looking at things like you haven't before, borrowing ideas from other departments or industries, thinking about how the competition does it. What makes it hard - again, we go back to people having to layout that 11 by 17 sheet of paper with their ideas.
Kaizen is another - all based on people participating.
Most lean tools are simple - that is what makes them all effective. Which is the most effective depends on what you are trying to accomplish and the type of people you have.
To me, and allow me to rephrase your question, the best return for your investment on Lean can be accomplished by concentrating on the people that will implement the tools.
Get your staff motivated, on track, pulling in the same direction and you will be effective regardless of which lean tool you use - remember all lean tools are meant to be simple and effective.
Start with smaller projects with the 'keen' group and build momentum, link rewards and recognition to the excerise and you'll come out ahead.
My neighbour has every tool you could imagine in his tool chest and yet I've seen him pull a nail from a board using plyers.....
Michael @ nCompass
Juan Carlos S.
Director of Sales - Latin America at Astec, Inc.
Best Answers in: Business Dining and Entertainment (1), Manufacturing (1), Supply Chain Management (1), Green Business (1)
Vivek,
The most effective tool is the one that can "change" people's ability to adopt the change delivered by other lean tools. For us, the 5S program with its simple concepts and profound implications has been a key starter.
Best regards,
Juan Carlos
The most effective thing i did was to level the production & use the produce to daily demand philosophy.It showed up a lot of waste which we addressed using a simple corrective action plan method as used in quality problems
In my view there are many tools , but these are just that - tools.
Adopting the philosophy and integrating it with ones operations is the most effective thing. You can use std tools or you can create your own tools. All these things are a logical outcome of seeing & eliminating waste.
Tools are as effective as the people who're working with it and it depends which situation is "asking" for which tool. As far as the users are not convinced of the power of the tool(s), it won't work at all.
Personally I would go for 5s as a powerfull tool. Can be used in many environments like manufacturing, office, healtcare,.... and is my opinion, neverending.
Rgrds,
Marco
Links:
More Answers (6)
Joy M.
pumps up profits fast
Best Answers in: Using LinkedIn (6), Staffing and Recruiting (2), Public Relations (2), Manufacturing (2), Professional Networking (2), Small Business (2), Job Search (1), Mentoring (1), Occupational Training (1), Foreign Investment (1), Personnel Policies (1), Events Marketing (1), Business Development (1), Search Marketing (1), Writing and Editing (1), Corporate Governance (1), Planning (1), Philanthropy (1), Inventory Management (1), Supply Chain Management (1), Branding (1), Market Research and Definition (1), Engineering (1), Interface Design (1), Career Management (1), Communication and Public Speaking (1), Ethics (1), Databases (1)
My eyes. Visible waste is a cost effective place to start.
Value Stream Mapping
You don’t have to look far to see waste and a quick means of correction when walking out on the shop floor. The problems I face aren’t the quick fixes. With “job shop” production the volume is low and is constantly fluctuating. Value stream mapping didn’t jump out and grab me right away. Being one of the many tools associated with lean VSM appeared to be geared towards longer production runs.
I took a part we run a few times a year, mapped it out, and brought to our job processor. VSM pretty much broke down our routing, but showed a truer picture of our flow with all the bottlenecks. With tons of data from prior runs we were able to improve cycle times (which also cut our perishable tooling costs) and the flow of outside vendor ops (heat treat and plating).
Scott E. D.
Director of Corporate Quality at Kiva Systems
Best Answers in: Manufacturing (6), Change Management (3), Project Management (3), Quality Management and Standards (3), Product Design (3), International Law (1), Organizational Development (1), Supply Chain Management (1), Professional Organizations (1), Enterprise Software (1)
I have to agree with Value Stream Mapping. Among other advantages, it's one of the few tools that really translates well to a non-manufacturing environment. I've used it to good effect in improving engineering change order processing, as an example.
Scott
Nara S.
Experienced (Global) Operational Excellence Leader, PMI-PMP, ASQ-CSSBB, CQE, CQM, Shainin Journeyman
I agree with VSM. VSM will explore opportunities for numerous projects based on Future state and gap analysis. And also, 5S is a basic necessity for success of lean.
Our software VisualFactory.net. The key to eliminating waste is continuous improvements of a standardised, documented processes. Unfortunately most standardised processes aren't followed because the people writing the documents aren't those that have to follow the process. You can't improve until you standardise and the best way to standardise is with a set of standards that people agree to and work to, and Visualfactory.net makes that easy and effective.
Links:
Lean tool for what purpose? There are a million depending on the actual business requirement..
