FEATURE
GROWING YOUR BUSINESS
A leaner way to work
The lean approach is proven, practical and widespread in helping businesses to survive and grow. With fewer resources, this powerful method helps organisations of all types become more competitive and innovative and create more value for customers. RUSSELL WATKINS, of Sempai Consultancy Services, offers his advice on adopting the approach.
Lean has its origins manufacturing. It was adopted, for example, by Toyota with its Toyota Production System but has since spread far and wide through office environments, design, IT, hospitals, charities and even the Government. The lean approach to work helps business owners improve the processes by which products and services are delivered, develop staff through problem solving and coaching and create an effective management system. Lean will work anywhere there is a process of delivering value to customers. Before considering the lean approach, business owners should ask themselves what business problem they are trying to solve. Lean excellence comes, initially, from doing things in the right order, but sustainability comes from people taking responsibility for maintaining the process. What follows is a list of practical yet simple ways to overcome operational issues.
THE FUNDAMENTALS OF A STABLE OPERATION Without these, every day is a struggle. Have you got enough machine uptime to meet customer demand? Have you enough trained employees to handle your processes? Have you got a basic standard operation procedure (SOP) defined? Have you got enough material on hand every day to meet production needs?
LEAD BY EXAMPLE Firstly, your desk and work area should be well-organised with the same disciplines as the shop floor. Walk the business or shop floor every day, ensuring you follow the safety measures that you put in place, and as you walk, pause and watch somebody working – check they are not working in any bad body positions and then ask them the four magic questions: How do you do this job? How do you know you’re doing it correctly? How do you know the outcome will be defect free? What do you do if you have a problem? Finally, take a look at current issues on a problem and countermeasure sheet at least once a week. Are issues raised being solved one at a time, with operator input?
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PROTECT YOUR STAFF – AND YOUR CUSTOMERS All process areas should be risk-assessed, with each department aware of its own specific safety risks. You should be clear what, if any, personal protective equipment is needed, that it is worn at the right time and that only licenced operators use materials handling equipment. It is also important to never let your problems flow to the customer – as well as ensuring that your products are inspected to the same standard every day, only ever use agreed packaging methods to avoid damage in transit and storage. The operations team should check quality issues every week and communicate them to the team.
EASY VISUAL HOUR-BY-HOUR MANAGEMENT Keep your finger on the pulse of your business. There should be a clear, visual product plan in place for each department to avoid communication issues. Business owners should also implement hourly production monitoring boards, with delays clearly highlighted, so that all staff can keep up-to-date. Standard work-in-progress (SWIP) stock should be set and visualised at the right points in the process – management should be able to patrol their department and know the exact status of production at all times.
QUALITY, COST AND DELIVERY CONTROL To enhance production, an SOP, created in collaboration with the operators who perform the tasks, should be in place for every process on the shop floor. Additionally, SOPs and other quality documents should always be correct, up-to-date, and easily accessible. While keeping track of material scrap cost, business owners should also monitor overall people productivity and always seek ways to improve. New starters should be given structured but rapid training – they must do more than simply watch an old hand for a while. Good products and defects should be clearly separated, with goods being carefully stored to avoid damage and part numbers clearly identified. Inventory storage areas should also be clearly labelled.
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