TRAINING & SKILLS FEATURE BOLSTER YOUR BOTTOM LINE
capacity on one manual assembly line. A second project also yielded a volume uplift of 41% on another manual assembly process, without any alteration to the manning of the line.” • Effective improvement teams. This is
particularly important in Process Mapping, as impressive results have been achieved by creating a multi-disciplinary team (e.g. supply chain, design, service engineers, etc.) who all bring different perspectives on what can be done to improve a process. • 5S and Workplace Organisation
Neil Fedden, owner & managing consultant at Fedden USP, explains the concept and benefits of LEAN business training
T
he manufacturing and engineering sectors are ideally suited to benefit
from LEAN training, which has become increasingly popular in recent years as companies strive to keep their costs down while, at the same time, increase their productivity. Operational efficiency is at the heart of this dilemma and this is exactly where LEAN training can help any company, large or small. Neil Fedden, said: “Our LEAN training
workshops help to deliver real and sustainable business benefits by improving process efficiencies, reducing lead times, removing wasted activities and improving problem solving capabilities. Once embedded into a company, LEAN training techniques will bolster a company’s bottom line, as it’s not unusual for companies to see potential savings of £50,000 p.a. resulting from a LEAN training workshop.” A popular LEAN workshop delivered by
Fedden USP in conjunction with MIT Skills, is the LEAN Business Improvement Techniques Adult Apprenticeship programme, consisting of six days of training followed by 12 months project support. As well as an introduction to LEAN, the programme also teaches companies how to implement the LEAN techniques in their particular business. Some of the topics covered include: • Principles of LEAN Operations – how
to differentiate between which activities add value and which ones are classified as waste. Many companies undertake activities because they have always undertaken these activities, they are historic, but they have never stopped to question why or to assess if the activities are beneficial to the overall success of the business. • Process Flow Analysis and Process
Mapping – focused on improving productivity by showing operational teams how to identify the steps involved within a task, and how to simplify the activity to eliminate or reduce waste within the process. The following is a good example: A project at Crowcon Detection
Instruments in Oxfordshire required the team to utilise tools such as Waste Walks, Process Mapping and Standard Timings to develop a Current State Process Map. Production manager, Mark Guest coached the team and explains: “The teams are taught how to identify waste, with games used to teach them about the benefits of ‘flow’ vs. traditional ‘Batch and Queue’. They review the Current State and identify steps that add no value, which can therefore be removed. A Future State process is then created that ‘flows’ instead of batching and this can lead to significant improvements. By applying these tools, Crowcon achieved a 48% increase in
In industrial plants, operational efficiency is at the heart of keeping costs down and increasing productivity, which is exactly where LEAN training can help
Techniques. The organisation of equipment and materials to minimise the movement of operational staff can lead to typical productivity improvements of 15% and reduce cash tied-up in stock levels. 5S is a structured way of tidying up operational areas and more importantly maintaining discipline to keep it that way so it becomes the norm! • Staff-led Continuous Improvement
Techniques. This ensures that the improvements achieved are not only sustainable, but members of staff are equipped to identify future improvements. This is the cultural change that will ensure that organisations continue to evolve and stay ahead of the competition. The LEAN training workshop also
Neil Fedden, owner & managing consultant at Fedden USP
Training underway at Crowcon Detection Instruments
provides delegates with an opportunity to gain a nationally recognised qualification by identifying a specific tangible improvement for their own business, which has been approved and implemented by the company concerned over a 12-month period, with mentoring support from Fedden USP. Both the qualification and the training can be funded from the Apprenticeship Levy introduced by the Government in April 2017. Fedden USP is currently working on a
three-year LEAN efficiency programme with Crowcon, and operations director, Frazer Mackay, is a keen advocate of LEAN, having worked with Fedden USP at his previous company, Siemens Magnet Technology. Here, following LEAN training, 268 ideas from employees were implemented, yielding more than £1.3m in operational savings and over 11,900 production hours saved. Mackay plans to offer all employees in
the operations division at Crowcon some form of LEAN training during the course of the three-year programme. Following the success of the LEAN
activity undertaken with Siemens Magnet Technology, Fedden USP teamed up with NatWest Commercial Banking to arrange best practice visits to the Siemens factory; these visits are now being repeated at the Crowcon factory.
Fedden USP
www.fedden-usp.co.uk
PROCESS & CONTROL | APRIL 2019 25
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