What is Kanban?

If you're wrestling with the concept of "Kanban," check this out this Toyota company video.

Click on the "Just-In-Time" tab.

Vendor Kanban Simulation on 6" Pots

We are working on setting up a vendor kanban on 6" pots.

What is a kanban, you ask? "Kanban" is a Japanese word for "signal."

The traditional approach to ordering and managing production supplies promotes chaos, and is wasteful and costly.
Why?

• Inventory counts are expensive, inaccurate, time consuming, and are frustrating for your most skilled employees to manage.
• Inventory is compared to forecast, and orders are placed. The forecast is always wrong.
• We purchase to lower transportation cost, and price per unit. The result is a huge cash outlay with a huge batch of inventory that clogs the production floor.

Enter the kanban!

A kanban system uses visual controls to trigger reorders. It's usually a visual management system, where real consumption drives replenishment. Triggers and inventory levels are calculated based on a kanban formula.

So how does one effectively communicate the benefit and functionality of this new materials management system?

Legos!

John, our excellent Team Lead on this project, and I, were simulating the flow of material with Legos one day. It makes a great training tool. And As John says, "If you can't do it with Legos, you can't do it in real life."
As we worked through the simulation, we found that we would often forget some of the material flow. So I set up a grid on 11x17 paper to help us properly simulate our kanban material flow.

There are 5 row headers on the left side of the paper. The first is a date scale. The second is "Consumed Pallet", the third is "Kanban Card dropped?" the fourth is "Purhasing Orders" and the fifth is "Incoming Shipment." Using these row headers, we can simulate all the activity occurring in the kanban. The simulation tells us if our calculations are correct (do we run out of inventory, or does our inventory spiral up out of control?)

You can see our kanban footprint in the upper right of the picture. We actually have this pattern marked out on the potting shed floor now.

I've tinkered with simulation software (like Simul8) on this kind of thing, and it's good for running scenarios. But Legos win hand's down for teaching and getting everyone involved. It's a great learning tool.

Lean and the Environment

The EPA has allot to say on Lean and the Environment.

Here are a few highlights from their "The Lean and Environment Toolkit."

• "Business Case for Integrating Lean & Environment."


• "The table below lists environmental impacts that are associated with the deadly wastes targeted by Lean methods...."


• "10 Common Manufacturing Processes With Environmental Opportunities"


• Integrating Root Cause for Environmental Waste in your Value Stream Mapping Efforts.


• How to "Incorporate EHS into 6S Inspections."

This looks like a gold mine of material, and starts with simple, meaningful steps.
I'll be sorting and blogging through it over the next few weeks.

Andy

From 5S to 6S to 7S!

Okay, it's starting to get crazy!

The 5S's were good and stable- a great approach to creating a visually driven workplace that reduces waste. Remember?:

1. Sort
2. Set in order
3. Shine (& inspect)
4. Standardize
5. Sustain

Then someone had the idea of creating a 6th "S" for "Safety." And that was a good idea.

The LeanDirections newsletter tells how one company reduced accidents through a 6S approach:

One company learned the hard way that lean without safety doesn't work. Here is how they finally reduced waste by integrating ergonomics:An outdoor power equipment manufacturer, which strongly adhered to lean manufacturing using 5S and kaizen methods, still experienced a high number of ergonomic-related injuries. The reason: they failed to incorporate safety into the continuous improvement process. The cost: $300,000 in medical payments and wages over a 24-month period on just one line. With help from their insurer, the company identified the problem and integrated safety into their lean system. A loss-source analysis identified where the injuries were happening and created a visual management piece (commonly used in lean processes) to illustrate the findings. The problem: excessive reaching on a single speed transmission assembly line was causing a high number of shoulder injuries. The cost: the injuries comprised more than half the company's total injury frequency and loss dollars. The company performed an ergonomic analysis to determine what percentage of the employees could perform the task without overexertion and found that only a very small percentage of women could do so. Workstation adjustment made a significant difference since more than half of the workers on the line were female.Speaking the language of productivity and waste reduction, the company's safety director presented these findings as part of the fact-finding session of the kaizen event. Then, together with the continuous process improvement group, the safety director identified other simple and effective ergonomic solutions to eliminate hazards and reduce waste. Solutions included the addition of more than 20 lift devices to reduce overexertion from materials handling (processing waste), and adjusting workstation and conveyer system height to optimal work heights to reduce excessive reaching (unnecessary motion). The rest of the week-long kaizen event was spent implementing the changes.In the eight months since the ergonomic changes were implemented, the company has had no shoulder injuries on the line. Based on this success, they expanded their 5S lean approach to include a 6th "S" for safety. The new 6S system includes a single event in the continuous improvement process dedicated to safety.The net result: quality improvements, productivity gains, better safety awareness, and a safer workplace

So a 6th S is good.

Now- a 7th S!
The 7th S is "Security."
And here's what a checklist might look like (according to Jim Bowie of the ASQ Six Sigma Forum:)

1. Are locking mechanisms present and operational on all entrance and exit points?
2. Is a security training plan documented and current?
3. Are all employees currently trained to the appropriate security level, as documented by the plan?
4. Is all computer access password-protected?
5. Are classified items stored in the appropriate area?
6. Is access to secured areas limited and controlled?
7. Is a security system, either manned or automated, in place for non-operational hours?
   

It's definitely food for thought. The author used 7S in an apparent military context. Maybe you could make your own 7th S stand for "Sustainability" or "Saving" or "Sterile."

As for me- I like the orginal 5S's. Can you imagine having a 14S program! At some point extra S's loose their meaning.

Maybe extra S's should be added to create visibility and awareness, but eventually should be folded back into the 4th S, Standardize.

But I'm not going to wrestle anybody over it, I'd be happy if everyone would get beyond the 3rd S!

Andy