As we organize our shop floor and start identifying issues that interrupt the flow of products, we will need to be very organized to efficiently solve them. As I had mentioned in my previous post Scientific Thinking is very much required. But now what is a more significant issue ,which most of us had realized , is that we have lot of issues to solve and very little time.
We will not be able to change this condition overnight but it will require our faith in the system that we will design to manage Problem Solving. From now until the time we have an efficient system in place, we will have to take the leap of faith and deal with all the uncertainties and failures. The key is not knowing everything but being persistent in our efforts.
Now how to deal with the issue of Problem solving with minimal resources available:
1. Break Issues into sizable chunks which are easy to deal with.
- Depending upon the complexity and duration required issues can be broken down. For the sake of simplicity let us say we have problems which can be solved in 30 days and problems that take more than 30 days. All the less than 30 day issues will be put on an Accountability board using Post It notes and all the more than 30 days issues will be using the A3 wall.
2. Categorize the issues and tasks so clear responsibility and accountability can be assigned
- Tasks can be categorized, for example into following categories : 1. Mechanical Engineering; 2. Industrial Engineering; 3. Operations Management; 4. Project Management; 5. Production Coordination; 6. Inventory Management; 7. HR Management; 8. Facilities Management.
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Each category will have only one person responsible and accountable for it.
3. Use visual tools to manage the workload per person
- At the workstation level we have an action Item List which shows how many tasks are assigned to the operator.
- For management we will have an accountability board which will assign tasks per person over the span of 30 days. It will show the daily workload for improvement tasks.
- The other management tool would be an A3 wall which will be used to display tasks per person in each value stream. No more than 3 A3s will be assigned per person and all the pending A3 will be in queue in a space provided below the Active A3 area.
4. Divide everyone’s daily schedule and assign time for routine tasks and improvement projects
- Each and every person in the management needs to identify their role in maintaining the current system to run our operations. This involves a series of routine tasks which will be standardized and made part of the Leader Standard Work. Tools like the Gemba walk is one example which has been standardized by the use of standard 10 questions (will discuss this in detail in another post). Other tools like check lists can also be used. Also a certain portion of daily work Would be devoted for improvement projects or tasks which are listed on the accountability board or the A3 wall.
- This is the most important management piece which will help us sustain and improve. As we are disciplined to follow Leader Standard Work and persistent to find and solve problems only then will we be able to sustain the system. If we do not question every action, do not check if people are following standard work or not, then over a period of time things will again get out of control.
5. Design simple tools which can be used to decentralize the solving of recurring issues
- More people equipped with ability to solve problems provides for a lesser workload on management. To make this possible the problem solution should be simplified by the use of templates, forms or diagrams which take the people involved in solving through identification, root cause analysis, containment of existing defective parts/ or immediate fix, and finding a permanent solution to avoid any future occurrence and finally incorporate the solution into the standard work.
