It has been very beneficial to organize the plant using 5S. The basic goal of this program was to achieve stability and standardization. We used tools like 5S and Standard Work and educated ourselves as how they form the foundation for any Improvement in the future.

The System that was setup, not only  identify and eliminate waste to some extent  but also helped boost employee morale. This was a very significant development for our organisation during this time of economic downturn. Now all our efforts would be focused to sustain  what we have achieved and continuously improve.

As our next step we wanted to be sure that we are equipped and ready to support our operations without being overburdened or have too much variations. This leads us to “Leader Standard work”, by which we will standardize our routine daily work elements and ensure all the managers have scheduled time to work on improvement of their key result areas.

Also we understood the need to learn and actively use the process of Scientific thinking while solving problems. What is Scientific Thinking? We should never wait for that perfect plan to take action on any issue, but should use the natural learning cycle in collaboration with others to plan, do, act, and check. Our understanding and persistent use of this technique will align all the process owners on the shop floor to use this method and scientifically solve their problems.

I will briefly Introduce how we could use scientific thinking using tools “Catchball” and “A3 Thinking”

Catchball:

“Catchball is a method of idea generation and sharing that mimics a child playing catch with a parent. The key principle behind the method is respect for the ideas and abilities of others. The ‘need,’ a proposed vision or direction, is expressed by the leader, and the subordinate responds with an interpretation of what that direction will mean within the subordinate‘s realm of responsibility. The leader then reviews the response with humility, open to proposals or ideas previously not considered by the leader. As the ball (idea) is passed back and forth, new ideas emerge, as do consensus on the right course of action. This process exemplifies the principle-based thinking that is a hallmark of excellence.” – from “Guideline for Shingo Prize Model”

A3 Thinking:

“Decentralized planning and execution are facilitated by carefully crafted single-page reports that become working discussion documents. A3 is a size of paper (approximately 11-inch by 17-inch). An A3 report may be a proposal, a plan, a status report, or the final documentation for archival and sharing. The format uses scientific thinking, but is flexible enough to accommodate unique issues and a variety of uses. A3 design guidelines include:

• Less is more,

• A picture is worth a thousand words (e.g., charts),

• Visual clarity and 5S are maintained, and

• Functionality outweighs beauty (i.e., A3s often get passed back and forth — catchball — with multiple erasures and revisions; use a pencil).

The A3 tells a compelling story then directs resources and action through action-oriented communication. A3 thinking also supports 15-minute standing meetings that get to the point and focus on results.” – from “Getting Right things done- Pascal Dennis”

We have just begun the real journey of Lean transformation now, after our restructuring of the shop floor. We have not improved or completely eliminated all the waste, that was not the purpose of this phase, but we provided ourselves the means to identify these problems. The next part of  the journey will involve very subtle change. It will not be physical change of the equipment or layout but change in our mental process. We have to figure out how we are going to support and improve and sustain the lean initiative on day to day basis and be a profitable business.

The recent recession paranoia followed by some of the highest price increases of raw materials served as the burning platform, accelerating the process of change
Identifying your highest cost center and selecting the projects which aligned to reducing those have greatly proved to show how we can reduce our cost and still maintain the profit margin despite the price increase. This is a good motivator, to tell each person how their efforts are contributing to the companies success. The intangible benefit of this is now you have highly motivated people who know exactly what to do thus starting to roll that wheel of change in the right direction.
Now you will think its all that easy you will get everything done, but you have very limited number of managers and so many projects. how to overcome this challenge?
This is about  realizing how you can distribute right type of work to right type of people. Any organization has lots of challenges to be resolved. If you look at those challenges in more detail, they can be classified as one requiring very high level thinking and are very complex; second requiring mid level thinking and are some where in mid range of complexity, and third are simple challenges which may not necessarily require complex thinking .I think may be they can also be classified as:

1. Strategic level

2. Tactical level

3. Operational level
you will realise that there are very few challenges of the first type, some of the second type and lots of the third type. Thus it is critical to get the wheel rolling in the third kind without causing burden to your managers. A3 Storyboards is a good way to do this, where all the operators take control of all the small projects specific to their cell. Now there multiple projects running simultaneously without significantly burdening the managers, another advantage is now the operators own the change thus there is less resistance. The biggest advantage of this is the synergistic effect sets the wheel of change spinning in top gear.