Take a look at how a small team of community college employees have helped to revitalize the production processes of businesses and industries with a focus on how to develop a customised lean implementation plan.
The Lean Training Team of Madisonville Community College located in Madisonville, Kentucky is part of the statewide Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS). KCTCS has 28 community and technical colleges located throughout the state. The Madisonville Lean Training Team (MLTT) partners with many of these colleges to bring a very simple approach to implement lean into businesses and industries. They have developed a basic three-phase program of: Phase I. Management Understanding and Commitment, Phase II. Employee Education and Training, and Phase III. Implementation.
Management Understanding and Commitment, is the first and foremost strategic point. In order to implement a lean program with a culture change, management must understand the nature of the entire lean enterprise and then commit to a long-term, developed, shared strategic plan. Some simple tools created by the Madisonville Lean Training Team can help management start their lean journey off on the right foot.
First, a Lean Steering Committee must be put into place. This committee, sometimes called the Lean Management Team, is usually comprised of the organisation’s management group. Their role is to develop a customised implementation plan (which will be discussed in Phase III). The Madisonville Lean Training Team works very closely with the Management Team, helping to set the foundation for lean implementation by developing a “Lean Vision” with a charter statement, or charge for the Implementation Team. This committee will identify a Lean Champion to lead the Implementation Team and execute the implementation plan. This identification can sometimes be a very tedious selection process. The Lean Champion must have a working lean knowledge and must devote at least 75% to 100% of his or her time to the lean projects. In many cases, the Lean Champion will have to receive additional training and education to have adequate knowledge to fill this position. The Madisonville Lean Training Team also helps the Management Team to identify a Lean Implementation Team by recommending the best types of personalities and personnel needed for successful lean implementation. The selection process of the Implementation Team can also be quite arduous. It is very important that the Implementation Team has adequate representation from all areas of the enterprise. All members of this team may or may not be familiar with all aspects of the entire process. However, it is important to select those team members that can “make things happen,” during the implementation process.
Another very important part of training for the Management Team is learning to set guidelines for the Implementation Team. Basically, these guidelines, which are sometimes called trip wires, are a set of boundaries that allow the Implementation Team room to work without constantly having to get permission to make decisions. As long as the Implementation Team doesn’t hit a trip wire and stays within the guideline boundaries, they can make decisions for implementation without having to get permission from the Management Team.
These guidelines (trip wires) can be the budget limit of each project, any action that will affect customer specifications, or existing standard operating procedures, or personnel in both overtime and job assignments, just to name a few.
In addition to trip wires, other guidelines set by the Management Team for the Implementation Team are: resources for implementation execution such as money, manpower, equipment etc., or rewards and celebrations for hitting improvement targets and goals. Another example of a guideline is a timeline for implementation. This is an important measuring device that will help keep projects on track and meet completion dates.
The Madisonville Lean Training Team initially meets with the Management Team to train on all of these very important planning tools and to advise them on a very comprehensive customised implementation plan. In addition to this management training, suggested supporting programs such as lean simulations, leadership training programs and consultation with ongoing implementation plans are recommended.
Employee Education and Training is the second phase of a successful lean venture. Education and training is the major investment in the lean enterprise. Supporting programs such as lean simulations and implementation courses are usually taught on site by the Madisonville Lean Training Team.
The Lean Manufacturing Simulation will host approximately 30 employees. This simulation is a hands-on simulation focusing on the practical aspects of the lean tools while demonstrating applications in a mock factory. It is truly a high-energy simulation that allows each participant to experience the implementation process. By the end of the training day, each participant will have been exposed to lean concepts in a real factory setting while also hearing the philosophical applications to the human involvement and culture change.
Once enough simulations have been taught for a significant number of employees, support for the implementation process is provided through courses in Lean Concepts, Value Stream Mapping, Continuous Improvement/Kaizens, and Visual Management (Visual Factory). Madisonville Lean Training Team provides on site training for each of these courses to the Implementation Team while implementing stages of lean on their specific processes. They literally work alongside the Implementation Team while they apply, to their specific processes, the lean tools learned from the lean support courses.
Implementation is the initial focus on one area capable of demonstrating significant improvement. Usually the Lean Implementation Team picks an area that needs improvement, but not one that would be too difficult to show easily accomplished results. “First you must crawl before you walk and then run.” If they try to tackle the hardest process out of the gate, they run the risk of failure. The Implementation Team must experience some lean successes along the way to feel the proper lean progression. The first lean practice is to Value Stream Map the process. Once they have input from a significant representation of that process, they then begin to identify value-added activities of the process verses non-value-added. When all are in agreement, the Implementation Team then begins to identify Kaizens, or improvement opportunities. They then rank the Kaizen opportunities and plot a timeline for executing Kaizen events or Continuous Improvement events. The Implementation Team works with the process operators and line workers to accomplish the Lean Improvements.
The Implementation Team now becomes the nucleus for spreading of Lean Enterprise to other areas within the organisation. In fact, it is not out of the norm for the Lean Implementation Team to become the new trainers for lean tools and applications for the rest of the organisation.
There are prerequisites for team training and implementation. The earlier-mentioned Management Team commitment and support must be present and even visible to all members of the organisation. This needs solid commitment and support from management at all levels. Top management must make it clear that the lean program is the new way of doing business and will be supported at all levels.
Other prerequisites include: Each member of the Implementation Team must attend the simulation course and all other supporting courses for implementation. The Change Agent/Lean Champion must be identified with the lean training plan and guidelines from the Management Team written and posted for the Implementation Team.
Additional commitments:
Though this is merely an overview of how the Madisonville Lean Team works with organisations throughout the state of Kentucky, it is an accurate outline for the average project contracted. This model has been successfully used by approximately ninety manufacturing companies throughout the state. Each organisation is unique and a custom package is provided for each specific venture. No two projects are alike; therefore the approach to Lean Implementation is different and unique for each project.
The Madisonville Lean Team is continuously improving the lean program. They have recently launched the Lean Medical program for the health care industry by developing a simulation and implementation program that is now being used by hospitals and other medical facilities.
The Madisonville Lean Training Team’s philosophy is simple: “We help organisations to help themselves. We are not the consultants that would normally be seen in organisational improvement situations. We provide hands-on training so the organisation can keep the program going and train others. We often use the phrase give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach him to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”
Keywords: Lean Enterprise Strategy, Lean Implementation Plan, Lean Training, Lean Management, Lean Steering Committee, Lean Vision, Lean Champion, Lean Manufacturing Simulation, Value Stream Mapping, Kaizen
