No matter where you are in your Lean journey, whether you are just wishing to start or you’ve been at it for years, it’s important to take a step back and see your operation with a fresh set of eyes. What if you take this opportunity and pretend that you are walking into the facility for the first time?
Let me share with you a few things I’m distinctly aware of or possibly even look during a first walk that you can also use as a starting or re-engaging point for your Lean journey.
As I first gaze into the facility and its layout, I use my hearing to detect the current state. Do I hear the constant grind of hardware engaging material to create value or does it sound like a pond where a frog chirps nearby then you hear a toad croak further in the distance then you hear another one closer by? That frequency of sound is correlated to the cadence of value. It is a quick indicator of how well every process is working. The more frequent the cadence, the better your facility is probably performing.
Some facilities have all their work-centers connected with conveyor. In these facilities the value is produced by equipment that should be running continuously in order to maximize value-add. For these facilities I look for points of accumulation of the Work-In-Process or WIP. Where are the accumulation tables located? Where do the conveyors turn into buffers to allow interruptions to occur without affecting upstream process centers? How do these accumulation points look? Empty or full? How quickly do the support teams engage once material is accumulating? Do I see the equipment stop? What are the equipment operators doing while the equipment runs? What are they doing when it stops? Are they intervening too often or “baby-sitting” the equipment?
If I am in a facility where work flows in batches be it on carts, pallets, carriers, boxes, and so on; can I see where WIP accumulates? If so, I go there and see with my eyes what is happening. I listen in and determine what are the challenges the team is experiencing at the time.
As I walk, I notice if front line workers more interested in me or in their jobs at the moment? Are they experiencing flow and fully focused on the task at hand? Are they hoping to see something that can take them away mentally from a torturous day at work? The level of engagement is again a sign of good or bad processes, work design, and incentives.
If the facility has visual management artifacts (charts, tables, indicators), I review them and see if there are trends of interest. Are they even using these at all or are they just wallpaper?
I usually take a moment to engage the workforce and ask them questions. What is the most critical item in their current task? How often is that item not completed appropriately? Why do they think this item is so critical and at the same time difficult to get it right the first time? I ask them questions about how well is the operations team doing at this time. Are they winning or are they missing the goal? I get to know how they feel about this, what ideas they have on improving the operation and how easy or difficult it is to make these ideas a reality.
As I visit a facility for the first time I use everything; my eyes, ears, intuition, and reasoning in search of a better understanding the current state.
What I have done at this time, and what I encourage you to do, is to go to the “real place” and talk with real people and determine for ourselves what is the real situation we currently have in this facility. In my opinion, this is a good way to start.
At this point your mind will be likely be full of targets to go after and your journey of improvement will have a little more clarity than before.