Toyota Production System

JISHUKEN STEP 2 - Theme Selection

2010-05-11T21:01:00.000-07:00

In this step we will determine what will be the theme of jishuken. The theme is usually determined from the results analysis of past and forecasting data.
The analysis process is important so the theme determination of improvement that will effect the results.

Beside that, with theme selection step, the jishuken team will get the commitment from the top management for all the effect such as costs, supporting and implementation in production line. That's why we need to analyze accurately in this step.

Here is the step to complete the theme selection step:

Data Searching / Researching & Analysis (past and forecast data).

10 biggest customers
10 biggest type
10 biggest rejection
10 biggest repair
10 highest stock over
10 biggest overtime
10 largest customer claim

Clarify the Problems
Clarify all the problem that linked with data above. Make all the problem clear and there is no hidden problem.
Discuss with Management
- Present all the data available to management
- Make conclusions from data - the data presented
- Request approval from management for the selected theme based on data
- If management agrees, use the above data to determine the theme
- If management does not agree, determine the selected theme, but must refer to the above data, eg data in second, third
- Create reasons why choosing themes that are not Pareto
Theme Selection and Decision

Set the selected theme
Show photo part and its position in the end product
Determine the initial target for parts such jishuken:
- Reduce lead times 50%
- Reduce 30% rejection
- Reduce 100% repair
- Reduce 50% stock
- Reduce 25% over time

What is Six Sigma

2010-04-26T19:09:00.000-07:00

The Six Sigma methods
The origins of many Six Sigma principles derived from the teachings of influential thinkers such as W. Edwards Deming Quality and Joseph Juran. In some companies belong together quality and Six Sigma. Unlike other quality programs, Six Sigma strives for quality not only for the sake of quality; Six Sigma aims only to provide quality, if that value to the customer and the company increases.
The systematic five-phase model is to improve processes. The removal of key sources of error will cause results to improve substantially and provides the conditions to improve whole systems, and thus increase the profitability of organizations.

The five phases of Six Sigma improvement process, short-cycle called DMAIC.

Define : What is the problem?
Measure : How can we measure the impact?
Analyze : What is the core causes of the problem?
Improve : How to eliminate the problem?
Control : As the long-term solution is anchored in the organization?

This method is derived from the classic PDCA (Plan / Do / Check / Act) by W. Deming.
Based on this method are numerous tools (the 7x7-Toolbox) to help identify problems in existing processes and documenting processes to make measurable and analysis.

Benefits of Six Sigma:

Achieve growth and stock markets in fast-paced, but in ongoing innovation and change in the organization can be achieved. Six Sigma provides the basis for a new culture and a constant renewal, which is called "closed loop".
Six Sigma is for any performance targets. Each department, each division and employee has different ideas and objectives. Six sigma uses this basis, processes and customers to create a self-contained target bundle. Anyone who understands his customer needs to evaluate its performance compared to the performance "perfect" Six Sigma objective of 99.9997 percent.
Only good or error-free products as well as traditional company can guarantee at the present time no lasting success. Six Sigma means to live out what customers have expectations and ideas, and then plan how they are to perform efficiently and economically.
In the 90's was the first time the idea of learning organization, a concept that many like it but difficult to implement is. The methodology of Six Sigma is here an approach that may enhance the development and dissemination of new ideas within an organization.

Lean Manufacturing through factory floor innovation

2010-04-26T05:48:00.000-07:00

Taking the concept of the Toyota System and enhancing them with information systems technology today is the key to allow some manufacturers to unlock the door that leads into a short-cut the process improvement projects. They are rethinking the good ideas of lean manufacturing and use of factory floor is now the tools of information quickly and easily improves factory floor performance, customer responsiveness and their bottom line.

Method of improvement by a leaner approach and finite scheduling for factory floors showed a number of ways:

Reduce cycle time
Reduce inventory
Meet customer expectations on quality and delivery
Find ways to improve changeover
Empower workers
Create a culture for continuous improvement

Creating a culture for continuous improvement is realized through another lean the use of visual aids. By making the factory floor activity visible through the use of Manufacturing Execution System (MES), and measuring the flow times of parts on a continuous basis, the factory has a benchmark from which to identify areas that need improvement and the system to show improvement.

For example, in factories to switch to lean manufacturing, how many have put a machine monitoring equipment in place to measure the flow time of a part? If there is a system that allows the primary metric, how many can say the percentage of time that parts are "value-added" verse the waste (or value-added) time? Time is wasted in a downtime event, waiting for a tool / killer / mold or other necessary pieces of equipment. Other examples of waste of time spent waiting for a quality check or unnecessary time in changeover / setup.

By information systems for factory floor data collection, analysis of the factory floor processes and the flow of parts, sometimes referred to as a "current state map", can be made visible. If your company is going to take action to improve the process then why not make the process flow visible and available all day, every day. If the improvement is truly continuous, then why make the diagnosis of episodic flow.

So why not think creatively from the get-go and put on a factory floor information system in place that will help you and your company move forward with Lean concepts of identifying problems, the flow of parts, and the proposed changes over time? Just because Toyota did not use the electronic information system, will not make it wrong to install them on the floor. To the contrary, it is the American Manufacturer that the opportunity to improve these Lean concepts in information systems who may have married into a Lean process improvement program.

Make sure the entire floor of the factory is related to the system and that they are empowered to identify problem / alert situations.
Allow the system to provide a JIT production approach, which is dynamic and can be reactive to customer needs and floors.
Find a way to record changeover times tracked to specific assets and people.
Identify opportunities for process improvement and keep a record of it.
Allow the floor to access the staff to better communication like email where appropriate.
Improve operator access to data by providing electronic "paperless" display of current, as well as, newer style electronic image and video documents.
Perform quality checks of the process and get it electronically to alert conditions of non-conformance conditions can be captured in real time.

Implementation of Lean Manufacturing through a factory floor system can save time and money and put you in the driver's seat to more profitable production.
Use information tools creatively. Use information tools that are designed to improve the process.

GENBA | GEMBA

2010-04-13T10:19:00.000-07:00

GENBA or GEMBA is a Japanese word meaning "real place", where the real action takes place. In business, GEMBA is where the value-adding activities to satisfy the client are carried out.
Manufacturing companies have three main activities in relation to creating money: developing (designing), producing and selling products. In a broad sense, GEMBA means the sites of these three major activities.
In a narrower context, however, GEMBA means the place where the products are made.
The term is often used to stress the that real improvement can only take place when there is a shop-floor focus on direct observation of current conditions where work is done, e.g., not only in the engineering office.

Five Golden Rules of Gemba
Masaaki Imai promoted Kaizen to people outside Japan through his two highly acclaimed books:

Kaizen: The Key To Japan's Competitive Success.
Gemba Kaizen: A Commonsense, Low-Cost Approach to Management

He preaches the Five Golden Rules of Gemba, the first of which is 'When a problem (abnormality) arises, go to gemba first'. So what's gemba? It's the shop floor, or equivalent. Once there, you apply Golden Rule Two: check with gembutsu (relevant objects). Three: take temporary counter-measures on the spot. Four: find the root cause. Five: standardize to prevent recurrence. Standardization is the managing part of getting good gemba. You also need good housekeeping (Imai is very keen on cleaning machines) and muda, the elimination of waste. But all hinges on getting away from your desk. Obey the master Imai. GO TO GEMBA!

Similarity between 3 Gs and MBWA
The 3 G's (Gemba, Gembutsu, and Genjitsu, which translate into “actual place”, “actual thing”, and “actual situation”).
In the early days of Hewlett-Packard (H-P), Dave Packard and Bill Hewlett devised an active management style that they called Management By Walking Around (MBWA). Senior H-P managers were seldom at their desks. They spent most of their days visiting employees, customers, and suppliers. This direct contact with key people provided them with a solid grounding from which viable strategies could be crafted.

Five reasons why your organization needs Lean Six Sigma

2010-02-13T10:42:00.000-08:00

The powerful combination of lean manufacturing and Six Sigma is what we are speaking about when we use the term Lean Six Sigma.

In fact these two processes are incredibly similar in their goals, methods, and applications. The focus behind Six Sigma is to reduce waste and increase speed, whereas lean thinking focuses on improving quality and reducing costs. When you combine these two philosophies you get the best combination of short term results and sustainable corporate changes.

Five Reasons Your Organization Needs Lean Six Sigma
Lean Six Sigma has become the quality improvement strategy of choice for many corporations for various reasons. Below are the five top reasons companies have for implementing Lean Six Sigma.

It can be applied across various sectors of industry - While it is true that lean thinking first began as an approach in the manufacturing sector, these days Lean Six Sigma is being successfully implemented in industries across the board. It is no longer accurate to say that Lean Six Sigma is only for manufacturing companies.
Immediate functional improvements from the implementation of Lean Six Sigma - You will see reduced production times and costs much faster than you anticipate. The main reason for this quick improvement is the implementation of several different tools including kaizen (a method to continuously analyze and improve processes), kanban (which assists with production), and poke yoke (which works to eliminate mistakes).
Increased value for consumers - Real tangible value is created for consumers with the implementation of Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma. Reduced costs and the improved quality of products are just two of the benefits that consumers of your products or services will enjoy. Most corporation implement Lean Six Sigma for one simple reason, it improves the bottom line of the corporation.
Ease of execution - Lean Six Sigma is a powerful tool for transforming corporations, in part because of its ability to create links between strategic priorities and operational improvements. The goals set by a corporation’s top management personnel are the strategic priorities. They usually focus on improved customer experiences and higher returns on investment.
Sustainable management capability - Lean Six Sigma is intricately woven into every aspect of the businesses, making it very sustainable for everyone, from corporate managers down the workers on the floor. The quick results that are obtained from implementing the process are the key to its sustainability.

Businesses have seen that they can create values for both customers and corporate managers by implementing Lean Six Sigma to streamline their organization. When successfully implemented, Lean Six Sigma can have an incredibly positive impact on the bottom line. Its ability to create value for the customer coupled with its quick implementation and results are what make Lean Six Sigma so attractive for companies in just about every industry.

JISHUKEN STEP 1 - STOP 6 (Safety Toyota Zero Project)

2010-02-07T00:02:00.000-08:00

STOP is an acronym for Safety Toyota Zero Project. There are 6 types of accidents in STOP 6, mostly related with equipment / machine. They are:

Apparatus, accidents caused by caughted in machine
Big Heavy, accidents caused by heavy object hitting
Car, accidents caused by transportation accident
Drop, accidents caused by dropped from high place
Electric, accidents caused by electrical contact
Fire, accidents caused by hot object contact, or exposed to flames

Classification level based on hazard and risk ranking:

Rank 1 (Red) ; Death , Disability ,Lost of Organ
Rank 2 (Yellow) ; Injury ,Production shutdown/ Lost Working Day (LWD)
Rank 3 (Green) ; Little injury (no absent) ,No production shutdown / Non Lost Working Day (NLWD)

Here 7 Steps of Safety Assurance:

Patrol Check base on STOP 6 by Jishuken team
Making rank criteria by company management
Confirm Actual Patrol Check by Company Management
Company Decision (Ranking category)
4M analysis
Countermeasure for Safety Assurance (Permanent & temporary base on 4M)
Company Standardization (Discuss with Management linked to productivity & quality)

Continue...

Site Disclosure Statement

2010-01-30T07:41:00.000-08:00

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JISHUKEN STEP 0 - Training

2009-12-27T05:17:00.000-08:00

Training usually is held about one week. The purposes of training basically are:

Evaluate TPS theory understanding & skill level of all Jishuken members (before training).
All members join training (Stop 6 Introduction, TPS Introduction, JIT (Just In Time), 12 Steps of QAC (Quality Assurance Chain), Standardized Work, 17 Steps of Productivity).
Evaluate theory understanding of all Jishuken members (after training) & skill level (before Jishuken).
Based on evaluation result, set up target level up for each member (level up target should be step by step, do not jump to the high level).

Training will make sure all members have been ready to implement all the steps.

Standardization as an Enabler

2009-12-18T05:47:00.000-08:00

The critical task when implementing standardization is to find that balance between providing employees with rigid procedures to follow and providing the freedom to innovate and be creative to meet challenging targets consistently for cost, quality, and delivery. The key to achieving this balance lies in the way people write standards as well as who contributes to them.

First, the standards have to be specific enough to be useful guides, yet general enough to allow for some flexibility. In repetitive manual work, standards are pretty specific. In engineering, since there are no fixed quantities, the standards need to be more variable. For example, knowing how the curvature of the hood of a car will relate to the air/wind resistance of that body part is more useful than knowing a specific parameter for the curve of the hood.

Second, the people doing the work have to improve the standards. There is simply not enough time in a workweek for industrial engineers to be everywhere writing and rewriting standards. Nobody likes following someone’s detailed rules and procedures when they are imposed on them. Imposed rules that are strictly policed become coercive and a source of friction and resistance between management and workers. However, people happily focused on doing a good job appreciate getting tips and best practices, particularly if they have some flexibility in adding their own ideas. In addition, it is very empowering to find that everyone is going to use your improvement as a new standard. Using standardization at Toyota is the foundation for continuous improvement, innovation, and employee growth.

Standardizing Work for a New Product Launch

2009-12-13T05:45:00.000-08:00

The Toyota Way of handling the chaos of getting an army of people involved in creating and launching a new vehicle is to standardize the work in a balanced way that doesn’t give complete control to any group of employees. Having only engineers devise the standards would be a form of Taylorism. On the other hand, having all the workers come to consensus on every step would be overly organic, resulting in chaos. Toyota’s innovative approach is to develop a “pilot team.” When a new product is in the early planning stages, workers representing all the major areas of the factory are brought together full time to an office area where as a team they help plan the launch of the vehicle. They work hand in hand with engineering and develop the initial standardized work used when the product is first launched. Then it is turned over to the production teams to improve. As Gary Convis, President of Toyota’s Kentucky manufacturing operations, explained:

Pilot teams are put together, especially when we launch a new model, like we just launched the Camry. Team member voices are heard by way of that link.

Usually it’s a three-year assignment. We have a four-year model change cycle, so we’ll have an Avalon model change, then we’ll have a Camry model change, and we’ll have a Sienna model change. So there are enough big model changes to have these guys go through at least one or two before they rotate back out.

There is a great deal of learning for team members on the pilot team about the design and production of the new vehicle, and when they finish their rotation they are back on the floor as team members, contributing to and improving the standardized work. This is important, because launching a new vehicle is an exercise in coordinating thousands of parts, with thousands of people making detailed engineering decisions that must fit together at the right time.

When my associates and I studied Toyota’s product development system, we found that standardization promotes effective teamwork by teaching employees similar terminology, skills, and rules of play. From the time they are hired into the company, engineers are trained to learn the standards of product development. They all go through a similar training regimen of “learning by doing” (Sobek, Liker, and Ward, 1998). Toyota engineers also make extensive use of design standards that go back to when Toyota first started engineering cars. Within each section—door latches, seat-raising mechanisms, steering wheels—engineering checklists have evolved from what has been learned as good and bad design practice. The engineer uses these checklist books from his or her first days at Toyota and develops them further with each new vehicle program. More recently, Toyota has computerized these books.

U.S. companies have tried to imitate Toyota’s approach by going right to computers, creating large databases of engineering standards, but without success. The reason is they have not trained their engineers to have the discipline to use the standards and improve on them. Capturing knowledge is not difficult. The hard part is getting people to use the standards in a database and contribute to improving it. Toyota spends years working with its people to instill in them the importance of using and improving standards.

Standardization Is the Basis for Continuous Improvement and Quality

2009-12-08T05:43:00.000-08:00

Toyota’s standards have a much broader role than making shop floor workers’ tasks repeatable and efficient. The Toyota Way results in standardized tasks throughout the company’s white-collar work processes, such as engineering. Everyone in the company is aware of and practices standardization. For example, an engineer can walk into any Toyota factory in the world and see almost identical processes. Toyota also applies standards to the design of products and manufacturing equipment.

Managers have a misconception that standardization is all about finding the scientifically one best way to do a task and freezing it. As Imai (1986) explained so well in Kaizen, his famous book on continuous improvement, it is impossible to improve any process until it is standardized. If the process is shifting from here to there, then any improvement will just be one more variation that is occasionally used and mostly ignored. One must standardize, and thus stabilize the process, before continuous improvements can be made. As an example, if you want to learn golf, the first thing an instructor will teach you is the basic golf swing. Then you need to practice, practice, and practice to stabilize your swing. Until you have the fundamental skills needed to swing the club consistently, there is no hope of improving your golf game.

Standardized work is also a key facilitator of building in quality. Talk with any well-trained group leader at Toyota and ask how he or she can ensure zero defects. The answer is always “Through standardized work.” Whenever a defect is discovered, the first question asked is “Was standardized work followed?” As part of the problem-solving process, the leader will watch the worker and go through the standardized work sheet step by step to look for deviations. If the worker is following the standardized work and the defects still occur, then the standards need to be modified.

In fact, at Toyota the standard work is posted outward, away from the operator. The operator is trained using the standardized work, but then must do the job and not look up at the standardized work sheet. The standard work sheet is posted outward for the team leaders and group leaders to audit to see if it is being followed by the operator.

Any good quality manager at any company knows that you cannot guarantee quality without standard procedures for ensuring consistency in the process. Many quality departments make a good living turning out volumes of such procedures. Unfortunately, the role of the quality department is often to assign blame for failing to “follow the procedures” when there is a quality problem. The Toyota Way is to enable those doing the work to design and build in quality by writing the standardized task procedures themselves. Any quality procedures have to be simple and practical enough to be used every day by the people doing the work.

Seven wastes

2009-11-30T08:44:00.000-08:00

Toyota has identified seven major types of non-value-adding waste in business or manufacturing processes, which are described below. You can apply these to product development, order taking, and the office, not just a production line.

There are seven wastes or muda in Japanese. To make it easy to remember, we could say in abbreviation become DOWTIME.

The seven wastes are easy to identify. Eliminating the seven wastes will increase the company profits.

Defect
Any repairs of defects or reworks. Production of defective parts or correction. Repair or rework, scrap, replacement production, and inspection mean wasteful handling, time, and effort.

Over Production
Producing parts too much or too soon. Producing items for which there are no orders, which generates such wastes as overstaffing and storage and transportation costs because of excess inventory.

Waiting
Waiting for parts or information. Workers merely serving to watch an automated machine or having to stand around waiting for the next processing step, tool, supply, part, etc., or just plain having no work because of stockouts, lot processing delays, equipment downtime, and capacity bottlenecks.

Transportation
Any transport of the product. Carrying work in process (WIP) long distances, creating inefficient transport, or moving materials, parts, or finished goods into or out of storage or between processes.

Inventory
Anymore than the minimum to get the job done. Excess raw material, WIP, or finished goods causing longer lead times, obsolescence, damaged goods, transportation and storage costs, and delay. Also, extra inventory hides problems such as production imbalances, late deliveries from suppliers, defects, equipment downtime, and long setup times.

Motion
Any motion of the worker that does not add value. Any wasted motion employees have to perform during the course of their work, such as looking for, reaching for, or stacking parts, tools, etc. Also, walking is waste.

Excess Process
Over processing or processing variability. Taking unneeded steps to process the parts. Inefficiently processing due to poor tool and product design, causing unnecessary motion and producing defects. Waste is generated when providing higher-quality products than is necessary.

Muda (waste)—Non-value-added. The most familiar M includes the eight wastes mentioned in earlier chapters. These are wasteful activities that lengthen lead times, cause extra movement to get parts or tools, create excess inventory, or result in any type of waiting.

How to make Standardized Work Combination Table (1)

2009-11-20T15:19:00.000-08:00

Introduction
A Standardized Work Combination Table (SWCT) is also known as a Standardized Work Combination Chart, a Standardized Work Combination Sheet, or some other variant. Regardless of what you call it, it is one of the most critical documents to your Lean success.

The Standardized Work Combination Table combines human movement and machine movement based on Takt Time and is used as a tool to determine the range of work and work sequence for which a team member is responsible.
The key notion for the elimination of waste and the effective combination of
work on the shopfloor is the separation of machine work and human work. When we observe the work in which operators handle machinery, then that work can be classified into machine or human work.

Understanding the separation of human and machine work is the basis for understanding the interface between these two elements. If operators are merely observing the machine working then this is the waste of “Waiting” and should be eliminated.

The Standardized Work Combination Table has many uses:
1. As a training tool, provides a standard that can be clearly communicated to employees during the training process, provides employees with a quick and easy refresher when posted in a work cell. They can glance up and check that they are doing the process correctly. This is especially important as Lean takes hold and employees rotate jobs more frequently.
2. As a quality tool. When a problem is discovered, the first step should be to confirm that the process is being consistently followed. The Standard Work Combination Sheet makes it easy to audit an operation.
3. As a management tool. The Standardized Work Combination Table helps managers: understand their capacity, manage daily operations, keep things running smoothly. Knowing exactly where an employee should be at any point in a takt time lets managers get them help immediately when things go south.
4. As a continuous improvement tool. The Standardized Work Combination Table, to the experienced eye, screams out incidents of waste. When this waste is easily identified, it is much more likely to be eliminated.

Important Points

Date of making, Owner and revision should be filled

Q'ty required for each shift

Takt Time

Work Element

Time. Separate human movement and machine movement. Human movement refers to work that cannot be completed without human effort. For example: picking up materials, putting materials onto a machine, operating the controls of a machine, manual slaving etc. Machine movement refers to work or incidental work that equipment, which has been started by human hand, automatically performs operations. For example: Milling, Auto riveting / bolting, Auto inspection (Hole probes).
Work Sequence

Introducing Takt Time, Cycle Time and Lead Time

2009-11-13T21:02:00.000-08:00

Takt Time
Based on the German word that indicates pace, the rate or pace of production as matched to the pace of customer sales. Used in lean manufacturing to align production time in linked manufacturing processes. Takt time represents the customer demand rate and is used to synchronize the rate of production with the rate of sales.
Numerically it is the daily production number required to meet orders in hand divided into the number of working hours in the day. For example, if customers demand 240 pcs per day and the factory operates 480 minutes per day, Takt Time is two minutes (480/240).
There are 2 type of Takt Time : Part and Line. The explanation above belong to Part Takt Time.
Whereas Line Takt Time is average rate of a line to produce a piece of part in working hours in the day. For example, if a line produces two type of parts, part A 200 pcs per day and part B 120 pcs per day and the Line operates 480 minutes per day, Line Takt Time is 1.5 minutes, comes from 480 divided by 320 (200+120).

Cycle Time
In short term, the time that elapses from the beginning to the end of a process to make a piece of part. In other definition, Cycle time is the total time from the beginning to the end of your process, as defined by you and your customer. Cycle time includes process (machine) time, manual work, walk, during which a unit is acted upon to bring it closer to an output, and delay time, during which a unit of work is spent waiting to take the next action.

Lead Time
The total time needed for an order to be processed and delivered. There are 4 kinds 0f Lead time: Information, Conveyance, Process and Store.

Information Lead time is the total of time of information movements, start from order from customer to production order.

Conveyance Lead time is the total of time of part movements, start from raw material, process to arrival at customer warehouse.

Process Lead time is the total of part processes

Store Lead time is the total of time of part stagnation in all stations such as WIP store, Finished Goods store, etc

12 Steps of Quality Assurance Chain (QAC)

2009-11-10T04:05:00.000-08:00

QAC (Quality Assurance Chain) is a systematic and integrated method to assure no defect outflow and no defect making. Consist of 3 levels :

Level 1 : Map of all processes in the supply chain
Level 2 : Focus on no defect outflow
Level 3 : Focus on no defect making

There are 12 steps of Quality Assurance Chain (QAC):

Step 1 : Theme Selection
Step 2 : Set up Target
Step 3 : Set Activity Plan
Step 4 : Process Mapping & Problem Investigation
Step 5 : Grasp the Confirm Item and Confirm Point to prevent defect outflow (level 2)
Step 6 : Trial & Kaizen Activity
Step 7 : Monitoring & Evaluation of Result and Process
Step 8 : Standardized and Yokoten (copy paste)
Step 9 : Grasp the Confirm Item and Confirm Point to prevent defect making (level 3)
Step 10 : Trial & Kaizen Activity
Step 11 : Monitoring & Evaluation of Result and Process
Step 12 : Standardized and Yokoten (copy paste)

17 Steps of Productivity (Jishuken)

2009-11-09T14:27:00.000-08:00

17 Steps of Productivity (Jishuken)

Step 0 : Training
Step 1 : Safety Mapping
Step 2 : Theme Selection
Step 3 : Make PFC (Part Flow Chart) Before
Step 4 : Arrange Smooth Flow (Seiryuka)
Step 5 : Make PIFC (Part & Information Flow Chart) Before
Step 6 : Make PIFC (Part & Information Flow Chart) Ideal
Step 7 : Make Gap/Problem Analysis
Step 8 : Set Temporary Standard
Step 9 : Confirmation and Trial
Step 10 : Make PIFC (Part & Information Flow Chart) Target
Step 11 : Set up Target
Step 12 : Set Groups and Schedule
Step 13 : Kaizen Activity
Step 14 : Training and Trial
Step 15 : Trial and Result Evaluation
Step 16 : Make Standardized Work
Step 17 : Set Next Step Kaizen Target

Summary of the 14 Toyota Way Principles (Part 2)

2009-11-04T05:26:00.000-08:00

Principle 8. Use only reliable, throughly tested technology that serves your people and processes.

Use technology to support people, not to replace people. Often it is best to work out a process manually before adding technology to support the process.
New technology is often unreliable and difficult to standardize and therefore endangers “flow.” A proven process that works generally takes precedence over new and untested technology.
Conduct actual tests before adopting new technology in business processes, manufacturing systems, or products.
Reject or modify technologies that conflict with your culture or that might disrupt stability, reliability, and predictability.
Nevertheless, encourage your people to consider new technologies when looking into new approaches to work. Quickly implement a thoroughly considered technology if it has been proven in trials and it can improve flow in your processes.

Section III: Add Value to the Organization by Developing Your People

Principle 9. Grow leaders who thoroughly understand the work, live the philosophy, and teach it to others.

Grow leaders from within, rather than buying them from outside the organization.
Do not view the leader’s job as simply accomplishing tasks and having good people skills. Leaders must be role models of the company’s philosophy and way of doing business.
A good leader must understand the daily work in great detail so he or she can be the best teacher of your company’s philosophy.

Principle 10. Develop exceptional people and teams who follow your company’s philosophy.

Create a strong, stable culture in which company values and beliefs are widely shared and lived out over a period of many years.
Train exceptional individuals and teams to work within the corporate philosophy to achieve exceptional results. Work very hard to reinforce the culture continually.
Use cross-functional teams to improve quality and productivity and enhance flow by solving difficult technical problems. Empowerment occurs when people use the company’s tools to improve the company.
Make an ongoing effort to teach individuals how to work together as teams toward common goals. Teamwork is something that has to be learned.

Principle 11. Respect your extended network of partners and suppliers by challenging them and helping them improve.

Have respect for your partners and suppliers and treat them as an extension of your business.
Challenge your outside business partners to grow and develop. It shows that you value them. Set challenging targets and assist your partners in achieving them.

Section IV: Continuously Solving Root Problems Drives Organizational Learning

Principle 12. Go and see for yourself to thoroughly understand the situation (genchi genbutsu).

Solve problems and improve processes by going to the source and personally observing and verifying data rather than theorizing on the basis of what other people or the computer screen tell you.
Think and speak based on personally verified data.
Even high-level managers and executives should go and see things for themselves, so they will have more than a superficial understanding of the situation.

Principle 13. Make decisions slowly by consensus, thoroughly considering all options; implement decisions rapidly (nemawashi).

Do not pick a single direction and go down that one path until you have thoroughly considered alternatives. When you have picked, move quickly and continuosly down the path.
Nemawashi is the process of discussing problems and potential solutions with all of those affected, to collect their ideas and get agreement on a path forward. This consensus process, though time-consuming, helps broaden the search for solutions, and once a decision is made, the stage is set for rapid implementation.

Principle 14. Become a learning organization through relentless reflection (hansei) and continuous improvement (kaizen).

Once you have established a stable process, use continuous improvement tools to determine the root cause of inefficiencies and apply effective countermeasures.
Design processes that require almost no inventory. This will make wasted time and resources visible for all to see. Once waste is exposed, have employees use a continuous improvement process (kaizen) to eliminate it.
Protect the organizational knowledge base by developing stable personnel, slow promotion, and very careful succession systems. Use hansei (reflection) at key milestones and after you finish a project to openly identify all the shortcomings of the project. Develop countermeasures to avoid the same mistakes again.
Learn by standardizing the best practices, rather than reinventing the wheel with each new project and each new manager.

Summary of the 14 Toyota Way Principles (Part 1)

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Section I: Long-Term Philosophy

Principle 1. Base your management decisions on a long-term philosophy, even at the expense of short-term financial goals.

Have a philosophical sense of purpose that supersedes any short-term decision making. Work, grow, and align the whole organization toward a common purpose that is bigger than making money. Understand your place in the history of the company and work to bring the company to the next level. Your philosophical mission is the foundation for all the other principles.
Generate value for the customer, society, and the economy—it is your starting point. Evaluate every function in the company in terms of its ability to achieve this.
Be responsible. Strive to decide your own fate. Act with self-reliance and trust in your own abilities. Accept responsibility for your conduct and maintain and improve the skills that enable you to produce added value.

Section II: The Right Process Will Produce the Right Results

Principle 2. Create a continuous process flow to bring problems to the surface.

Redesign work processes to achieve high value-added, continuous flow. Strive to cut back to zero the amount of time that any work project is sitting idle or waiting for someone to work on it.
Create flow to move material and information fast as well as to link processes and people together so that problems surface right away.
Make flow evident throughout your organizational culture. It is the key to a true continuous improvement process and to developing people.

Principle 3. Use “pull” systems to avoid overproduction.

Provide your downline customers in the production process with what they want, when they want it, and in the amount they want. Material replenishment initiated by consumption is the basic principle of just-intime.
Minimize your work in process and warehousing of inventory by stocking small amounts of each product and frequently restocking based on what the customer actually takes away.
Be responsive to the day-by-day shifts in customer demand rather than relying on computer schedules and systems to track wasteful inventory.

Principle 4. Level out the workload (heijunka). (Work like the tortoise, not
the hare.)

Eliminating waste is just one-third of the equation for making lean successful. Eliminating overburden to people and equipment and eliminating unevenness in the production schedule are just as important—yet generally not understood at companies attempting to implement lean principles.
Work to level out the workload of all manufacturing and service processes as an alternative to the stop/start approach of working on projects in batches that is typical at most companies.

Principle 5. Build a culture of stopping to fix problems, to get quality right the first time.

Quality for the customer drives your value proposition.
Use all the modern quality assurance methods available.
Build into your equipment the capability of detecting problems and
stopping itself. Develop a visual system to alert team or project leaders that a machine or process needs assistance. Jidoka (machines with human intelligence) is the foundation for “building in” quality.
Build into your organization support systems to quickly solve problems and put in place countermeasures.
Build into your culture the philosophy of stopping or slowing down to get quality right the first time to enhance productivity in the long run.

Principle 6. Standardized tasks and processes are the foundation for continuous improvement and employee empowerment.

Use stable, repeatable methods everywhere to maintain the predictability, regular timing, and regular output of your processes. It is the foundation for flow and pull.
Capture the accumulated learning about a process up to a point in time by standardizing today’s best practices. Allow creative and individual expression to improve upon the standard; then incorporate it into the new standard so that when a person moves on you can hand off the learning to the next person.

Principle 7. Use visual control so no problems are hidden.

Use simple visual indicators to help people determine immediately whether they are in a standard condition or deviating from it.
Avoid using a computer screen when it moves the worker’s focus away from the workplace.
Design simple visual systems at the place where the work is done, to support flow and pull.
Reduce your reports to one piece of paper whenever possible, even for your most important financial decisions.

The Toyota Way Is More than Tools and Techniques

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So you set up your kanban system. (Kanban is the Japanese word for “card,” “ticket,” or “sign” and is a tool for managing the flow and production of materials in a Toyota-style “pull” production system.) You plug in the andon, which is a visual control device in a production area that alerts workers to defects, equipment abnormalities, or other problems using signals such as lights, audible alarms, etc. Finally, with these devices your workplace looks like a Toyota plant. Yet, over time your workplace reverts to operating like it did before. You call in a Toyota Production System (TPS) expert who shakes her head disapprovingly.
What is wrong?

The real work of implementing Lean has just begun. Your workers do not understand the culture behind TPS. They are not contributing to the continuous improvement of the system or improving themselves. In the Toyota Way, it’s the people who bring the system to life: working, communicating, resolving issues, and growing together. From the first look at excellent companies in Japan practicing lean manufacturing, it was clear that the workers were active in making improvement suggestions. But the Toyota Way goes well beyond this; it encourages, supports, and in fact demands employee involvement.

The more I have studied TPS and the Toyota Way, the more I understand that it is a system designed to provide the tools for people to continually improve their work. The Toyota Way means more dependence on people, not less. It is a culture, even more than a set of efficiency and improvement techniques. You depend upon the workers to reduce inventory, identify hidden problems, and fix them. The workers have a sense of urgency, purpose, and teamwork because if they don’t fix it there will be an inventory outage. On a daily basis, engineers, skilled workers, quality specialist, vendors, team leaders, and—most importantly—operators are all involved in continuous problem solving and improvement, which over time trains everyone to become better problem solvers.

One lean tool that facilitates this teamwork is called 5S (sort, stabilize, shine, standardize, sustain, discussed in Chapter 13), which is a series of activities for eliminating wastes that contribute to errors, defects, and injuries. In this improvement method, the fifth S, sustain, is arguably the hardest. It’s the one that keeps
the first four S’s going by emphasizing the necessary education, training, and rewards needed to encourage workers to properly maintain and continuously improve operating procedures and the workplace environment. This effort requires a combination of committed management, proper training, and a culture that makes sustaining improvement a habitual behavior from the shop floor to management.

This chapter provides a synopsis of the 14 principles that constitute the Toyota Way. The principles are organized in four broad categories: 1) Long-Term Philosophy, 2) The Right Process Will Produce the Right Results (this utilizes many of the TPS tools), 3) Add Value to the Organization by Developing Your People, and 4) Continuously Solving Root Problems Drives Organizational Learning. Note that Part II of this book is also organized into these same four categories—the four “P’s” of the Toyota Way model in Chapter 1. In the following two chapters, I will demonstrate some of these 14 principles at work in the development of Lexus and Prius. If you would like to jump ahead to begin the detailed discussion of these 14 principles, you can skip to Chapter 7 now. However, I do advise that you peruse the principles below.
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Cost of Quality

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Prevention Costs
Costs for all activities are as specifically designed to prevent the bad quality of service or product.

Re-study of New Product
Quality Planning
Survey Ability of Supplier
Evaluation Ability of Process
Meeting of Quality Improvement Team
Quality Improvement Projects
Training and Education of Quality

Appraisal Costs
Costs related to measurement, evaluation or make an audit of to product or service to ascertain as according to clauses of standard quality of and performance. Including among are:

Inspection/ examination of material
Examination during process
Final Audit service, process and product
Calibrate from equipment of examination and measurement

Failure Costs
The costs yielded from product or the service disagrees with clauses of customer. Failure cost divided by 2 that is external and internal category.

Internal Failure Costs
Failure costs emerging before delivery of product to customer. The example is costs:

Scrap
Rework
Re-inspection
Re-testing
Material review
Downgrading

External Failure Costs
The costs emerging after delivery of product to customer. The example is expense- expense:

Processing customer complaints
Customer returns
Warranty claims
Product recalls

A GOOD HOUSEKEEPING IN FIVE STEPS

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INTRODUCTION OF THE 5 S
Kaizen values so much the process as the result. In order that the people become jumbled in the continuation of their effort they kaizen the management must glide, organize and execute with well-taken care of the project. Often, the managers wish to see the result too much and ignore a vital process. The 5S “are not a fashion” nor the “program” of the month, but a conduct of the daily life. Therefore, all project kaizen needs to include pursuit passages.
Since they have been kaizen for against the resistance of the people to the change, the first step consists of mentally preparing the 5 employees so that they accept S before beginning to the campaign. Like a preliminary aspect to the effort of the 5S, must assign a time to analyze the implicit philosophy of the 5 S and its benefits:

Creating ambient of it worked clean, hygienic, pleasant and safe.
Revitalizing to gemba and improving substantially the mood, the moral and the motivation of the employees.
Eliminating the diverse classes of dumb diminishing, the necessity to physically look for tools, doing easier the work of the operators, reducing the exhausting work and releasing space.

The management also must include/understand the many the 5 benefits that S in gemba for the totality of the company; between these we mentioned:
Seiso, in particular, increases the trustworthiness of the machines, leaving of this one form more free time to the maintenance engineers to work in machines that are prone to sudden failures. Like result, the engineers can concentrate themselves in primary aspects that greater importance, like the preventive maintenance, the predictive maintenance and the creation of equipment frees of maintenance, in collaboration with the design departments.

A GOOD HOUSEKEEPING IN FIVE STEPS
The five passages of housekeeping, with their Japanese names, are the following:

Seiri: to differentiate between elements necessary and unnecessary in genba and to unload these last ones.
Seiton: to arrange in form ordinate all the elements after seiri.
Seiso: to maintain cleanings the machines and the atmospheres of work.
Seiketsu: to extend towards the one same concept of cleaning and to practice the three previous steps continuously.
Shitsuke: to construct self-discipline and to form the habit to commit itself in the 5S by means of the establishment of standards.

In the introduction of housekeeping, frequently the western companies prefer to use equivalents in English of the 5 S Japanese, like in a “Campaign of the 5 S” or one “Campaign of the 5 Cs”.

SEIRI (TO SEPARATE)
The first passage of housekeeping, seiri, includes the classification of the items of Genba in two categories - necessary and the unnecessary thing and to eliminate or to eradicate of Genba this last one. A top must settle down on the number of necessary items. In Genba all class of objects can be. A meticulous glance reveals that in the daily work it is only needed I number small of these; many other objects would never be used or only they will be needed in the future distant. Genba is full of defective machines without use, sieves, dies and tools, products, work in process, raw materials, provisions and parts, shelves, containers, writing-desks, banks of work, document archives, carts, shelves, platforms and other items. A practical and easy method consists of retiring any thing that is not going away to use in next the 30 days.

Frequently, seiri begins with a campaign of red labels. It selects an area of Genba like the place for seiri. The 5 members of designated S go Genba with handfuls of red labels they place and them on the elements that consider like unnecessary. At the most great they are the labels and greater it is its number, better. When it is not clear if a certain item is needed or not, a red label must be placed on this. At the end of the campaign, it is possible that the area is covered with hundreds of red labels, which takes to compare it with woods of maples in autumn.

SEITON (TO ORDER)
Once seiri has been carried out, all the unnecessary items have retired of Genba, only leaving necessary the number minimum. But these items that are needed, such as tools, can be elements that do not have use if they store too much far from the workstation or place where they cannot be. Take us stage to the following of the 5S, Seiton.
rmalidad and to undertake therefore the corresponding remedial action.

SEISO (TO CLEAN)
Seiso means to clean the work surroundings, including the machines and tools, just like floors, walls and other areas of the work place. Also there is an axiom that says: Seiso means to verify. An operator who cleans a machine can discover many defect of operation. When the machine is covered of oil, soot and dust, is difficult to identify any problem that can be forming. Nevertheless, while one cleans the loose machine we can detect with facility an oil flight, a crack that is forming in the cover, or nuts and screws. Once recognized these problems, because in being solved with facility.

One says that most of the failures in the machines begin with vibrations (due to loose nuts and screws), with the strange particle introduction as dust (as a result of cracks in the ceiling, for example), or with a lubrication or it lubricates inadequate. Therefore, seiso constitutes a great experience of learning for the operators, since they can make many discoveries useful while they clean the machines.

SEIKETSU (TO SYSTEMATIZE)
Seiketsu means to maintain the cleaning of the person by means of use of suitable clothes of work, lenses, gloves and shoes of security, as well as to maintain surroundings of healthful and clean work. Another interpretation of seiketsu is to continue working in seiri, seiton and seiso in continuous form and every day.

For example, it is easy to execute the process of seiri once and to realise some improvements, but without a effort to continue such activities, in a moment the situation will return to which was originally. It is easy to do only once kaizen in Genba. But to realise they kaizen continuously, day after day, is a completely different subject. The management must design systems and procedures that assure the continuity seiri, seiton and seiso. The commitment, endorsement and involvement of the management in the 5S become something essential. For example, the managers must determine whereupon frequency is due to carry out seiri, seiton and seiso, and what people must be involved. This must be part of the annual program of planning.

SHITSUKE (TO STANDARDIZE)
Shitsuke means self-discipline. The people who continuously practice seiri, seiton, seiso and seiketsu - people who have acquired the habit to do of these activities of their daily work acquire self-discipline.

Objectives to reach the Toyota Production System

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The Toyota Production System establishes several points to cause that the objectives of the four previous concepts are reached and that they are the base of the Toyota Production System.

KANBAN System is an information system that controls the production of necessary articles in the necessary amounts, the necessary time, each process of the company and also of the companies’ suppliers. It establishes a production system in which the products are hauled by the following station; the products cannot be pushed by the first station. The products are hauled to the rate those are needed (called PULL System). The last station is the one that marks the rate of production.
Constant production, that means that the line of production no longer this jeopardizes to manufacture a single type of product in great lots. However, the line produces a great variety of products every day in response to the variation of the demand of the client. The production is obtained adapting the changes of the demand daily and monthly.
Reduction of the Set-up time (S.M.E.D.). The Set-up time is the amount of necessary time in changing a device of an equipment and preparing that equipment to produce a different model, but to produce it with the quality required by the client and without incurring costs it company and to obtain with this, to reduce the time of production in all the process. The product that arrives first the market enjoys a high percentage of gains associated with the initial introduction of the product.
Standardization of operations: One is to diminish the number of workers, balancing the operations in the line. Assuring that each operation requires of the same time to produce a unit. The worker has a routine of standard operation and maintains an inventory in constant in process.
Multifunctional distribution of machines and workers, who allow to have a force of very flexible work, which must of or being trained and to have a great versatility that is obtained continuously through the rotation of the work and they evaluate and they review the standards and routines of operation, and the machines could be placed in distributions in the form of “or” where the responsibility of each worker will be increased or diminished following the work to realize in each product.
Improvement of activities, which are focused to reduce costs, to improve productivity, to reduce the work force, to improve the moral of the employees and this improvement carries out through work parties and system of suggestions.
Visual control systems that monitor the state of the line and the flow of the production, with very simple systems, for example, some lights of different colors that indicate some abnormalities in the line of production. Some other visual controls like leaves of operations, digital cards of KANBAN, displays, etc.
Quality control in all the company, that promotes improvements in all the departments, by means of the action of a department and reinforced by other departments of the same company. Having special attention in the meeting of directors to provide that the communications and cooperation in all the company.

14 Principles of Toyota Way

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The 14 Principles of the Toyota Way is a management philosophy used by the Toyota corporation that includes the Toyota Production System. The main ideas are to base management decisions on a "philosophical sense of purpose", to think long term, to have a process for solving problems, to add value to the organization by developing its people, and to recognize that continuously solving root problems drives organizational learning.

14 Principles of Toyota Way.

Principle 1: Base your management decisions on a long-term philosophy, even at the expense of short-term financial goals
Principle 2: Create a continuous process flow to bring problems to the surface.
Principle 3: Use "pull" systems to avoid overproduction.
Principle 4: Level out the workload (heijunka). Work like the tortoise, not the hare.
Principle 5: Build a culture of stopping to fix problems, to get quality right the first time
Principle 6: Standardized tasks and processes are the foundation for continuous improvement and employee empowerment.
Principle 7: Use visual control so no problems are hidden.
Principle 8: Use only reliable, thoroughly tested technology that serves your people and processes.
Principle 9: Grow leaders who thoroughly understand the work, live the philosophy, and teach it to others.
Principle 10: Develop exceptional people and teams who follow your company's philosophy.
Principle 11: Respect your extended network of partners and suppliers by challenging them and helping them improve.
Principle 12: Go and see for yourself to thoroughly understand the situation (Genchi Genbutsu).
Principle 13: Make decisions slowly by consensus, thoroughly considering all options; implement decisions rapidly (nemawashi).
Principle 14: Become a learning organization through relentless reflection (hansei) and continuous improvement (kaizen).