The company I work with has begun pushing Lean Manufacturing, or Continuous Improvement as it's sometimes referred to so as not to scare people. Sometimes Lean is associated with RIFs and production curtailing, but we're more focused on waste reduction and improving processes.

 

I don't have a lot of experience with it aside from a conference last year and some internal training. However, I've been designated as the coordinator for our efforts. Anyone out there have any experience with Lean or even Six Sigma? Any success stories?

When I worked for Beckman Coulter, they ran lean/six sigma. I wasn't in the production side to really get into the specifics, nor was I there long enough. It is an interesting concept and strategy and there are pro's/con's too it. However, one thing that stood out when I researched it a bit, is that very few companies have seen long-term sustained success as a result of going "lean". The biggest knock is that it can take away creativity and R&D development which hinders long-term future growth.

The struggle was had was some of the changes required our suppliers to make changed in how they serviced us. Some could not make the change and we switched to ones that claimed they could. Our purchasing department was in chaos for a year. Anytime you swap a long term supplier for someone new, there will be glitches.

I am an Engineering Technician at the company I work for. We make small electric motors and are constantly having "Lean Manufacturing" crammed down our throats. We have so many "un-necessary" positions at our company that add huge amounts to our overall cost of goods. Of course we are a Union shop and it makes it kind of difficult to get rid of people so we are always looking for other ways to get rid of cost.

 

The majority of our cost savings comes out of ways to make our machines put out more parts per hour. A huge part of that is reducing our setup time on our CNC machines. We have done that in many different ways. First, the company wanted every machine operator to be able to do their own setups. This really does not work. Some people take 2 hours to do a setup while another takes 20 minutes to do the same part. In instances like this we have changed job titles around so that only certain people can do setups. I would say we have reduced overall setup time by a half hour on average per job. We value our machine time around $65/hr so in a years time, that is a lot of money.

 

Every engineer in the building is required once per year to come up with a "Green Belt" project, which is a principle of Six Sigma. These are just ways to cut cost and manufacture parts different to reduce scrap, etc... In my experience most of these type of projects look good on paper, but are hard to implement and usually get tossed aside.

 

Overall, its a headache. I have many times come up with what I thought were good ideas that have been shot down. I tend to not let it bother me anymore so then when one does get implemented finally, I can feel good about it.

I'm a big advocate of lean concepts and practices.

 

I use them to help service companies (particularly financial service companies) evaluate and redesign their processes.

 

The greatest challenge for most companies, imo, is not making improvements... it's sustaining them.

 

But I don't think that's a failure of lean... rather it's a failure in change management.

Edited March 7, 201214 yr by scenario

So id never heard of this, ready the thread, then there was an advertisement from Purdue University about Lean.

 

Big brother!

A3 thinking baby! Seriously look into the book as it gives a nice introduction into what A3's can do for your CI initiatives.

 

I'm in IT, and we're trying to implement Lean thinking, and it's hard to transfer those processes from manufacturing into IT, but I like the A3 principal: why, why, why. It really focuses on finding the issue(s) of the problem, and not just band-aiding it but really stopping the problem where it starts.

The company I work with has begun pushing Lean Manufacturing, or Continuous Improvement as it's sometimes referred to so as not to scare people. Sometimes Lean is associated with RIFs and production curtailing, but we're more focused on waste reduction and improving processes.

 

I don't have a lot of experience with it aside from a conference last year and some internal training. However, I've been designated as the coordinator for our efforts. Anyone out there have any experience with Lean or even Six Sigma? Any success stories?

Our company has been pushing Continuous Process Improvement and the Deming model for a few years now. It has not exactly taken hold, but that is one of the advertised difficulties of it. I just have been signed up by my boss to take an 8 week crash course to become a "facilitator."

 

Just bought a book the other day, actually, on the subject.

 

I will keep you posted with what I take away from the training.

Get ready for lots of meetings that contain 1000 buzzwords.

 

I'm have to go through Yellow Belt training this year and Green Belt training next year.

Get ready for lots of meetings that contain 1000 buzzwords.

 

I'm have to go through Yellow Belt training this year and Green Belt training next year.

Yeah, that is one of the things I hate about this...the damn buzzwords.

 

And the guy who does the training is a jagoff.

I am an Engineering Technician at the company I work for. We make small electric motors and are constantly having "Lean Manufacturing" crammed down our throats. We have so many "un-necessary" positions at our company that add huge amounts to our overall cost of goods. Of course we are a Union shop and it makes it kind of difficult to get rid of people so we are always looking for other ways to get rid of cost.

 

The majority of our cost savings comes out of ways to make our machines put out more parts per hour. A huge part of that is reducing our setup time on our CNC machines. We have done that in many different ways. First, the company wanted every machine operator to be able to do their own setups. This really does not work. Some people take 2 hours to do a setup while another takes 20 minutes to do the same part. In instances like this we have changed job titles around so that only certain people can do setups. I would say we have reduced overall setup time by a half hour on average per job. We value our machine time around $65/hr so in a years time, that is a lot of money.

 

Every engineer in the building is required once per year to come up with a "Green Belt" project, which is a principle of Six Sigma. These are just ways to cut cost and manufacture parts different to reduce scrap, etc... In my experience most of these type of projects look good on paper, but are hard to implement and usually get tossed aside.

 

Overall, its a headache. I have many times come up with what I thought were good ideas that have been shot down. I tend to not let it bother me anymore so then when one does get implemented finally, I can feel good about it.

 

 

Hmmm. Tulsa, and CNC machines. Which industry? I have a guess... and a guess of who you work for.

 

I think we're in the same industry.

 

I'm on a same project for our shop. I am basically at the same conclusion you are for our setups - now to just prove it to get our management to restructure things. (Gotta have the data, and I'm just at the beginning)...