Lean Six Sigma - Assignment Example

Lean Six Sigma a. Without necessarily dwelling on the different 5S lists (e.g., Japanese vs. English), what are the Ss, what do they intend to accomplish, how do they relate to Lean and SS, why worry about them? The Ss include sort, set in order, shine, standardize and sustain. The first S, Sort, intends to eradicate whatever is not needed in the production process. The second S, Set in Order, focuses on organizing the remaining items deemed necessary for the production process. The third S, Shine, intends to clean and carry out regular and thorough inspection of the production plant or workplace. The fourth S, standardize, intend to set standards on which the other three Ss above (shine, Set in Order and shine) operate. Finally, the fifth S, Sustain, seeks to ensure regular application of set standards at the manufacturing plant. The Ss eliminate waste that emanates from a disorganized workplace (Rubin and Hirano 16). The Ss intend to accomplish the objective of establishing an organized workplace that makes it easy for employees or production operators to locate what they need in a short period, thus eliminating time wasting. When the workplace is extremely disorganized and production items are not kept in an orderly manner, it is possible that employees will waste a lot of time trying to locate what they need in order to execute their daily tasks. The Ss have direct link with Lean in that they ensure that the organization is organized so as to minimize waste such as time wasting and material wasting among others (Rubin and Hirano 19). Lean focuses on reducing considerable the time taken to produce a product and distribute it to consumers by encouraging high level of efficiency in the production plant. The Ss ensure that the workplace is highly organized so that materials and tools can be located with ease and within the shortest time possible, thus reducing wastage of time. Consequently, both Ss and Lean focus on a mutual goal of eliminating time waste and speeding up the rate at which products are delivered to customers. They both reduce product cycle time. b. Which of the Ss (pick 1 or 2) is your employer most worried about (and/or should be). Explain how your employer deals with the S (and/or should deal with it). One of the most important Ss that the employer should be concerned about is the fourth stage, Standardize. The phase of the 5s entails the establishment of consistent strategies and guidelines for executing tasks within the organization. Standardization demands high level of orderliness supported with visual controls. This S will enable the employer to create clear and comprehensive guidelines that direct employees on how they are expected to execute their tasks. It will allow the organization to adopt the best production methods, which reduces cycle time in the production process while observing quality issues. Without Standardization, there is high probability of variances in production, which is not healthy for the organization’s performance. Another S that the employer should be worried about is the last stage of 5S, Sustain. It would be pointless if the organization cannot sustain all the other 4S after their implementation. Sustenance demands high degree of discipline and dedication. The employer must be ready to commit to all other Ss. The employer should particularly be concerned with this S, Sustain because it is usually very easy for the organization to relapse into its old ways if no proper sustenance is given to the new ways implemented. It takes only a short while for the company to become disorganized and grubby. The employer should empower his employees to improve and give them the responsibility to maintain the workplace. Engaging employees actively in organizing the company will increase their motivation and commitment to their jobs and hence high job satisfaction. The end result will be high productivity in the organization and increased level of profitability. c. Contrast push and pull systems. Define important terms that are often associated with each, e.g., kanban. In pull system, “the order to produce parts at a given workstation comes from the downstream station that uses those parts” (Groover 970). A downstream workstation places order at a higher workstation for replenishment of parts when it finishes parts supplied, which authorizes upstream workstation to produce the required inventory and the process is repeated causing a pulling effect in the production system (Groover 970). On the other hand, a push system distributes parts to each workstation, “in effect driving the work from upstream stations to downstream stations” (Groover 970). Pull systems are intrinsically rate driven while push systems are date or deadline oriented. A pull system controls the level of work in progress (WIP) and keeps continuous observation while a push system controls the rate of release of products while observing the level of WIP. Kanban system refers to a pull system where cards are utilized to allow production and workflow in the firm. Kanban is a Japanese phrase, which means card (Roy 167). Kanban system is categorized into two groups: Production kanban and transportation kanban. Production kanban permits the production of a batch of inventory while transportation kanban allows sequential movement of inventories from one workstation to the other (Roy 167). Just in Time (JIT) is a pull system that reduces manufacturing waste by ensuring inventories are supplied at the right quantity, time and place (Roy 170). JIT ensures reduced time wasting as well as material wasting thereby ensuring that the products reach the market as early as possible. Material Requirement Planning (MRP) system is associated with a push system and utilizes schedules to push parts to the next workstation in accordance with the production schedule (Roy 167). d. Discuss at least two other time reduction techniques, i.e., any technique to set up, design, manufacture, bring to market, etc. a product or service quicker. Why doesn’t every employer use these techniques? One of the techniques used for reduction of the time that it takes to produce a product and distribute it to customers is Synchronous Manufacturing. According to this technique, production is carried out in different production centers. The main idea behind this strategy is that the rate of production in some production units is high while low in others because of production constraints. However, all production centers are focused on utilizing raw materials for swift production of goods in order to meet the needs of customers in time. The production program is tied to the level of orders placed by customers. The method is cost effective because it eliminates the expense of ferrying raw materials to centers of production and elimination of raw material storage at production plants. However, many manufacturers do not use Synchronous Manufacturing technique because it fails to function properly when raw materials or production inventories are not supplied in good time. The second time reduction technique in production process is Andon. Andon provides the plant with visual feedback system shows the condition of production process and raise alarm where assistance is required. The technique empowers plant operators to halt production in case of a problem. Andon is a real-time communication gadget that alerts operators in the event of problems as they occur so that urgent measures can be taken to restore the production process, thereby reducing cycle time. The third time reduction technique in production is Heijunka (Level Scheduling). This technique schedules production in small batches. This is achieved by grouping product with similar production elements together, thus reducing lead time. Another technique used to lower production cycle is Kaizen (Continuous Improvement). This is a technique in which workers execute tasks cohesively with a mutual aim of improving the process of manufacturing. The technique reduces inventory and time wasting, which hastens the production cycle. Lastly, Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) tracks productivity loss providing a standardized approach of monitoring the production process and eliminating waste. It promotes perfect production of goods with no down time. OEE is difficult to understand thus prompting organizations not to use them (Wireman 47). Most of these techniques are hard to comprehend by management. e. What is DOE (without getting into the math or guts of specific techniques)? What does DOE attempt to do? Why even mess with it? Design of Experiments (DOE) refers to a statistical and proven approach that allows experimenters to learn about unknown variables under controlled situation. DOE is a crucial part of six sigma as well as other quality oriented philosophies. DOE attempts to determine the process inputs that exert substantial influence on process output and the appropriate target level for such process inputs that can yield desirable output (Sower 155). “Design of Experiments (DOE) helps identify the physical and operational parameters that have the greatest influence on the features or performances of the product” (Tonchia 93).Design of Experiments (DOE) is a crucial tool for reducing the cost of design through accelerating the process of design and lowering material and labor intricacy of a product. Design of Experiments should be given adequate consideration because they are critical for saving manufacturing costs because they lower process variances. DOE also lower the chances of redoing work, supervision needs and also lowers scrap level. DOE cuts production costs and increases profit level of an organization (Bhote and Bhote 9). Design of Experiments (DOE) is not only useful to all manufacturing processes, but also crucial for the development of pertinent software. Effective implementation of Design of Experiments (DOE) ensures significant yield of quantifiable benefits and the development of relevant software makes work easier than ever before. Therefore, failure to employ Design of Experiments (DOE) would result into high manufacturing costs production process inefficiencies. f. GS: What does Taguchi have to do with DOE and related concepts? What is a process parameter/variable and what does it have to do with doing the right things right. Taguchi, a quality executive, is well known for his utilization of Design of Experiments (DOE) to product designs. Taguchi believed that design of products could be enhanced greatly by employing Design of Experiments (DOE) in the process of developing any product. Taguchi focused on creating a methodology aimed at reducing the cost and enhancing the efficiency of DOE (Fryman 327). In his bid to attain this goal, Taguchi used the idea of Fractional Factorials, which are experiments that need a portion of the whole experiments connected with full factorial experiments (Fryman 327). Dr. Taguchi revolved is observation around Pareto Principle as well as the observation of Dr. Deming “that 85 % of the bad quality was attributable to the production process while 15% was attributable to the workers” (Fryman 327). Dr. Taguchi focused on developing a robust product design, founded on his quality philosophy. Robust system design comprises of system, parameter and tolerance designs (Krishnaian and Shahabudeen 199). System design refers to the initial product design phase, which includes the product’s conceptual and functional designs. Parameter design refers to assessments aimed at determining optimal settings of design variables through orthogonal experiments. Tolerance design refers to the process of establishing tolerances based on determined nominal conditions in design parameters. A process parameter refers to a factor or factors that influence a process (Krishnaian and Shahabudeen 200). When the parameters yield close to predicted values, then it portrays doing things the right way. The parameters will indicate the nature of relationship between actions and outcomes, thus indicating what the right thing to do is. Works Cited Bhote, Keki R. and Adi K. Bhote. World class quality: using design of experiments to make it happen. New York: American Management Association, 2000.Print. Fryman, Mark. Quality and process improvement. London: Thomson Learning, 2001. Print. Groover, Mikell P. Fundamentals of modern manufacturing: materials, processes, and systems. Hoboken, NJ: J. Wiley & Sons, 2010.Print. Krishnaian, K. and P. Shahabudeen. Applied design of experiments and taguchi methods. New Delhi: PHI Learning Private Limited, 2012. Print. Roy, Ram Naresh. A modern approach to operations management. New Delhi: New Age International (P) Ltd. Publishers, 2005.Print. Rubin, Melanie and Hiroyuki Hirano. 5S for operators: 5 pillars of the visual workplace. Portland: Productivity Press, 1996.Print. Sower, Victor E. Essentials of quality: with cases and experiential exercises. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2011. Print. Tonchia, Stefano. Industrial project management: planning, design, and construction. Berlin: Springer, 2008. Print. Wireman, Terry. Total productive maintenance2nd Ed. New York: Industrial Press, 2004.Print. Read More