Lean Thinking Game - Assignment Example

Lean Thinking Of Production System Design Round Tasks were allotted to each member of the team accordingly before the game started. Allocating 2 members at operation 2, 2 members at operation 3 and 2 members at warehouse are what the team has decided. The remaining members have been allocated throughout the game between several tasks; some of them have been assigned to move the material between the stations material handlers, others have been allocated at inspection area, one of the members has been assigned to assist the machine operator by following the master production schedule and one has been asked to place customer’s orders. The production system seemed to be push system where the master production schedule 1 has been followed in this round. U-Shaped layout has been implemented at the beginning of the game. The problems occurred in this round of the game are listed below: 1. Customer demands where not met 2. Significant amount of goods where delivered late 3. Service level was much low 4. Rejections of the products were made Round 2 The allotments of the members were same as in the round one. The further additions to the round two were that there were some changes in the inspection criteria. The inspection of the quality was done along the line instead at the end. With the inspections being done along with the operations the lines where encouraged to pace up the process. The speeding up of the operations certainly reduced the cycle time of the station. The issues that were observed in this round were: 1. The total service level increased exponentially 2. Products rejections were reduced 3. Late deliveries of the goods were significantly reduced 4. Production was way more than the demand Round 3 Significant changes have been made to the operations of the process. Long pull was introduced between the operations. The team has decided to use Mini heat treat unit in round 3. Additionally, the team decided to cut off the quality control and move forward to total quality control; that means eliminating all the possible defects from the process rather than identifying the defects by the end of the process. The observations of the end of the round 3 of the game concluded the following results. 1. Service level was maintained as per round 2 2. Rejections were significantly reduced 3. Over production was controlled 4. Finished goods and work in progress inventory was reduced Analysis of the Problems Waste Problem Description Problem Quantified Suggested improvement Improvement realized Over Production The production was more than the demand There were 24 units above demand produced in round 1, 68 in round 2 and 30 in round 3 The demand is to be realized so as to gather the production results as per the demand. The demand is realized as thus the production is done according to the service level and efficiency. Waiting Waiting is done on the other line Have to Wait for 8 products for the heat treatment The production line should be that batches of eight should come forward to heating or the mini heat or midi heat treatment can be utilized Smaller heat treatments machines were used so waiting was reduced Transport The transfer of the product to the customer 30 seconds for the first product and then after 15 seconds. 2.5 minutes for the specials The order should be produced and the line should effectively running so as to fulfill the demand Efficiency increased the productions and thus reduced the products transport and the products were delivered on demand Inappropriate Processing Not following the process and producing reject products 2 products in round 1 were rejected, 3 in 2 and 1 in 3. The inspection that was done on the end of the process should be done during the process so as to decrease the inappropriate processing Significant improvements in inappropriate processing as in the last round the rejections were 50% less than that in round 1. Inventory The inventory of finished goods and of the work in progress should be minimum 0, 24, 15 is the finished goods inventory and 52, 51 and 47 is the work in progress inventory in round 1, 2 and 3 respectively Small batch production should be focused so as to reduce the work in progress inventory. In round 3 the inventory of finished goods and that of the work in progress was minimum Motion Transportation and material handling is considered waste 52, 51 and 47 in the total work in progress in round 1, 2 and 3 respectively The Long Pull system will reduce the unnecessary delays in the movement of the products on the production lines The work in progress inventory is significantly reduced in the last round. Defect Rejection of the product either by customer or by inspector 2, 3 and 1 products were rejected in round 1,2 and 3 respectively. Control the over production The rejections of the products were minimum in round 3 Additional Improvements Controlling Over Production With the lack of alignment with production and demand the over production of the product will occur which can be seen in every round of the game. The production of the product shall be designed so as to fulfill the demand so that there shall be no over production in the upcoming rounds. The over production also occurred due to the lack of knowledge of inventory. With the proper transfer of the knowledge as where the inventory is present in the process and how much work is to be done on each of the station then the over production can be reduced to the minimum. With the control in the over production of the products the direct costs shall decrease along with the overheads and shall be beneficial. The production system shall be Kanbaan where the product is produced as per the demand of the customers and the demand of the next station. Improving Efficiency In order to enhance the efficiency of the production and of the company setup time, transport time and queuing time shall be reduced to the minimum as these are considered wastes and affect the efficiency of the employees and of the company. The leading times in all three rounds depicts that when the inventory is controlled and over production is reduced the efficiency increased. Preparing the next station to accept the goods as early as possible and the current station should transfer them accordingly can minimize the leading time. In order to control the leaving time the process of each of the station shall be enhanced so as to finish the work as early as possible and transfer it to the next station. With the long pull system implemented between the operations, the operator is required not to produce products unless the product has been pulled from the next. With the efficiency monitored and controlled the system shall be able to enhance the performance. The distance between the operators shall be reduced so as to provide minimum time for the product to be transferred to the next operator. Minimizing Defects Rejections made by customer or by the quality inspector it will be counted as defects and should be removed. Taylor & Brunt (2001) clarify that the high level of defects are caused by overproduction. They explain that over manufacturing products can increase the lead-time and storage time, which results in defects not being identified earlier enough (David & David, 2001). With the quality inspector deployed to check the quality of the products within the production line instead of inspecting for the quality at the end the reduction in the defects occurred and significantly improved the quality of the products. Minimum Inventory For the implementation of lean, both finished goods inventories as well as the work in progress are considered as wastes and they should be eliminated (Kyle, 2012). Actually, there is a relationship between the finished goods inventory and over manufacturing. When the team has produced more than customer demand excess in inventory has occurred. However, after the team has moved to make to order process by round 3, the finished goods inventory level has declined along with the work in progress inventory. The production shall be made in accordance with the demand of the product and thus there shall be reduction in the inventory, which will reduce the waste. Minimum Inventory Handling The material handling shall be done as minimum and there shall be much less time that is required for the material to be transferred to the other department so as to minimize the material handling. Minimization of the material handling shall result in the reduction in the wastage of the work in progress and shall also increase the efficiency as well. The set up for the final round shall be as such where the minimum distance is obtained between the departments so as to ensure minimum inventory handling. Value Stream Maps For the final round the focus upon the value addition to the product and reduction in the wastages is the prime concern. The following map shows the ideal state for the final round. For the vision of the future ideal state the following value stream map will be used. Reorganizing Production System Design The demand of the products should be identified from the start where the production of the products shall be as per the demanded products. For the made to order products the production system should be much precise and accurate as per the transformation of information within the departments. The order from the customer when obtained should be delivered to the production center. The machine department shall be provided with the information regarding the specifications and the requirements of the products that the customer has demanded. Transfer of information is of utmost importance where the information provided timely shall reduce the cost and the delays along with improvement in the efficiency of the departments. The machine when provided with the specifications of the required products shall be set up in accordance with the requirements of the product. The set up of the machine should be as per the requirements as the made to order products are very much specific in their requirements. When the machine is set up with the required production is undergone. The machine will then transfer it to the assembly where the assembly of the product shall be done as per the requirements and demand of the made to order product. From assembler to the heat-treat operator where mini heat treat units shall be used. Mini heat treat units can process two units at a time and the department does not have to wait for more than two units to arrive and then start the process. Thus the mini heat treat units used shall fasten the process and will increase the level of efficiency. It has been believed that the lean principle not only about wastes elimination (Peter, Matthias, & Nick, 2004). Instead, increasing the company’s productivity & profit with perfect quality through cost/inventory reductions with no waste as well as improved customers’ satisfaction is another aspect for the lean concept (Vinodh, Shivraman, & Viswesh, 2012). Interestingly, looking at the stages that the team has been through towards lean concept; increasing in the profit has been achieved through inventory cost reduction. In addition to that, customer’s satisfaction is not less important than the profit. Instead, it has been improved during the game. With the introduction of the least inventory holdings and controlling the wastages along with removing over production the process shall be much enhanced. With the make to order products the process shall start the production of the demanded products. With the increased information transfer regarding production and controlling wastages lean is introduced in the process (Zoe, 2010). Works Cited David, T., & David, B. (2001). Manufacturing Operations and Supply Chain Management: The Lean Approach. Stamfort: Cengage Learning EMEA. Kyle, B. S. (2012). "Four decades of lean: a systematic literature review. International Journal of Lean Six Sigma , 3 (2), 112 - 132. Peter, H., Matthias, H., & Nick, R. (2004). Learning to evolve: A review of contemporary lean thinking. International Journal of Operations & Production Management , 24 (10), 994 - 1011. Vinodh, S., Shivraman, K., & Viswesh, S. (2012). AHP-based lean concept selection in a manufacturing organization. Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, , 23 (1), 124 - 136. Zoe, R. (2010). Transferring Lean into government. Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management , 21 (3), 411 - 428. Read More