April 13, 2007 Captains meeting

Today the captains meeting occurred on the floor, and we will continue that approach when feasible. The captains seemed to really like looking at what the areas have done, some of the problems they've faced, and all are very willing to help one another figure out better ways.

We started in CNC, and asked Gary to show us the progress they've made and the challenges they continue to face. While tooling, both centralized and at the machines, is more organized than before, there is still much more to do. There is some concern about the current size and location of the tool carts as jobs are being set up. We'll try different ideas. As always, safety is the number 1 criterion. We also continue to have problems managing the incoming area, but that is pointing out the inefficiencies in communication and scheduling. The magnet "job sheets" and the CNC scheduling board are both great successes for the area.

We then moved to EDM. John showed some of the product/tooling organization systems that they have put in place, and some future plans that tie into the relocation of equipment. The scheduling board is too new to talk about today, but we'll gain experience over the next several days and weeks.

We also addressed the "whose area is this anyway?" question. Chad is to create a 5S map of the facility and ensure that every area is assigned to someone. We also discussed how the order in which things are done is important to effective 5S. for example, the machine by the manual area needs to be resolved and handled before Joe can move over the stock and stock racks from the EDM area. The team captains need to communicate among each other to help understand these issues.

Ron showed some of the accomplishments in manual, assembly, finishing/polishing -- inventory rack of blasting media for example. We discussed how that could easily be modified to manage inventory and communicate with John F re: ordering status. We discussed several options for placing and highlighting "waiting for action or decision" product that is getting in the way of efficient space utilization.

Michelle participated in the meeting/walk, and will be joining us for future meetings. She commented on how she was able to read (and in some cases, not read) the visual systems in each area. Good insights from someone who doesn't work there all the time.

Chad reviewed the waste of Motion. He provided one-page handouts for the captains to keep and discuss with their department team. He will also provide copies to Mark and Brent, as well as other management. At each weekly meeting, Chad will continue to provide explanation and examples of the forms of waste. You've got to see it to eliminate it!

Waste reviewed at captains meeting

THE WASTE OF MOTION/MOVEMENT

Definition: Any movement of people or machines, which does not add value to the product or service.

Some signals:

Looking to find tools
Excessive reaching/bending
Machines/material too far apart (Walk Time)
Excess moving of material

Some causes:

Equipment, office & plant layout
Lack of workplace organization
Poor machine/man effectiveness
Inconsistent work methods

Some examples at Industrial Mold:

CNC Department:
Walking to the phone to ask questions
Walking to tool cabinet to get tooling
Driving the fork lift to get material, and take it to another department

EDM Department:
Walking to get tooling and carbons
Walking to find the forklift to load the machine

Manual/Polish/Assembly Department
Walking to find finished material and components
Walking to get tools
Walking to get information or instructions from Mark

Design/Programming
Walking to plotter/printer
Taking drawings and program sheets to the shop floor

Shipping/Receiving
Walking to front office to get paperwork for jobs that are shipping
Walking to front office to pass on paperwork for shipments received

Management Team Meeting 4-2-07

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Becky, Wendy, Tom, Dave, and Chad all discussed the progress we are making with Lean, and some of the perceived barriers to faster progress.

One key area that was not given enough attention early on was education of the office staff and the supervisors. To address that we will be scheduling an overview of Lean discussion in mid-April (the next scheduled executive staff meeting). We will strive to error on the side of too much communication instead of too little.

CNC has started using the dry-erase magnetic sheets to document (1) the job and detail number, (2) work to be done, (3) any critical information, and (4) where does it go when you're done with it. The intention is to give the machinists better and more timely information so they can waste less time looking for information. As we see how that works, other areas are encouraged to develop an effective tool (perhaps the exact same one) to provide timely and accurate information so machinists do not need to waste valuable time hunting for a supervisor to figure out what to do next.

CNC has also begun a "status of next job for each machine" board that makes visible any missing information/product that machinists need to begin their next job. It includes an estimate of when the current job will be completed to build in deadline information for providing whatever is missing (eg, drawings, programs, stock, etc.).

Dave has agreed to work with Chad, Mark, and Brent to create similar boards in the manual/finishing and EDM areas. 4 minds are always better than 1!

As a reminder, you are all welcome to call Becky Morgan at 216-486-9570 if you get stuck or just want to bounce an idea externally.

Friday March 23 Wendy, Chad, Becky Meeting

We walked thru the plant to observe 5S progress, which includes the incoming materials area for each of the 3 major areas, and the categorized by "type" areas. Each area has made some progress, but there is much more to do to reduce/eliminate many of the frustrating fixables. It has become clear that we weren't aggressive enough on our first Sort (the 1st "S" of 5-S). That is not at all unusual. It often takes a few Sort events before everyone gains confidence to attack all areas. We still have a bunch of space-taking stuff to get rid of, as well as usable materials that should be moved to a more appropriate area of the plant.

CNC has begun the simple process of using dry-erase magnetized sheets to document the answers to 4 key questions that machinists have about any job: (1) what is the job and detail number, (2) which of the work is to be done and in what order, (3) are there any critical notes, and (4) where does it go when I'm done with it? That same simple concept would seem to apply equally well in the other departments.

Meeting with Becky

Chad -

• Updated Becky with the overall progress of LEAN
• Developed a way to organize the CNC receiving area - this area is intended to answer the questions 1. "What needs o be done?" and 2. "What is required to get it done?"

Ron, Manual & Assembly Captain -

• Updated Becky on SMED progress
• Reviewed the CNC receiving concept, this area needs to utilize a similar concept

Wendy

• Reviewed with Becky the manager' s frustrations with the job meeting
• Becky suggested asking the managers what kind of information they need from the meeting

Meeting with Chad, Wendy & Becky Morgan

1. CNC
A. Racks to be set-up for work load storage
B. Chad to try a new machining center layout in one location

2. Frustrating Fixables
A. To be reviewed with all department captains

3. 5S
A. Wendy to develop layout for evaluation sheet - it will be completed by next week and reviewed with the captains at next week's weeting
B. All departments t0 have a peer review of their 5S progress
C. Employees to complete an evaluation for their own work area and and evaluation for the department as a whole

4. Receiving
A. We are going to develop a process for receiving raw materials, stock items and molds
i. This board will visually provide all employees and managers with the information required about arrival of goods

6. SMED (set-up reduction), standardizing process and mistake proofing were also discussed very briefly

7. Becky was given the rework hours form the beginning of the year. Chad and Wendy are to review all incident sheets and decided where we should initially concentrate our efforts.

8. 5S and general principles of LEAN were discussed with Mark. It was decided that we would concentrate our initial efforts in Assembly because of the volume of work that passes through that department. We are expecting to see great strides to completing SEPARATE & SORT by the end of next week

Meeting with Chad, Dave & Wendy

1) Department Captains
A)Make sure captains have a list of objectives
B)Have a weekly status meeting

2) 5S
A) SEPARATE – done in two weeks
i) Give people who do not operate in common workspaces tools to do there own separate
ii) Separate Area
(1) Designate an area
(2) Mark, consolidate & tag and temporarily store in designated area
(3) Pull everyone together to approve removal/disposal of items that have colleted
iii) Stock rack
iv) Engineering
v) Office
B) SORT – done in 2 months
C) SWEEP
D) STANDARDIZE – PROCEDURES, SMED, mistake Proofing
E) SUSTAIN

3) A rewards program
A) To be developed

4) Budget
A) $250.00 on any single item with out approval
B) $1,000.00 per month

5) How we are going to address the frustrating fixables
A) Print them off
B) Two weeks to have an answer for every issue
C) Ask employees what can you do to help with these?

6) A way of communicating our lean progress with the employees
A) Use of the blog
B) Two desktops set-up on the shop floor for LEAN

Before 5S - Facilitating

Before 5S - CNC

Before 5S - Office

Before 5S - EDM

Before 5S - Engineering

Before 5S - Molding

Before 5S - Computer

Before 5S - Maintenance