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.