PARTNERS
The Lean Plus is a structured support programme for manufacturing and service companies looking to develop their core capabilities and develop their internal processes. The Lean Plus introduces lean thinking to an organisation and aims to deliver
Lean Plus programmes are funded by Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland to their respective clients. The funding allows access to independent, expert advise on lean and agile, plus the cost of internal training of lean champions, and the usage of internal resources in the execution of projects/improvements.
Depending on the pain points identified at the initiation stage the Lean Plus Programme will include some of the following lean tools and training
“The introduction to Lean course, delivered by LBS Partners received excellent feedback from all participants. The concepts were delivered whilst keeping a fun and engaging environment. Their flexibility and ability to tailor the course made it an easy choice.”
A Collaborative Solution.
The starting block for improvement was to secure the support of Senior Management – we knew that change would flow from this. Working with the team at Freefoam we shared the purpose of the programme with all team members, then we embarked on a stabilisation programme with the company. This saw the company introduce Lean 6 Sigma and Visual Management – the result being that a clear and safe work environment was established for all employees. Work could then be measured by way of PIT (Performance, Issues and Threats) Boards
By introducing morning meetings (a max of 15 mins) at the PIT boards – the company was in a position to identify problems and resolve or escalate the issue as necessary. Various issues surfaced, including challenges with set ups, changeovers, product defects and WIP. Green Belt training was also employed to help equip the teams with the skills they needed to resolve some of the key issues. By working closely with Freefoam, LBSPartners was able to guide the company towards achieving sustainable actions – for the BETTER of the company and its employees.
Impact and Results.
Increase in Injection Moulding throughput and 98% yield
Reduction of 50% in change overtimes on the foiling machine
Improved packing time by 30%
Reduce stock holding by 60% due to shorter lead times
One Example in production, it was becoming difficult (6-7 key production processes –with numerous changes to the schedule) for the Teams to ensure they were working on the ‘right’ work- orders to ensure the final product could be assembled. Often, some element of the process was falling behind, leaving an increasing amount of WIP in the pre-assembly area – waiting for the last component to arrive. As the volume increases and customers become demanding, this production scheduling complexity increases, and the space in Pre-Assy gets jammed.
Getting the buy-in and agreement from the Supervisors and Team Leads along the entire support chain – starting with Order Management, Despatch, Final Assembly, Pre-Assembly and production machining – on how we could use our existing systems to get ‘place of truth’ for requirements /priorities and set internal SLA’s to help give guidance how to manage exceptions. (We needed to stay agile for our customers). Designing and implementing specific production reports to help align the priorities in WIP – both from a customer requirement perspective and a WIP velocity perspective has made a huge difference to how the team manages the work.
This requires a clear blueprint for the information management system that enables your business. This is effectively a Digital Transformation of sorts. The management team of the company approached LBS as they wanted to improve productivity in the Applicator Build and Final Assembly area.
Contact LBS today to see if you are eligible for funding and discuss how our programmes can help your organisation to be more efficient, effective, and collaborative.
