Standard Work is an insult to my Skills

I heard “Standard Work is an insult to my Skills” the other day in a machine shop.

 

Interesting point of view as the worker was very skilled, problem solving difficult programmes and set-ups in a high variety shop across many machines. The worker was stressed and output was very variable because if he was not available the less skilled had to wait for him to help with changeovers.

 

Persuading this skilled man that the answer lay in making standard work did seem a big stretch.

Standard work is a building block of lean thinking. The principle is that there is a current best sequence and method to complete a task.

If you are in automotive supply there will be standards and methods measured in seconds, if you fix aircraft there are methods and sequences described like a Haynes Manual about how to change a wheel or a starter motor.

These examples of standard work ensure quality, productivity and are the basis for all improvement. If we change the sequence or method and it does not reduce the risks of failure or reduce the time required – then there is no improvement.

The machine shop example above was crying out for

• standard fixture mounting to reduce change over time,
• standard sequence for the parts that repeated every month,
• cycle time recording to determine the current best way.
• Standard method sheets to allow unskilled to pre kit the tooling

In the current environment with no standards the skilled worker was the hero, he was the one who sorted it all out. It was his skill that got the parts out. He felt very threatened by standard work because maybe then the company would not need him anymore; he believed that transferring his hard won knowledge on to methods sheets would reduce his value to the business.

Real emotions, real feelings because the skilled worker enjoyed the technical challenges of this chaos but this must be addressed if this situation was to be improved.

The leadership task is to see if the technical challenge of problem solving that the worker enjoyed everyday could be channelled into the technical challenge of reducing the setup time.

Make standard work the challenge not the threat!

Paul Brown

ICE Partnership

13^th Sept 2013

For those starting off on the SC21 journey some will already be at this level, but a significant number will start from ISO 9001.  One of the immediate questions is just what additional tasks will I need to take on board for AS9100.

Find out exactly what areas of your business will be involved by checking out this video put together by our quality management specialist Pete Thornton-Smith who will talk you through it all.  After watching it the only question that will remain is – who’s playing the piano?

Don’t forget that SC21 in Yorkshire and Humberside can attract 75% funding towards the project costs so email Paul Brown at paulbrown@icepartnership.com for further details.

It pays to know where you are headed so for SC21 that means either the Gold, Silver or Bronze award.  Check out the latest video to hear Paul talk you through the targets that are relevant for each award.

If you are in Yorkshire and Humber then don’t forget that 75% funding is available to help meet the costs of your SC21 project.  Get in touch and Paul will gladly show you the way.  Email him at paul.brown@icepartnership.com

Having registered their intention with ADS, which is free by the way, the first two stages undertaken by a company are Manufacturing and Management Commitment. This is provided they have got a customer signed up to champion them so together they can agree performance levels that will go towards the CSIP (Continuous Sustainable Improvement Plan).

Watch this video from the SC21 Channel as I talk you through the rest of the details:

You can see me talk about more aspects of SC21 by clicking this link to the Channel here.

Paul Brown
SC21 ChangeAgent
paul.brown@icepartnership.com

5S is not about tidying stuff up.

Anyone who has been through a 5S session will I am sure remember the buzz when you pulled out that old broken fan from under your desk and finally binned it. Perhaps you got the chance to clean the top of your machine and actually make it a nice place to be for a change. These are often the memorable bits of a 5S session but they are never enough to sustain a good 5S. 5S is about spotting the unusual condition. It removes clutter, imposes order and creates ownership for local management to manage locally. The hardest part is sustaining the new conditions. After the first burst of enthusiasm the day job takes over and within a month the work place looks just like the “before” pictures plus a sad shadow board with nothing on it – we have all seen it. So I thought I would add my reflections on what I have seen working in the hundreds of companies and places I have visited that have managed to sustain 5S.

I am not going to list the 5S stages here – google it and you will get all the help you need, this is about the sustaining stage.

Sustaining Action 1: Crystal clear accountability. The work place has visible boundaries and the team who are responsible for the area are named and on the local visual management board. No exceptions, no excuses. It is management’s responsibility to make this happen.

Sustaining Action 2: The audit list. The worst 5S process I have seen was a global company that imposed the SAME AUDIT list in every workstation in the world. COMPLETELY missing the point about local ownership and local issues. The audit list is a statement of what the team ( under guidance from seniors ) considers important. It consists of a short description of what good looks like for example in an office they decided one audit item under safety was:

Walkway is clear and uncluttered, Fire extinguishers are accessible and in date.There are no trailing wires under the desks or across the floor. Filing Cabinet interlocks are functioning.

This was supported by photos, it was simple and worked well. Every audit has some actions when the score is below the standard and the actions are checked at the next audit and the score is posted on the local visual management board. Audit lists are local and must be created by the team that work there. It is their work place and they are the experts.

Sustaining Action 3: Checking by Managers. Show respect to the effort the team is putting into their area by talking about the results and the audit actions.  This is standard work for managers “go see, show respect, ask questions”

Sustaining Action 4: Permanent Red Tag area. During “Sort” any item that does not belong in the work area is red tagged until it finds a new home, is thrown out or is agreed that it is needed. This is useful when working in a project environment when equipment may be needed for a while but then can be returned to stores on completion. This encourages local debate and anyone can put something into the red tag area – this encourages involvement.

Of course the word “sustain” suggests stable and static which is something of a dilemma – Lean teaches us that staying still is going backwards so the best sustain systems are actually also constantly evolving the standards and the methods.   If you think of the “sustain” to mean maintaining effort rather than maintaining a static workplace organisation system your 5S will definitely not be “about tidying stuff up”.

If you want a copy of the audit sheets I have then email me at paulbrown@icepartnership.com and I will ping some across to you. Also remember to contact me if you want to know about funding opportunities in Yorkshire and Humberside for SC21, of which 5S plays a significant part.

If anyone ever doubted that poor quality from within the supply chain can cost you then they need to get the calulator out and start to add these huge figures up from the claims being put on Boeing for the actual grounding of the fleet of Dreamliners around the world.

SC21 is a means to get the supply chain performing so it appears it needs everyone’s attention even more then before. Remember that in the UK companies in Yorkshire and Humber may qualify for funding assistance with their application. Be worth your while to get in touch if you need to know more.

24/7 Wall St.

Last week, Air India said it would receive compensation from the Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) due to the grounding of the company’s 787 Dreamliner related to a battery problem in the plane’s electrical system. Today, Qatar Airways said it, too, will receive compensation from Boeing for $200 million in lost revenues. The 787 was grounded for three months.

Qatar Airways owns five of the planes and Air India owns six. Ethiopian Airways, which owns four Dreamliners, recommenced commercial flight of the aircraft last week. All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines, which combined own 24 Dreamliners, have estimated their losses due to the grounding at $110 million.

The actual amount of compensation for Air India and Qatar Airways has not been announced. Under the contract terms with Air India, Boeing cannot be held liable for loss of use for a problem with the aircraft, but an Air India official…

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The Missing Link

In the above article from no less than ADS in their latest edition of Advance, Geoff Thomas re-emphasises just how important SC21 is to the aerospace supply chain.  It makes for a good review of the history and principles if you are coming into it for the first time as well as having a good case study.

If you want to see how important it is then check out my colleague Pete Thornton-Smith getting all excited about it on the SC21 Change Agent YouTube Channel by simply clicking here.

For any further assistance get in touch with me, Paul Brown, and I will gladly chat with you and show you the way to excellence.

Lean Thinking

Lean thinking has been around for a long time so many people think it must be old hat and want some thing shiner and more up to date. I think that is like saying gravity is like sooo last year…..  Newtons law of gravity is not old fashioned, it works and will always work even when other theories are more universal, Newton will still be in there. at their core. The truly fundamental ideas and principles of management are the same: they are long lived because at their core they reflect a how we create organisations to deliver purpose.

I offer up these as the fundamentals of business that will not change:

Know your numbers.

Without data everything is fluff, do the basics on a piece of A4 so that you know and measure the key ratios of your business. orders, costs as % of sales, cash flow, margins. Insist on accurate management accounts 3 days after month end.

Understand your value proposition.

Why do people buy from you?  It will be some combination of quality, cost, design, performance, support or service. Be sure you know, ask your customers – the answer might surprise you, and then see how you measure up against the competition.

Relentless improvement.

This is where the lean stuff comes in to support the value proposition, you must keep getting faster, smaller, lighter,quicker. You must keep improving against the reasons why people buy listed above. If your not improving then you are going backwards.

People are an investment not a cost.

If you need a robot – get a robot, people are not just hands and feet. I have never seen a robot improve its own quality or cycle time. Businesses that engage all of the talent of all of their people will win time and time again.

Lean is not old hat – it is as fundamental as Newtons law.

Good export growth reported in Aerospace sector

UK Aerospace orders had a strong element of export activity as this article states they accounted for 70% of the total.  There are 2,600 manufacturers and service companies ranging from the likes of Rolls-Royce and BAE Systems to small businesses that make up this important supply chain.

The world’s biggest aircraft makers, Airbus and Boeing, predict there will be between 25,000 and 29,000 new civil aircraft built worldwide in the next 20 years so it would be opportune for companies to look at SC21 in order to gain that competitive edge.

Click the article title link at the top of the post to read the full article.

Government support for Aerospace could reach £1bn

Nick Clegg is on the verge of announcing this coming week that this sum of money is earmarked for investment into the UK Aerospace sector over the next 10 years. With an eye on the need to secure UK involvement in not only the A320 but also its successor this comes from the Aerospace Growth Partnership (AGP) as matched funding with the likes of Airbus, Bombadier and Rolls -Royce.

With such good news this will also be a good time for companies to consider the benefit of registering for the SC21 initiative in order to set them apart from the competition.

Click the article title at the top of the post to read the full article.