Agile Manufacturing Update
Keeping You Informed On Lean and Agile Manufacturing
Agile Manufacturing Update
Progressive Lean Sort and Shine: Part 4
OK, you have team leaders and they've been trained. It's time to get started with the actual sorting and shining.
Here's the basic approach: The manufacturing operations is going to be "divided up" in to areas. Each area should have a team leader. (Areas might further be divided into several locations .) A "Sort and Shine Schedule" is developed. The Sort and Shine Schedule indicates the days and times when operators will devote themselves to sorting and shining. You keep at the schedule until all areas are sorted and shined.
Now, let's go into a bit of detail.
Areas and Locations
In general, an area is the territory a team leader is responsible for. A location is a logical smaller space within an area. A present client has areas that each include several manufacturing lines. Each area is coordinated by a team leader. Within those areas, each line is considered a location. In another operation at the same client, there are manufacturing cells, each with a team leader. In this case, each cell is considered an area and each machine within a cell is considered a location. At that same client, the tool room as a whole is an area. It's divided into about ten locations; each of those locations has one or two machines, or a group of storage units. The idea is that sort and shine is carried out at each location until the entire area is completed.
Schedule
You must have a schedule. If you simply tell team leaders to go sort and shine as they and their teams get time...it simply won't happen. You must have a definitive, clear, posted schedule that shows the specific days and times when teams will stop what they are doing...let me repeat that: STOP WHAT THEY ARE DOING...to sort and shine. You can have a central schedule that applies to all areas or different schedules for each area. The schedule can provide for frequent short periods of time (e.g., every Monday and Wednesday from 2pm to 3pm) or longer periods of time less frequently (e.g., first and third Tuesday of the month from 6am to 12pm). But the schedule must have days and times and it must be posted. Then you have to keep track of the teams' performance against their schedules.
You can't overestimate the importance of the schedule. Sort and shine simply won't happen without it. (You'll find it's difficult enough to get it completed with a schedule.)
Here's the basic approach: The manufacturing operations is going to be "divided up" in to areas. Each area should have a team leader. (Areas might further be divided into several locations .) A "Sort and Shine Schedule" is developed. The Sort and Shine Schedule indicates the days and times when operators will devote themselves to sorting and shining. You keep at the schedule until all areas are sorted and shined.
Now, let's go into a bit of detail.
Areas and Locations
In general, an area is the territory a team leader is responsible for. A location is a logical smaller space within an area. A present client has areas that each include several manufacturing lines. Each area is coordinated by a team leader. Within those areas, each line is considered a location. In another operation at the same client, there are manufacturing cells, each with a team leader. In this case, each cell is considered an area and each machine within a cell is considered a location. At that same client, the tool room as a whole is an area. It's divided into about ten locations; each of those locations has one or two machines, or a group of storage units. The idea is that sort and shine is carried out at each location until the entire area is completed.
Schedule
You must have a schedule. If you simply tell team leaders to go sort and shine as they and their teams get time...it simply won't happen. You must have a definitive, clear, posted schedule that shows the specific days and times when teams will stop what they are doing...let me repeat that: STOP WHAT THEY ARE DOING...to sort and shine. You can have a central schedule that applies to all areas or different schedules for each area. The schedule can provide for frequent short periods of time (e.g., every Monday and Wednesday from 2pm to 3pm) or longer periods of time less frequently (e.g., first and third Tuesday of the month from 6am to 12pm). But the schedule must have days and times and it must be posted. Then you have to keep track of the teams' performance against their schedules.
You can't overestimate the importance of the schedule. Sort and shine simply won't happen without it. (You'll find it's difficult enough to get it completed with a schedule.)
Progressive Sort and Shine: Part 3
OK, you've selected your team leaders...now they'll need some training in the foundations of agile manufacturing, and 5S and its purposes. They'll also need a bit of instruction as to how to go about leading and facilitating Sort and Shine.
I use a half day session to cover all this material. About two hours is devoted to agile concepts and another two hours to carrying out Sort and Shine. During the two hours devoted to Sort and Shine, I go over the purpose of 5S in general and its role in the larger agile initiative. Then we dig into how to get Sort and Shine done.
It's pretty straightforward, as you might imagine. Sort and Shine is...well, sorting and shining. I explain the terms, talk about the red tag area, and go through a quick mock "sort and shine" out on the plant floor. I also explain the self-review format and process (which I'll cover in a different post). That's about it.
If it seems simple...it is. If it seems too simple, not to worry. There's more training coming. Besides, most of the knowledge exchange isn't going to take place in the classroom, it's going to occur as you coach the team leaders as they actually implement the various phases.
I use a half day session to cover all this material. About two hours is devoted to agile concepts and another two hours to carrying out Sort and Shine. During the two hours devoted to Sort and Shine, I go over the purpose of 5S in general and its role in the larger agile initiative. Then we dig into how to get Sort and Shine done.
It's pretty straightforward, as you might imagine. Sort and Shine is...well, sorting and shining. I explain the terms, talk about the red tag area, and go through a quick mock "sort and shine" out on the plant floor. I also explain the self-review format and process (which I'll cover in a different post). That's about it.
If it seems simple...it is. If it seems too simple, not to worry. There's more training coming. Besides, most of the knowledge exchange isn't going to take place in the classroom, it's going to occur as you coach the team leaders as they actually implement the various phases.
Book Review: Car Guys vs. Bean Counters
Bob Lutz, former big kahuna design guy at all three of the Big Three plus BMW, wrote the book and it reflects his ego. Mind you, it's a good read and I recommend it but it's apparent that Bob sees himself as the best thing since sliced bread vis a vis Detroit and car making. The upside of this is he doesn't pull many punches and we get a good bit of information as to the inner workings of auto companies, culture and strategy-wise. The downside is that sometimes he just spouts off without direction or an apparent need to get his facts straight. At one point, he tries to pass off the lame rightwing canard about the Communities Reinvestment Act being the foundation of the economic crisis. That's just Tea Party baloney that's easily and often refuted but he repeats it any way.
In another case, he speaks of the time he spent communicating his particular vision to one and all. Good stuff, right? Well, he can't just leave well enough alone. He goes on to say (and I paraphrase here), "That might be counter to what an 'organizational theorist' would propose that I should have been doing..." First, I'm not sure exactly what an "organizational theorist" is but, for the sake of argument, let's say there are such. I'll go on record with a promise to pay Bob Lutz $100 for every "organizational theorist" he can find who will say that it's better to spend time in one's office poring over spreadsheets than it is communicating the vision to the troops.
Finally, Bob does a lot of whining about the media and Japanese car companies and how Japanese car companies are treated by the media. OK, it's his book...he's allowed some leeway here. But over and over? C'mon.
All that said, reading Bob's book is like sitting with him over beers listening to lots of interesting stories. Usually the stories flow and hang together well, sometimes they don't, but they're pretty interesting on the whole.
It's clear that Bob has great regard for intuition, creativity, playing hunches, experimenting, and bold decisions. He has far less regard for numbers, over-much process, over-much analysis, over-much discussion. He's not altogether wrong in these positions, of course, but I think it would be easy for a design guy to assume that the intuition and gut level decision making appropriate in his field would be applicable to all aspects of the enterprise. There's no question that non-value-added admin processes are waste and that any organization can suffer from "paralysis by analysis". But you can't run the whole place based on hunches and gut feel.
One thing that does come through in Bob's book (and it's not the only good thing but maybe the biggest good thing): Good strategy and a culture that supports good strategy is impossible (or, at least, really difficult) to the extent that you don't love the product. Even if you're selling plain stamped disks, you have to feel that those stamped disks are vital to the well being of society. As soon as you see your own product as a mere commodity in competition with other commodities, you're on the road to ruin. And I'm not talking about blind acceptance of the shortcomings and faults of one's own product. I'm saying that a company has to be vitally interested in the product and the customers' relationship with it if one is going to have an equally vital strategy.
Bob does a good job of relating the manner in which "brand management" (think: toothpaste) and beancounting hurt the auto companies. I'd argue that both approaches come from a false "We just make a commodity" view of the product.
In another case, he speaks of the time he spent communicating his particular vision to one and all. Good stuff, right? Well, he can't just leave well enough alone. He goes on to say (and I paraphrase here), "That might be counter to what an 'organizational theorist' would propose that I should have been doing..." First, I'm not sure exactly what an "organizational theorist" is but, for the sake of argument, let's say there are such. I'll go on record with a promise to pay Bob Lutz $100 for every "organizational theorist" he can find who will say that it's better to spend time in one's office poring over spreadsheets than it is communicating the vision to the troops.
Finally, Bob does a lot of whining about the media and Japanese car companies and how Japanese car companies are treated by the media. OK, it's his book...he's allowed some leeway here. But over and over? C'mon.
All that said, reading Bob's book is like sitting with him over beers listening to lots of interesting stories. Usually the stories flow and hang together well, sometimes they don't, but they're pretty interesting on the whole.
It's clear that Bob has great regard for intuition, creativity, playing hunches, experimenting, and bold decisions. He has far less regard for numbers, over-much process, over-much analysis, over-much discussion. He's not altogether wrong in these positions, of course, but I think it would be easy for a design guy to assume that the intuition and gut level decision making appropriate in his field would be applicable to all aspects of the enterprise. There's no question that non-value-added admin processes are waste and that any organization can suffer from "paralysis by analysis". But you can't run the whole place based on hunches and gut feel.
One thing that does come through in Bob's book (and it's not the only good thing but maybe the biggest good thing): Good strategy and a culture that supports good strategy is impossible (or, at least, really difficult) to the extent that you don't love the product. Even if you're selling plain stamped disks, you have to feel that those stamped disks are vital to the well being of society. As soon as you see your own product as a mere commodity in competition with other commodities, you're on the road to ruin. And I'm not talking about blind acceptance of the shortcomings and faults of one's own product. I'm saying that a company has to be vitally interested in the product and the customers' relationship with it if one is going to have an equally vital strategy.
Bob does a good job of relating the manner in which "brand management" (think: toothpaste) and beancounting hurt the auto companies. I'd argue that both approaches come from a false "We just make a commodity" view of the product.
Books Reviews: Crash Course and Once Upon A Car
I've read two books that, IMHO, are "must reads" for anyone interested
in the auto industry, strategy, general industry and manufacturing or
business in these United States. Once Upon a Car by Bill Vlasic covers
the buildup to the bankruptcies of Chrysler and GM. Crash Course covers
much of the same ground but starts way back in the early days of the
industry. It's clear both authors talked to a lot of the same people.
Both authors even have the same line about Mulally when he signed the
contract with Ford and it being the first time in four decades he didn't
add a cartoon plane next to his name.
Both books are balanced. Both are very readable. (I have recommended the Vlasic book to my wife.) Both books would serve as good reading for any MBA strategy class.
The authors don't go into the companies strategies as such but it's not hard to pull at the threads and tweak out the overall fabric of strategy for each of the companies...such as it was.
Auto companies present interesting cases in strategy, I've always thought. For one thing, auto companies are big...really, really big. For another, the difference between a good decision and a bad one can be lots of money.... as in billions and billions of dollars. Lastly, when you're at the top of a company that is so very large, it's probably impossible to have even, say, a quarter of the information you need to make good strategic decisions. I can imagine it gets very easy to maintain the status quo, certainly if most things are going well as they were for the auto industry during the nineties. Even when they aren't going so well, I can imagine it's easy to hang on and hope for better times to come around.
Well, in reading these books, it seems like that's about how strategy, or what passes for it, unfolds within the Big Three. (And, it's starting to appear, within Toyota as well.) Add to this a culture that seems as if were purposefully designed to hinder communications, innovation, team work, and high performance, and you've got about everything you need for a set of businesses that need to be bailed out of their own incompetence every twenty five years or so (in the case of one of them, at least.) So, strategy is difficult for auto companies...but all the players knew this going in. And still they make the same mistakes over and over.
Here are the lessons I learned or the truths that were verified for me via the books:
1.) As a quote that starts a chapter in one of the books says, "Culture eats strategy for breakfast."
2.) Most of the folks running these companies really are as dumb as it seems they are. They keep doing the same things over and over and expecting different results.
3.) Big is good until it's bad. Then it's very, very bad.
4.) If you don't love the product AND THEREFORE the folks who buy the product, you shouldn't be anywhere near the company much less running the damn thing. This is why CFO's and lawyers make bad strategists.
5.) The most important competency an organization can have is agility. The most important loss a company can suffer is it's agility.
Both books are balanced. Both are very readable. (I have recommended the Vlasic book to my wife.) Both books would serve as good reading for any MBA strategy class.
The authors don't go into the companies strategies as such but it's not hard to pull at the threads and tweak out the overall fabric of strategy for each of the companies...such as it was.
Auto companies present interesting cases in strategy, I've always thought. For one thing, auto companies are big...really, really big. For another, the difference between a good decision and a bad one can be lots of money.... as in billions and billions of dollars. Lastly, when you're at the top of a company that is so very large, it's probably impossible to have even, say, a quarter of the information you need to make good strategic decisions. I can imagine it gets very easy to maintain the status quo, certainly if most things are going well as they were for the auto industry during the nineties. Even when they aren't going so well, I can imagine it's easy to hang on and hope for better times to come around.
Well, in reading these books, it seems like that's about how strategy, or what passes for it, unfolds within the Big Three. (And, it's starting to appear, within Toyota as well.) Add to this a culture that seems as if were purposefully designed to hinder communications, innovation, team work, and high performance, and you've got about everything you need for a set of businesses that need to be bailed out of their own incompetence every twenty five years or so (in the case of one of them, at least.) So, strategy is difficult for auto companies...but all the players knew this going in. And still they make the same mistakes over and over.
Here are the lessons I learned or the truths that were verified for me via the books:
1.) As a quote that starts a chapter in one of the books says, "Culture eats strategy for breakfast."
2.) Most of the folks running these companies really are as dumb as it seems they are. They keep doing the same things over and over and expecting different results.
3.) Big is good until it's bad. Then it's very, very bad.
4.) If you don't love the product AND THEREFORE the folks who buy the product, you shouldn't be anywhere near the company much less running the damn thing. This is why CFO's and lawyers make bad strategists.
5.) The most important competency an organization can have is agility. The most important loss a company can suffer is it's agility.
The Importance of Culture
From an HBR article, "The Contradictions that Drive Toyota's Success":
From Once Upon a Car: The Fall and Resurrection of America's Big Three Automakers:
"Toyota has a strict hierarchy but it gives employees freedom to push back. Voicing contrarian opinions, exposing problems, not blindly following bosses orders - these are all permissible behaviors."
From Once Upon a Car: The Fall and Resurrection of America's Big Three Automakers:
[Mark] Fields learned quickly how Ford was ruled by pay grades, status, and titles. The first time he raised his hand in a big meeting, he was shot down by his boss... 'You never say anything until you tell your manager.'Might be all we need to know about the difference between the two companies.
Progressive Lean: Sort and Shine: Part 2
The first step is to identify and appoint team leaders if you don't already have them.
The role of the team leader is to lead and coordinate lean activities in his or her work area. You might also have the team leader lead and coordinate production activities in the work area.
If you don't already have team leaders, you'll need to take these steps:
Essentially, you're writing up a job description here and I'm sure you (or someone in your organization) has done this before. Make sure the team leader description capture the following points:
You'll probably want to consider additional compensation for team leaders, especially if team leaders have production coordination responsibilities in addition to their lean initiative duties. You'll find that they do add value to the organization above and beyond any additional compensation, assuming that you utilize and support them.
Don't appoint team leaders if you can avoid it at all. Take the time to post the positions, interview, and make careful selections. If you find that you're selecting the leaders you would have appointed anyway, no harm done. Often, companies, find excellent candidates whom they hadn't considered. Even if they don't end up selecting these candidates as team leaders, they have identified "bench strength": associates who can be developed to positions of responsibility.
The role of the team leader is to lead and coordinate lean activities in his or her work area. You might also have the team leader lead and coordinate production activities in the work area.
If you don't already have team leaders, you'll need to take these steps:
- Identify and document the responsibilities, duties, and activities that you want the team leaders to carry out.
- Make a decision as to whether or not you'll adjust the compensation of team leaders.
- Post the team leader position. Interview candidates. Make your selections.
Essentially, you're writing up a job description here and I'm sure you (or someone in your organization) has done this before. Make sure the team leader description capture the following points:
- Team leader will be the coordinator of planning, scheduling, and implementation of lean activities in his or her area.
- Team leader, with the team, will track progress on lean activities using the methods provided by the organization.
- Team leader will work with the operating team to get all this done. Team leader will assure that the team is participating in lean activities and is engaged in using lean methods and tools as they are deployed.
You'll probably want to consider additional compensation for team leaders, especially if team leaders have production coordination responsibilities in addition to their lean initiative duties. You'll find that they do add value to the organization above and beyond any additional compensation, assuming that you utilize and support them.
It's difficult to say just how much additional compensation is appropriate without knowledge of prevailing wages in your industry or region. Trade associations or local business agencies will probably be able to help with this.
Post, Interview, SelectDon't appoint team leaders if you can avoid it at all. Take the time to post the positions, interview, and make careful selections. If you find that you're selecting the leaders you would have appointed anyway, no harm done. Often, companies, find excellent candidates whom they hadn't considered. Even if they don't end up selecting these candidates as team leaders, they have identified "bench strength": associates who can be developed to positions of responsibility.
Progressive Lean: Sort and Shine Part 1
Just about anyone who has any experience at all with basic lean tools will know what I'm talking about in this phase. Sort and shine...what could be simpler? And you're right...it's Sort....then Shine. The training won't take long, if you get my meaning.
What will take longer is the actual implementation. Not because it's a difficult tool. But because you're going to do it in a way that may change the structure and will probably start changing the culture of your organization.
Here's why....team leaders and their teams are going to plan, schedule, and carry out Sort and Shine in their own areas. With help, of course, but mostly, they're going to do it themselves.
Here's the game plan:
What will take longer is the actual implementation. Not because it's a difficult tool. But because you're going to do it in a way that may change the structure and will probably start changing the culture of your organization.
Here's why....team leaders and their teams are going to plan, schedule, and carry out Sort and Shine in their own areas. With help, of course, but mostly, they're going to do it themselves.
Here's the game plan:
- If you don't already have team leaders, you need to identify and appoint them.
- You need to train the team leaders.
- Either during the training itself, or some time shortly thereafter, the team leaders need to put together a Sort and Shine schedule for their areas.
- The team leaders and their teams will conduct Self Reviews within their areas to show that they have completed and are sustaining Sort and Shine.
- You (or somebody) will track their efforts and post them. The team leaders will meet regularly (weekly or bi-weekly) to review progress, bring up issues, etc.
I'll talk about each of these issues in upcoming posts.
Progressive Lean: Strategy and Spread the Word: Part 4
Finally, you need to do some training for team leaders so that they are prepared for the next phase: Sort and Shine. So, there are two issues to consider: the content for the training itself and just who the team leaders will be.
The first issue is easily addressed: Just use the material I've provided here (see the link at the bottom of the post). Adjust the material as you need to. The only thing I ask is if you do use this material is that you mention my name. That's fair, isn't it?
You'll see that the material goes over the basics of agile manufacturing as well as the details of how to implement the Sort and Shine phase. There isn't enough detail there to allow you to lead the next phase but don't worry about that...we'll give you that knowledge through these posts.
As to who gets this training, that might be a tougher issue if you don't already have team leaders. By team leaders, I'm talking about operators who have a few additional responsibilities regarding communication to and coordination of a small group of other operators who work in the same area and/or do similar work. Where the span of control of supervisors isn't very wide, they can act as team leaders.
What if the span of control of supervisors is wide but you don't presently have team leaders? Or you have them in some areas but not others? My recommendation is that you develop the position. And, yes, I know....that can be a big deal. But It will provide benefits throughout the agile implementation and beyond.
Here are a couple of articles from another blog to help you along (the first article is a little heavy on the jargon, but you'll get the idea):
Role of the Team Leader
Team Leader As Focal Point
You'll read that team leaders have central responsibility for making the agile initiative successful. That responsibility starts with the next phase. You'll depend on them to plan and carry out most of the "on the floor" activities" of that phase.
Team Leader Training Materials for "Spread the Word"
The first issue is easily addressed: Just use the material I've provided here (see the link at the bottom of the post). Adjust the material as you need to. The only thing I ask is if you do use this material is that you mention my name. That's fair, isn't it?
You'll see that the material goes over the basics of agile manufacturing as well as the details of how to implement the Sort and Shine phase. There isn't enough detail there to allow you to lead the next phase but don't worry about that...we'll give you that knowledge through these posts.
As to who gets this training, that might be a tougher issue if you don't already have team leaders. By team leaders, I'm talking about operators who have a few additional responsibilities regarding communication to and coordination of a small group of other operators who work in the same area and/or do similar work. Where the span of control of supervisors isn't very wide, they can act as team leaders.
What if the span of control of supervisors is wide but you don't presently have team leaders? Or you have them in some areas but not others? My recommendation is that you develop the position. And, yes, I know....that can be a big deal. But It will provide benefits throughout the agile implementation and beyond.
Here are a couple of articles from another blog to help you along (the first article is a little heavy on the jargon, but you'll get the idea):
Role of the Team Leader
Team Leader As Focal Point
You'll read that team leaders have central responsibility for making the agile initiative successful. That responsibility starts with the next phase. You'll depend on them to plan and carry out most of the "on the floor" activities" of that phase.
Team Leader Training Materials for "Spread the Word"
Progressive Lean: Strategy and Spread the Word: Part 3
Let's assume you have developed a set of measures you're happy with.
The next step is to develop a calendar.
Here's what's going to go on your calendar:
Regular day and time for Steering Committee meetings.
I talked about the role of the Steering Committee (SC) in another post. The SC needs to meet no less than every other week (or twice a month, whichever) during the startup of an agile implementation. You can move to monthly meetings after a year or so, when the program has momentum. Weekly isn't too often. You should meet for four hours each month. In other words, if you meet twice a month, meet for two hours at a time. Weekly, meet for an hour. Devote one of your meetings to reviewing metrics. The other meeting can focus on reviewing recent activities and planning for upcoming ones. That's pretty much the agenda for SC meetings:
Somewhere along the line, you need to announce to everyone what's going on. Some companies already have "all employee" meetings of one sort or another. This announcement can be made at one of those meetings. If you don't have regularly scheduled meetings with employees, you need to plan one.
The announcement doesn't have to be complex or involved. Twenty or thirty minutes should do it. This isn't the time to train everyone in agile concepts and tools. It will be enough simply to talk about what's been going on and what will be coming up in the near future. And make a pitch for their participation of course.
Deadlines for full development of the metrics.
During the planning sessions, you decided on what metrics you'd be using for the agile initiative. Now you have to make charts for all of them. You probably have some of the data ready to go and it's just a matter of making the chart. In other cases, there might be some "data mining" to do first. In still other cases, you might have to actually gather the data. Put deadlines on all these activities or you'll be twelve months into the initiative with no metrics.
Regular all employee meetings to keep everyone updated on the agile initiative.
If you already have a schedule of "all employee" meetings, you're set. If not, make a schedule. There...that was easy, wasn't it?
General time frames for the upcoming phases.
This is a hard one because you've never carried out the phases before and I don't know how large or complex your facility is. So, we're talking general time frames here, not hard and fast deadlines.
A few guidelines will help:
.
The next step is to develop a calendar.
Here's what's going to go on your calendar:
- Regular day and time for Steering Committee meetings.
- An "all employee meeting" to announce the agile initiative.
- Deadlines for full development of the metrics.
- Regular "all employee" meetings to keep everyone updated on the agile initiative.
- Deadlines (albeit loose ones) for the upcoming phases
Regular day and time for Steering Committee meetings.
I talked about the role of the Steering Committee (SC) in another post. The SC needs to meet no less than every other week (or twice a month, whichever) during the startup of an agile implementation. You can move to monthly meetings after a year or so, when the program has momentum. Weekly isn't too often. You should meet for four hours each month. In other words, if you meet twice a month, meet for two hours at a time. Weekly, meet for an hour. Devote one of your meetings to reviewing metrics. The other meeting can focus on reviewing recent activities and planning for upcoming ones. That's pretty much the agenda for SC meetings:
First meeting each month: How are we progressing? (Review of metrics)An "all employee meeting" to announce the agile initiative.
Second meeting each month: What did we do last month? (Review of recent activities) and What's coming up next month? (Plan for upcoming activities).
Somewhere along the line, you need to announce to everyone what's going on. Some companies already have "all employee" meetings of one sort or another. This announcement can be made at one of those meetings. If you don't have regularly scheduled meetings with employees, you need to plan one.
The announcement doesn't have to be complex or involved. Twenty or thirty minutes should do it. This isn't the time to train everyone in agile concepts and tools. It will be enough simply to talk about what's been going on and what will be coming up in the near future. And make a pitch for their participation of course.
Deadlines for full development of the metrics.
During the planning sessions, you decided on what metrics you'd be using for the agile initiative. Now you have to make charts for all of them. You probably have some of the data ready to go and it's just a matter of making the chart. In other cases, there might be some "data mining" to do first. In still other cases, you might have to actually gather the data. Put deadlines on all these activities or you'll be twelve months into the initiative with no metrics.
Regular all employee meetings to keep everyone updated on the agile initiative.
If you already have a schedule of "all employee" meetings, you're set. If not, make a schedule. There...that was easy, wasn't it?
General time frames for the upcoming phases.
This is a hard one because you've never carried out the phases before and I don't know how large or complex your facility is. So, we're talking general time frames here, not hard and fast deadlines.
A few guidelines will help:
- Think in terms of months per phase rather than weeks, unless your facility is very small (20 employees or fewer). My present client has about 250 employees and a variety of operations. It's taking them about 8 months to get through Sort and Shine (the next phase). The original plan was six months. Another client with 400 employees and equally complex operations took about six months but they also had two full-time "lean champions" that I worked with to push things along. In general, it's going to take longer than you think.
- Be ready to be flexible. It's better to get through each phase well than quickly. As long as progress is being made and the effort is moving forward, don't get too locked in to specific deadlines.
- Monitor progress against the schedule at your Steering Committee meetings. You'll be able to adjust the calendar as needed before the deadline is hard upon you.
.
Progressive Lean: Strategy and Spread the Word: Part 2
OK, you've answered the question, "Why the heck are we doing this?"
Now you need to answer the question, "How will we know it's working?" And that gets us to selecting metrics for the initiative.
I've written a lot about metrics and their selection here on this blog. In fact, I'm just going to link back to those posts rather than re-write it all.
Now you need to answer the question, "How will we know it's working?" And that gets us to selecting metrics for the initiative.
I've written a lot about metrics and their selection here on this blog. In fact, I'm just going to link back to those posts rather than re-write it all.
How to Get Started: Part Five - Planning I
How to Get Started: Part Five - Planning II
How to Get Started: Part Five - Planning III
How to Get Started: Part Five - Planning IV
There you go. I know it's pretty lazy to just provide links but I didn't feel like typing it all again. Besides, it will help my Google Analytics numbers! Besides, I'm going to do the same thing when I get to developing the calendar, so get used to it.
