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Author Archive | René Visser

Lean Transformation; From Old Cheese To New Cheese.

By on March 7, 2012 in General, Lean Six Sigma, Project Managment, Uncategorized

What Old Cheese are we holding on to in our organisation?

When working out our Lean Transformation approach through the Lean Six Sigma methodology, we often give our sponsors the booklet written by Spencer Johnson.

Who Moved My Cheese? is the best-selling business book on transformation and change. It’s has been translated into 42 languages. People have relied on it to get them through changes big and small.

You can put those same principles to work in your organization. Whether you are reacting to changes around you or there are changes you would like to make happen, we can help you harness the ideas in the book to get results.

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Speed Summer Course for Black Belt

By on March 7, 2012 in Lean Six Sigma, Uncategorized

starting this summer in  Aix en Provence; Special Classes for Black Belt certification within 10 days.

in a relaxing environment getting your Lean Six Sigma training and coaching during a Speed Summer Course. all packages are available on demand.

Book now for your Green or Black certification before the summer.

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Lean Six Sigma and the European economy long term.

By on March 7, 2012 in Lean Six Sigma, Uncategorized

Measurements for Lean Six Sigma project dealing with FTE’s; i.e. labour productivity is measured as real output per hour worked. Multifactor productivity, a broader measure of efficiency, is measured as real output per unit of combined inputs (capital, labour, etc). In essence, this is the efficiency of all or your factors of production.

Progress in productivity constitutes a significant source of increased standard of living. In the long run, increases in real hourly earnings are tied to productivity gains. The European economy has been able to produce more goods and services over time, not by requiring a proportional increase of resources such as labour, but by making production more efficient. The overall performance of any company, operating in any industry, is comprised of at least seven key criteria:

  • effectiveness
  • efficiency
  • innovation
  • productivity
  • profitability
  • quality
  • quality of work life
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Lean Six Sigma applies Takt Time and Line Balancing

By on March 4, 2012 in Lean Six Sigma, Uncategorized
Takt Time is the principle that all activity within a business is synchronised by a “drum beat”, set by the customer demand. This brings ‘calendar time’ into the equation.
Notice how neatly Takt time links with line balancing. You set the capacity of each process step to the demand of the customer.

Linking the internal value adding system directly to the customer may seem difficult but is necessary to allow the customer to pull value from the value adding system.

Each process link working in isolation at full speed will cause a mismatch between links. Some areas over-produce, some cannot keep up…

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In the Lean Six Sigma methodology is Level Scheduling an important concept.

By on March 2, 2012 in Lean Six Sigma, Uncategorized

In the Lean Six Sigma methodology is Level Scheduling an important concept;

‘ The process of smoothing production volume and model mix over a given time period.’

This major component of the Lean philosophy is to smooth out the flow of value so that minimal waste inventory and waiting are incurred. To be able to provide a smooth flow when many product types are produced on the same lines it is necessary to even out the schedule, so Level Scheduling is often used. Benefits to be gained from employing level scheduling include; reduces inventory of raw materials, reduced quantity of finished goods and reduced lead times.

Not only the scheduling will do the job, with Lean Six Sigma, it will also require implementing other process improvements, e.i.;

• replacing the existing order entry process with an online system

• cross-training engineering / operations
• automating the BOM
• standardising parts where possible to allow suppliers to build-to-stock
• developing blanket orders to reduce the work involved in the purchasing
• initiating purchasing in parallel with the customer approval process
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Lean Six Sigma and Quick Changeover – The Key Concept

By on February 29, 2012 in Lean Six Sigma, Uncategorized

Within Lean Six Sigma projects; quick Change Over refers to the ability to quickly start the next work item as soon as the current one is finished.

It originated in manufacturing, where it is more commonly known as SMED: Single-Minute Exchange of Dies, by Shigeo Shingo.

Some companies calculate ‘economic batch size’ using complex algorithms. Shingo thought time would be better spent to reduce the changeover time than trying to justify large batches. He was proved correct.

Change over improvement thinking should not just be applied in manufacturing areas.

  • Changing from one customer order to another
  • Gaining access to your emails or accessing information whilst in another location
  • Switching from one service provider to another
  • Changing the toner in a photocopier
  • Changing from one Business Unit Leader to another

We cannot improve every changeover in the business tomorrow, what should our priorities be?

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Lean Six Sigma implementation have a first look at the Traditional Layouts

By on February 28, 2012 in Lean Six Sigma, Uncategorized

During your Lean Six Sigma implementation, have a first look at the Traditional Layoutsof the area, which are often complex and bottlenecks affect the flow of materials, information and value adding capability. Common disadvantages are

•Complex flows of material.
•Reduced vision and ownership of the
•Total value chain.
•Operators concentrate on islands of efficiency.

Better try out Cell Layouts, which are typically U shaped, operations are combined and single piece flow is adopted. Bottlenecks are eliminated by the use of multiple operators or machines. Immediate advantages are usually

•The flow of materials becomes smoother.
•There is no queuing between machines.
•Throughput time is reduced.
•Operators are trained in more than one task.
•Value stream visibility is much high.
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Standard Work and Multi-skilling during Lean Six Sigma

By on February 27, 2012 in Lean Six Sigma, Uncategorized

Standard Work and Multi-skilling during Lean Six Sigma is also important;

  • Value adding steps are broken down into standard work ‘packages’.
  • Standard Operating procedures are written for each package.
  • A skill matrix for a team can then be produced by showing team members vs. work packages that the team need to perform.
  • The skill matrix naturally leads to thinking about training to develop people and fill gaps in team capabilities.

This helps

  • Achieve CONSISTENCY in operations (reduce variation) which leads to robustness and better flow.
  • Process Management.
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lean six sigma and Parallel Processing

By on February 27, 2012 in Lean Six Sigma, Uncategorized

To save Lead time (calendar time) we can, through Lean Six Sigma or Lean engineering the process steps that are currently being completed in series.

Another possibility is to take out some process steps from the series and do them in parallel to other process steps.

This is often called concurrent engineering; the idea being that you can design the different parts of a product at the same time. Unless concurrent or parallel processing is carefully planned and coordinated, it results in chaos.

Two things are required for Parallel processing:

  • The customer (or the business) would value the reduction in lead time
  • Only process steps which are independent of each other can be done in parallel
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