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The product development newsletter no 6 |
| Topic: How you identify waste in your product development process -
part 1 |
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| Have your production areas recently been persuaded that lean production
methodology is a good idea? |
| First of all, to eliminate misunderstanding about buzzword vocabulary,
note that “Lean” means using Toyota production system (TPS) methodology.
Metrics are annual stock turn and order lead-time. You are not lean is you
have only applied 6-sigma or 5-s; those are helpful discipline techniques,
not the fundamentals. Lean means single piece flow, single minute set-ups,
cells not lines, making to order not to forecast and other TPS attributes.
(Read Womack and Jones’ Lean Thinking - good holiday entertainment.) Much
confusion here - too many “advisors” are jumping on the lean bandwagon
without understanding: we almost need real lean, like we needed real ale.
Well-implemented TPS can make staggering reductions in manufacture cost,
floor space and inventory with big quality improvements. For example, for a
£15,000 outlay, one Midlands company is now saving £100,000 a year from one
line alone, and having learned how to do it are now spreading it across
their whole production operation. Their target is to cut £500,000 direct
cost plus £1 million bank borrowing out of £20 million turnover. If you
haven’t done it, your manufacturing cost base could be 30% greater than it
could be. It’s essential for long-term survival in UK manufacturing. (Get
your production director to visit www.ame-uk.org) |
| But back to the question, if you’re applying TPS methodology in your
production area, you will almost certainly be value stream mapping (VSM)
your production processes. Because the benefits are so impressive, Top Bod
(could be you) may decide that this was so effective that it would now be a
good idea to VSM your product development process. |
| Excellent idea but is it possible? |
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The reason for this question is that there are significant differences
between a production process, or a routine administration task such as order
processing, and developing a product. In the two former processes, you can
see the product, and observe and map how it is moved, stored, worked on -
and so on. Whereas in product development you can see only what is happening
at this instant in time. You can recall what you did before, and what you
did after what you’re doing now, by remembering how you developed another
product. So you can map your process to identify redundant tasks,
unnecessary delays and so on. That is useful. |
| But unlike production methodology, there exists virtually no information
on how you do this for product development. A number of organisations are
researching how it might be done, and some books allude to related work, but
none claim to describe an authoritative VSM design-development process or
set out real detail. Some of the research is coming up with somewhat
academic processes with only limited benefit that are difficult to apply. So
if a consultancy tells you they are experienced at doing it, they may well
be from another planet. Look for three eyes and prominent cranial antennae.
All the original work by Shingo and Ohno was on production systems. Toyota
do use a smart product development process, but they have attributes and a
culture that few if any Western companies can replicate in their product
development areas. We know what that is and can describe it. As well as
Toyota culture, and an organisation larger than yours, they have chief
engineers who have spent 20 years learning the detail of Toyota’s product
building blocks and systems in depth prior to their appointment. They are
key to their process. |
| It is certainly theoretically possible to VSM your product development
process. The seven classic wastes identified by Shingo and Ohno must have
product development equivalents. But there is not yet a universally
recognised method (or any method!) on how to do it for the product
development process. I have recently examined how a Ford US tool and die
supplier has run their version, courtesy of Dan Jones’ UK Lean Enterprise
Academy (see www.leanuk.org). It used a different set of symbols and
protocols from those for production operation VSM. And it was done without
knowing exactly what Toyota do - if indeed they do it at all. |
| The West does not know if they devised their current methodology from
applying VSM. The Ford supplier’s system was devised from scratch by a new
staff member using his extensive TPS production experience with academic
support from local academia that researches applying the TPS. |
| So it is possible, but there may be significant caveats, which we’ll
comment on next time. Meanwhile, if you haven’t read Lean Thinking, please
do. It’s entertaining and, I found, inspiring. You’ll get a lot of new
ideas. |
