Continuous

Improvement Overview

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The C.I. Focus
Cycle of Continuous Improvement

Standardize

Implement New
Expose Methods
Problems
CI

Solve Problems

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Continuous Improvement
Continuous Improvement is an integral
part of successful manufacturing in
today’s competitive environment. It can
help your company

 Reduce waste
 Increase efficiency
 Improve quality
 Reduce cost

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Continuous Improvement simple definition:

Continuous Improvement is
systematically
identifying and eliminating waste,
as quickly as possible, and at the
lowest possible cost.

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Part 1: The Outcome of
Continuous Improvement
 Improved Quality at the Process
 Eliminated Bottlenecks
 Increased Visual Management
 Reduced Fluctuation
 Increased Knowledge
 Reduced Costs
 Increased Efficiency
(Doing more with the same
or
Doing the same with less)

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Improved Quality at the Process
Continuous Improvement enforces working in-
station, to standard operating procedures, as a key
factor in achieving quality at the process.

During workshops, opportunities for simple quality

confirmations are identified.

Participants learn to always consider the

impact to quality when making changes
to the process.

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 Eliminate Bottlenecks
Bottleneck processes are individual processes or
tasks that take more time than other processes and
slow production. Continuous Improvement workshops
60 focus on waste
50 Takt Time
48 reduction and
work rebalancing
Cycle Time (sec)

40 35
33 to eliminate
30
bottlenecks.
20

10

0
1 2 3

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Visual Management

Being able to quickly identify and respond to

abnormal conditions is critical to managing a
manufacturing environment. Visual
Management tools are improved to

 Increase awareness and response

 Allow for quick return to stable
conditions

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Reduce Fluctuation

Unstable processes are difficult to staff and

manage and inherently create waste in the
production environment. Identifying and
reducing process fluctuation

 Reduces overall production time

 Increases visual management
 Allows for better allocation of
resources

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Increased Knowledge
Tools learned during Continuous
Improvements:

1. Practical Problem Solving

2. Time Measurement
3. Elemental Wall
4. Ergonomic Checklist
5. Standardized Work
6. Process Stability Checklist
7. 5S

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Reduced Costs
Traditional cost - plus approach

PROFIT • Add desired profit to costing in order to determine

selling price

MARKET
PRICE COST

PROFIT
Cost reduction approach
• Market establishes selling price
MARKET
• Desired profit is achieved through COST
PRICE
reduction of cost.

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Increased Efficiency

We Gain Efficiency Through:

• Process vs. Results

• Time Measurement
• Speaking with Data

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Increased Efficiency is achieved
through:
Process vs Results
• Results are always historical.
– Yesterday
– Last week
– Last month

• Improved RESULTS can only be obtained by improving

the PROCESS.

• Process is NOW.

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Increased Efficiency is achieved
through:
Time Measurement

• Production processes are completely focused on TIME

• Takt Time
• Cycle Time
• Hours per Vehicle
• Units per hour

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Increased Efficiency is achieved
through:
Speaking with Data
• Don’t assume - Go and see - Observe and measure

• Analyze Data

• Make decisions with data

• Take action based on data

• Check results with data

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Part 2: Focus on Stability

 Standardization
 Safety
 Quality
 Ergonomics
 Lean
 5S

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Standardization

• Best, easiest, safest way known today

• Basis for training
• Basis for relentless root cause analysis
• By standardizing processes, consistent results are produced in
Safety, Quality and Efficiency
• Documentation of know-how

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Safety

A safe work environment is one of the

cornerstones of a successful business.

Continuous Improvement
supports the idea that no
change should ever be
made to a process that
has a negative impact on
safety!
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Quality

There are quality standards and expectations

demanded of any manufacturing product.

Changes to the process should never

decrease the quality of the product provided
to the customer!

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Ergonomics
The ergonomic impact of work should always be
examined to see if improvements can be made.
Part presentation that places heavy or awkward
parts within proper ergonomic levels
can decrease waste of motion and
fatigue.
Any changes to tools or processes
should be analyzed with a critical eye
towards any impact on ergonomics.

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Lean
Lean Manufacturing focuses on the
identification and elimination of the 7 forms of
waste:
 Overproduction
 Inventory
 Unnecessary Motion
 Transportation
 Waiting
 Overprocessing
 Defects/Repair/Rework
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5S
5S improves organization, visual management,
and standardization. The 5S status of an area
is assessed in the first CI Workshop to help
identify potential problems and 5S should be
maintained as improvements are made.

 SIFT  SANITIZE
 SWEEP  SUSTAIN
 SORT

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Part 3:
The Continuous Improvement
Workshop
The CI Workshop
Team Roles
Days 1 - 5
Presentation Format
Achieving Results: Example
Keys to Success
Moving Forward

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The CI Workshop
• An activity/event to identify and implement improvements in a
designated area

• A Standard method for Process owners, Supervisors and Engineers to

focus and learn about waste elimination methods and activities

• An organized group of Team Members who identify and eliminate

production wastes through Continuous Improvement activities

• A method for training groups of Team Members on the Continuous

Improvement process

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C. I. Workshop:Team Roles
• A group of motivated people with complementary skills and
knowledge who are committed to a common purpose, set of
performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves
mutually accountable.

Team Leader - point of contact, organizes agenda and activity, orchestrates

team activities, keeper of all documentation, also a team member

Team Members - contribute fully to the project, share knowledge and

expertise, participate in all activities and discussions, carry out
assignments

Facilitator/Advisor - provides technical or planning assistance, provides

training, focuses on the team’s process (how) rather than product (what),
works with team to eventually become self-reliant

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The 5 Day CI Workshop*

Day 1: Assess the current condition

Identify Opportunities
Develop improvement ideas
 Focus on one cell or work area – ideally no more
than 1-2 processes per team member
 Conduct elemental time & cycle time studies
 Identify waste
 Develop a strategy & target to reduce waste and
eliminate bottlenecks

* Any required pre-training should be provided prior to workshop kick-off

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The 5 Day CI Workshop
Day 2: Simulate Changes

 Ensure that ideas are viable BEFORE

implementing process changes!
 Get ideas/opinions of multiple operators
 Simulate changes and get buy-in / approval on all
shifts

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The 5 Day CI Workshop
Day 3: Implement Improvements
 Put changes in place with minimal impact to
production.
 Team members should be available on line while
changes are being made to help and answer
questions.
 Any required change documentation / approvals
should be completed according to company policy
 Any required process training should be
conducted prior to change implementation.

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The 5 Day CI Workshop

Day 4: Validate Impact

 Conduct new time study to validate

reductions in cycle times.
 Refine changes if necessary
 Document changes
 Prepare new line balance

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The 5 Day CI Workshop
Day 5: Present Results

 Materials should be hand written and

displayed on flipcharts
 Display both before and after data
 Each participant should cover a
portion of the presentation
 Use simple 5-7 page format

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CI Workshop Presentation Format
Section 1: Workshop location, team members,
targets, etc.
Section 2: Initial condition
Section 3: Waste and opportunities identified
Section 4: Highlight improvements made to
process
Section 5: Results (before and after)
Section 6: Open items
Section 7: Next Steps

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 Achieving Results: Example
Balance Table - Before Balance Table - After

60 60

48
50 46 45 50
41 42
38
40 35 40 36
33 34
Seconds

Seconds
31 32
30 30
21
20 20

10 10
0
0 0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Work Station Cycle Time Work Station Cycle Time
Target Takt Time Target Takt Time

Reduced max cycle time in cell from 48 seconds to 42 seconds

Reduced total cell cycle time from 259 seconds to 221 seconds
Reduced manpower by 1 operator per shift
Increased cell utilization from 77.1% to 88.4%

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Moving Forward
 Train more employees in Continuous
Improvement.
 Build a Continuous Improvement Team.
 Spread Continuous Improvement to
other production lines or other
areas of the plant.
 Build a culture of Continuous
Improvement within your
organization.
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The 5 Day CI Workshop - Keys to success

• Create a sense of urgency

• Have a vision, communicate it continuously

• Focus on key process drivers

• Remove all obstacles to achieve the vision

• Create short-term victories

• Don’t declare victory too soon

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The 5 Day CI Workshop - Keys to success

Problems are Opportunities

• Problems are a mountain of opportunities.

• If no problem is perceived - there can be no improvement.

• People are rarely the problem - they are the problem-solvers.

• Processes and systems can only be improved by people

recognizing and eliminating problems.

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The 5 Day CI Workshop - Keys to success

Non-Judgmental / Non-Blaming
• Eliminates the search for who to blame
• Provides system improvement opportunities
• Allows relentless root cause analysis
• Increases trust
• Improves quality of communication
• Avoids “shoot the messenger” mentality
• Avoids crisis orientation

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