March 2007 Managing Times

MANAGINGMarch/April.07

S h a r i n g S o l u t i o n s f o r Y o u r L e a n J o u r n e y

TIMES

How do adultslearn?

Culture: a strategicweapon for business survival.

6Save green bybeing green.

8 10

Sappi Warren Uses LeanSigma® to be Anything But Run of the Mill

Manufacturers who succeed in ademand economy must be able to respondto the highly enabled customers of the 21stcentury. Leaning your business to improveresponsiveness to ever-changing customerneeds is the only way to embrace and capture this web-savvy, highly educated,want-it-now, in-control market.

In a demand economy, a company existsto solve customer problems. This is in directcontrast to the narrow product/service supply-side mentality that still drives manyorganizations. Manufacturers who are stuckin a supply-side economic model rely ontheir own vision and timetable to design,produce, and sell products and services forcustomers. Let’s say your company sellsoffice products and services to businesses.Your supply-side strategy defines your offerings as pens, paper, files, printers, software, telephones, and other tangibleproducts. When you look to grow your business, you expand into similar areas suchas office furniture and printing/copying services. Your business is defined by whatyour company typically sells, what your customers typically buy, and what your competitors offer or don’t.

In contrast, lean, responsive, and agilecompanies operating under a demand-sidestrategy rely on value innovation to differentiate their products and services fromthose of their competitors, but they don’tstop at a narrow definition of existing customer needs. If you work for a demand-side-strategy office supply company,you identify key customer segments andspend time with members of each segment,watching them work and listening to theirconcerns to uncover unarticulated needs.

Let’s say you learn that your small busi-ness customers’ biggest issues are the cost ofhealth care, saving energy, and getting theirtechnology to work right. None of these isyour company’s area of expertise, but thatdoesn’t stop you. You partner with a nationalhealth care provider to offer a health insur-ance plan tailored to small businesses. Youdesign an energy-saving program that teach-es small businesses how to use energy moreefficiently. You offer reliable technology sup-port that guarantees everything will work asexpected, whether you sell it or not. Yourbusiness is defined by what your customersneed to succeed and grow and your own capac-ity to move swiftly to define and supply it.

You may recognize the aforementionedstrategy as that of a solutions provider. Tosucceed in a demand economy, you need toprovide your customer not with things, butwith solutions. Doing so gives you a seriouscompetitive advantage. You will leap aheadof your competition.

What is the foundation on which thisstrategy will be built? It should be one oflean thinking, responsiveness, and opera-tional excellence. It will ultimately allow youto take command in the demand economy.

In this issue, you will see how a processindustry company, papermaker SappiWarren, is using LeanSigma® to address theissues of lead time, quality, and innovation—all elements that help make acompany more responsive to the demands ofits customers (p. 2).

PUBLISHER’SNOTE Succeeding in a Demand Economy

Because a lean transformation requirespeople to learn new things, understandinghow we learn as adults is critical. Adultlearning theory describes why classes orlearning programs need to be structured differently if they are to be effective (p. 6).

Successfully transforming an organizationrequires certain key attributes to be in placein an organization’s culture. Those attributeswill determine how much improvement willbe made and successfully sustained over timeand whether the continuous-improvementeffort will be a true and lasting transformation (p. 8).

As customers and investors become moreattuned to environmental issues, manufac-turers will also need to be more cognizant ofenvironmental concerns. Read about howone company, Mansfield Plumbing, foundthat being greener was good not only for theenvironment but also for the bottom line (p. 10).

The companies profiled in this issue recognized that they couldn’t sit back and dobusiness as usual. They wanted to be responsive to their customers and they foundthat lean was the means by which to do so.You should do the same.

Anand Sharma, President & CEOTBM Consulting Group, [email protected]

Managing Times | March/April.07www.tbmcg.com/news/newsletter.php

A publication of TBM Consulting Group

800.438.5535, www.tbmcg.com

Publisher

Anand Sharma: [email protected]

Executive Editor

William A. Schwartz: [email protected]

Managing Editor

Julie Poudrier: [email protected]

Featured Columnists

Doug Bonner Joe PanebiancoNero Haralalka Anand SharmaGary Hourselt

Contributors Stacy Aponte-Morris David PateAlfredo Arreola Gary RascoeJerry Curry Angela ScennaDonna Hopkins Dan SullivanBeth Ann Hunt Ken VanWinkleTony Lea

Art Direction and Design

IONA designwww.ionainteractive.com

Printing

Carter Printing & Graphics, Inc.www.carterprintingnc.com

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On the cover: The Sappi Warren paper millin Westbrook, ME, has been in operation formore than a century, making release papersfor the synthetic leather and synthetic fabricindustries. By using a LeanSigma® approachand keeping the entire value stream in mindat all times, the mill has made significant improvements in lead time andquality, and ultimately plans to improve thedesign process as well.

David Lloyd, previously general manager ofArgos’ Distribution Centre in Barton hasbeen appointed General Manager of JohnLewis San Distribution Centre. TerryMaher of Argos’ Distribution Centre inBarton has been appointed as continuousimprovement development manager. …Tektronix’ lean deployment championKathy Jones recently retired from the company, located in Beaverton, OR. MikeBadnin has been tapped to take her place.Mike’s title is LeanSigma® deployment manager for worldwide manufacturing. …Jim Grimes has retired as HubbellCorporation’s vice president of operations.Lou Pizzoli will be taking over the reinsfrom Jim as Jim enters a well-deserved retirement. Lou’s duties as vice president ofmanufacturing operations will include heading up Hubbell’s LeanSigma efforts. …Sealy Mattress South Region has several newcontinuous improvement coordinators: LuisColon in Orlando, FL; Danilo Burgos inFort Worth, TX; and T.J. Naik in Conyers,GA. Jack Swain, former continuousimprovement coordinator in Orlando hasbeen named the regional manager, based inConyers. … Rick Gawenda has been namedKPO manager at Scholle in Northlake, IL.… Scott Vannarsdall has been named KPOmanager at LinkBelt in Lexington, KY. …Tiffany Mullis-Brittain, director of com-munications at Vanguard Furniture inConover, NC, gave birth to a boy, BrooksHayward Brittain, on March 2.Congratulations to the Brittain family. …TBM welcomes its newest consultants, JimPrivette, who has joined Carl Deeley’sconsulting Team, as well as JakubKonopczak in Poland and TharcisseDecker in France. Both Jakub and Tharcissewill be working out of the TBM Europeoffice in Geneva, Switzerland.

LEANCOMMUNITYNEWSMANAGINGMarch/April.07

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Congratulations to the Vitoria MercedesBenz Plant of DaimlerChrysler Espana SAfor winning first place among all EuropeanMercedes Benz plants by achieving a qualifi-cation level of 86 percent for implementation of the DaimlerChryslerProduction System (DCPS). The plant’sKPO received an evaluation of 100 percentin the elements considered in the DCPS.While the plant credits TBM’s help for itssuccess, the achievement is the result of greatteamwork, excellent support from the mana-gerial and direction areas of all the plants,the facility director, and Armando Gaspar,presidente de centros industrials, DaimlerChrysler Espana SA. … TBM’s India officeofficially opens in April. The address is TBMConsultants (India) Private Ltd.,“Technopolis,” Sector-54, DLF Golf CourseRoad, Gurgaon, India 122 002.

CASESTUDY Sappi Warren Uses LeanSigma to be Anything But Run of the MillBy Doug Bonner, TBM Senior Management Consultant

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When you think of paper, you probably think of writing letters or perhapsreading a book. You probably don’t thinkabout your car’s dashboard or your daugh-ter’s patent leather shoes. Paper is used formore than just writing, though, and SappiWarren’s Westbrook, Maine, mill createspapers for use in making such things asautomobile dashboards and synthetic leathershoes, purses, and belts. These specialtypapers are known as release papers. They areused as molds to impart certain characteristics to synthetic fabrics andleathers and then are peeled away (released)from the final synthetic product. This is howan alligator-skin pattern is created in synthetic alligator-skin belts or the classicshine is created in patent leather shoes.

The process by which release papers aremade is much the same as any papermakingprocess. Wood is pulped to separate thewood fibers from the lignin, and those woodfibers are washed, bleached, refined, cleaned,pressed, and dried to ultimately become thepaper with which we are all familiar. At theSappi Warren mill in Westbrook, the paperis also textured and receives a release coating. Sappi Warren’s customers take thatpaper and cast liquid vinyl or polyurethaneon it. Once the liquid has set, the paper ispeeled away and the vinyl or polyurethaneretains an impression of the paper tobecome synthetic fabrics and syntheticleathers. The faux leather look of the dashboard of your car was probably madeon release paper.

The Sappi Warren mill has been inoperation for more than a century and ahalf. Warren release papers were inventedaround the time of World War II as a meansfor casting vinyl draperies and shower curtains. Today, the Westbrook mill still produces release papers for a variety of uses.

Starting the Continuous Improvement ProcessJohn Martis is managing director of the

mill. Martis came to Sappi with some leantransformation experience gained while atPerfecseal in Philadelphia, as well as severalother places. When he joined the Westbrookmill, he ran the classic release product line.Martis says, “At the time our lead time wasabout six weeks, and we were losing marketshare. We were losing a lot of businessbecause there was a domestic company thatcould deliver faster. Since I had some experi-ence with lean manufacturing in the past, Iknew that if we used the tools right wecould cut the lead time down and improveprofitability. So I talked to the mill managerat the time, and he gave me the latitude togo ahead and do it. The first thing we didwas work on the changeover time on one ofthe coaters because that allowed us to reduceour lot sizes and get our responsiveness up.

“Then we started working on 5S andsome total productive maintenance (TPM)events to try and get the workplace organization and housekeeping squaredaway,” he adds. Addressing waste through 5Shelped. The teams also started to developsupermarkets so that the WIP inventorycould be better managed. They also set upfinished goods supermarkets so customerscould be better serviced without overly complicating the warehouse process.

TPM has been instituted throughoutthe mill. Martis says, “Over the past threeyears the mill has reduced unplannedmechanical downtime by more than 50 percent, which means the equipment’s running when we want it to run a lot more.We’re running with less inventory, and ourservice levels have improved.”


Over the past threeyears the mill has

reduced unplannedmechanical downtime

by more than 50 percent, which means

the equipment’s runningwhen we want it to run

a lot more. We’re run-ning with less inventory,

and our service levelshave improved.

Westbrook’s KPO John Hoering joinedthe mill as a chemical engineer right out ofthe University of Maine, Orono, in 1982.He has since held a variety of jobs, from various technical assignments and project-type work to operations management andsupervision.

Hoering says, “Our first real lean project here was in 1994. We created a celland we created some work flow, but it wasreally too early for the organization. Theydidn’t know what it was about; they didn’tknow how it was supposed to work. In theend it didn’t contribute very much and itgot lost. So now we’ve come back at it againwith much greater success.

“For this effort we’ve got the directionof our plant director John Martis, and we’ve got support from TBM,” he continues. “We’ve also gotten good buy-infrom our leadership team as more and morefolks come on board and understand whywe’re doing this. So we’re seeing some good results.”

The Westbrook mill began its leanjourney in earnest in January 2004, startingwith what Hoering calls “the clean-up partof things” and has had a fairly steady projectschedule ever since. Hoering says, “We hadan awful lot of inventory crammed betweenprocess steps, and there was a real jumble ofstuff going on. It was rather a difficult knotto begin to untie. So we started untying itby first reducing our inventory levels.”

Inventory reduction allowed them tobetter see what was going on at the individ-ual steps and between them—it created better line of sight. They implemented somevisual controls and started cleaning up theplace. They counted on the lean process tohelp sustain those changes.

The Westbrook mill is now taking amultipronged approach to its lean activities.Low-hanging fruit is being addressed asopportunities arise. At the same time, avalue-stream view of all activities is maintained. Work done in one area mightactually show a benefit in a different area,and maintaining that value-stream approachenables everyone to keep sight of that biggerpicture. In that way, they can work towardoptimizing the whole process and not just asmall part of it. “That’s something I thinkwe’ve always been aware of, but the lean toolkit is now helping us get at it,” saysHoering. “We work as a team to fill thevalue-stream maps and we recognize thatone area may do work whose benefit doesn’tshow in that area. Lean is helping us to takea more ‘global’ view and get away from thesilo sort of mentality that may have existedin the past.”

By using a LeanSigma approach, themill has doubled its value-added time while cutting the total process time in half.Lean improvements have allowed the company to take business back from itsdomestic competition. Martis notes thatsome advantages gained include improvedefficiencies, cash generation by keepinginventories down, and the ability to bring aproduct to market quicker.

Lean and ISO Go Hand-in-HandThe Westbrook mill was ISO certified

9001 in 2002 before the plant began its leaninitiative in earnest and became 14001 certi-fied in 2005. “In getting through the ISOcertification process we were forced to builda higher level of discipline around documentcontrol and that sort of thing,” saysHoering. “Those things have been veryhelpful in sustaining improvements in that

3Managing Times | March/April.07www.tbmcg.com/news/newsletter.php

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we have a system that we can keep our standard work in. We have a process management system that we can build ourimprovements into.” Martis adds, “We haveonly one process that we use for addressingenvironmental issues and quality and we arein the process of rolling safety into that aswell. This means we have one top-tier manu-al, one set of SOPs, and one set of correctiveactions or integrated action responses.

“To coordinate ISO with lean, we workhard to understand what the common mission and vision is and for the most partonce we agree on what our goals and objectives are, people start executing towardthe goals, and it’s not that complicated of aprocess really,” Martis adds. So the disciplineof the ISO certification process has helpedthe mill to clarify and streamline its policydeployment process as well.

“Lean makes it easier to maintain ourISO certification,” Martis says. There’s a certain amount of effort that goes into gaining certification, but both the ISO 9000and 14000 certifications have a continuous-improvement element as part of the ongoingcertification process. This requires you haveto have some sort of methodology docu-mented for continuous improvement.”

Seeing Quality Improvements in a Process Environment

Most of the continuous-improvementprojects undertaken at the plant include aquality aspect. Martis notes that lean hashelped the mill become more attuned towhat’s causing variation, which translatesinto better external quality.

Hoering adds, “We have seen measura-ble and significant quality improvements inthe areas where we have focused ourLeanSigma efforts. We know that when weapply the tool kit and when we use it

correctly we can make a big difference. Achallenge is that there’s a whole bunch ofplaces where we need to make qualityimprovements and we haven’t gotten tothem all yet. But as time passes, our management team is more apt to seek outsupport for applying LeanSigma tools tosome of their quality issues.”

Bringing about any change, and especially quality improvements, is a toughroad in an ancient facility with old equipment. Dealing with quality problemsin a process environment is difficult becauseunlike in a discrete environment, where asimple change (like changing a die) has animmediate and observable effect, in a processenvironment the results of a change at onepoint in the process might not be immediately visible and might actually beobservable only through a measurement system and maybe even only further downthe process line. Says Hoering, “We need tosee [changes] through our control charts andby measuring process capability, which cantake a long time. Some of the root-causethings that we need to get at are much lessvisible, and it is very difficult to see where inthe process some of the problems arise.

“To find root causes, we must collectdata and use more sophisticated root-cause-analysis tools. It takes more time andmore patience. It takes overcoming somepreconceptions about where problems comefrom. It’s just a whole other layer of com-plexity, and I think some folks underestimatethe difference between at least our processenvironment and the discrete environmentin that regard. Some of these problems arereally hard to figure out.”

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But both Hoering and Martis commentthat LeanSigma has provided the mill withthe tools to start making quality improve-ments, despite the difficulties inherent inaddressing a process situation. One of thosetools is TPM. According to Hoering, one ofthe keys to the mill’s success in addressingquality is the fact that the mechanical condition of mill equipment is important toproduct quality. Although up time is important, the physical condition of theequipment used to produce the paper has asignificant impact on paper quality, so TPM allows the mill to improve quality simply by maintaining old equipment ingood working order.

Cultural Change in a Union EnvironmentBecause the Westbrook mill has existed

for 150 years it has a unique culture that hasbeen around for a long time. The averageage of employees is 53. Both the organization and the individual employeeshave been papermaking for quite a while,and change doesn’t always come easily. “Ithink of what we do in every kaizen event asan opportunity to nudge our culture a littlebit and get us thinking in different waysabout what we need to do and why we needto do it,” says Hoering.

He notes that older employees may be alittle harder to change on one hand, but onthe other they have an enormous amount ofexperience and knowledge that can betapped into and used for growth and drivingchange. “It’s a real asset. I think the key forus was tapping into that knowledge andexperience and putting it to work instead ofletting it become another part of the culturalbarrier,” he notes. The kaizen process helpsdrive cultural change by getting operators tothink about solutions in different ways. The

end result is that employees are happier andmore engaged because they are allowed toput their knowledge to creative use to solveproblems.

Being in a union environment can be aspecial challenge when it comes to culturalchange. Hoering advises communicating upfront with union leadership. Let the leadership know what you’re doing and askthem to be a part of it. Rather than viewingthe union as a single entity he recommendsapproaching individuals, engaging them andshowing them why the organization is doingwhat it’s doing and why it’s important toeach individual. Hoering says, “Every kaizenevent or interaction is an opportunity tobring about cultural change.”

Looking ForwardAs the Westbrook mill adds up

continuous-improvement successes, the leaninitiative is evolving out of the manufactur-ing floor and spreading across the enterprise.Kaizen teams have moved out of the milland over to the administrative side toaddress business process issues at the plant’sinformation technology help desk and in thecustomer service center.

As Westbrook continues to show improvements, the managing directors ofSappi’s other North American mills havetaken notice. Hoering has traveled to otherplants to help get them started with simpleprojects like 5S and creating supermarkets.Martis firmly believes that “loaning” his leanstaff to these other plants can benefit theentire corporation.

Again, good communication plays arole in the spread of lean from one plant toanother. Hoering notes that both he and

Martis have been very vocal and proactive insharing outside of the mill site their progressand the methods they’ve been using, withthe hope that the others will latch on to it.“Our results are good enough that they’recoming to us and saying they want to try it,”he remarks.

Additionally, the mill is beginning touse LeanSigma tools to address productdevelopment. Martis feels that the lean toolscan help the mill greatly reduce time to market and be much more responsive to customers. A key element is design for manufacturability. Too often in the past, themill has put designs out in the market thatcustomers liked only to find that they couldn’t make the product easily. By taking alean approach to product design he expectsto create better products and get them intothe market much more quickly.

While branching into the design processand striving for administrative simplicity,Martis expects to continue hammering awayat the shop floor. “We still have a tremendous opportunity to generate cash bygetting our inventories down, and ourresponsiveness continues to be more sluggishthan we’d like it to be, even though we’vemade dramatic improvements,” he says.“We’re also looking at increasing the varietyof products by using our existing technologyto get into different markets—nontraditionalrelease papers,” he adds.

Clearly, LeanSigma has become the“pen” with which Sappi Warren will fill theblank paper of a bright future—mapping atransformation that will lead to ever betterinnovation, growth, and profitability.


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ACCELERATEDLEARNING How Do Adults Learn?Joe Panebianco, TBM Senior Trainer and Design Specialist

Learning—we have been doing it sincewe were born and continue to do itthroughout our lives. We learn from teachers, mentors, and co-workers, as well asthrough our own experiences, successes, andfailures. We learn in school, on the job, athome, and in our churches.

So let’s define learning. Learning is anactivity that increases the capacity and willingness of individuals, groups, andorganizations to acquire and productivelyapply new knowledge and skills. Such learning empowers individuals, expandstheir world, and increases their ability toshape that world.

The way to increase a person’s capacityfor learning is to set learning objectives thatare beyond the individual’s current limits ofknowledge. Behavioral objectives need to beset to motivate or create a willingness toapply what has been learned. When applying these concepts to a company, boththe learning objectives and the behavioralobjectives need to be aligned with the organizational objectives. This is truewhether you are talking about a safety program, quality control procedures, or continuous improvement.

This is important in any organization,but especially in one that is implementingLeanSigma®. Not only are there the manyconcepts and principles of LeanSigma thatmust be learned and applied by everyone inthe organization, but as processes changeand improve, jobs and the skills needed toperform them also change. This requiresadditional learning by members of theorganization. So we must be prepared to beboth students and teachers during thesechanges. Having a better understanding ofthe issues, motivations, and requirements foradults to learn benefits everyone involved.

How we learn as adults is different fromhow we learn as children. Adult learningtheory describes how adults learn and whyclasses or learning programs need to bestructured differently than the classes weattended as children if those classes are to beeffective.

Adult learning theory is a framework foreducators and trainers. Malcolm S. Knowles(1973) was among the first proponents ofthe idea that adults learn differently thanchildren. In his book The Adult Learner: ANeglected Species, Knowles created his unified theory of adult learning. In the threedecades since that landmark book was published, his ideas of adult learning havebecome widely espoused and applied acrossthe board—from colleges to corporations.

Facilitated LearningAs we mature into adulthood, we prefer

self-directed learning opportunities. Therole of the instructor is not to strictly lecturethe class but to become a guide and aresource for the students and engage the students in the process of inquiry, analysis,and decision-making. Think about some ofthe learning experiences that you may havehad as an adult. Classes that were strictlylecture were probably boring unless you werelearning material that was extremely interesting to you personally or the speakerwas incredibly dynamic. On the other hand,classes that involved learning through examples, exercises, simulations, and otherstudents probably were more interesting. Inthose classes, the instructor acted more like a facilitator than a traditional teacher: stimulating the students’ desire to learn andguiding them through the process; balancingthe presentation of new material with discussion, debate, and the clock; and all the while creating an environment where the students felt comfortable sharing andasking questions.

Joe Panebianco

The role of the instruc-tor is not to strictly

lecture the class but tobecome a guide and a

resource for the stu-dents and engage the

students in the processof inquiry, analysis, and

decision-making.

earning


Experiences CountThe experiences that we gain throughout

our lives provide a rich resource for learning.Adults will learn material quicker and retainit longer if they can relate it to experiencesin their past. The opposite is also true: if thematerial being taught is, or appears to be, insharp conflict with what is already believedto be true, the old beliefs will need to bereevaluated before the new material can beintegrated. This conflict will inhibit thelearning process if the existing beliefs are toostrong and their conflict with the new material cannot be resolved. That is why it is important for curriculum designers toknow whether the concepts or ideas will bein concert or in conflict with the learner.This will allow them to design instruction toeffect a change in belief and value systems.

Because adults learn better when they are active participants in a class, coursesshould be structured so that they draw uponeach individual’s past knowledge, with class members encouraged to share their experi-ences. Discussion, exercises that requireproblem solving or analysis, and their application to work or life situations are atthe core of the methodology for creatingtraining material for adults.

Need-Driven LearningAdults are most interested in learning a

subject when they have an immediate needin their job or personal life. As adults gothrough changes in their lives, such as marriage, becoming a parent, retirement, anew position at work, or the loss of a job,these changes become the impetus to seekand obtain training that is relevant to thechange. The new skills we obtain—originally learned out of necessity—are anemotional support as well as a way to copewith or adapt to the new changes in ourlives. Depending on how aware the adult isof the need for change and his current skillset, he may seek the training before, during,or after the life-changing event. In somecases, it may even be necessary to convinceadults that the change is a certainty beforethey will recognize the need and accept the help that the learning activity will provide. Learning for adults is needs-based:the learning is a means to an end, not anend in itself.

Practical ApplicationAs we discussed above, adults learn

because there is a need for the additionalknowledge or skills. Once they haveobtained that knowledge, they want toapply it immediately and solve problems.Adults are competency-based learners,meaning that they want to learn a skill oracquire knowledge that they can apply pragmatically to their immediate circum-stances. Life- or work-related situations present a more appropriate framework foradult learning than academic or theoreticalapproaches. Therefore, regardless of themedia used, straightforward how-to is thepreferred style for the presentation of thecourse content. Adults respond well to simulations, especially those that present thestudent with a scenario built around situations or tasks that they can relate to intheir personal or professional lives.

By understanding the motivations andrequirements behind adult learning we can better help our employees get the training that will help them succeed. By incorporating the concepts of adult learninginto our LeanSigma training and the resulting organizational transformation, wecan better leverage our employees’ capacityfor learning. We set the stage for a more sustainable continuous-improvement initiative by creating an atmosphere inwhich what is learned is useful, and itseffects are lasting.

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sustained LeanSigma or continuous-improvement transformation.

ValuesWalk into the offices of almost any

company and look at enough of the wallspace and you will probably find a framedstatement of the company’s values hangingthere. You’ve seen them. “We value our customers.” “Above all, we value our people.” “We value integrity.” “We are committed to long-term growth.” “Safety isour first priority.” You get the idea. Themanagement teams who write these trulybelieve what they write. Too often, though,their behaviors don’t match their beliefs andthe only evidence of their beliefs is foundhanging on the wall where no one is payingmuch attention most of the time.

Your company’s employees, customers,and suppliers know what the company’s values are by observing the everyday behaviors of your leadership, consistentlyapplied. Some of the more important behaviors that prevail among the leadershipin a maturing, sustaining LeanSigma cultureare the following:

• Honesty is paramount.• People are treated as appreciating assets.• Efforts are focused on eliminating

waste, not on finding fault with people.• Efforts are focused on finding the root

causes of defects, not on blaming people.• Doing what has been promised to every

customer is expected.• Profit is not viewed as the primary goal,

but rather the result of meeting continuous-improvement objectives.

• Objectives for the longer term success of the business are at least as important as objectives that are expected to have short-term results.

• Accountability is demonstrated by the continuous emphasis on developing countermeasures rather than coming upwith reasons as soon as things don’t go as expected.

• Transparency is standard operating procedure.

• Credit for success and gains is shared.

What are your leaders telling youremployees, customers, and suppliers thatyour values are? They will be “hearing you”through their eyes.

Too often, we work alongside executivesand managers who view a LeanSigma or anycontinuous-improvement undertaking onlyas a cost-reduction effort. This usually resultsfrom a predominately short-term focus andthinking of the costs incurred in theimprovement effort as expenses. Companieslike Toyota have used the concepts of leanand Six Sigma as part of a bigger transformation that results from longer termthinking and the realization that the cost ofthe improvements are an investment in busi-ness survival. This way of thinking results inreal cultural change that has lasting impacton the competitiveness of an organization.

Eleven key attributes of an organization’sculture determine how much improvementwill be made and successfully sustained overtime and whether the LeanSigma or continuous-improvement effort will be ashort-term project or a true and lastingtransformation. These key attributes are values, leadership, communication, workerengagement, teamwork, performance awareness, clear linkages, operational excellence, reward and recognition, risk-taking, and a culture of learning.

The absence of any of these key attributes, or even some weakness in any ofthem, will lead to any of a number of thingsthat can derail a LeanSigma or continuous-improvement transformation. When any ofthese are missing or significantly weak, thefollowing symptoms will occur, and thesewill make sustainment nearly impossible:

• Lack of trust• Lack of accountability• High employee turnover• Poor attitudes and morale• Resistance to change• Lack of vision• Lack of teamwork• Short-term vision to the exclusion of

long-term execution• Lack of discipline• Lack of capable people• Lack of capable processes• Lack of capable equipment• Beliefs and behaviors that are out of sync

In this issue and in upcoming issues, we will further explore each of the eleven keycultural attributes of a successful and

STRATEGICVISIONING LeanSigma® Culture: A Strategic Weapon for Business Survival By Gary Hourselt, Vice President, TBM International and Strategy Practice

Gary Hourselt


FUTURESA Lean Value Chain: The Key to Your SuccessBy Anand Sharma, TBM President and CEO

• Supply management, which creates superior value in your supply chain through alignment of supply relationships and developing process and materials flows.

• Business planning and scheduling, which allows you to pull it all together to connect and synchronize the entire value chain.

An effective and synchronous lean valuechain can help you gain the game-changingadvantage you need to lead your market.Leaning your value chain offers a number ofadvantages, including improved system-wideworking capital, which generates free cashflow; the ability to respond more quickly tocustomer demand; and the ability to offer asuperior price/value proposition.

If you can create a community thattogether takes more waste out of the totalvalue chain, you can capture more of theprofit in it. If you focus only on your suppliers, you overlook the dealers, distributors, and other channel partners thatoften mask the real opportunities to bringeffective solutions to targeted customers.These channel partners can be mistaken forthe real customer and siphon off a disproportionate share of profitability.

How do you know that your companycould benefit from a closer look at yourvalue chain? If you have excess pipelineinventory, long lead times, erratic demand,poor on-time delivery, price variances, andlimited visibility across your supply chain,then leaning your value chain is urgent.By taking your lean transformation to thenext level—creating transparency, which canbe achieved by simply opening your eyes toall the people and processes involved in getting your products to your customers and then seeking excellence in all thoseareas—you can transform the competitivelandscape to your advantage. In the nextissue, leaning your value chain will be discussed in greater depth.

Note: Versions of this article were originally published in both The Manufacturer andManufacturing Today, Europe Edition.

Globalization and the new “competitiveemerging nations” are placing even morecost pressures on manufacturers. Many havealready turned to lean and the tenets of thehighly touted Toyota Production System totransform their businesses into creative, customer-centric, and responsive organizations—achieving operational excellence on the shop floor. But still thepressure mounts.

Many may be tempted to try to eke savings out of supply-chain relationships.But beware of trying to improve your ownmargins by expecting them to absorb thecosts while still supplying you with productsat the quality and rate you need. What’smore likely to happen is that in order tomeet your demands but still remain viable,your suppliers will have to cut corners, andthose compromises will likely affect theintegrity of the parts you receive. Who losesin this scenario? Everyone does, and especially your end customer.

When thinking about strategies forremaining competitive in an increasinglycomplex manufacturing world, look allaround you at every element of your valuechain.

A lean value chain is a business enterprisesystem that synchronizes the resources andinformation flow across all components ofthe value chain to achieve mutual growth insales and profitability. It allows you to giveyour customers what they want, when theywant it. It is a means of creating collabora-tion between customers and suppliers andenabling you to manage demand more effi-ciently. Internally, you reduce total systemcost by minimizing individual costs like rawmaterials, finished goods inventory, staffing,and space while eliminating the interfaceinefficiencies among the value-chain partici-pants. It all depends on a holistic relation-ship within your lean value chain.

If you’d like to make your lean valuechain your ally, four key areas must be con-sidered:

• Demand management, which allows youto gain visibility to true customer demand.

• Order fulfillment, which enables you to respond quickly to customer needs.

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If you have excesspipeline inventory, longlead times, erraticdemand, poor on-timedelivery, price variances, and limited visibilityacross your supply chain,then leaning your valuechain is urgent.

Each load taken to the landfill costs thecompany money for transportation and disposal, and those costs can add up quickly.In addition, the plant was spending moneyto treat the water that was going to bereturned to the city water system.Wastewater treatment and landfilling costsadded up to a lot of money.

When we looked at the amount of slipand glaze that had been used compared towhat was required over the past year, wefound that use was often more than 120 percent in any given month, depending onwhat was being produced and in what color.Much of the overage was saved, but a lotwas also sent to the wastewater system.

One issue was that the valves on the pipesystems that allowed the slip to be eitherreturned to the holding tank or sent to thepond were not clearly marked, and sometimes workers would not close a valveproperly when the pumps were turned on,allowing slip intended for return to the tankto be instead drained to the pond. As mentioned earlier, the sheer size of the draintanks also meant that some good slip wasroutinely washed down to the pond. Glaze,on the other hand, is mixed in large tanks,and whenever a color change is necessary,the tank is washed out. Likewise, glaze over-spray was also washed into the holding pond.

When we started this kaizen project, ourscope was to reduce waste by 50 percent.The first step was to clearly mark valves byfunction and create standard work to minimize operator error. Next, we considered the pumps and valves themselvesand determined that we really didn’t evenneed to have lines going to the pond forevery application because in some cases theamount of waste was small and could easilybe scraped out of a holding tank by plantoperators and returned to the slip tankinstead of using the pump-and-drain system.

We then looked at the waste produced by

The value of considering resource conservation, specifically energy conserva-tion, when looking for ways to improve abusiness’ performance was presented in themost recent issue of Managing Times. In thisissue, we will take a slightly different look atresource conservation—reducing, reusing,and recycling.

Mansfield Plumbing’s Perrysville, Ohio,plant produces more than two million vitreous china plumbing fixtures per year forcommercial, institutional, and residentialuse. The company also has plants in BigPrairie, Ohio, and Henderson, Texas. Inaddition to china toilets, urinals, and lavatories, the company produces plumbingfittings, bathtubs, shower bases, and kitchen sinks.

The Mansfield plant in Perrysville is alarge pottery operation. Clay slip (liquidclay) is poured into molds for various stylesof toilet tanks and bowls, and once dry, istouched up (e.g., seams smoothed), glazed,and kiln fired. The sheer volume of productsbeing produced at the plant requires massiveamounts of clay, water, and glaze materials.As you can imagine, it also produces itsshare of waste.

When the molds are filled with slip, anyoverage is drained into a holding tank andpumped back into the main slip tank. Theholding tanks are quite large, and because ofthe tank and pump design, a layer of slipremains on the bottom. Because the claywould eventually harden, slowly filling thetank, slip that remains in the bottom of the tank is regularly washed out into one of the plant’s two holding ponds. Even aninch or two of slip in the bottom of one ofthese large tanks accounts for a large amount of clay.

The holding pond water, which containsanything washed from the plant, needs to betreated before it can re-enter the city watersystem. Additionally, any clay build-up onthe pond bottom must be dredged out atregular intervals and disposed of at a landfill.

TECHTALK Resource Conservation: Save Green by Being GreenNero Haralalka, TBM Senior Management Consultant

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What this project reallyamounted to was

recognizing waste and addressing wasteful

processes.

then less slip will be left in the bottom to betreated as waste. The tanks were a uniqueissue because they were under the plant floorand so became something of an “out ofsight, out of mind” phenomenon. And yetthey were a huge source of clay loss that ultimately was easily addressed.

Then we looked at all the rinsing applications. Operators were using freshwater for applications where it was suitableto re-use captured rinse water. Again, thissimple change—reclaiming rinse water—resulted in a significant reduction of theamount of wastewater going to the pond(and the cost of storing rinse water wasmuch lower than using fresh water andsending it to the pond for treatment).

What this project really amounted to was

recognizing waste and addressing wastefulprocesses. Any time you have a large operation that requires large amounts ofmaterials and uses processes that have beenhandled in a traditional way over long periods of time, it can really pay to look atthose processes and see where it’s possible toreduce, reuse, and recycle. By doing this,you not only save your company’s financialresources, but you also help to reduce yourcompany’s impact on the environment. It’snot difficult to save green by being green.

smoothing the fixtures when they areremoved from a mold. The process involvedusing running water and also generated a lotof clay dust, all of which was being washedinto the pond, and ultimately moved to thelandfill.

We created a baffle system in the drainsin that area to capture the clay dust so that itcould be disposed of directly, rather thanbeing sent to the pond to undergo the treatment process. In effect we were removing an unnecessary step in the disposalprocess, since the clay wouldn’t need to enterthe pond and wastewater treatment systembefore disposal.

Greenware (unfired clay) that has beenremoved from molds also requires trimmingof excess clay at the mold seams.Traditionally those wet trimmings and foothole punchings (the holes used for attachingthe toilet to the floor) would just hit thefloor. This clay is re-usable, and just by collecting it instead of considering it trash,we were able to save 97,000 pounds of clayper year from the trimming line and another 14,000 pounds from the foot-holepunchings.

In the trim area and others, the wateroften ran continuously, even when it wasn’tbeing used for a particular process.Addressing that issue provided both “frontend” and “back end” savings: adding fixturesthat modulated the flow of water was adirect form of conservation of clean water,and in so doing, we also prevented additional water from unnecessarily enteringthe pond and wastewater treatment system.

We also found that in some cases, wedidn’t need the large holding tanks that werebeing used in some areas of the plant, and sowe downsized some and eliminated othersaltogether. In the downsized tanks, the savings is simply a matter of math. If yourpumps can’t get the bottom inch or two ofslip, but the tank has a smaller footprint,


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pressure sensors of the modules. A new andredesigned holding fixture, machined fromaluminum, was built after the event. Also,an unresolved issue during the event wasstorage for an unbroken box of pressuremodule bodies. That issue was no problemfor these sustainment champions. An addi-tional shelf was constructed that allowed thepoint-of-use storage of a full box. A crudelymade computer stand had also been replacedby a suspended computer support, which inturn freed up valuable space to allow full useof the production bench.

Paula Molina and Flori Shearer, Flukeproduction technicians, were all smiles as Isurveyed the Fluke cell on my return visit. Iwas kindly reminded that I had been toldthat they would sustain the gains made during the event.

Was this sustainment a “fluke”?November 2006 came around and Ireturned for a third visit and third kaizenevent. What did I find? You guessed it! Thecell looked great. I didn’t find a single problem during my 5S assessment.

But the benefits didn’t end with theFluke pressure module cell. Sustainment inthe second cell that we created for theMensor Model 600 Automated PressureCalibrator was also outstanding. Good-natured competition between the cells hadmotivated both to take 5S to the next level.

.

Congratulations to Robert Clayton(director of production and engineering),Rally Salazar (production manager), PaulNeilson, and all the Mensor Kaizen Teammembers for a great demonstration of sustainment taken to the next level! Thislevel of sustainment certainly indicates thehigh level of commitment at Mensor.

—Jerry CurryTBM Senior Management Consultant

Since its founding in 1969, Mensor hasbeen dedicated to the design and manufac-ture of the highest accuracy pressure measuring and controlling instruments andtest systems available in the precision pressure market.

Mensor’s portfolio of products consists of an extensive line of precision pressureinstruments, including digital gauges, pressure calibrators, transducers, and pressure calibration systems. These productsare used worldwide in metrology labs, calibration labs, and research facilities, aswell as in production test standards and inother environments where high accuracypressure measurement or control is required.Mensor is an ISO 9001 certified company,and its calibration laboratory is accredited bythe American Association for LaboratoryAccreditation (A2LA).

In 2006 Mensor was acquired by WIKA,a privately held company with headquartersin Klingenberg, Germany, that specializes inpressure and temperature products for awide variety of applications and industriesworldwide.

Mensor launched its lean journey withTBM in July 2006. The first event was con-ducted in the Fluke pressure module cell.Alexander Wiegand, chairman and CEO ofWIKA, recommended this cell because ithad the highest production volume of anyproduct that Mensor manufactured.

The event was pronounced a success byPaul Neilson, president of Mensor, who proclaimed at the Friday presentation, “Thislean is great stuff! Lean is a very effectivetool in addressing the three most importantissues for our customers—quality, cost, anddelivery.” More impressive than the eventresults of lead-time reduction, productivitygain, and implementation of a point-of-useand the two-bin material replenishment system was the subsequent “super sustainment” of that inaugural lean event.

On my return visit for the second event, I was greeted by a rare sight; the Fluke cellwas not only sustained, but had beenimproved. During the kaizen event a temporary soldering fixture was built toimprove the soldering of the leads to the


FIELDNOTES Mensor Takes Sustainment to the Next Level

I was greeted by a raresight; the Fluke cell wasnot only sustained, but

had been improved.

[They] were all smiles as I surveyed the Fluke cell on myreturn visit. I was kindly reminded that I had been toldthat they would sustain thegains made during the event.

13

In the last issue of Managing Times Idescribed a card system for standard workfor process set up to take advantage of variable numbers of people available to per-form a change over. I had several requests fora visual representation of the cards we usedin that system, which I have included here.

As a reminder of the original story, wewere working on setup reduction in aprocess industry plant. We wanted to identify the particular elements to be accomplished, the sequence in which theywere to be accomplished, and who wasresponsible for completing them, for bothexternal and internal tasks.


Using a Card System for Standard Work Documentation

We decided to use a card system for standard work to ensure that all elementswould be completed in the right sequenceand as many trained operators as were available could be used.

Each work element was placed on a laminated card along with the sequence ofthat element, a picture of the task, the timerequired to perform it, any tools required,and any safety considerations. Each card hadthin magnets attached to the back to adhereto a metal “setup board.” The team determined that there should be three colors:green for external elements, red for internalelements, and yellow for startup/system-fillelements.

Line #4 Chageover Standard Work Sequence

Element Number: 6 Task: Risk DB Tanks and Lines

Task Time: 13.5 minutes

Safety Equipment:Hardhat, Steel toe shoes, safety glases Process Picture

Tools Reqired:1 1/4’ wrench

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The board has three color-coded columnson which cards would be placed to visuallyindicate their status: scheduled, in-process,and complete. Before changeover, all of thecards would be arranged in order in the“scheduled” column. As tasks are performedby any operator, they are moved to the “in-process” and “completed” columns. Anyavailable operator could select the next cardfrom the “scheduled” column and performthat task.

—David PateTBM Senior Management Consultant

To be recognized as an effective lean practitioner in today’s challenging and competitive marketplace, an individual mustbe able to demonstrate measurable resultsthat drive profitable growth. Organizationsthat achieve such results must dedicate timeand resources to learning, seek opportunitiesfor continuous improvement, and be willingto drive change. People who have been successful change agents stress the importance of gaining experience throughquality instruction, personal application, and“critical path” mentoring.

TBM’s LeanSigma® Institute has createda challenging lean-certification curriculumfor companies that wish to develop in-houseexpertise to guide their organization througha lean transformation. All coursework isdelivered through an effective blend of personal involvement, skills demonstration,and interactive mentoring.

To earn a Lean Certification, the TBMLeanSigma Institute requires a serious com-mitment on the part of each participant aswell as those who sponsor the participant.Students will be mentored by a TBM leanveteran and will graduate with hands-onexperience and knowledge in the followingcritical areas:

• Developing a lean transformation and a go-forward plan for a site or business

• Identifying and completing a project that guarantees at least a 3x–5x instant return on your training investment

• Application of a basic lean tool kit that includes the fundamentals of the ToyotaProduction System along with the most advanced lean tools, such as progressive 5S and poka-yoke

• Actual kaizen event experience and sustainment skills

• Ability to apply proven methods, tools, and techniques for tracking and sustaining critical performance metrics against daily production targets

• Advanced instructor training and exercises to be able to teach, influence, and motivate kaizen teams

• Completion of a “Personalysis®

Performance Inventory,” which helps participants understand their tendenciesto perform and be successful in a varietyof situations and conditions

If your organization wishes to pursueLean Certification, contact the TBM Lean-Sigma Institute at 800-438-5535 or visit theWeb at www.tbmcg.com/leancertification.

Lead the Way: TBM Lean Certification

TBM

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Corporate Headquarters4400 Ben Franklin Boulevard

Durham, North Carolina 27704 USA

1.800.438.5535

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TBM LeanSigma® Institute 2007 Event and Workshop Schedule

MANAGINGMarch/April.07

TIMES

Business Process Kaizen Instructor Training May 8-11 Durham, NC Oct 23-26 Durham, NC

Design for LeanSigma® New Products and Processes June 25-29 Durham, NC Dec 10-14 Durham, NCSept 17-21 Durham, NC

Kaizen Breakthrough Experience May 14-18 Hayward Pool Products, Pomona, CA June 18-22 TBD United KingdomAug 6-10 Foldcraft, Kenyon, MNNov 5-9 Vermeer Manufacturing, Pella, IA Nov 19-23 WIKA Wiegand GmbH, Klingenberg, GR

Kaizen Promotion Office Workshop May 21-24 Monterrey, MX Oct 2-5 TBD, UKJuly 3-6 Monterrey, MX Oct 2-5 TBD, BRJuly 10-13 Durham, NC Nov 6-9 Durham, NCJuly 17-20 Shanghai, CH Dec 11-14 Shanghai, CH

Lean Certification Track 1Week 1: April 17-20 Durham, NC Week 3: June 19-22 Durham, NCWeek 2: May 14-18 Pomona, CA Week 4: July 17-20 TBDTrack 2Week 1: May 22-25 Durham, NC Week 3: Aug 13-17 Durham, NCWeek 2: June 25-29 TBD Week 4: Sept 11-14 TBDTrack 3Week 1: July 24-27 Durham, NC Week 3: Sept 25-28 Durham, NCWeek 2: Aug 20-24 TBD Week 4: Oct 30-Nov 2 TBD

Lean Leaders Exchange June 6-8 Salt Lake City, UT (with plant tour of Autoliv)

Lean Management Accounting June 24-25 Pasadena, CA Nov 14-15 Durham, NC Sept 18-19 Durham, NC

Lean Sigma® Fundamentals Sept 11-12 Mexico

Lean Sigma® for Process Industries Oct 24-25 Sao Paulo, BR

LeanSigma® Vision TourJune 18-22 Des Moines, IA Oct 15-19 TBD, USJune 26 Brazil

Management for Daily ImprovementMay 7-11 WIKA Instrument Corp, Lawrenceville, GAMay 21-25 TBD, Monterrey, MXSept 17-21 TBD, Monterrey, MXNov 12-16 WIKA Instrument Corp., Lawrenceville, GA

Shopfloor Kaizen Breakthrough Instructor TrainingMay 15-18 Sao Paulo, BR Sept 25-28 Shanghai, CHJune 18-21 Monterrey, MX Oct 9-12 Durham, NCJune 26-29 Durham, NC Oct 30-Nov 2 UKAug 28-31 Durham, NC Dec 4-7 Durham, NC

LeanSigma Vision TourJune 18-22 Iowa, USA Oct 15-19 Iowa, USAJune 26 Brazil

Sigma Kaizen Black BeltWeek 1: May 21-25 Durham, NC Week 4: July 16-20 Durham, NC Week 2: June 4-8 Host Company TBD Week 5: Host Company TBDWeek 3: June 25-29 Durham, NC

Sigma Kaizen Green BeltWeek 1: May 21-25 Durham, NCWeek 2: June 4-8 Host Company TBDWeek 3: June 25-29 Durham, NC

Quest for the Perfect EngineTM

May 2-3 UK Sept 17-18 UKJune 13-14 Madrid, SP Sept 20-21 Paris, FRJune 20-21 Cincinnati, OH Oct2-4 Pomona, CA (Hayward plant tour) July 9-10 Beijing, CH Oct 18-19 Munich, GRAug 8-9 Dearborn, MI Nov 13-14 Hong Kong, CHAug 15-16 Sao Paulo, BR Nov13-14 ArgentinaAug 29-30 Shanghai, CH Nov 13-14 MexicoSept 4-5 New Delhi, IN Nov 19-20 Madurai, IN

March 2007 Managing Times

Documents

Transcript of March 2007 Managing Times