THE ANAND HEIJUNKA PRODUCTION SYSTEM

Anand has been driving manufacturing excellence across the group through the Anand Production System (APS). This has helped all Anand plants to move away from the traditional manufacturing paradigm to the application of world class manufacturing practices.

With the advent of the VLFM (Visionary Leaders For Manufacturing) program, Anand was introduced to the concept of Heijun’ka production. This knowledge was further integrated into the original ‘Anand Production System’ & is now being driven as the Anand Heijun’ka Production System (AHPS).

The impact of this system at five Anand plants in Pune viz. Gabriel, Spicer, Behr, Victor & Mahle, has been impressive. The Quality, Cost, Delivery & Productivity has significantly improved in two of the plants & the other plants are catching up. Four more plants in North (Gurgaon: Mahle, Gabriel, Parwanoo: Gabriel, Mahle) have also initiated this process in 2011-12. This will be spread to 28 Anand plants in the next one year covering all plants in the North, West & South.

1. Diversi f ied & less f luctuated production through Heijun’ka Workload2. Control flow between tiers through pull method3. Streamlined processes to improve flow of material & information

The Anand Heijun’ka Production System (AHPS) has 9 dimensions as enablers which impacts Operational Results.

Focused Leadership provides an i m p e t u s to A H P S a d h e re n ce & sustenance with enhanced & systematic focus on customer requirements,

Organizational Goals & strategy, Heijun’ka, technology & closed loop review mechanism. Also continuous uninterrupted supply of material at lower cost & high quality can be made possible by engaging supplier as partners. This change in paradigm in supplier relationship should also be the leaders focus.

This dimension enables organizations to visualize Skill requirements, Gap finding & Training action plans to overcome the gaps. The Kaizen culture along with a motivated workforce aligned with company goals goes a long way to achieve continuous improvement.

‘Develop people’ thus ensures availability of knowledgeable & skilled workforce to run operations & various support functions viz. operators, materials, PPC, Maintenance, Quality through sustained focus on training & skill enhancement.

Transformation of the work place from a traditional factory to being Safe & Ergonomically designed is the foundation block. Hence, the focus on 5S, Safety of employees & Ergonomic work conditions is the focus of this AHPS dimension.

The key learnings from the Heijun’ka System which have been incorporated in to AHPS are:

1. Focused Leadership:

2. Develop People:

3. Work Place Transformation:

The Work Transformation (WT) map highlights gaps in 5S, Safety & Ergonomic conditions that can be bridged with focused improvements through Kaizen events.

The condition of the equipment dictates if the processes are stable & if they can sustain the quality & meet production targets. This key focuses on implementation of Autonomous Maintenance, conducting preventive maintenance along with spare parts management to reduce breakdowns & improve MTBF & MTTR. Also the reduction of changeovers ensures higher utilization of machines for production. This has a positive impact on productivity.

The added focus on prevention rather than detection is the focus of this dimension.The process starts from Planning for Quality, measuring process capability & making processes stable (capability), ensuring incoming quality of parts & maintaining the quality of measuring instruments. Also adherence to product & process audits & added emphasis on Quick Reaction to Quality Concerns (QRQC) highlights gaps ensuring stronger quality systems to detect & prevent defects.

Mapping of flow means mapping information & material flow. Mapping the material flow starts with creating a Tier structure & drawing Visual Maps (V Maps) to visualize the production fluctuation, layouts, Productivity & efficiency of a Tier/ Line/ Cell/ Machine. VMap is drawn at 3 levels: VMap 1: COO’s outlook, VMap 2: production manager’s outlook & VMap 3: at Cell/ Machine level. VMap 2 highlights production fluctuation & VMap 3 highlights productivity (Man & Machine), efficiency & Layouts. The improvements identification & implementation of solution is done through Kaizens.

The objective of synchronized flow is a leveled & diversified production workload, which can mitigate order fluctuations from the customer, internal variation (in machine availability, quality: rejection, rework, material availability etc.) & material supply (from suppliers, vendors etc.).This is achieved by implementing FG store to absorb customer order fluctuation, Heijun’ka Production planning for internal production variation (along with stores between tiers & Pull=Kanban system) & window timings for delivery (from suppliers/ vendors). The result of Heijun’ka & window timings results in lower inventory, higher delivery performance & higher human & machine productivity.

Uninterrupted & on time material supply with required quality & quantity at low costs can be ensured by developing & sustaining suppliers as an extension of our own operations. This requires training & demonstration on machine maintenance, quality & production systems by Anand Engineers. This also involves educating & training supplier leadership on their role in supporting & nurturing the development processes started by Anand Engineers. All AHPS dimensions which are applicable internal to Anand are applicable to suppliers.

This dimension ensures that design & development of products follows Advance Product Quality Planning (APQP) as defined by TS 16949 & best practices in Project Management. The entire product development cycle staring from Analysis of Customer Requirements to Production Launch (internally) & support to supplier during launch & ramp up is covered.

There are 17 result criteria specified in AHPS, out of which 10 are yearly targets (viz. OEE, Inventory etc.) & 7 are absolute targets (5S score, Manpower deployment etc.).

4. Improve Machine Availability:

5. Stabilize Quality:

6. Map flow:

7. Synchronized Flow:

8. Develop Suppliers:

9. Develop New Products:

Operational Results:

THE ANAND HEIJUNKA PRODUCTION SYSTEM