Tag Archives: Infinity team

17 Nov

Create Enquiring Minds

Process MappingThe tools for developing the thinking skills of your employees will be under your nose, at your fingertips, or even hanging on your wall. You can begin to build or improve employee thinking skills and job performance with little or no cost to your business. Generally factories have a wealth of charts, pictures, graphs, processes etc. on the walls but most employees mumble when asked what these visuals are. Employees have little say on what information is displayed so no feeling of ownership and little interest. Here a team is busy creating a map to help them visually display the process they follow during a product change on their line. They used it to come up with ideas to improve a changeover process resulting in a reduced in time (56%) and reduction of start-up waste of 73%.

A number of people responded to our last newsletter asking for more information about using the brainpower of your teams to solve problems. It’s easy to talk about getting teams to think but how is it done in practice. First you must realise that you are trying to change a culture and that is going to take time. There is no quick fix. Some hints on how to simplify the process are…

  • Make thinking visible.
    • Encourage team members to write down or draw their improvement ideas or problems. It may help to have a standard idea form and problem form.
    • Use photo’s – remember a picture says a thousand words. Use arrows and captions to explain the photo.
    • Use notice boards to display the ideas and problems. The more people who see the notice board the better.
    • Allow everyone to write their comments on the ideas displayed this way you can brainstorm over shifts.
    • Reward or recognise ideas that deliver sustainable results or financial benefits.
  • Challenge the team. Get them to solve specific problems starting with relatively simple ones progressing in difficulty.
  • Teach teams simple problem solving tools
    • Make a habit of asking questions. (5 Why analysis)
    • Use a Matrix – not only is it good for gathering and sorting information but it also inspires creative thinking and problem solving.
  • Involve the team in practically testing and communicating their ideas.

Given the chance people naturally try to improve their lives and make their work easier. All your teams need are the tools to help them improve and lots of support. The results will be amazing and sustainable.

05 Sep

It’s not about earning more…it’s about losing less

News Flash!
Quick-ChangeoversOne team has got off to a particularly good start this year by reducing the changeover time on their line by 53%. This means the team reduced their production losses by R21 300 per changeover. Their set-up time was also shorter resulting in less waste being produced. The comment of the team when they had achieved this fantastic result was “It was good but we can already see where we can do better”. They are now working on 2 ideas from the session, which will not only reduce their workload but also increase production and reduce downtime due to breakdowns. The plant managers response was “Quite frankly I thought that their target was a little ambitious and thought they would be hard pressed to achieve it. It was amazing to see that not only did they beat it but still think they can do better.”

Comment!
We often hear the question “How do I reduce my unplanned downtime and / or waste?” These are traditionally some of the biggest losses in a company and the secret is very simple…use your teams. “We tried that.” you say and either it did not work or was not sustained.

Remember you need to change the way people think at work. Your teams have to want to help and management have to want to support them. In the past a common management phrase was “You are not paid to think, you’re paid to run your machine.” Any creativeness from the shop floor was stifled in case it impacted negatively on the equipment or production and if there happened to be a good idea it was hijacked by someone more senior.

In many businesses there are divisions between production and engineering or maintenance where each did their utmost not to help the other. Today companies are giving their teams more responsibility by creating small business units or multi-skilled interlocking teams, thus empowering them by giving them ownership of their line, product or section. However many SBU’s are still restricted in what they are allowed to do because of all the controls such as “all ideas must be ‘passed’ by management before they can be tested.”

Teams need to be allowed the opportunity to test and discard ideas themselves. (within reason of course) It gives them the feeling that the business is really theirs and people work harder at their own businesses. Allowing the teams to test their ideas will also create ‘enquiring minds’ because if one idea does not work they will come up with another to solve their problem. Some of the biggest savings have come from ideas generated from the shop floor. Not surprising actually considering they spend all their time watching and operating the equipment. Some elements that have been found to make the changes easier are:

  • Increased vertical and horizontal communication usually by way of involving the teams in morning meetings and the regular use of notice boards. (Workplace Organisation using the 5S system and Team Building)
  • Involve the teams in focusing on and being responsible for results in areas such as production and waste. (Achieving Quick Changeovers)
  • Involve the teams in rejuvenating their equipment and establishing B.O.P.’s. (Autonomous Maintenance)
  • Involve the teams in maintenance, lubrication and fault-finding. (Workplace Organisation using the 5S system)
  • Involve the teams in measurements. Remember if you can’t measure it you can’t manage it. (Workplace Organisation using the 5S system and Achieving Quick Changeovers)

Given the chance people naturally try to improve their lives. All your teams need are the tools to help them improve and lots of support. The results will be amazing and sustainable.

css.php