Implementing a Lean Manufacturing Plan

Ryan Henderson

EMGT 594

Mentor: Dr. J. Lee

Fall 2006

Research Paper

This paper was created to put one of my greatest accomplishments in my career on paper to share with anyone that is encountering a similar scenario, wants to learn more about lean or that is extremely board and has run out of reading material.

I added lots of opinions from lessons learned from my project experience. I have also included valuable history on lean as well as comparisons of past manufacturing theories.

The research for this topic was fun. Lean Manufacturing is a passion of mine that I excelled at and had a great time executing everyday with my previous job. Unfortunately, in my current position as an Account executive for a Valve and instrumentation representative company, I do not have the opportunity to create and improve manufacturing processes as I did in my previous positions. However, I hope to get the opportunity to implement the lean tools and resources again in a future position.

TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Research Problem 2. Objective 1. Purpose of Research 3. Background 1. Definition of Lean Manufacturing 1. History of Lean Manufacturing 2. Value of Lean Manufacturing 3. Transitioning to Lean Manufacturing 4. Customer Focus 5. Lean = Perfection 6. Lean vs. Mass Production 7. Focusing on Waste 4. Lean Tools 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Six Sigma Kaizen Value Stream Mapping Spaghetti Diagram Set up reduction JIT Takt Time Value added vs Non-value added 5-S 36 36-37 37 37-38 38 38 38 38 39 7 9-12 13-14 14-17 17-19 19-20 20-26 26-35 6 6

5. Key Actions for a Successful Lean Manufacturing System 6. Lean implementation Plan 7. Case Study 8. Conclusion 9. Definitions 10. References

39-40 41-42 43-52 53-55 56-61 62

CHARTS AND ILLUSTRATIONS

1. Graphical explanation of lean 2. Illustration of Mass vs. Lean 3. Mass vs. Lean comparison charts 4. Case Study Utilization, Efficiency & Productivity results

8 23 24-25 53

ANNEX I 5-S IMPLEMENTATION 1. INTRODUCTION 2. LITERATURE REVIEW 3. METHODOLGY AND PROBLEM SOLVING APPORACH 4. EVALUATION OF METHODOLGY 5. CONCLUSIONS 6. REFERENCES 64-68 69-74 74-76 76 76-79 79

Research Problem

The research problem is to attempt to create a Lean Manufacturing implementation plan for an existing Manufacturing facility that has been in service for over 30 years.

Lean Manufacturing is a new concept to this organization and most of the workers have been performing in their current positions for at least 10 years. The work force is not open to change and management has been pushing the lean concept for months.

Objective The purpose of this research is to provide the reader with a thorough definition, back ground and implementation plan for lean manufacturing in an established manufacturing environment.

The layout of the paper will allow the reader the ability to fully understand lean manufacturing, how it evolved, where it is going and

how it can help turn any manufacturing firm into a successful, efficient and cost saving company.

Background Lean Manufacturing is a system that uses a minimal amount of resources to produce a high volume of high quality products with some variety. (Stevenson)

Lean Manufacturing can also be defined as: "A systematic approach to identifying and eliminating waste (nonvalue-added activities) through continuous improvement by flowing the product at the pull of the customer in pursuit of perfection." (MFG Solutions website)

Lean Manufacturing

Objective: Elimination of Waste

Additional Process (if required)

Stage & Ship

Customer(s) Customer(s)

Assembly

Illustration provided by Cooper Cameron Corp.

Materials Materials

Process

Value added time = minutes Cycle time = hours or days

HISTORY OF LEAN MANUFACTURING The "lean manufacturing" concept was introduced to American factories in the early 1990s. A study was conducted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology which focused on the manufacturing transition from mass production to Lean production. This study was described in a book called The Machine That Changed the World (Womack, Jones & Roos, 1990). Throughout the book, Womack, Jones & Roos discuss the significant performance gap between Western and Japanese automotive industries. The book describes the key elements which were the infrastructure for which the Japanese created their superior performance capability. This performance is better known as lean manufacturing. The term "lean" was used because Japanese business methods adopted this concept decades before it was introduced to the USA, by utilizing less human effort, capital investment, floor space, materials, and time in all aspects of operations. The resulting competition among U.S. and Japanese automakers over the last 25 years has lead to the adoption of these principles within all U.S. manufacturing businesses. Taiichi Ohno, Eiji Toyoda and Shingeo Shingo of Toyota Motor Co. were the fore fathers
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of the Lean manufacturing Concept. After World War II, Japan was literally non existent, yet the Toyota Motor Co. planned to extend the capacity of their automatic loom company by producing automobiles. After visiting various automobile plants in the United States, Toyota realized that they lacked the capacity to compete head-to-head with established companies like Ford and GM. Toyota also realized that the vulnerability of the Western style manufacturing system (Mass Production) was that it worked best when only one type of model was manufactured at a time, with no modifications and with absolutely no setbacks with in the operation lines (i.e. machine breakdowns or maintenance related issues, power outages, tooling issues, etc..) during production.

Taiichi Ohno, one of Toyota's executives, realized that to compete with mass production manufacturers, Toyota would have to produce small quantities of automobiles with high variety.

In 1956, Taiichi Ohno visited the United States and came across an unusual discovery that was ultimately the answer that Toyota Motor
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Co. was looking for. The surprising issue was that he did not find the answer in a manufacturing plant. He found his answer in an American grocery store. At the time, Japan did not have many grocery stores and Taiichi Ohno was quite impressed with how American customers chose when and where, how many, and what type of goods they wanted in American grocery stores. Immediately, Taiichi knew that the only way that Toyota could compete with the large mass production systems of the US was to transform the Toyota automobile plants existing manufacturing system into a process which offered the same type of choices and efficiency available to their customers as the American grocery stores were currently offering.

After an extensive array of experiments, Taiichi Ohno created a new manufacturing concept called the Toyota Production System (TPS) or later called the Lean Manufacturing System by the American manufacturing enthusiast. The theory behind TPS was that small-batch sized production runs could be achieved if waste was eliminated and continuous flow was implemented.

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Lean Manufacturing is a concept that was created to give a Manufacturing environment the ability to accommodate a variety of different parts and sizes without having to adjust such factors as increasing overhead, work force or equipment. In fact, the basic idea of Lean Manufacturing is to reduce those factors in order to complete a part in the cheapest, most efficient manor, without reducing the quality of the product.

Some of the key factors in becoming successful when using the lean concept are to have skilled/cross trained workers and flexible equipment. In a lean environment, workers must be capable of executing a variety of different tasks. They are also required to think on their own and innovate ways of fixing and preventing defective parts from occurring. Your equipment must have the capability to machine a variety of different parts. It is vital to the success of a Lean Manufacturing system that the machinery in that system has the flexibility to quickly adapt to any type of catastrophic machine loss, maintenance downtime, or a high volume of unusual parts, which were driven by quick turn around customer orders.
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VALUE OF LEAN MANUFACTURING In a lean production system, the value of a product is defined solely by the customers needs. The product must meet the customer's requirements at a specified time and for the right price. The various behind the scene operations and manufacturing short cuts that manufacturers conduct on a daily basis to deliver a product are generally of little interest to customers. To view value through the eyes of the customer requires most companies to undergo a comprehensive analysis of all of their business processes. Identifying the value in lean production requires the company to fully understand all of the activities required to produce a specific product. Once the company understands its processes, it must improve and upgrade the entire process from the viewpoint of the customer needs. This viewpoint is critically important because it helps identify activities that clearly add value (value-added activities), activities that add no value but cannot be avoided, and activities that add no value (non-value-added activities), and that can be avoided. Once these activities are identified, the company can begin making adjustments to build upon the positive, value-addedactivities, and change or remove the negative, non-value-activities.
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As a company begins to transition to the Lean system, the company, as well as their customers quickly begin to see the positive effects, and the overwhelming value of implementing the Lean Manufacturing System.

TRANSITIONING TO LEAN MANUFACTURING For any organization, making the transition to the Lean Manufacturing system involves everyone, sometimes even including vendors and 3rd party individuals in the origination. However, there are a series of (4) steps that typically make up the transitioning phases fro most manufacturing organizations. The first step is getting your workforce involved and to think outside of the box. In the past, most manufacturing environments required each of their separate activities or operational areas to focus on their specifically assigned task only. In the Lean process, focusing on your job obviously still applies; however, it is critical to the success of a Lean Manufacturing environment that everyone looks at the entire process and not just their specifically assigned duties.

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The next two steps is where the Manufacturing (ME) or Industrial (IE) Engineering department plays the most critical and important role of the entire organizations transformation to the Lean System. The ME/IE department will be the designers, creators and implementers for any organization that is planning on making the transition to the Lean system. In most organizations the ME/IE department normally creates the work and production orders, trouble shoots tooling or machine issues, and assists the production personnel with whatever issues they might encounter in the production facility. By understanding the routine activities throughout the entire production facility, the ME/IE department will understand the material flow and needs of the production supervisors and the personnel in the production facility throughout the entire transition to the Lean Manufacturing System.

The second step is to plot out the flow of material throughout the manufacturing facility using diagrams and PC automated drawing aids. Again, this step will more than likely be executed by the organizations ME/IE department. By plotting out the material flow, companies can see areas that need improvement by the way that they transport material
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to and from work centers and they will also be able to identify errors in their current processes. The diagrams will also assist the organization with identifying the non-value-added activities that must be removed or improved.

The third step involves removing or improving the previously identified non-value-added activities. Some examples of non-valueadded activities are material handling (forklifts, cranes, etc...), high volumes of machine setups, material flow, parts storage, etc. In some situations, it might be impossible to remove a non-value-added activity. In this situation an organization would need to conduct a brain storming activity to produce the proper answer for the non-valueadded activity that can not be avoided. This activity is usually hosted by the ME/IE department and is called a Kaizen event.

The fourth and final step is continuous improvement. This is the most difficult step throughout the Lean Manufacturing transition. It is a step that must involve the entire organization in order for the Lean Manufacturing transition to be successful. The transition to a lean
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environment does not happen easily or instantaneously. In order for a company to successfully implement a Lean Manufacturing system, and to more importantly keep the system in place and flourishing, a continuous improvement mentality is a must, in order for an organization to reach its preplanned lean goals. The term "continuous improvement" means incremental improvement of products, processes, or services over time, with the goal of reducing waste to improve workplace functionality, customer service, or product performance (Suzaki, 1987).

Continuous improvement principles, as practiced by the most devoted manufacturers, result in astonishing improvements in performance that competitors find nearly impossible to achieve (MAMTC website).

CUSTOMER FOCUS An organization which operates under the lean manufacturing system focuses more on its customers than it does on running machines faster, in order to absorb unwanted labor and overhead expenses. In a properly

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run Lean system, an organization seeks out customer input and feedback to assure quality and customer satisfaction. The lean system operates under this philosophy in order to support present and future sales.

The main goal of an Organization that has implemented the Lean Manufacturing System is to eliminate wastes, which will ultimately assist in producing a higher quality product in a limited amount of time, in the most efficient manor, and at the lowest possible cost. This goal is also the ideal transaction for the customer. Every customer wants the best product available, at the best price and in the properly allotted amount of time, according to their requirements.

Customer focus is a task that has been overlooked in the past Manufacturing systems. Most of the manufacturing organizations that were operating with the past manufacturing systems relied on large batch sizes and repetitive sizes and designs. Under these guidelines, the concern of customer satisfaction was not a priority. These systems sold the customers a high volume of identical parts, in a reasonable
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amount of time, and at a decent, non-competitive price. However, with todays market, these types of manufacturing systems have become obsolete. With the ever-changing customer demand and the push for decreased inventories, only a true lean system can actually meet and exceed customer requirements and standards.

Making a high volume of various different products, in the same facility, all delivered on time to the exact customer tolerances is a concept that could have never been imagined 30 years ago. With todays technology and with the support and resources that an organization receives from implementing a Lean Manufacturing system the unimaginable can become an everyday practice.

LEAN = PERFECTION The true concept of lean production is pushing an organization to strive for manufacturing perfection. What is manufacturing perfection? Manufacturing perfection is when an organization can produce its products with zero manufacturing defects, maintain a low inventory system, consume little overhead and indirect labor costs, have zero
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maintenance or machine issues, zero safety related issues and meet all of the customers requirements and delivery times on every order that the organization receives.

There are endless opportunities for improving the utilization of all types of assets in a manufacturing environment. By systematically eliminating waste, an organization can reduce the unnecessary operating costs such as rework, WIP, allotted handling times, and even unneeded inventories. The most impressive and eye catching output from implementing the Lean system in a manufacturing environment is the satisfaction that is felt by the organizations customers from receiving their ordered product at a maximum value and at the lowest price. While reaching manufacturing perfection may be literally or financially impossible, its pursuit is a goal worth striving for because it helps maintain a constant awareness against non-value-added activities.

LEAN VS MASS PRODUCTION For many years manufacturers that were operating in the Mass Production system created a high volume of products in anticipation of
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having a stable market for them. Operations in the traditional Mass Production system were driven by sales forecasts, causing firms to stockpile inventories in case they were needed. One of the main differences in Lean Manufacturing vs. Mass Production is that Lean is based on the idea that production can and should be driven by real customer demand. Instead of an organization producing what they think they will sell in the upcoming months, Lean Manufacturing can produce exactly what your customer wants, with shorter lead times. Lean Manufacturing Instead of pushing a product to a particular market, it's pulled there through a system that's set up to quickly respond to customer demand. When analyzing the flow of material in a successful lean environment vs. a traditional mass production system, you will notice that all of the parts of a finished product have production lines which work some what independently of one another. This process was designed to work this way so that all of the parts will be manufactured at the same time, thus meeting at the assembly area at the same time. By designing the process this way, individual production lines are never waiting on one

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another, which is normally the case in the Mass Production manufacturing environment. Lean organizations have the capability to produce higher-quality products faster, and in more efficient and economically lower volumes than organizations that are still operating in the mass production system. A lean organization can produce double the amount of total products, at a higher quality level, in a fraction of the time and space, at a much lower cost, with a fraction of the normal (WIP) work-in-process inventory than a Mass Production system. The concept of the Lean management system consists of operating at the most efficient and effective level possible, with the lowest cost, and without waste. A comparison of a Lean Manufacturing System vs. Mass Production System can be observed on the charts following this page.

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Mass Production
Objective: Maximize Economies of Scale

Materials Receivin g Warehou se

Process Materials

Storage

Additional Process(es)

Storage

Shipping Warehou se Ship

Rework

Assembly

Value added time = minutes Cycle time = weeks

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OVERALL ORGANIZATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS: TRADITIONAL MASS PRODUCTION LEAN PRODUCTION

Product-out strategy focused on exploiting economies of Business Strategy scale of stable product designs and non-unique technologies

Customer focused strategy focused on identifying and exploiting shifting competitive advantage.

Makes what engineers want in large quantities at statistically Makes what customers want with zero defect, when they Customer Satisfaction acceptable quality levels; dispose of unused inventory at sale want it, and only in the quantities they order prices

Leadership by executive command Leadership

Leadership by vision and broad participation

Hierarchical structures that encourage following orders and Flat structures that encourage initiative and encourage discourage the flow of vital information that highlights defects, the flow of vital information that highlights defects, Organization operator errors, equipment abnormalities, and organizational operator errors, equipment abnormalities, and deficiencies. organizational deficiencies.

External Relations

Based on price

Based on long-term relationships

Information-rich management based on visual control Information Management Information-weak management based on abstract reports systems maintained by all employees

Culture of loyalty and obedience, subculture of alienation and Harmonious culture of involvement based on long-term Cultural labor strife development of human resources

Large-scale machines, functional layout, minimal skills, long Production production runs, massive inventories

Human-scale machines, cell-type layout, multi-skilling, one-piece flow, zero inventories

Smart tools that assume standardized work, strength in Dumb tools that assume an extreme division of labor, the Operational capability following of orders, and no problem solving skills experimentation problem identification, hypothesis generation, and

Equipment management by production, maintenance and Maintenance Maintenance by maintenance specialists engineering

Team-based model, with high input from customers and "Isolated genius" model, with little input from customers and Engineering little respect for production realities. process design concurrent development of product and production

(Chart found on www.MAMTC.com)

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MANUFACTURING METHODS: Production schedules are based on

TRADITIONAL MASS PRODUCTION Forecast product is pushed through the facility

LEAN PRODUCTION Customer Order product is pulled through the facility

Products manufactured to

Replenish finished goods inventory

Fill customer orders (immediate shipments)

Production cycle times are Manufacturing lot size quantities are

Weeks/months Large, with large batches moving between operations; product is sent ahead of each operation

Hours/days Small, and based on one-piece flow between operations By product flow, using cells or lines for product families

Plant and equipment layout is

By department function

Quality is assured Workers are typically assigned Worker empowerment is

Through lot sampling

100% at the production source

One person per machine Low little input into how operation is performed

With one person handling several machines High has responsibility for identifying and implementing improvements

Inventory levels are High large warehouse of finished goods, and central storeroom for in-process staging Inventory turns are Low 6-9 turns pr year or less Low difficult to handle and adjust to

Low small amounts between operations, ship often High 20+ turns per year High easy to adjust to and implement

Flexibility in changing manufacturing schedules is Manufacturing costs are

Rising and difficult to control

Stable/decreasing and under control

(Chart found on www.MAMTC.com

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FOCUSING ON WASTE The main focus of a properly implemented Lean Manufacturing system is to eliminate waste in every area of production, including customer relations, product design, supplier relations, and operations management. Waste" is anything that the customer does not pay for. The goal of the Lean Manufacturing system is to reduce the amount of human effort, inventory, time to develop new and existing products, and floor space. These goals are set in order to transform the organization in to a facility that has the capability to be highly responsive to customer demand while continuing to produce high quality products in the most efficient and economical manner possible.

The most common form of waste normally found in a lean manufacturing system is over production. Overproduction occurs when an organization produces more products than demanded by its customers, or it produces a high volume of products before they are needed.

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Some of the common causes for overproduction waste include:

Over stocking of commonly ordered products Misuse of automation Long process setup Un-level scheduling Unbalanced work load Over engineered Redundant inspections

Another common form of waste is operator waiting time and transportation. In every Non-Lean Manufacturing environment operator wait time and transportation are both unnecessary forms of waste. In a non-lean environment, it is common to observe an operator that is waiting for a non-efficient machine to finish machining a particular part, a machine that is unusable due to scheduled or unscheduled maintenance, or even the use of a crane or lifting device. Non-lean environments will also have a high volume of transportation waste. Examples of transportation waste could be due to operators waiting on forklifts or part transportation vehicles or other transportation wastes which are driven by an inefficiently laid out manufacturing facility.

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Operator waiting time and transportation wastes do not add any value to the product. Instead of improving the waiting time and transportation, they both should be minimized and eliminated (one way to eliminate transportation and waiting time wastes is to implement production cells). Some common causes of waiting time and transportation wastes include:

1. Unbalanced work loads (mainly waiting time wastes) 2. Unplanned maintenance (mainly waiting time wastes) 3. Long process set-up times (mainly waiting time wastes) 4. Misuses of automation (mainly waiting time wastes) 5. Upstream quality problems (mainly waiting time wastes) 6. Limited amount of lifting devices 7. Improper machine/part designation 8. Poor plant layout 9. Poor understanding of the process flow for production 10. Large batch sizes, long lead times, and large storage areas

Waiting time and Transportation wastes are both problems that can seriously affect the productivity and product throughput time of a manufacturing facility. The ideal principle in the Lean system is to

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maximize the utilization and efficiency of the worker instead of maximizing the utilization of the machines and other indirect resources. One way to improve the utilization and efficiency of operators is to form production cells. A production cell configuration is a strategy that is designed to increase the flexibility of an operation in order to produce a high volume of different products in smaller batch sizes, while reducing wastes and operating costs and increasing the overall production of the work force (Cooper Cameron Corp). Cells are implemented in a manufacturing environment to allow the operator the opportunity to execute 2 or more tasks at one given time. In a production cell, an operator can have a part running in one machine, while another part is running in a different machine, and be prepping, drilling or marking a finished or unfinished part all at the same time in the same cell. (In a properly configured production cell an organization, in theory, is getting (2) or more operations completed for the price of (1)operation).

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By implementing cells in a manufacturing environment, an organization can substantially increase work force productivity, and decrease product throughput and takt time.

Inventory or Work in Process (WIP) is also an unwanted type of waste when working with a Lean Manufacturing system. This problem occurs in operational situations due to over sizing of batch sizes or improperly balancing the processes by not redesigning or adjusting the processes with longer cycle times. Some of the common causes of excess inventory include:
1. High volume of safety stock 2. Product complexity 3. Unleveled scheduling 4. Poor forecasting 5. Unbalanced workload 6. Unreliable shipments by suppliers 7. Misunderstood communications 8. Reward systems

An organization can also have types of waste that do not necessarily reflect the back end of the business. Inadequately managed Business
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Processes are a common type of waste in a non-lean or improperly managed lean environment. Business processes are derived from Sales, purchasing, procurement, QA, Engineering, Management, HR, etc... Business Process waste should be added or eliminated by asking why a specific processing step is needed, does that process need to be eliminated or created, will these processes help or not help create a specific product and why is that specific product produced. By asking and analyzing these questions, all unnecessary processing steps should be eliminated. Causes for processing waste include:
Product changes without process changes Over stocking commonly ordered products True customer requirements undefined Over processing to accommodate downtime Lack of communications Redundant approvals Extra copies/excessive information Shortage of needed vendor produced parts Weak management Undefined work processes Lack of procedure or process ownership 31

Non-value added activities are a type of waste that must be removed from an organizations existing processes. Non-value-added activity is any activity in a manufacturing environment that does not provide value or assistance in producing a particular product. Causes of non-value-added-activities are:
1. Poor facility or cellular layouts 2. Longer cycle times 3. Unbalanced work loads 4. Improperly managed inventories 5. Lack of transportation resources 6. Rework or deficiencies 7. Inconsistent work methods 8. Poor work organization and cleanliness 9. Lack of discipline and managerial presence

Manufacturing defective products is also a common form of waste. A theory in a Lean Manufacturing System is to prevent the occurrence of defects instead of finding and repairing the defects. Reworking personnel errors or even vendor related errors on products is a form of waste that is detrimental to the success of an organization that is operating in the lean manufacturing system. When reworking defective
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products, an organization is forced to absorb the cost of the original production that caused the defective finished parts. By continuously absorbing rework type costs an organization begins to suffer from a decrease in profit on those particular products. The organization will also suffer in many other ways from rework related operations. One major setback that is also caused by rework operations is product delivery time. In most manufacturing environments, all operations are executed within a tight production schedule. When a defect is found in a finished part, the preplanned delivery schedule is affected. The rework operation ultimately offsets the delivery time that was quoted to the customer. The effected delivery time could possibly reduce the profit margin of this product, or it could even impinge on future relations with the customer. Causes of defective waste include:
1. Weak process control 2. Poor quality 3. Unbalanced inventory levels 4. Improperly planned maintenance 5. Inadequate education/training/work instructions 6. Product design

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7. Customer needs not understood 8. Underutilizing personnel 9. Personnel not willing to change, politics, the business culture 10. Poor hiring practices 11. Low or no investment in training 12. Under paid workers, high turnover strategy for personnel

Nearly every type of waste in the production process can fit into at least one of these categories. Organizations that understand the concept of Lean manufacturing view waste as the main variance, which significantly limits business performance and threatens success unless it is persistently eliminated over time. Lean manufacturing is an approach that eliminates waste by reducing costs in the overall production process, in operations within that process, and in the utilization of direct labor.

In a Lean Manufacturing System, the focus is on making the entire process flow correctly, not just the improvement of one or more individual operations.

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LEAN Tools 1. Six Sigma (Lean Sigma) the objective of Six Sigma is a measurement-based strategy that focuses on process improvement and variation reduction through successful Six Sigma Improvement projects. These projects are executed through 5 principles called DMAIC. 1. Define 2. Measure 3. Analyze 4. Improve 5. Control 2. Kaizen event is a meeting that is coordinated to bring together several functional areas of a Manufacturing facility in order to design a concept to fix a non-value-added operation that is unavoidable.

When a Kaizen event is scheduled, all of the disciplines that are involved with that specific non-value-added activity are requested by the ME/IE department to attend the event. Usually
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areas such as Product Engineering, QA/QC, Shop Supervisors and Production Control (PC) are the attendees who join in with the ME/IE department to conduct the event. The participants of the event will ultimately work together to create and implement a process to transform the non-value-added activity into a valueadded activity or lessen the overall negative effect of that specific activity. 3. Value Stream Mapping, VSM is a visualization tool oriented to the Toyota version of Lean Manufacturing (Toyota Production System). VSM helps to understand work processes in support of the Lean Manufacturing principles through the use of graphical models that display the entire process and the products move from one step to the other. 4. Spaghetti Diagram is another visualization tool that is created with a series of lines that start at the point where the part is received at the facility as raw material or partially completed and then each move, , all the way to the shipment of the part is labeled with a simple line. In the end, the spaghetti diagram will show every step the part takes until completion in order to help
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the lean representative eliminate unnecessary waste within that process. 5. Set up reduction, decreasing the set up time for each part or process step. 6. JIT - Just in time inventory is requesting inventory from suppliers just in time to manufacture the parts for the required delivery time. 7. Takt time, the rate or time that a completed product is finished 8. Value added vs Non value added times; Value added actions meet the following criteria: 1) the customer is willing to pay for this activity. 2) It must be done right the first time. 3) The action must somehow change the product or service in some manner.

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9. 5-S = Sort, Set in order, Shine, Standardize and Sustain. 1. Sort (Seiri) the first S focuses on eliminating unnecessary items from the workplace. 2. Set in Order (Seiton) is the second of the 5Ss and focuses on efficient and effective storage methods. 3. Shine: (Seiso) Once you have eliminated the unneeded items that have been clogging your work areas and identified and located the necessary items, the next step is to thoroughly clean the work area. 4. Standardize: (Seiketsu) Once the first three 5Ss have been implemented, you should concentrate on standardizing best practice in your work area. 5. Sustain: (Shitsuke) Sustain focuses on defining a new status quo and standard of work place organization. **Note 5-S is explained in further detail in ANNEX I**

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KEY ACTIONS FOR A SUCCESSFUL LEAN MANUFACTURING SYSTEM

Elimination of waste Equipment reliability Continuous process capability improvement Implement (FMS) Flexible Manufacturing Systems Continuous flow Less inventory required throughout the production process, raw material, WIP, and finished goods

Reduction of rework and scrap Lead time reduction Error proofing Stop the Line quality system Implement Kaizen events and Kanban systems Visual management/5-S In station process control Prepare and motivate people Must create a common understanding of the need to change to lean Push decision making and system development down to the "lowest levels" Remove roadblocks (i.e. people, layout, systems (non-value-added initiators)) Tolerate the beginning transition mistakes, patience, etc Willingness to take risks Share information and manage expectations

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Key Actions continued: Level production Favorable Takt Times Quick Changeover Teamwork Point of use storage Widespread positive attitude towards continuous Improvement, quality, training and recruiting future workers with the appropriate skills Employee involvement and empowerment Cross-trained workers Identify and empower champions, particularly operations managers Will need to install "enlightened" and realistic performance measures, evaluation, and reward systems Measure results and not number activities/events Tie improvements, long term, to key macro level performance targets (i.e. inventory turns, quality, delivery, overall cost reductions) The need to execute pilot projects prior to rolling culture out across the organization After early gains in operations, share the info across the ENTIRE organization Involve everyone when creating the LEAN goals.

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Implementation Plan In considering the creation of my implementation plan for the Valve manufacturing facility I considered the following steps in the design of the plan. 1. Map our (spaghetti diagram) of the entire facility and flow of the material throughout the plant. 2. Conduct research that consists of interviewing and spending quality time with the personnel on the shop floor. This step is extremely important to ensure that the plan is realistic and to grasp the technical language and actual everyday processes that are used on the shop floor. 3. Involve the chain of command, Shop Supervisors and key shop floor personnel through out the process, especially in the final stages for feedback that will ensure that the plan is realistic from an operations view as well as a fincial and budgetary view. 4. Involve outside vendors for external input and quotes for budgetary purposes 5. Complete the plan modify processes, complete machine move drawings, discuss plan with lean team & involve COC.
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6. Calculate costs and compare with budget 7. Plan modifications modifications were required due to budgetary issues, Chain of command required adjustments and lean team meetings. 8. Execute the plan 9. Utilize 5-S, Six Sigma and other lean tools to improve and sustain the Lean Plan.

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Case Study STEP 1 I conducted this research experiment while I was in a Lean Manufacturing Engineering position with a local Oil & Gas Valve manufacturer. The Manufacturing facility is state of the art, with central A/C & Heat, and is over 200,000 Square feet in size. The facility was technologically advanced with 21st Century Processes and Equipment. The Facility contained over 75 CNC vertical and horizontal Lathes and Mills.

The mapping process took over 2 months to finalize and piece together in a package that could be used to create the concept of the future plan. Spending 6 hours on the shop floor on a daily basis was normal. Normally, I would spend 4 of the 6 hours per day with the machinist and welders asking questions, listening to their problems and watching them execute their daily responsibilities. This is a very tough task because most of these machinists have been doing their assigned duties for 10 20 years. They have seen many people come and go and lots of plans for change implemented and then fail. They are wise beyond
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their years to say the least. The problem persists because the operators sometimes feel as if you are prying in their business or that you are observing them only to run to their supervisors critiquing every move. It was very important to ensure they were comfortable and to immediately get the point across that you were there to help, not take their job away. It was a difficult task at times, but it was vital to the success of the Lean plan.

The last 2 hours of my daily shop time consisted of collecting cycle and throughput times. This task was also tough and consisted of clandestine type operations to sneak around and time the operators during their machine or welding runs. These times were very important; in order to properly record the data that was needed to create a successful lean plan.

The balance of my day after the time in the shop consisted of transfer the data and notes that were recorded to a digital journal posted on my pc. This daily journal was finally combined, critiqued and finalized in

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to a report that was ultimately the design of my Lean implementation plan.

STEP 2 As stated in the initial paragraph of this case study, the facility had incorporated 21st century processes from previous 6 sigma projects. Cooper Cameron Corporation implemented a huge 6 sigma initiation program several years before the Lean concept was initiated. The processes were excellent and definitely reduced costs and improving quality. However, all of the processes worked in an individual manor. They did not overlap and interconnect like processes should work in a properly designed lean manufacturing plan. The processes modifications and new designs absorbed the majority of our time and focus during meetings. Successful processes are the key to a successful lean plan, and we ensured that our processes were sounds, well thought out and critiqued.

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The process modifications were changed and created mainly due to the machine moves and new machine purchases. There were 8 New Processes implemented and 35 existing processes modified. Some of the existing processes were modified due to the production lines transforming in to a series of cells. By converting the previous machine layouts in to cells, now instead of moving from one machine to the next, the operator could perform any where from 3 to 5 tasks all at one time, once the machines are set in the designed cells and running.

STEP 3 & 4 There were 25 Shop personnel, 4 office workers, 3 outside contractors and 1 lean consultant that were involved with the project. The shop personnel were supervisors, lead men and senior operators. The office workers consisted of 1 production engineer, Six Sigma Black belt, Accountant and I. The 2 of the 3 contractors were from the 2 vendors that were supplying the new machines for us and the 3rd contractor was supplying us with our new equipment for the assembly and test areas.

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The lean consultant was not a really big help, but he did provide us with some excellent resources.

STEP 5 The training that was involved was priceless and was an excellent tool to not only train but to build up motivation and to brainstorm processes and potential layout plans. Each shop worker had a total of about 40 hours of training over the duration of the initial phase. The meetings took up about 25 hours of time over the 14 months. The training sessions consisted of lean, 5-S, JIT inventory, MRO scheduling & 6sigma. Our meetings focused mainly on machine moves, 5-S and process modifications.

The discussions involving designing and modifying our existing processes took place during our lean team meetings. The new and existing modification processes were modified again, and finalized during our final week of the planning phase, which was when we completed the plan.

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STEP 6 After the plan was finally approved by management, an AFE (Authorization for expenditure) was then required and needed approval in order to receive the capital funds necessary to pay for moving the machines, purchasing new machines, part conveyors, rollers, chains, slings, etc

Once the AFE was created and put into the corporate system for approval, I had a lot of time on my hands (5 weeks) waiting for the authorization and budgetary numbers to begin the implementation. During the waiting period I had a minimum of 2 meetings per week with the supervisors and 2 specialty selected employees from each product line. The meetings were held to review the future lean plan, as well as to strategize what moves should be executed first, which lines had to be completed the quickest due to importance to the overall throughput of the products and many other issues that related to these. There were also several issues that were critiqued and revisited during this time. Some of these issues were changed due to justifications and total agreements by the supervisors, operators and me.
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STEP 7 Finally the AFE was approved. A major project meeting was called and all of the shop and office personnel and the chain of command that had been involved with the project from the beginning stages up to that point were required to attend. The meeting was held to finalize any the budget, prioritize the sequence of events once the project would begin, and to discuss any open ended issues. After these issues were taken care of the processes had to be modified again, due to the chain of command requesting changes due to statistical impact estimates as well unrealistic budgetary requests during the initial planning phase. Once the processes were finalized, all final questions were answered and we moved on to reviewing the scheme of how the plan was to be implemented.

Following the meeting, the work began. Between the contractors that were called in and the in-house work, the project took 5 months, costing 1.2 million dollars. This was a major facelift to the facility. The original concept of implementing a lean implementation plan was to improve the throughput and delivery of the products, increase the
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companies cost savings, and to make room for several new product lines that were moving to this facility due to a corporate level buyout of several competitor lines.

STEP 9 Once the main phase of the plan was completed, another tough step was in our path to success. I realized that I needed to create a set of procedures that would help the plan to continue the improvements from a standard operating procedure (SOP) point of view. After researching several topics, I quickly discovered a concept that actually falls under the lean concept. The concept that now covers the SOPs for the company is called 5-S. **Note there is a further explanation with examples of 5-S in the Annex that accompanies this research paper.**

The project was a success. The major construction, capital expenses and machine movement took place during the initial 5 months as previously described. In total, the project took 14 months to complete the initial phase. I consider the 14 month point the initial phase due to Cooper Cameron acquiring several new valve lines. The new valve
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lines moved in shortly after the project was approximately 90% complete. The new lines required some modifications to my Lean plan as well as to accompany the new processes and equipment.

The project cost over $800,000. The cost covered new personal equipment, modifications to existing equipment and machine platforms, meetings and training resources, machine moves and sustain operations. The costs did not cover the new machine purchases. The new machines fell under several different 6 sigma projects that were taking place simultaneously with the lean plan. This was an excellent situation because the machines were not allocated to the lean budget, but played a vital role in the success of the layout of the new lean facility and the new processes.

The benefits of the lean implementation plan exceed the initial calculated returns. The pay per year was estimated to be over $450,000 per year. This was a surprising value, when considering that the initial calculation produces a savings of $300,000 per year. The $450,000 significantly decreased out pay back time from 2.6 years to 1,7 years.
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The difference in pay back period is huge when justifying the project as well as promoting the success of a project to the Chain of Command and the Accounting and Finance Managers.

Utilization, Efficiency and Productivity are 3 factors that are calculated and tracked on a weekly basis by that facility Chain of Command all the way to corporate level. Utilization is defined by the corporation

as the amount of time with in a given work period that a particular machine is running (utilized) to standard. Efficiency is defined as the amount of parts produced to standard by a particular worker at his or her assigned machine with in a given work period. Productivity is calculated by dividing the utilization by the efficiency.

Prior to the lean implementation plan being executed with in the facility, the facility was producing excellent results for utilization, efficiency and productivity. However, the results were dramatically improved after the lean plan was implemented.

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Old Utilization Efficiency Productivity 92 94 97

New 97 98 98

Tough issues that were encountered throughout the case study: Dealing with the Chain of Command and Accounting and Finance Managers. o Getting them to agree on the following Cost of the Lean Plan. Hard sell in the beginning due to Old School mindset. Productivity and fear of revenue loss due to plan execution. Changing the mindset of the shop operators from the old way to the lean way. Keeping all personnel motivated throughout the planning phase of the project. Convincing the Supervisors to allot time for the operators to attend the meetings and training, which ultimately effected productivity and parts produced. Sustaining the plan, modifications, new processes and the lean concept.

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CONCLUSION

An organization that has created and implemented a proper Lean Manufacturing System shows that it has the ability to learn, improve and change. The Lean production concept is a manufacturing process distinct to all of the other manufacturing processes. The Lean Manufacturing system is a system that requires office and shop personnel cooperation and empowerment, continuous improvement and process upgrading and change. When an organization decides to transform its existing manufacturing system in to a lean system, the organization will make errors along the way. However, in a properly implemented and maintained lean system, errors are usually a one-time issue. In a properly designed and managed lean system these errors are a form of waste that the lean manufacturing philosophy and its methods identify and eliminate. Once the lean system is in place, and the waste have been eliminated, an organization which is manufacturing in a properly run Lean system will optimize its overall business and customer relations, as well as separate itself from its competitors by

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raising the business standards to an unimaginable level with in that organizations industry.

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Definitions:

TAKT Work time available divided by the number of pieces sold during a given period of time. (http://www.mamtc.com)

MAMTC The Mid-America Manufacturing Technology Center (MAMTC) is a service organization that helps small and mid-sized manufacturers increase their sales and productivity, reduce costs, and improve quality. (http://www.mamtc.com)

Value-added activity is any activity in a manufacturing environment that provides value or assistance in producing a particular product.

Non-value-added activity is any activity in a manufacturing environment that does not provide value or assistance in producing a particular product.

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Kaizen event is a meeting that is coordinated to bring together several functional areas of a Manufacturing facility in order to design a concept to fix a non-value-added operation that is not a simple fix.

Kanban Systems A Kanban system allows an organization to reduce production lead time which in turn reduces the amount of inventory required. A Kanban is a card containing all the information required to be done on a product at each stage along its path to completion and which parts are needed at subsequent processes. A Kanban System consists of a set of these cards, with one being allocated for each part being manufactured, that travel between preceding and subsequent processes. These cards are used to control work-in-progress (W.I.P.), production, and inventory flow. A Kanban System allows a company to use Just-In-Time (J.I.T) Production and Ordering Systems which allow them to minimize their inventories while still satisfying customer demands. (www.scm.ittoolbox.com)

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WIP Work-in-process. WIP is a term that is used when products are sitting still, or not being worked on, while moving throughout a facility from one work area to another.

Overproduction occurs when an organization produces more products than demanded by its customers or it produces a high volume of products before they are needed.

Continuous improvement is the incremental improvement of products, processes, or services over time, with the goal of reducing waste to improve workplace functionality, customer service, or product performance (Suzaki, 1987) (http://www.mamtc.com).

Lean Manufacturing is a system that uses a minimal amount of resources to produce a high volume of high quality products with some variety. (Stevenson) Lean Manufacturing can also be defined as: "A systematic approach to identifying and eliminating waste (nonvalue-added activities) through continuous improvement by flowing the
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product at the pull of the customer in pursuit of perfection." (MFG Solutions website)

Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMS) is a configuration of computer-managed numerical work stations where materials are automatically handled and machine loaded. (www.kwaliteg.co.za)

Production cell configuration is a strategy that is designed to increase the flexibility of an operation, in order to produce a high volume of different products in smaller batch sizes, while reducing operating costs and increasing the overall production of the work force. (Cooper Cameron Corp)

Waste is any type of service or operation that the customer does not pay for. (This is the same as non-value-added activities)

Stop the Line Quality System is when the power is given to workers to stop the process when abnormalities occur, allowing them

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to prevent the defect or variation from being passed along. (http://www.profitec.com/)

Throughput is the total amount of time it takes a part to reach completion from the time that it starts being machined, to the minute it is finished and moves on the next phase of its production cycle.

Safety Stock is a surplus inventory which is stored in order to protect the company from inefficiencies and unexpected problems or customer orders.

Manufacturing perfection is when an organization can produce its products with zero manufacturing defects, a low inventory system, little overhead and indirect labor costs, no maintenance or machine issues, zero personnel safety related issues and meet all of the customers requirements and delivery times on every order that organization receives.

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Just-in-time is a strategy for inventory management in which raw

materials and components are delivered from the vendor or supplier immediately before they are needed in the manufacturing process. (http://www.investorwords.com/cgi-bin/getword.cgi?2688)

Visual Management (5-S) focuses on effective work place organization and standardized work procedures. 5S is a tool that is designed to simplify your work environment. 5-S reduces waste and non-value activities, while improving quality, efficiency and safety. (Cooper Cameron Corp)
1. Sort (Seiri) Keep only what is required 2. Set in Order (Seiton) Arrange and identify for ease of use, organize 3. 4. Shine (Seiso) Clean regularly. Clean up everything thats left Standardize (Seiketsu) Eliminate causes and reduce variations, make standards obvious

5.

Sustain (Shitsuke) Set discipline, plan, schedule, train AND STICK TO IT!

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References:

1. Operations Management (7th Edition), William J. Stevenson (pgs. 26-27) 2. Cooper Cameron Corp. Lean Manufacturing training presentation 3. 5-S for Operations: 5 pillars of the visual workplace, Productivity Press, 1996 4. The Machine That Changed the World, Womack, Jones & Roos, 1990 5. http://www.profitec.com/. 6. www.kwaliteg.co.za 7. www.scm.ittoolbox.com 8. http://www.mamtc.com/lean/intro_intro.asp 9. http://www.mfgsolutions.org/lean.html

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APPENDIX I

Implementing the 5-S concept in an Oil and Gas Ball Valve Manufacturing Facility Final Research Paper EMGT 540 SP 2006 Ryan Henderson

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INTRODUCTION Organization, cleanliness, appearance, quality and safety are issues that are key factors involved in the direct success of Manufacturing Processes. All of these issues must be closely observed, tracked and constantly improved to perform consistently at a level which allows the company to meet the customers demands. Numerous organizing quality methods have been developed to prevent problems with the issues previously listed. Some of the main issues with the proposed methods were inconsistency and unrealistic goals. decided to implement the Japanese 5-S concept. The Management team

This research is motivated by an actual manufacturing problem in a continuous manufacturing system of a Trunion Ball Valve Company. On the average, the Ball Valve plant receives more than 100 customer orders in a month, totaling about 250 valves. The production system is capable of producing a large number of valves with different sizes, through multiple processing lines. A large number of process constraints exist due to varied capabilities of the production lines and the sizing

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differences of the valves. Most of the valves can be produced on more than one line and some of the processes require the sharing of special tools. However, most of the problems are due to the lack of organization, consistency and standardization. The current work place organization plan is informal and based on the operators personal preference and experience. With an increasing emphasis on the multiple responsibilities of workers, increase of valve options and operational shifts the management team decided to implement a plan that would eliminate the current process issues in the Manufacturing facility. The management team decided that the 5S concept could effectively impact the way the company do business. Based on Japanese words that begin with S, the 5S Philosophy focuses on effective work place organization and standardized work procedures. 5S was designed to simplify the work environment, reduces waste and non-value activity while improving quality efficiency and safety. 1. Sort (Seiri) the first S focuses on eliminating unnecessary items from the workplace. The operator is required to sort through his
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or her work area, removing all of the tools that are not needed on a daily basis. The operator moves all of the seldom used or special items to an easily identifiable area for storage. Sorting is an excellent way to free up valuable floor space and eliminate such things as broken tools, obsolete jigs and fixtures, scrap and excess raw material. The Sort process also helps prevent the JIC job mentality (Just In Case.) 2. Set In Order (Seiton) is the second of the 5Ss and focuses on efficient and effective storage methods. You must ask yourself these questions: What do I need to do my job? Where should I locate this item? How many of this item do I really need? Strategies for effective Set In Order are: painting floors, outlining work areas and locations, shadow boards, and modular shelving and cabinets for needed items such as trash

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cans, brooms, mop and buckets. Imagine how much time is wasted every day looking for a broom? The broom should have a specific location where all employees can find it. 3. Shine: (Seiso) Once you have eliminated the unneeded items that have been clogging your work areas and identified and located the necessary items, the next step is to thoroughly clean the work area. Daily follow-up cleaning is necessary in order to sustain this improvement. Workers take pride in a clean and clutter-free work area and the Shine step will help create ownership in the equipment and facility. Workers will also begin to notice changes in equipment and facility location such as air, oil and coolant leaks, repeat contamination and vibration, broken, fatigue, breakage, and misalignment. These changes, if left unattended, could lead to equipment failure and loss of production.

4. Standardize: (Seiketsu) Once the first three 5Ss have been implemented, you should concentrate on standardizing best

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practice in your work area. Allow your employees to participate in the development of such standards. 5. Sustain: (Shitsuke) this is by far the most difficult S to implement and achieve. Human nature is to resist change and more than a few organizations have found themselves with a dirty cluttered shop a few months following their attempt to implement 5S. The tendency is to return to the status quo and the comfort zone of the "old way" of doing things. Sustain focuses on defining a new status quo and standard of work place organization. Once fully implemented, the 5S process can increase morale, create positive impressions on customers, and increase efficiency and organization. Not only will employees feel better about where they work, the effect on continuous improvement can lead to less waste, better quality and faster lead times. Any of which will make the organization more profitable and competitive in the market place.

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LITERATURE REVIEW Implementing the 5-S concept into an Oil and Gas service industry company is not the easiest concept to create a plan for. Reason being, most firms change processes for each job. Their workers are cross trained and are veterans of their trades. These issues culminate into an ending conclusion that consists of personnel that are unwilling to change, inconsistent processes which make it hard for the 5-S leaders to arrow down their scope to create the perfect scenario and the industry is not use to improvement plans such as 5-S.

During my research for implementing 5-S in a Valve Manufacturing environment, it was difficult to find documentation that pertained to the industry that I was focusing on. Many concepts have been created from 5-S, which focus mainly on repetitive manufacturing facilities. In the Oil and Gas or energy service industry, it is hard to find a repetitive type manufacturing environment. Most Energy service companies

change processes for each job. Some Energy service manufacturers create new processes everyday. Another key issue is time. Usually

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these firms are under thin time restraints.

This impedes upon the

workers time to create and implement 5-S related ideas.

The article titled, An investigation into Japanese 5-S practice in UK industry, Warwood & Knowles, Oct 2004, provides the findings from a survey on 5-S from Manufacturing Organizations throughout the United Kingdom. The research thoroughly reviews the 5-S literature and how it pertains to the UK workers. The authors also conducted a survey using a questionnaire, and then they followed-up the questionnaire with a series of semi-structured interviews and critique findings with the literature. The conclusions of the research are that practice and theory are closely related and any differences in the implementation of 5-S can be attributed mainly to the maturity of the 5S program. Clearly, there is great scope for the application of 5-S in the non-manufacturing environment. I found these types of research articles to be overwhelming popular throughout my research. However, as you can tell by my summary of the article, they are normally very vague and unrelated to specific fields, especially the Energy Services Industry.
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Switched

on,

JUNE

2004,

five

successful

years

into

lean

manufacturing, ASCO Valve is on a never-ending journey of continuous improvement, as Director of Operations Pete Viens explains to Gary Toushek.

This was an interesting article that I found in North American Industry Magazine. company. ASCO valve is a very popular valve manufacturing They have an excellent reputation and produce a wide

variety of valve options. This article, though not directly for the energy service industry, correlates perfectly to what I am trying to accomplish with my research. In the article, Pete Viens explains how ASCO has implemented Kaizen events or quick change over events in combination with the 5-S concept, which now occur monthly, have dramatically changed the way that ASCO manufacturers their valves. These changes have ultimately increased productivity by 30 - 60 %. That is a remarkable improvement when you consider the simple changes that are involved with the 5-S concept.

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5-S is an excellent tool to motivate and improve the moral of the work force. Not only does it help to improve Quality, Safety and appearance, it allows the lowest level workers to express and implement their ideas. By allowing the workforce the opportunity to become involved in 5-S they are immediately responsible for implementing 5-S into their work area. This gives them the responsibility of a project manager for that area. That statement says it all. It creates and builds confidence in that individual gives them purpose and excitement to create, implement and constantly improve their 5-S plan. The following article is an excellent example of how 5-S can positively impact an organization on an individual basis.

The following is a transcript of the prestigious Industrial Maintenance and Plant Operation (IMPO) Magazine's Cover Story of September 2003. Best Practices: Metaldyne's 5S Showcase. The auto supplier's die-casting facility in Niles, IL, is nearing plant-wide completion of a 5S strategy that has both bonded the workforce and helped keep the unit competitive through tough times.

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Dolack adds that management at Niles and corporate-level managers are honestly interested in what the workers do "and how they do it. Through 5S," he says, "the Metaldyne Corp. is trying to communicate to the working people that they have a lot more control over their own destiny than they think, that they are really the people who make the difference as to whether the parts are good or bad or a plant is safe or not safe, and whether we get jobs or not." This quote from the article sums up my previous statement and shows how the 5-S tool is not only a productivity, clean house and safety improvement tool, it is also a morale boosting tool that brings the entire work force together. It also generates enthusiasm, energy and builds pride among the workers for their efforts in implementing the 5-S tools in to their assigned work areas.

A few questions that must be addressed that have been discovered after conducting the literature review for this research paper are as follows: 1. How will the shop workers react to the changes that will be

caused by implementing the 5-S concept within the Valve Manufacturing Facility?
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2.

How long will it take for the workers and management to

accept the changes and the new responsibilities from the 5-S implementation? 3. What are some key areas with in the shop that need more

focus compared to less used areas. 4. How will the responsibilities be assigned and how will

supervisors allot time for workers to implement the 5-S tools into their every day practices.

METHODOLGY AND PROBLEM SOLVING APPORACH The methodology used to implement the research objective was fairly simple. From the resources that are available via the internet and

books/journals, the most important part was establishing a solid plan. The plan included the following: Get line supervisors involved immediately Allow them to pick the lead men for each line Start small Introduce all of the members to 5-S Help with the first project on each line
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Start and complete a project before moving to the next one.

Continue to teach the 5-S concepts on a bi-weekly basis

Ensure that everyone is committed Continue to push and motivate Change out lead men from each line on a quarterly basis

Reward excellent performance

By creating and implementing this plan, everyone with in the 5-S implementation plan was onboard and ready to go from Day1. The workers thoroughly enjoyed the 5-S program. It instilled pride and enthusiasm among all of the workers. They were all very excited to finally have the opportunity to implement ideas that they had though of for years. Many of their ideas were excellent and played a vital role in increasing the efficiency and productivity of the manufacturing process. In many ways, the quality and safety improved with in the facility as

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well. Most importantly, all of the workers now took more pride and felt responsible for their projects and daily work.

EVALUATION OF METHODOLGY The outcome of the 5-S concept project was excellent. All of the

personnel involved thoroughly enjoyed coming up with various improvement ideas. The projects allowed the workers to come out of their working molds and use some of their creativity and ingenuity. The projects also instilled pride with in the workers, knowing that they implemented their own ideas. Quality, safety and visual improvements were also noted from the completion of each project. Areas were now neat, efficient, more

productive and clean. It was very impressive to observe some of the before and after pictures of each project.

CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS The 5-S Concept is an excellent project to implement in any workplace. 5-S was created to improve Manufacturing environments but the concept can be used to help improve any workplace or home. Once the
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5 steps are implemented, discipline and continued effort will be needed in order for the project to succeed and expand throughout the mindset of the workforce and the facility.

In an Oil and Gas environment change is a hard challenge for any skilled process holder no matter what the skill level or age. Most of the workers have been around for decades and understand their work and perform very well in that discipline. However, once someone

introduces the workers to 5-S and provides them the teaching, resources and time to implement the ideas, they will run with it. The Oil and Gas work force will do an excellent job due to their pride and knowledge of tricks of the trade and experience. The 5-S concept is an excellent concept for any environment or industry. It is also a must for the Oil and Gas industry. Due to increased customer demands and work force cutbacks, it is extremely important to be lean, organized and produce quality product in a safe and efficient environment. There is no better way to create an

environment that can compete in todays Oil and Gas market than by

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implementing the 5-S concept into the mindset of the worker and the workplace. The outcome for the 5-S implementation for the research objective was positive. The manufacturing operations benefited greatly from the The

improved morale, motivation and enthusiasm of the workers.

quality, safety and productivity reaped the benefits of the 5-S program too. The over all looks of the facility improved greatly as well. Most importantly, the workers pride and team mindset improved in a positive dramatic fashion. Future research directions for the facility are ongoing. The company implemented Six Sigma at the corporate level in 1998. This is a long term project that will take years to fully integrate within the mindset of the office and shop personnel. Most have embraced it, but with

workers in the tens of thousands and over 100 facilities World wide, it will take a while for the concept to be fully grasped across the board. The 5-S concept has been updated and ongoing everyday after the conclusion of this research with in the specified facility. The

researched facility has undergone many changes and taken on several new product lines from buy outs. These product lines and changes will
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soon undergo the transformation caused by implementing the 5-S concept. Until the opportunity to implement the 5-S concept is

available, the 5-S initiative team will continue to implement the toughest 5-S step, sustain.

REFERENCES 1. 2. 5-S Training Cooper Cameron 2002 An investigation into Japanese 5-S practice in UK industry, Stephen J. Warwood, Graeme Knowles, TQM Magazine, Oct 2004 Volume: 16 Issue: 5 Page: 347 353. 3. Switched on, June 2004, Five successful years into lean manufacturing, Director of Operations (ASCO Valves) Pete Viens explains to Gary Toushek, http://www.themanufacturer.com/naindustry/content_page.html? article_id=214 4. Best Practices: Metaldyne's 5S Showcase, Industrial Maintenance and Plant Operation (IMPO), Cover Story, September 2003, By Rick Carter, Editor-in-Chief

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