More and more often, employees follow a Lean training because they feel as if it is a necessity and not because their organisation thinks so. It is possible they see tons of possibilities to improve ongoing processes, but they do not know how. And if your organisation is not yet familiar with Lean, where do you start?

Keep it simple

Although it may not seem like it, a working environment is surrounded with problems, shaped as waste. These are activities that take up time and money, but do not add value to the product or service which the customer receives. 

Most likely, these types of problems are put on hold, because finding a solution to them can be considered complex. This is most frequently due to hierarchical structures within an organisation. And that is the main reason why it is important to cut up such “big” problems into smaller pieces, so these can be solved step by step. Furthermore, this can be considered to be the first step towards continuous improvement.

Create a foundation

Problems can be everywhere, in every shape or form with many different types of seriousness or priority. In other words, every problem is different from the previous one. The most important concept regarding problems is being transparent and open to your employees, so a foundation open for change is created. To do so, an improvement board might be a great solution. This is where employees themselves are able to write down problems, which will then be discussed at the start of the day or the week (on Monday). This way, employees are encouraged to think about the problems in their own working environment and come up with possible solutions.

Where to start?

It can be difficult to think of the right place to start Lean yourself. However, it is important to keep in mind the workplace is a great place to start. Apply 5S to arrange your workplace more efficiently. One big advantage is how easy to understand 5S is and how fast the result can be visible. It also increases how much your employees are involved in processes within your organisation.

What about the management?

In a very approachable manner, you have shown your colleagues the tip of the iceberg that is called Lean. If they are nearly as enthusiastic as you are, Lean will spread itself. To be fair, starting with Lean is much easier than keeping Lean going. Because how do you keep improving? This is where management is unmissable. They are meant to realise Lean is a strategy for improvement, which is how it should be treated. 

Because the philosophy is not a project, solution or short-term replacement: it is a way of thinking, handling and improving where continuous improvement is very important. It is not something you can achieve within a week, but it takes up much more time and energy. The management should commit to the principles of Lean and be able to keep up with the development it brings along. Only when they do so, Lean can be embraced by the entire organisation.

Commitment of the management

The management is meant to choose Lean experts as support. When implementing Lean, employees take on the central role and are encouraged to improve the working environment. Because they are, in fact, experts when it comes to the business processes of an organisation. They know like no other where improvement could be made. The management is responsible, though, for making sure these employees have time to actually make the improvements. 

Lean is a philosophy that focuses on customer value by creating a collective mission for employees and management. Shortly, it comprises looking for continuous improvements within business processes by eliminating waste for the customer. 

And initiating Lean top-down or bottom-up does not necessarily matter: you need both of these approaches to fully embrace the Lean culture within your organisation and gain success in the long run.

Het bericht Start using Lean now verscheen eerst op Lean Six Sigma Group.

Monokuzuri

Has your organisation started using Lean? But are you worried this is not going as well as you would like? Then Monozukuri might be your solution!

What is Monozukri?

The term itself is made of the two Japanese words ‘mono’ and ‘zukuri’. These stand for ‘the thing’ and ‘production process’. In other words, Monozukuri does not only focus on the tools of continuous improvement, but on the corresponding culture as well. Not only does this comprise the technique of continuous improvement, but the social aspects too. I mean, it is important to satisfy your employees, right?

Why do trajectories of change fail?

Even though organisation make the decision to implement the philosophy Lean, failure can still occur.  In Japan, people wondered why the implementation of World Class Management failed. They concluded there were two streams that actually were not connected and did not strengthen each other. These are called the product value streams and value stream of humans. The product value stream includes the stream of the first phase to the end product. The value stream of humans entails the employees of an organisation. 

The streams of the product value stream have split up due to a lack of attention to short-term performances. Employees therefore lost their ownership to improvement. Fortunately, improvement was still made, but not because of intrinsic motivation. 

These two streams can, however, still be connected to each other by working together. And when they have met again, continuous improvement will happen again; this is in the organisation’s DNA. This also includes managing your employees, because they should be stimulated! 

The execution of big adaptation of projects can only become successful when using the right management system and a Change Management Plan. Monozukuri is an example of such a system, which gives structure to initiatives regarding improvement within companies. By different teams with many functionalities and a focus on the organisation’s goal, this can be achieved. End-to-end costs are improved this way.  And this might result in excellerating people and machines in order to achieve maximum value for customers. 

Monozukuri’s three pillars

Monozukuri stands on three pillars, each existing of three aspects. These focus on producing the least costly and excellerating continuous improvement. 

1. Product & Development

• Design-to-Cost
  Design-to-cost is a systematic approach to control the costs from design to production. By making certain decisions during the concept phase, it becomes easier to prevent costs in later phases. 
• Standardisation
  Standardising the process, including in- and output, makes it predictable. This leads to quality and creates the opportunity to easily maintain knowledge about products and processes.
• “Tier-N-Supplier” Optimisation
  By actively involving suppliers in the production process, the number of suppliers in between processes can be decreased. Transparency and teamwork are crucial.

2. Production

• Lean manufacturing
  Lean strives towards a process containing the least waste and an optimal flow, which adds maximum value to the customer. The employees of organisation using Lean take on a central role, because they are used to generate improvements. Continuously.
• Make vs. Buy
  The costs and advantages regarding processes of productions of products or services are compared with different companies who make use of the same processes.
• Digitalisation
  New technologies fasten production processes. This leads to smarter software, robots and sensors. 

3. Supply chain

• Cost to serve
  Cost to serve calculates the costs that are needed for the process of producing to delivering to the customer. Every product regards many activities, due to the fact that every process and every customer differs. 
• Design to logistics
  Design to logistics is a concept where a collaboration between product and development takes place. This way, the costs of distribution are decreased, in order to optimise the customer value.
• Tasks
  The supply chain makes sure a clear task division is made. However, a clear insight regarding the responsibilities of the organisation for their customers and suppliers is unmissable as well.

Teamwork, however, takes on a central role within these three pillars. Because this does not only make the product value stream successful, but the value stream of humans as well.

Het bericht Implement Monozukuri in your organisation verscheen eerst op Lean Six Sigma Group.

Congratulations! You have been certified as Green Belt and are ready to start with your first project. You want to apply everything you have learnt this far. However, this often appears to be harder than expected. Where to start? And how to be sure your first project regarding improvement becomes a success?

In this blog, we will help you, as certified Green Belt, to start your first successful project by giving your some tips.

Start in your working place:

Lean philosophy is about bottum-up improvement. Work from the working place upwards to the top. 

1. Employees know how processes work. This knowledge is necessary to become able to improve! 
2. Employees must be involved in improvement projects to create foundation for changes. 

The first step that should be taken is called a Gemba Walk. Gemba stands for working place, which means a Gemba Walk stands for an actual walk around the working place. Observe the processes that take place here. And remember: Go see, ask why and show respect. 

This means observing a process without judgment. Ask your employees what they are doing and more importantly how. 

By making a Gemba Walk, you show you are involved as a Green Belt and will get more feeling for the processes that will take place to achieve improvement. 

Make sure there is understanding between the client and the working place

After making a Gemba Walk, much information is collected. This input leads to improvement of the processes. By consulting with the management team, you will find certain things in the organisation, after having made the Gemba Walk, that can be improved. Eventually, you should make a plan in order to carry through with the improvement. 

Prevent terminology

To ´lean´ your process, it is possible to create an ´Ishikawa’ or ‘muda’. This sounds logical to a Green Belt, but your employees might find this less easy to understand. Try to use as less terminology as possible, but just say things such as ‘mapping processes’, ‘eliminating waste within processes’ et cetera. This is easier to understand than those Japanese terms. 

Do not lose yourself in all those details

As a Green Belt you should realise your added value lies in taking a step back from the workfloor. People might lose themselves in thinking of solutions to problems, instead of analysing first. As a Green Belt, take a step back and think rationally of effective solutions after analysis. 

Het bericht The execution of your first improvement project verscheen eerst op Lean Six Sigma Group.

It is impossible to ignore the fact that the world is moving towards a better, more sustainable future. Even within the organisation and other businesses, this should be implemented. But how? In this blog you will read about new technologies to optimise processes and the importance of teamwork. Because by motivating each other and working together, an organisation will become ready to face the future, for example by automation. 

Automation of processes

Many grander organisations have laid their focus on automatic process. The prediction is smaller organisation will do the same rather soon. And this will only continue to happen more and more. For starters, only simple, repeatable process steps will become automatic, but in the long run, other processes will too. Process optimisation is part of the automation of processes. And the goal is to let processes run more efficiently, make them less work intensive, decrease risks and make the organisation more profitable. 

To keep up with the fast-changing technological developments, RPA was created.  This replaces the traditional way of automation. Because in the past, it was important to have knowledge of and experience regarding automation. However, with the creation of new technology, the automation of processes are simplified and, ironically, automated. 

Processes in the future

To prevent your organisation from staying behind on recent developments, it is important to visualise which processes within your business should be automated. Depending on the ambitions and strategy of your organisation, of course. Important questions here are: 

• Which processes are work intensive?
• Which processes contain many mistakes?
• Which processes have a bigger lead time?

Many organisations have experienced in the past, that taking the step towards automation can be very costly. Fortunately, RPA is easy to approach, because your organisation will be able to keep the same system structure. And why is that, you ask? Because the same systems will be used, in fact, only will they be controlled by robots instead of human beings.  Not only will the probability of mistakes be heavily decreased, but a robot can keep on working 24/7 as well. 

Focus on value

If RPA offers many advantages, then why is there still some resistance regarding the implementation of this tools? Because employees feel as if they might lose their jobs because of it. RPA makes their work easier, as they take over their repeatable and simple actions. Examples could be archiving emails. In other words, employees will fulfill less administrative tasks, which leads to more time available for customers. And in specific: delivering value to the customers. 

When an organisation becomes successful, it facilitates its employees to focus on basic tasks. However, making the transition to an organisation that focuses on customer value is not as facile as might be thought. Employees should aim at higher team performances, which is the responsibility of the management team. 

Would you call your organisation future-proof?

If you are intrigued and want to be ready for the future as an organisation, we surely want to assist you. Please do not hesitate to contact us.

Het bericht Be ready for the future – use automation! verscheen eerst op Lean Six Sigma Group.

TPM, also known as Total Productive Maintenance, is frequently used in production environments. It focuses on using machines as effectively as possible by for example minimizing maintenance. The level of waste, such as waiting time and defects, are kept as low as possible by doing so. 

The basis for maintenance

• Preventive maintenance
  Planned activities regarding production are categorized preventive maintenance. This kind of maintenance must be done periodically. In other words, machines should be checked for possible problems and if there are any sorts of problems, these should be fixed. In the end, the goal would be to find solutions to problems before they occur.
• Correcting maintenance
  Managers and other employees are the people who check the machines and decide whether possible defects should be fixed. This is often much more cost-efficient than waiting until something is actually broken. Replacing (parts of) machines can increase a company’s profit.
• Maintenance
  This procedure checks if machines that are bought meet a company’s requirements. Buying equipment that is broken or does not meet those requirements can lead to inefficiency. 

The 8 principles of Total Productive Maintenance

Seiichi Nakajma was working at a company called Nippondenso, which is one of the suppliers of Toyota, when he thought of this theory in 1971. It originally existed of five principles, but was extended to eight principles based on Lean later on.

1. Autonomous maintenance
   Do not put too much responsibility in one part of the organisation. You have seen this in the Lean philosophy. Put trust in your employees and give them space to take responsibility of maintenance and inspection of the equipment. This way, problems are detected earlier on and solutions can be found.
2. Planned maintenance
   Try planning all maintenance and mapping out the state of the machines. When this is done, your organisation will not be flooded with defects to machines which will lead to less production. To do so, choose the right moment in which maintenance can be done. This moment can be chosen by looking at older data about your current machines.
3. Education and training
   Make sure your employees possess the right knowledge and skills to do the maintenance. Teach them the TPM-principles, to create a culture in which continuous improvement takes on a central role. 
4. Early equipment management
   Of course mistakes will be made, no one will deny that statement. However, you should value these mistakes and learn from them.
5. Quality maintenance
   The performance of the equipment must be good, so be critical during maintenance. When you take on a proactive role when doing so, this could eventually improve the quality of your products. 
6. Focused improvement
   When improving, use a mixed group in which every individual is a complement to another. This makes sure the analysis of the equipment and corresponding solutions are looked at from different perspectives. This will result in a better product and a more satisfied customer. 
7. Safety, health & environment
   Like always: safety first! When using TPM, this condition will be easy to hold onto. 
8. TPM in administration
   Optimizing equipment leads to it becoming clear that other processes might need some improvement as well. This eighth principle therefore focuses on implementing TPM in administration, so it can be used there too. And who knows? Lean might come in handy.

What is the connection between Total Productive Maintenance and Lean?

As you have just read, TPM focuses on loss due to equipment. Lean, however, has its main aim on loss within the entire process. When your organisation wants to improve regarding the production process, TPM is almost essential. During our Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Training, we will look at an approach such as Lean, but TPM will be mentioned and explained as well. 

Het bericht What is Total Productive Maintenance? verscheen eerst op Lean Six Sigma Group.

Nowadays, people and organisation have gotten to know the philosophy called Lean more and more. It might be the entire organisation has implemented Lean, but it might be as well they are only using a few tools belonging to the philosophy. But why are they doing this? And what should be done to achieve the same as they have?

What actually is a Lean trajectory?

A trajectory is a path or route yet to be walked or gone on. In other words, before starting Lean a path you should be wandered: your organisation must be ready. Another feature of a trajectory is the possession of a clear start and ending. However, this is not the case with Lean (Six Sigma). There is no actual start or defined ending. It is a structure that is implemented in the working environment of an organisation, but it will be a never-ending change to the organisation. Things can always be improved!

To elaborate a little more on that progression, one of the main principles of Lean is continuous improvement. Striving towards perfection. Lean focuses on a goal based on customer value. Everything is based on this value, you could consider it being some sort of foundation for your organisation. Because your main concern should be the satisfaction of your customer. Furthermore, another concern is Operational Excellence, which focuses on doing your very best to satisfy the customer by listening to his or her needs and requirements. A combination between Lean and Lean Six Sigma is often used to achieve this goal. Lean makes continuous use of five different principles. Lean Six Sigma uses DMAIC to achieve the same goal. 

But then, why use a Lean trajectory?

Lean focuses on the customer and continuously tries improving business processes to keep those customer satisfied. The main focus of Lean is actually the reason why most people want to implement this philosophy in their organisation. Often, this happens because customers are not as satisfied as they once were, or maybe because the market share of an organisation has decreased.

If customer satisfaction has lowered, this must have a reason. Most of the time, this can be pinned on a difference between the expectation of the customer and what he or she actually receives from the organisation. But how can this happen? It is crucial to know the ins and outs of your customer as an organisation and keep him or her satisfied. Therefore, if you recognize the above and feel there are some business processes that are in need of improvement, do not hesitate to set the entire focus on the customer. Focus on the requirements and try to meet these. Keep in mind these could change over time. This is a reason why Lean focuses on continuous improvement. 

Which steps should you take?

1. Strategy
   Starting Lean can best be done by thinking of a strategy. This strategy translates your goals into a mission, while mapping out the ambitions of the organisation into the customer value. In other words, this is your first step towards your organisation’s personal path. This path can be wandered by setting smaller goals.
   
   
2. Communication
   The second step entails communication. Not only the management or only the employees must be in the known about what is going on; everyone should. They must know: what is Lean, why are we using it, what do we want to achieve by using it and in what way will we do so? The success is in everyone’s hands. But they can only achieve the goals if it is clear to everyone what they should do and how they contribute to the trajectory.
   
   
3. Management
   The third aspect of Lean is management. As just described, everyone should know about their role within Lean in the organisation. However, the management team takes on a special role, because they should motivate and coach the rest of the employees. Often, these are Green Belts. Black Belts can help as well, by keeping track of the different Green Belt Projects going on within the organisation and linking these to the strategy (step 1). But no matter what Belt, all should stimulate and enthuse employees by propagating the organisation’s goals and strategy.
   
   
4. Make the right choices
   The fourth and last step is all about making right choices. These choices should be in line with the organisation’s goals and strategy. If smaller goals are set, these can be achieved more easily, for example by the use of tools such as 5S. 

A Lean trajectory repeats five principles. One of the goals is to embrace the Lean culture and strive towards eventually taking over the way of thinking and acting Lean implies. Starting this trajectory can be done by following a Yellow Belt Training.

Het bericht Mind this when starting a Lean trajectory verscheen eerst op Lean Six Sigma Group.

Are you interested in reading books about Lean?

Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, people spend much of their time at home. And what better way is there to aim for continuous improvement than start reading a Lean book? And who knows? Maybe you will get triggered to sign up for one of the Lean trainings and eventually end up learning even more about the philophy. 

However, the question remains: which books are the most interesting and describe the philosophy of Lean best? Do not worry! We created a top 3, just for you. Experiences of consultants and our own participants have influenced this list. 

1. The first book is called The Toyota Way, written by Jeffrey Liker.

When starting with Lean, it is easy to gain success. But keeping it that way is the trick, as well as expanding your success. That is the main reason why waste increases after a while, even if you had eliminated the greatest part at the beginning of your Lean adventure. 

Toyota

As you can read in our Blog Toyota and Lean, Toyota takes on a central role within Lean. It is considered to be the very beginning of the philosophy. But why? What makes Toyota so special? According to Jeffrey Liker, it must be the system which used for the development of leadership. Together with Gary Convis, he describes The Toyota Way for every Green and Black Belt. 

2. The second book is Lean Six Sigma for Dummies, written by John Morgan and Martin Brenig-Jones.

I can hear almost hear you think. No, you are correct. The ‘for Dummies’ series often does not belong to everyone’s favourite books. With its notable appearance, un-catchy title and lack of in-depth approach, these types of books are not my first choices as well. With exceptions, apparently. Some time ago, I had to read this book, as part of a accreditation. In no time, you are taught about Lean Six Sigma and you will be able to talk about the ins and outs of this philosophy. Using examples people can relate to, they enthuse their readers. It is an easy-to-read book, containing many images and tables. This is why it does belong in our top 3 books about Lean.

3. The third book is called What is Lean Six Sigma, written by Mike George, Dave Rowlands and Bill Kastle.

If you are wondering what the exact definition of Six Sigma is, do not hesitate to read this blog, because it is hard to summarize this in a few sentences. Something like “Lean Six Sigma focuses on the customer and creates a more efficient working environment”, often does not cure all curiosity of the person of interest. 

What is Lean Six Sigma is perfect for managers or project leaders, who are fairly new to Lean Six Sigma. The first part of the book explains the foundation of the philosophy. Well-written, all principles are discussed. The second part, however, dives into a deep a little more. Implementation is the main focus of this part. The DMAIC project-approach is discussed, with each phase being supported by images and examples. In other words, this book is a perfect example of Lean Six Sigma for beginners. 

Het bericht Lean books that will trigger your interest verscheen eerst op Lean Six Sigma Group.

Alphabetical list of the important terms of Lean

Quite regularly, there are people participating in trainings who are just getting acquainted with Lean. If you are, the terms occurring within Lean, might be really overwhelming. To help you find your way through these difficulties, we from Lean Six Sigma Group have created a list containing the most common terms of Lean. Are you familiar with all of them?

Terms of Lean: A - K

5S – By applying this technique, you create a more efficient working environment. All five steps start with an S, hence the name. 

Seiri (sort) – Do I really need this? Make sure there is a distinction between what you need in order to execute a process and what you do not need. (Re)move whatever aspects you consider unnecessary. 

Seiton (set in order) – Order everything and make sure everyone is familiar with the sequence that is set. This way, things can be put where they belong instead of scattering all over your workplace.

Seiso (shine) – Keep the working environment and machines clean. Because keep in mind: filth might be one of the biggest possible distractions. 

Seiketsu (standardise) – Assign rules and set up instructions. Agreements keep your working environment set and clear. 

Shitsuke (sustain) – Keep maintaining this technique to make sure 5S will be applied on a loop. This is your new way of working. 

5x Why – Asking yourself “Why?” repeatedly helps your find the source of the problem. 

A3 – Toyota thought of this roadmap to capture and monitor progress in a structured manner. Why is it called A3, you ask? Because this is the measurement of the paper which is used to log all information. 

First Time Right – As the name implies, this philosophy aims at delivering a product or service which meets the customer’s requirements the first time. 

Flow – This stands for continuity of products and services within a process. It helps to eliminate stock, waiting time and extra transport. 

Gemba – As many Lean terms, this word originates from the Japanese language. It stands for “there where”. In Lean, this refers to the entire workplace. To guide you during the visualisation of the current situation and creation of a better understanding of the execution of processes and corresponding challenges, a “Gemba walk” might help.

Just-in-Time – This philosophy strives at the perfect timing, from a client’s perspective, of delivering products or services.

Kaizen – This Japanese term means improving continuously. Create an environment where employees are looking for possible improvements everyday. Make sure these improvements are actually carried through. 

Kanban – Red flag. Optimisation of stock is the main principle of Kanban. Whenever something is running out of stock, a signal is sent in order to make sure only new things are ordered when necessary. This makes sure packed inventory is prevented. 

KANO-model – Noriako Kano created this model to help you chart and prioritise your expectations, priorities and customers’ requirements. The level of satisfaction is plotted against the extent to which one of the needs is met.  

Terms of Lean: L - P

Lean – Yes, the term that fulfills the central role in this list. Lean is a philosophy which focuses on making business processes more efficient. The actual definition is “slim organisation”, without any waste. 

Makigami – This actually means roll of paper. It is applied within Lean to visualise processes without physical product, e.g. administration. It is also called the “Brown Paper” session.

Muda – Japanese for waste. This is part of 3M – Muda, Muri and Mura – which altogether is used to point out features of processes that are uncalled for. Waste basically means an activity that does not add value to a product, service or process.

Muri – To stay within the lines of 3M, this Japanese word stands for a bottleneck within the organisation, which should obviously be prevented. A bottleneck means there is more workload than can be managed.

Mura – The last term of 3M can be defined as a skewed distribution. This comes down to an uneven workload of employees or machines.

Poka Yoke – “Mistake proofing” is the correct translation of the Japanese term. This limits the influence of human errors during processes. These mistakes are detected before becoming actual failures.

Pull – Pull means only producing or delivering when necessary. This decreases the amount of stock. Often, this is combined with the Kanban-principle. 

Terms of Lean: S - Z

SIPOC – To map processes with important stakeholders, the SIPOC tool can be used. This stands for Supplier, Input, Process, Output and Customer. 

Cycle Time – The pace of a (production) process to meet the customer demand is determined by the cycle time. Imagine this being too long, then the stock as well as the waiting time of the customer increases. 

TIMWOODS – This acronym might help you remember the 8 forms of waste within a process:: Transport, Inventory, Motion, Waiting, Overproduction, Overprocessing, Defects, Skills

TPS – TPS stands for Toyota Production Systems. This is a system of production created by Toyota. And even more important, this is where Lean originates from. 

Improvement board – This aids to keep improving your business or organisation. It visualises ideas about improvement of your employees.

Waste – Just as discussed at Seiri from the 5S technique, some activities are almost useless to the customer or organisation. This is called waste. And please make sure to eliminate those. 

Value Stream Analysis – This technique focuses on customer value. Every step of a process is checked thoroughly, while laying focus on how they contribute to the customer value. 

Would you like to know more?

Did this blog trigger your curiosity and would you like to know more? Would you like to learn how to apply these tools and techniques? Make sure to follow one of our Green Belt Trainings.

Het bericht Sorted: The most important terms of Lean verscheen eerst op Lean Six Sigma Group.

The treasure that is called Obeya

Is the following situation applicable to you? Every meeting, your to-do-list becomes longer and longer. And, although it seems impossible, every new item on that list seems more important than the previous ones. What to do? Obeya might come to your rescue! 

What is an ‘Obeya’?

This Japanese word stands for ‘big space’. Sometimes, it is compared to a ‘war room’. Yes, this is a room at a military headquarters. However, this term is used for a room at business headquarters as well. In this room, conferences are held and planning is made. The main aim of Obeya is to offer time and space to solve problems and consult without experiencing organisational thresholds. It must lead to an environment open to collaboration within the company. And if all goes well, Obeya results in faster and more effective solutions to existing problems. 

The key feature of Obeya is visual support, such as tables, graphs and other tools to visualize elements of your business. These tools assist to come to a decision during meetings, instead of using opinions and estimations of data. Obeya makes sure every piece of information is analysed, prioritized and because of this, decisions can be made about further actions to take. 

What is an Obeya definitely not?

An Obeya is a space, unhidden and accessible to everyone. It is important as well to make sure your Obeya is transparent. There are no secrecies. 

The daily meetings your Obeya helds are meant to learn from the past and focus on measures that should be taken because of possible missed opportunities in the past. What should be done to meet the organisational goals? Note that these must be able to find the room! Once again, keep in mind that the Obeya focuses on the future. One rule that always applies is: if you are missing information to take a decision, you are looking at a point of improvement. 

Presenting something to the management team, although they are present in the room, is not the aim of the Obeya. Because the team is in the room, one of the risks is that the entire room will focus on them. However, a dialogue between all participants must arise, not only between the management team and other employees.

iObeya (the digital Obeya)

If your company exists of more than one location, iObeya offers the ultimate solution; it is a digital, visualised management platform, which includes the same graphs, tables etc.

There is not one format for your Obeya. Make sure it fits your organisation. To give you some ideas, many organisation choose something like this:

• Left side: business values, strategy and plans for the entire year. Think of Hoshin Kanri, X-matrix, OGSM or a map of changes. 
• Middle: often, this is divided in two parts. 
  • Left: CPI’s (Critical Process Indicators) and the corresponding results, e.g. dashboard or Balanced Scorecard. Information about the processes is offered as well. It can be seen as a display of the current situation the business is in. 
  • Right: all improvement projects and their progress are placed here. These plans contain information about the processes. When they are finished, information about them can be found on the left side of the part in the middle. 
• Right side: possible thresholds and action too small to fit the Kaizen event are put here.

Another option, is to place a flip-over in the room, hang a whiteboard or place a beamer. The choice is all yours. 

One look at the Obeya and it must be clear how your company is doing. Green, orange and red must indicate if there are any improvements, or if all is fine. Graphs, progress bars and drawings are easier to read than raw data. 

Advantages of Obeya:

1. Less meetings are scheduled, because meetings to start your day, regular meetings or discussions take place at once. 
2. Information about the current status of the company can be considered known by everybody. This is less time-consuming for managers, because they do not need to inform each and every employee individually.
3. Everyone is able to see the bigger picture. This may lead to more understanding and willingness to improve. 
4. If employees are able to gain insight in the company, they will feel more involved and responsible. 
5. Collaboration leads to your employees feeling more involved. 
6. Thanks to wisdom of the crowd, new ideas arise and actions are taken earlier on. 
7. Communication will be more direct and faster. This will take less time.

But, how to start using Obeya?

As just stated, there is no strict format to use for an Obeya. Once you have found one that suits your company, hang everything regarding a long term vision. This will contain plans, projects and other information. Do not get scared: obviously, this will include many projects, all encouraging you to fulfill its needs first, because they will all have high priorities. This means the projects are actually equals; which will be done firstly?

Decide a maximum regarding the number of projects your company will deal with at the same time. The rest will be finished later on. 

When your first meeting takes place in the Obeya, it is not rare this might take up some time. Everyone has to get used to the way in which the meetings will go from now on. However, the role of the leader of the process is unmissable. He or she is responsible for:

• keeping all numbers up-to-date
• the progress of the projects

Do not hesitate to become more familiar with the term process.

Concluding, Obeya is the place where meetings take place, plans are made, results are discussed and agreements are made. All important things can be found in the Obeya. 

Het bericht Obeya to the rescue! verscheen eerst op Lean Six Sigma Group.

In Lean, it is also important for the focus to be on the customer. With such focus in place, the six steps being discussed can form a solid foundation for all organisations or persons aiming to implement Lean. And you will immediately have a grasp on the Lean way of thinking:

1. Value
2. Value Stream Mapping
3. Flow
4. Pull
5. Improvement
6. Repetition

In Lean thinking, the added value of the product is central. This value is determined by the needs of the customer, not by surplus tasks performed by the manufacturer. You see, the customer is only willing to pay for processes that contribute to a product that conforms to his specifications.

1. Value

So value is determined by customers who want to buy a well-performing product at the right price. This means that Lean organisations must arrange their processes in such a way that no waste occurs, which would otherwise be charged to the customer.

Because we link the term ‘value’ to the specifications of the customer, the below questions can help us identify the value:

• What problem does the customer have?
• Are the needs of the customer clear?
• What are the benefits for the customer and for the organisation?

2. Value Stream Mapping

Once the value for the customer has been determined, the following Lean step can be taken, i.e. the definition of the right process. The right process is one that only adds value to the product and hence conforms to the specifications of the customer. In other words, a process without wastes. The Value Stream Map can be of aid here and consists of three categories:

• Processes that create value. These involve all the steps that are necessary in order to shape the product and move closer towards the end product.
• Processes that do not add value but are necessary. All processes involve activities such as transport, checks and waiting times.
• Processes that do not add value and can be eliminated. All activities that do not fall within the above categories.

Although processes that do not create value should actually be eliminated, processes that do not add value but are important can be re-evaluated and improved. A Value Stream Map is useful in such a case. It can be used to take a closer look at every step in the process in order to decide whether or not it adds value.

Questions to ask during this step include:

• What problems have been found that negatively affect the process?
• Do you know where these problems come from?
• What effect do these problems have on the customer?

3. Flow

Process wastes have already been identified and eliminated in the previous steps. The third step in Lean focuses on a fast flow of products. This can be achieved by physically tracking the process and noting the distances travelled by the product within it. The distances that are found to be excessive can subsequently be eliminated or shortened.

The 5S method is often applied during this third step. This is a method that helps organise the workplace. It is often the foundation of a Lean organisation and involves the following steps:

• Sort
• Sustain
• Shine
• Standardise
• Systematic Arrangement

Evaluation questions to ask here include:

• Has all (possibly unnecessary) movement been logged?
• Have all steps that do not add value been identified and eliminated?
• Has 5S been integrated in the right way?

4. Pull

The benefits of the initial steps lead to greater production in the organisation, with every step adding value to the end product. Greater production also results in more stock, which in turn forms one of the 8 wastes in Lean. This is because every product that is not sold immediately – and therefore stagnates in storage – is considered a waste. To solve this problem, step 4 either restricts the supply or increases the sale of products (pull).

Adjusting the production system in such a way that supply is equal to demand is a good way of combating waste. This so-called ‘pull system’ involves only replacing or manufacturing products on the basis of sales.

5. Improvement

Continuous improvement is a Lean legacy. Organisations must therefore strive towards this. The goal is to always have the ideal system in place for the product offered by the organisation. And to improve the current system. This is also known as Kaizen.

6. Repetition

This final step serves as confirmation of all the previous steps that have been implemented. Here, the progress that has been made is evaluated. And whether the same procedures and tools can also be applied to other processes (the key principle) is also considered. The greatest advantage of this step is the fact that all time spent on analysis during the first process can be recouped during the subsequent processes.

Het bericht Lean thinking in 6 steps verscheen eerst op Lean Six Sigma Group.