High cost of poor quality and animosity between Sales, Design and Production during engineering  process  for highly designed, large scale projects and  products prompted an Engineering Excellence Team led by the Engineering Team Leader.

SAP does not provide engineering metric tracking, work capacity nor scheduling capabilities. Employees did not utilize manual tracking system.

  

  Lessons Learned

You can use tools and techniques creatively to reduce human errors. Strive to develop people and processes. Everyone must work together to ensure the organization’s vision and values are achieved.  

BENEFITS  

ItsAllPerfect.com

TRUST. It is often the place I start when getting to know a team and allowing them to get to know me. We strive to be a trusted advisor they can rely on, but we also seek to understand the trust dynamics of a team. If a team doesn't trust each other and/or their management and/or leadership, sustainable change will be difficult if not impossible. Seek to understand the trust factor in your organization's culture. Define where the gaps are and initiate action to shift it with a change management assessment and action plan.

ItsAllPerfect.com

     

FAIL FORWARD FASTER!!!

Kaizen or Rapid Improvement Event or 5S activity?

Making small incremental change is critical to ongoing Lean success. On this project, we started as a 5S training spot, which got the work force involved, then morphed into a problem solving exercise with a second pass at Visual Management with BIG efficiency/safety savings.

ItsAllPerfect.com

Lesson Learned: Engage employees at all levels of the process for great success, prepare well, put team goals first, communicate, be persistently consistent. Mistakes can be great successes!

$ Engaging End-Users is essentail for sustainable change and excellent problem solving. The people doing the work are the best ones to continuously improve processes and themselves!

$ Keep focus on PEOPLE - improve, respect, empower and align  them to your VISION!

$ Understand Value - what are the KPIs that reveal how the business is doing in COST, DELIVERY, QUALITY and SAFETY?

$ Keep change at the forefront of everything, continuously improve in persuit of perfection! 

ItsAllPerfect.com

PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS

Introduced a standard Daily Management system for two window assembly cells. Evaluated multiple sites for quick wins and culture challenges. Demand Flow Technology certified. Window Mfg, (11/18 to 03/19)
Facilitated Lean Six Sigma foundations with TRACC solutions for Site Steering and Implementation Task Force teams including training, project management, coaching and quick wins. Agri-Tech (05/18 to 11/18),
Developed suppliers for improvements in quality, delivery, performance, business health and systemic challenges. Aerospace (12/13 to 09/18)
CPS – Annual Peak Demand - problem solving to proactively deter service level and customer satisfaction challenges, led by Contact Center Director – service level achieved
PFMEA Overview – Training development and delivery to PEX group including practitioners and management leaders
Learning and development support –Training decks with instructor notes for Lean Six Sigma Champion training
Utilities Hub mentoring and Re-creation – Team coaching to improve flow, participation, effectiveness and overall success for cross functional, virtual, customer satisfaction, communication hub
CPS – Business Strategy - problem solving to address delivery and cost disconnects in regulatory project execution, led by Strategic Business Director yield standard processes, kpi development and communications outlets for greater understanding and role clarity
Contact Center 6 Hub Project – meetings and visuals to direct people, performance and continuous improvement focus, yielded Hub GOSEE award with foundational communication, development, performance and continuous improvement benefits with 12% engagement and 12% enablement  employee satisfaction gains, defect and efficiency savings and innovative benchmarked solutions for customer satisfaction, continuous improvement and tactical connection to company vision
CPS - Net Metering problem solving  to restructure net metering inquiries process, reallocate roles and responsibilities, level load demand, reduce lead time and eliminate waste – ongoing with initial savings $60K
Multi-Regional Vendor Improvement Blueprint Project - focus on the collections process to improve first contact resolution and transfer rate – ongoing with projected savings $920K
Multi-Regional Stopped Meter Blueprint and Hub Project -Differentiate defective from inactive meters, take correct, timely, standard action and align capacity with demand to capture revenue quickly and accurately, savings $400K plus Type 2 and 3
New Employee Onboarding - End to End process mapping, SIPOCS and workshops for 23 process stakeholders and 9 vendors. 92 opportunities addressed with quick fixes, inflight projects and strategic planning
Employee Separation Process – Mapping, PFMEA and problem solving cross functionally to resolve audit issues around security risks and compliance of terminated (involuntary and voluntary) employees
HR Director Communication Hub – virtual and physical daily management for 6 direct reports
Warehouse Relaunching a failing hub that belonged to another Supervisor – interactive problem solving with team to establish vision and sustain engagement through timely action, common interest and Leadership trust
Establishing Warehouse Best Practices for standard processes around load securement, walking, material receiving and put-away waste, institute systems for sharing ideas throughout NY locations
Designed and implemented finished goods Kanban system for metal roof manufacturer
Building Materials Standard Work Book - created standard production drawing and specification controls for forming process
Distribution Warehouse Coaching – coached middle managers in communication engagement with employees and peers for line employee balance – sharing (highest achiever location, top in 9 US centers)
Coached Management Employees on business goals - MRMA, Chase Safety, Alien Engineered Products, TPI, Shapes Manufacturing, Unipart Expert Practices
PPAP - Completed PPAP assessments, coaching and training at Supplier sites across the US within designated time frames
Aerospace Conducted quality and business health audits for Supplier dock-to-stock designation
Supplier Development - delivered trouble shooting and root cause analysis for late deliveries including MRP solution development, work flow establishment and sub-tier supplier, quality and engineering issue resolutions
Lean Documents - reformatted Quality documents to remove waste and clarify requirements through projects
Coached supplier development team on Lean and Six Sigma concepts

Design Kaizen - Held Kaizen Events (office/engineering and production) with goals met
Kaizen Cadence - developed Kaizen cadence calendar, charter form and organized project funnel by priority of determined ranking criteria

College Education Created curriculum and all materials for Introduction to Lean and Advanced Lean 12 hour courses including 3 hours of hands-exercise
Distribution Center Lean (12/13 to 09/18) - created curriculum and all materials for customized, lean, distribution center training course with practical exercises and project deliverables (to demonstrate techniques and problem solving)

Site Lean Management - identified, planned, managed and tracked annual site wide Lean projects including metric development for $498K actual savings in 2012 and $820K in 2013.
Office Metrics - created metrics and analysis for office related processes to track trends (for root cause analysis) and improvements
Paint Purchase – revise paint purchases to utilize quantity discounts and kanban - FIFO inventory
Paint Quality – create standards, fixtures and visual controls based on paint type to allow for proper surface prep, dry time and coverage quality
Dryer Fill – reduce manpower required to fill dryers, cut process time in half – 2 FTE to 1
Engineering OTD – concurrent engineering to produce on-time deliverables 90%+ improvement, increased throughput 33%+ in approval drawings, 50% in long leads for completed project releases
Engineering Excellence – bills of materials and drawings quality and lead time improvement, decreased errors by 20%+ in drawings, bills of material, routings
Warehouse Inventory - transferred push-based inventory to kanban-based, POU inventory in assembly
Benchmarking - organized global benchmarking teleconference (for office related improvement projects) and information sharing network
Recycling - implemented multi-site recycling program with reduced disposal and utility costs, improved recycling ratio
DOT Shipping - instituted HazMat shipping program to: identify HazMat materials and products and meet regulatory and company guidelines (training, packaging, labeling, documentation, etc)
Project Deployment – facilitating Hoshin like planning process led by Customer VP – projects identified, prioritized and outlined for fiscal year execution
Comm Pods - created communication outlets and visual controls to inform, provide clarity, develop culture, prioritize work and improve process time and quality, published Lean Enterprise newsletter quarterly
Team Leadership - led multi-site improvement teams (project, value stream, kaizen) relating to Engineering, Quality, Facilities, Shipping and Production

Returnable Packaging – minimized waste and space through cardboard reduction with returnable packaging and wood recycling, $42.5K annual savings

Assembly Presentation - material handling reduction, process automated technology and quality enhancements through racking and new testing equipment
Inventory Tracking - developed inventory tracking program to manage project supply chain for schedule and labor availability
Visual Factory - instituted visual controls in multiple factory areas with focus on supply chain and part presentation
Packaging Design - created packaging design standards including new packaging designs, testing and cost reductions
DOT Shipping - instituted HazMat shipping program to: identify HazMat materials and products and meet regulatory and company guidelines (training, packaging, labeling, documentation, etc)
Register Assembly - created standard work documents for assembly processes

Metaphysical Learning and Training – Researched, created and presented various training and learning documents for Spiritual development, self-growth and more joyful living with 99% positive feedback
Articles published in national magazine
Developed and delivered hypnosis programs with 89% success rate for smokers
Marketing design for publishing of calendar and advertisements

Departments to Cells - transformed the department focused arrangement of equipment into dedicated product family cells (two year project)

New Product Lines - located three additional product lines (heat exchangers, blowers & flex joints) from Columbus, Ohio plant.  Beat budget by 18% for $1.6 MM product line relocation

Heat Exchanger Relocate - coordinated the budget and control of expenditures, building preparation, equipment needs and installations to ensure a smooth transition
Environmental, Health and Safety Documentation - developed standard procedures and reporting governances.
Perc NESHAP – managed shift for new regulatory mandates around chemical cleaning required equipment modification and process changes.
Used Chemical Bath - handling the by-products of a production process as a support structure for another process to protect the environment and employees and reduce disposal costs

Heater Product Divestiture - relocated line to a local, off-site warehouse, under constraints such as building configurations, state regulations and codes, process flow and limited project budget

Reduce Space – reconfigured product lines to reduce floor space of over 50% and travel by 60%
Flex Joints Lean - seemingly impossible physical and workforce trials produced results of efficiency gains, lead time savings, space reduction and quality improvement.

Contract Negotiation - savings in contracts, equipment purchases and waste disposal

Office Layout - reorganized office layout for improved interoffice communication and increased capacity

Doc Control - developed a qualified program to create standard work instruction books, reduce material usage, reduced disposal costs and  improved efficiency for daily distribution and control of manufacturing documentation
Paint Conversion - Managed low VOC paint and equipment conversion to meet EPA guidelines, ensure quality and standardize processes
Facility Budget Reduction - reduced operating expenses with equipment modifications, energy control innovations, contract analysis and negotiation, site-wide Preventative Maintenance and Organization (5S) Programs, 10-50% savings.
Site Baseline - led plant-wide, baseline analysis of facilities, office support, engineering, design, quality and manufacturing departments with best opportunities for profit determination and site vision deployment

IVR Development - designed and created a logical, customized, public outlet to provide immediate flow of voice information recordings (at low cost)
Business Design - matched hardware and software to develop information systems for specific data and audio communication requirements - both internal and as an external marketing consultant (providing customer value)
Adopt a Shore - coordinated an east county, waterway cleanup (motivating/empowering community members)

PR Design - revitalized improvement efforts with creative PR and technical innovations

Substrate Inventory - 25% reduction in substrate stock
RFQ process – automated quoting process, documented and standardized customer service interactions and communications

Product Flow – instituted job tracking system, eliminated process wait time and hand-off in final operations, established time standards

Supply Kanbans - established in-house & supplier kanbans for raw materials and production consumables
Elbow Product Line - improved process efficiency, quality and flow/WIP improvements, TAKT balance

Clean Room Defects - reduced clean room environment contaminants

Reflow Knee Femoral Product Line - dropped travel process distance by 60%, reduced lot sizes, process and set-up time with quality improvement including rework elimination