Auditing Manufacturing Systems 

Who provides the Leadership By Making It Important (LBMII)? A facilitator/leader is needed for each action team. The leader must understand the company's 4 P's: Product, problems, people and processes. The facilitator/ leader provides the needed background and process/prod­uct knowledge. They promote creative responses from the team members through brainstorming. The leader needs to be proficient in interpersonal, listening, team building skills and problem solving tools to be effective.

The executive group also provides leadership by becoming the champions of the efforts. They delegate authority, approve charters, provide "guided discovery," give direc­tion, allocate resources, and empower the action teams. The executive group creates the vision and overall business strategy. The action teams will provide the detailed strat­egy and the execution tactics.

World Class Manufacturing Menu

Reengineering and streamlining the business processes is a customer driven process to improve all the company's business management processes. An effective process cri­teria is: Does the process provide value to the customer (internal or external)? In reengineering the process, the customer defines the product and expectation, the supplier defines the deliverables and output. The reengineering process steps are:

1. Assessment—need to know the current status—where you are.

2. Create a vision. This is needed so people understand and buy into the strategic direction. At the corporate, business unit and plant levels, four key elements are required: Vision, mission, strategy and tactics. Re­member, "A vision without an action & task is just a dream." Management provides the direction by giving "guided discovery" to set the boundaries for the action teams.

3. Create a Steering Committee/core team. A cross-func­tional team is needed at the corporate business unit and plant levels. Interpersonal, team building, listen­ing and problem solving education and training must be done. Responsibility and accountability are as­signed to team members. Authority is delegated.

4. Identify and prioritize the problems (opportunities), obstacles and areas for improvement. Use the 20-80 rule so the critical and scarce resources can be properly concentrated to get the biggest bang for the buck.

5. Form the specific action teams. Each team develops measurable objectives and writes the action plans. Each action team member needs to be educated and trained in interpersonal listening, team building and problem-solving tools before leaping into solution mode. A strong facilitator is needed for success.

6. Measurable results in 90 days. The majority of the action team focus is on tangible and intangible results versus just being in an activity mode. Performance measurements are defined. Measure the specific few versus the trivial many. A strong root cause analysis is needed to help focus on causes versus symptoms.

7. Action teams define how to achieve results. Why (un­derstanding) and How (training) is needed on the concepts, tools and techniques to be used to achieve the objectives and results. A time line of the tasks is needed. Assign accountability, responsibility and au­thority for completing the tasks on time. The action team takes ownership for achieving the results. The resources required by the action team are defined.

8. Review by the executive group every 30 days at the plant and business unit level. Review by the corporate group each quarter. Communicate the status every month on progress or lack of progress. A strong root cause analysis is needed to separate the causes from the symptoms, define what will need to be done to get back on track, and determine the resources required to complete the tasks.

9. A90-day focus is needed. The first 45 days will be spent in the forming, storming, and norming parts of team dynamics. The objective of this first phase is listening, brainstorming, root cause analysis, creating an action plan, learning people's personalities, functioning as a team, and establishing roles. The next 45 days are spent in performing the activities required to get results. The focus of the action team should be on

narrow and specific activities, instead of broad and generic (solving world hunger) goals. The "can or can't control" issues are identified. The executive group is used to break barriers, red tape and bureaucracy at the plant, business management, and corporate levels and help solve the "can't control" issues.

10. Celebrate the results achieved. Congratulate and pro­mote the accomplishments. Reward (nonfinancially) and recognize people for their fine efforts and results achieved.

To be Continued

Lean Six Sigma Training   Thinking Out of the Box   
Balanced Scorecards  Strategic Tactical Planning  
Supply Chain Inventory Management  Total Quality Management Principles
Lean Manufacturing Implementation  Lean Manufacturing Principles