Using Lean Disciplines and VSM to Identify Energy Wastage Plant-wide

The current commercial and financial climate is a perfect time to launch or sharpen Lean disciplines. Not only do these improve quality and service levels and give operations managers new skills and insights, but they are perfectly geared to putting more cash into the business- and quickly.

Lean business starts and ends with product and service quality: not only to commercial customers but to each and every function, department, team and individual within the business; a value stream of internal suppliers and customers, where the daily passion of the business is a dedication to the quality and delivery of service to the downstream process; a passion shared by production, technical and commercial teams alike.

Lean is about distinguishing between fat and muscle; between activity that adds the value that customers are willing to pay for and waste- particularly the seven classic wastes of Overproduction, Transport, Defects and Errors, Overprocessing, Motion, Inventory and Delays. It is about pleasing customers minimally, at total lowest cost and with minimal consumption of resources: people, equipment, materials and energy.

Lean is a discipline that depicts productivity as speed rather than volume, recognising that by keeping products moving though the factory without allowing them to stagnate between processes we not only can achieve superlative delivery capability and a lightning-fast response to shifts in customer demand, but we can improve our capacity and volumes too. It means also that by reducing to a minimum the dwell time in the supply chain we can drastically improve our cash flow and the capital burden on the business.

Forward Vision have one of the longest pedigrees of assisting business with Lean practices and have been at the leading edge of lean thinking since 1991.

A thorough Value Stream Mapping (VSM) programme remains by far the best way to launch a Lean Manufacturing strategy- or to breathe new life into an existing one.

Value Stream Mapping is often described as 'learning how to see'. It affords an opportunity to take both an in-depth and comprehensive look at our operations from start to finish, from the receipt of a customer order and the supply of materials to despatch and invoicing of the finished product or service. It shows us where the real opportunities for business improvement and cost reduction are in our business- and they are often not where we most expect them to be.

Two factors essentially distinguish Forward Vision's approach to Value Stream Mapping:

First is the amount of detail we cover at each and every process, function and activity. Behind the 'top level' current and future state maps is a detailed analysis of staffing, shift patterns, team deployment; equipment specifications, capacities and reliability; machine speeds, batch sizes, set-up times and frequencies, quality performance and capabilities; energy consumption and space usage; materials costs inventory levels; scrap, rework and disposal costs- all to build up a full dossier of reliable data on every operational activity and cost in the business.

Second, our preferred approach is to coach your chosen project team throughout the exercise. This not only transfers essential knowledge and skills in Lean disciplines and techniques but builds ownership and commitment to the process and its findings but to the outcomes and to the need to take action. This is their map, and the numbers are those they trust, having calculated for themselves- not 'sold' to them by external consultants.

Outputs from a Forward Vision-led VSM programme are as follows:

• Large scale and digital Current State Map of current operation showing product and information workflow, inventories, transport distances, throughput times, problems and delays and ratios of Value Adding to Non-Value Adding activity;
• Detailed dossier of data relating to People, Equipment, Materials, Methods, Quality, Cost and Delivery for each and every process step.
• List-up of observed problems (opportunities for improvement).
• Balance Sheet of costed wastes showing both potential for annualised savings and for substantial 'one-off' reductions in the burden of working capital.
• A 'Future State' Map drafted to show how the operation could reasonably function with improved processes, eliminated non-value activity, reduced throughput times, transport distances and fewer 'hand-offs', stagnation points and less double-handling.
• A blueprint and action plan for the business for a given timeframe ( eg one, two or five years predetermined by the client), detailing how the transformation will be achieved, key milestones, the costs and benefits accrued and when, and the activities and actions that will be required.
• A full presentation of all of the above made by the client's own project team with Forward Vision coaching and assistance and delivered to the CEO or the executive team.

A typical Forward Vision VSM programme takes 10 -15 days, subject to the size of the operation, the depth of processes and complexity of products.

Call us to arrange a no obligation visit, and discover whether your business is ready to galvanise its approach to customer service, productivity and dramatically reduced costs.