by Gary Mintchell | Oct 6, 2017 | Automation, Workforce
Part of the media / analyst program at Emerson Global User Exchange 2017 was a tour of a manufacturing facility and state-of-the-art (or beyond) training center. The Shakopee, MN facility includes final assembly of pressure sensors, product design (which we didn’t see), and an Interactive Plant Environment training center. The latter itself is a $10 million investment. This is one of two (Charlotte, NC being the other) while a third is planned in Houston.
The Interactive Plant Environment training center includes a classroom and a production facility. The facility includes tanks and pipes, valves, sensors and instrumentation, water and air. No steam or corrosive chemicals, of course. It helps customers and students simulate real life process conditions through hands-on learning in a safe environment. The IPE boasts a breadth of Emerson products where students can increase skills and knowledge through real-life scenario-based labs. Students are taught an aspect of instrumentation and then given a work order. They don hardhat, safety glasses, steel-toed shoes and enter the “plant” to perform the work—whether it be trouble shooting or calibration or whatever.
Students have the opportunity to better understand best practices and troubleshooting techniques from the mentorship of certified Emerson instructors. It is as if they are immersed in a typical plant environment (minus smells and mud) where they can replicate the most common, as well as unexpected, operational scenarios.
This is a great example of forward thinking in the training field. It is also impressive that Emerson continues to make these investments. Emerson alone among its competitors at this time is showing momentum and growth.
The first thing we saw past the lobby was a Collaboration Center. Looking like a high-tech conference room, this Center enables customers to learn to manage remote operations and interact with experts located anywhere in the world. There is one display for video conferencing. Another digital wall includes capability to display a variety of information that people in the room can interact with. The displays may include weather maps with maps of facilities. Or perhaps a “heat map” of wireless installations. This should be a great productivity booster.
Production facility is an excellent example of Lean Manufacturing. We saw an excellent Kanban system as well as many other examples of the visual factory, 5S, and more. I just love seeing the spreading adoption of lean. It’s great for workers, as well as, great for the bottom line.
by Gary Mintchell | Mar 21, 2017 | Operations Management, Software
Software solution underlies project to improve Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) in a BorgWarner plant. Lean practitioners once hated automation and software. Over the years, though, appropriate use of these technologies actually improves Lean performance. Here is a case study.
The cloud-based lean manufacturing solution provider Leading2Lean was part of a Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) solution that helped auto powertrain maker BorgWarner increase Overall Equipment Effectiveness of an operating area by 10 percent in six months when coupled with its TPM implementation, at its Seneca, SC plant.
Soon after implementing Leading2Lean, the plant began to resolve inefficiencies and frustrations with a system that allowed them to better identify production weaknesses. The plant handled an increase in product demand while still improving First Pass Yield ratios, reducing scrap, maintaining high production levels, better utilizing labor resources, and improving overall communication with management and employees.
The team maintained high levels of operational availability—some areas as high as 90 percent. Area employees drive this process optimization—scheduling, planning and monitoring performance of machines on their lines—all through the Leading2Lean product.
“It’s as easy to use as Facebook or Google,” said Will Venet, TPM Implementation Leader at BorgWarner. Experienced managers also find the system intuitive. “What a reliability engineer took decades of experience to learn can be learned in an afternoon,” Venet said.
Plant Maintenance Engineer Rodney Osborne said the crew used to use “gut checks” to guess which machine needed maintenance or how much money they spent on spare parts for a machine. “But now with Leading2Lean we do a simple report and it tells us—there’s no ambiguity,” Osborne says. “It takes the gut check out of it. It’s real data, and it’s without question a much better way of doing business for us.”
Initially, some employees thought bringing in the Leading2Lean system was an oversight effort, like “Big Brother,” but results soon changed their minds. Today, there is a far more collaborative relationship between Production and Maintenance, and team members at all levels feel more engaged because they are empowered to identify and produce solutions for continuous improvement.
Downtime reductions were driven largely by the engagement of operators. This was because they had easy access to the data and the manipulation of that data to drive improvements in preventative maintenance. What used to take four or five days to analyze through laborious data mining can now be done in 20 minutes.
“The collaborative efforts the team is making for continuous improvement are influenced by having a tool that is universally appreciated,” Venet said. “I’ve come to appreciate that what Leading2Lean is really doing is helping us to be a better manufacturer all around.”
by Gary Mintchell | Jan 16, 2017 | Education, Leadership
“I have a dream.” Most Americans and people in many other countries know how to complete that introduction. Americans today celebrate the life of of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
His dream–that all peoples would be judged on the strength of their character rather than the color of their skins.
Many laws were passed in his wake. Much has been done to make society more fair in America–and probably many other places.
But almost every news I see from everywhere in the world, people are still wrestling with bringing this basic respect for other people–especially those who differ from us–into our thoughts and lives.
I heard a couple of guys talking in the locker room recently. They were talking about black people in the classic “they are lazy and on drugs and always looking for a handout” manner. I’m sure I didn’t confront them, because I’m personally pretty non-confrontational. But I must have said something, because one said, “Do you think we’re racists?” I thought to myself, “Well, yes, I do.” But he didn’t think he was. <sigh>
Respect for people is the foundation principle of Lean.
A workplace with a diverse group of people outperforms one where everyone is the same.
We know these work.
It only takes a small step every day to bring that dream into general reality.
by Gary Mintchell | Jan 11, 2017 | Automation, Manufacturing IT, Operations Management
Easy way to use the cloud to connect traceability applications from different suppliers across these increasingly complex industrial companies? I received another of those press releases that seem almost too good to be true. So I called the company.
The application uses open APIs, proprietary connectors, and other such technologies to tap into all the different databases. But the key points are easy to set up and use as well as easily bring relevant data to the person who needs it.
Leading2Lean, a cloud-based lean manufacturing solutions provider, introduced TraceCloud, a CloudDISPATCH engine designed to identify possible manufacturing problems across disparate systems in different plants. TraceCloud eliminates the cost and risk of removing existing traceability systems and replacing them with a standardized system across all plants—an expense of upwards of tens of millions of dollars.
It’s common for companies to use different traceability systems for each of its plants. Discovering issues and tracking them across various systems can take days and tie up precious IT resources ultimately needed in other areas. Some discovery processes may even include shutting down production. With TraceCloud, companies can access aggregated data from multiple systems and find issues in just minutes.
When a problem is detected—because of a faulty product, for example—TraceCloud is able to quickly alert production teams about the problem, and allow for quick access to the data necessary to identify the root cause. Manufacturers can then contain the suspect material, ultimately preventing the quality issue from being perpetuated or shipped. Once the system has contained the material, TraceCloud enables quick decision-making based on facts and data collected from systems at various production plants and even suppliers.
“TraceCloud is drastically cutting the time to identify, solve and contain quality problems, saving companies millions of dollars,” said Keith Barr, CEO of Leading2Lean.
TraceCloud offers seven key components:
- Traceability and genealogy: Manufacturers can trace all the way through source material to make decisions based on facts. TraceCloud brings simplicity to creating a complete birth certificate of your products, both serialized or lot based.
- Unites existing systems: TraceCloud combines data from multiple systems and sites, enabling easy standardization and eliminating the need for costly replacement of current systems in existing or newly acquired plants.
- Ease of use: No need to make requests to IT. Simply go into TraceCloud’s easy, point-and-click, intuitive system and get the answer back in minutes from the convenience of your office. TraceCloud enables quality engineers to easily identify opportunities for improvement much more quickly.
- Alerting and containment: With TraceCloud, you can notify all relevant parties upon discovering a lot-based or serialized issue. The system will identify the location of all corresponding product issues, and contain the faulty product.
- Dynamic data collection: Leading2Lean’s dynamic-schema architecture lets manufacturers collect variable data length and type, as well as counting to extend product trace detail to any degree desired. Collect machines used, participating operators, settings or readings in the process, and combine bill-of-materials (BOM) from both serialized or lot to create the complete genealogy tree.
- Eleven9s: Leading2Lean performs above industry benchmarks, with Eleven9s durability of historical data. Traceability data is kept above safety standards with little to no risk of data loss.
- Year-Long-Term data storage: Maintain your data for 20-plus years. TraceCloud maintains your data for as long as needed, and the system allows anyone to retrieve data instantly when required.
by Gary Mintchell | Dec 22, 2016 | Leadership
Let’s make 2017 the year of leadership in manufacturing. Lean leaderhip.
When we started the magazine I ran editorial for ten years, one of the founders talked about how Lean and Six Sigma were so old that she hoped I wouldn’t write about it. That was in 2003. The topic of Lean thinking is as fresh and useful today as it was then.The good thing is that these are skills that can be learned.
Perhaps for the new year, we all evaluate our leadership and look for ways to elevate our effectiveness in 2017.
A few years ago, a publicist sent me a copy of “Anatomy of a Lean Leader”, by Jerry Bussell with Emily Adams. The book is organized around ten traits of a Lean Leader.
If you are not familiar with Lean, it is a proven effective way of thinking and leading manufacturing organizations. It’s core elements are continuous improvement and respect for people. I’ve included a brief description of the ten traits. Perhaps you can pick up some ideas for self-improvement this year.
Purposeful—this trait relates to having a strong, but brief, mission statement. An example from a medical organization: “Alleviate pain; restore health; extend life.” As Peter Drucker said, your mission statement should fit on the front of a T-shirt.
Respectful—a respectful leader is in service to the people.
Transparently honest—Bussell says, “I found that morals and principles were a source of strength in everyday behaviour.”
Influencer—to affect real, lasting change requires more subtlety and time—it needs influence. Influence means guiding people to finding the right answer on their own, so that the right path becomes their natural inclination.
Continuous Learner—the continuous learner asks questions and relies on observations to hone his or her understanding of the issues. A problem well-defined, I have learned, is a problem half-solved.
Persistence—persistence means showing up every day, ready to tackle problems afresh—even when your entire company seems outmoded.
Holistic Thinker—to think holistically is to think broadly about the implications of an action on the entire complex, interconnected organization. When Paul O’Neil was CEO of Alcoa, he made workplace safety a priority. Seems strange, but thinking holistically, he said, “If we bring our injury rates down, it will be because individuals at this company have agreed to become part of something important. They’ve devoted themselves to creating a habit of excellence.”
Problem Solver—take a methodical approach to problem solving. Define the problem clearly; investigate the current situation; list all the options, including the ideal; plan and implement a solution; and, check results.
Results-Driven—the modern CEO interested in changing her ways to become more results-driven must first look at the organization’s processes. The CEO must have confidence that the organization’s approach to problem solving and analysis is sound. Only then will she have confidence that her results will be reliable and foreseeable. The results-driven leader is also a holistic thinker, working through the process with care and consideration of the whole organization.
Courageous—courage is embracing change that is substantial, unafraid of failure, inclusive, respectful, honest, and persistent.
Make 2017 your year of leadership bringing your organization to growth and success.
