In the past, many manufacturers have decided to play safe using traditional management methods, "...we just need to work that bit harder to get these orders out...". Increasingly, however, manufacturers are becoming adventurous and many are trying something new and hope to get different results from doing things differently.

HOSCA has helped clients reduce change-over times by over 70% in just a few days and achieved a reduction in process stock levels of 92 %, from the same company that reduced inventories by close to £1 million, virtually eliminated overtime, yet increased overall productivity by over 50%. The best bit though - and the driver behind the whole process - was the increase in customer service by over 40%, to a consistent figure of over 98%!

But how, and also exactly why?

Well, let`s do the `why` bit first . All manufacturing operations are fundamentally at the mercy of customer demand, which carries an innate variability - despite market analysis and prediction technology. Variability in demand brings uncertainty across the supply chain, and uncertainty in turn drives final and in-process stock levels (and costs) up as we build in safety stocks to cope.

So what is the answer? Well if the question is "...how to cope with uncertainty..." then the answer must be along the lines of either "...increase the certainty..." fine, if only we could control the customer. So how about "...increase the flexibility..." i.e. the ability to respond rapidly, but without increasing costs.

Enter lean manufacturing. Lean manufacturing is not the latest theory. It has stood the test of time, using tried and tested tools and techniques, going back to the fundamentals, with the right tool for the job.


SMED (single minute exchange of die - for change-over reduction) is tried and tested, and as fundamentally relevant now, as when Shingeo Shingo first conceived it years ago. Also Taichi Ohno`s `seven deadly wastes` (over-production, excess inventory, transport, rejects/repairs, motion, waiting, and over-processing), finishing with Six Sigma (where there`s a process, there`s variability, and where there`s variability you can attack it with Six Sigma !)

In manufacturing terms, `lean` is the predictable drum beat of a well oiled operation. Not necessarily `fancy`, and certainly not `trendy` - it brings the confidence that comes with the certainty that your operation is fundamentally `lean`, and by inference fundamentally at lowest cost.

As I once said to a client in one of the worlds largest manufacturers within its sector "...we are here to help you be boring..." It`s like a well made car, you turn the key and it starts.
Ideal world? Well, maybe - but we all know we may have to make a few interventions if things aren`t going quite to plan; but because we understand the fundamentals (`lean philosophy`), then we can make that adjustment to nurse things through. In a lean manufacturing environment, you too may find yourself fine tuning, but with an understanding of the fundamentals.

The traditional approach to making a step change improvement in the West is to add finance, often to buy new equipment and often as a result of a senior management decision, for a relatively short term benefit. We then watch the equipment performance tail off, before the cycle restarts via some stimulus, or threat.

In the East (exemplified by Japan) there is a collective commitment to look after, and actually improve the performance of existing equipment using OEE (overall equipment effectiveness) metrics, whilst bringing together a large number of small ideas, implemented sustainably.

So what happens when East meets West? Is there a pragmatic merging of cultures that recognises that we can`t instantly create a `little Japan` on the shop floor? Well how about getting some help to choose the right solution for your unique situation? Once you`ve got the solution, bring everything together, and focus their range of inputs (1000 times 1 %) towards some activity to bring around a step change improvement. Finally finish off your improvement with say a team leader (improvement champion) that understands the solution at a fundamental level, and who will therefore work to continue to safeguard and improve it.

It`s likely that at the various markers on your road to lean, you`ll need some help; skilled lean manufacturing consultants will look at your operations. There are a number of `hard` tools and techniques that they deploy to expose the potential benefits of doing things differently; but don`t forget the equally - if not more - important `soft` dimension to improvement activity.

Everything we do, we do through people and before you let `consultants` loose in your business, you need to be happy that they have the skills and aptitude to engage the people who have the most effect on your improvement activities - your operators. They carry out the day to activities, and make regular, detailed observations on every aspect of your business. They are the starting point for the initial investigations into opportunities for improvement, and they are also the final custodians of improved processes.

Research carried out by HOSCA backs up the `soft` dimension ; the one key, and overriding factor which is fundamental to the success of any programme of work for which you engage outside help, is the `consultant - client relationship`. I would suggest that if you choose to enlist help, you need particular types of people to help you: people who have held improvement positions within a range of companies, those who have experienced a range of issues, within a range of sectors and those who have developed innovative and three-dimensional approaches to `get the message across` to operatives who have never heard (and perhaps are not willing to hear!) about lean. Most of all though you need people who understand lean tools and techniques at a fundamental level.

Contact:

John Kenna
HOSCA
Broomfield Business Park,
Malahide,
Co. Dublin

Tel: 00-353-1-8464151
Fax: 00-353-1-8464144
E-mail: johnkenna@hosca.ie