by Lee Fried, on 19 Apr 2007 10:13 am
The Journey
Quality, Cost and Delivery
A couple of months back you may recall we conduct our first RPIW in the Intake area within Model Line. The focus of this event was implementing a work cell where we would cross-train several teams and combine into one, level work, create flow and build quality into our processes. We just did a sixty day check and the results are powerful.
Going into the event we anticipated that by eliminating handoffs, leveling work, implementing control points and cross-training staff we would see improvements in quality, cost and delivery. After sixty days we have reduced backlogs by 80-90% and are now doing “today’s work today”, something that has never happened before. We are cross-training staff so they can support other teams that will allow us to avoid having to hire new positions and temps. Most exciting though is the improvements made in quality. Not only has quality gone up significantly within the team, but quality has drastically improved downstream as well. For the first time we are slowing down our individual productivity in order to increase the overall team productivity. In other words, we are making problems visible, stopping problems from being passed between teams and solving more of them at the root then ever before.
Throughout the year we will continue to make similar changes in dozens of teams throughout the Model Line as well as advancing the changes we have already made in areas like Intake. We are just scratching the surface of what is possible.
on 19 Apr 2007 at 4:41 pm 1.Pete Abilla said …
I’d love to learn how you and your team (1) set direction, (2) obtained alignment, then (3) executed. Often, (1) and (2) are the really challenging pieces in Lean leadership, or leadership in general. We can take this offline (you have my email — I’d love to talk on the phone too).
I recently accepted a position with eBay where I’ll be leading a small but capable team in building a culture of improvement. I’d love some advice from others in the trenches.
on 21 Apr 2007 at 6:20 am 2.Mark Graban said …
I think the key for “setting direction” and “getting alignment” come from asking the people doing the work. The simple method I’ve found to be very successful is to talk with people, explain lean concepts, and to articulate the goals (such as reducing lead time, improving quality, etc). As long as you can eliminate (or reduce) the fear of layoffs, people usually have a ton of ideas queued up and they’re willing to help, especially in health care where people are oriented around helping patients. We have to fight to urge (or need) to try to come up with all of the answers ourselves as managers or specialists.