Controls News 13
21
Main theme:
Experiences with lean
The beginning for me was an invitation from our
new owner in summer 2006 to attend an intensive
week of lean training in Japan. It was the express
wish of my boss that I should experience Japanese
production culture in the country itself and at first
hand through an institute that grew out of Toyota. I
«
avoided» the suggestion for another year. The trip
in October 2007 was a culture shock for me there
was no adviser, no powerpoint presentations, no
patent solutions I was simply «forced» to go to a
different Japanese manufacturer every day (e.g.
Hitachi, Toyota, a large confectioners, etc.) to see
production, have a look around and reflect. Pencil,
paper and flip chart were the only tools.
When I came back from the trip, I resolved to ap-
ply what I had seen and learned. I put more people
in the factory. Without more staff it simply wasn’t
possible to start applying the basic principles of
lean production. Our costs went up and no one
could calculate any ROI. At the same time we
(
like Toyota) had begun to build our means of pro-
duction individually using the «Creform» Material
Handling System. A substantial proportion of our
old production equipment was replaced in this
way. Dedicated items, such as trolleys, massive
tables and welded devices disappeared into ob-
livion in their hundreds in the following years. They
had been replaced with simple, but by no means
«
cheap» solutions.
The path to lean
Personal experiences with lean
How did the author experience his own path to lean? What did Saia Burgess go through
as a company in the changeover process and what are the consequent results and
perspectives?
Author: Jürgen Lauber
Why the expense?We wanted our future production
to be highly flexible and adaptable. Everything in
the production process should be a 100% match for
the application, so as to achieve «Perfect Fit». From
then on it was our production colleagues who de-
cided how things would be completed rather than
specialists and engineering experts drawn in from
outside. Simple, practical solutions on the ground
instead of complex, theoretical solutions from
above – bottom up, instead of top-down.
The CreformWorkshop:
Our base for lean production
In 2008 we began sending 3 or 4 colleagues per
year to experience a week in Japanese production
plants. All key staff members could therefore expe-
rience lean production and Kaizen in situ, where it
all began.
At Saia-Burgess Controls we reconfigured most of
our production in accordance with lean methods
and concepts. The before/after comparison speaks
volumes.
The Creformworkshop for
lean production resources:
All production equipment
is made to be the «Perfect Fit»
for tasks and users.
Creform:
the lean basis for Toyota’s production Creform –
Standard structure – Modular devices for lean production.
This is a picture from Saia-Burgess production.
Requirements
Operation
Basic Fit:
Basic function achieved
Good Fit:
Optimization completed
Perfect Fit:
no gaps
Automation solution
Basic Fit
Automation solution
Good Fit
Automation solution
Perfect Fit
Requirements
Operation
Requirements
Operation
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