7 Conclusions & Recommendations
This case study sought to ascertain whether implementing the lean culture through the use of a lean seed and standard lean tools to facilitate buy-in in the Donaldson Filtration Epping facility. This was followed by the development of a continuous improvement loop to outline the direction that the lean seed needed to follow and which lean tools to introduce to solve the issues it was presented with.
The lean seed ideology is in line with the concept of unifying the lean tools that companies have available to them. Many expect to see the same success that other implementations have seen purely by mimicking the use of the tools. A strategy that creates sustainability within that implementation allows for each tool to be introduced within the boundary of the seed as a method of furthering the continuous improvement implementation and creating understanding.
When it comes to lean strategies a lot of them fall short on the basic requirements that all systems eventually suffer from, effective management of the system, introducing complexity and sustainability when there is a high level of personnel turnover.
The seed theory aims to start a fully lean seed cell that instils a lean culture and uses a complete implementation strategy to select and develop lean tools that are relevant to the facility the seed has been placed in.
The lean seed was successfully introduced as an implementation strategy that saw similar improvements as to those seen in other lean implementations where lean tools are used to create a lean culture. The internal DPS assessment to ascertain the development of various lean observations is presented in Figure C.5 in Appendix C. The audit was performed by an objective member of Donaldson, external to the seed and the Epping facility. It showcases the seed implementation’s development of the lean culture in 2012
7.1.1 Management Drive
As stated previously, there are different phases of management drive, these will often have nothing to do with the progress of the lean initiative, and be a purely external influence, but as they go, this is the most important one to be aware of. For a company to look into implementing a lean system, it would mean that some tier of the management levels is motivated to see the gains proposed by such an implementation.
However, if the tier is not capable of making critical decisions that will influence the outcome of lean initiatives on the shop floor, the success of the implementation hinges on the decision. Suffice to say, creating buy in on a management level needs to be done effectively. The seed allows the team to showcase improvements and generate buy-in using KPIs that are relevant to management, but there must be a platform to springboard the initiative into the plant.
7.1.2 Willingness to Change Company Infrastructure
For a new plant or a brand new facility, it goes without saying that the cell needs to be designed with lean thinking behind it, i.e. if something is not working, it is easy to change and adapt. With an existing plant however, it is easy to get lost in what can be moved and what can't be moved. This thinking can be overcome once the initial lean seed potential has been realised, but if the initial lean seed was planted trying to incorporate a monument, it then becomes very hard to motivate for greater improvements after the fact.
Having the company backing to ensure that there is no holy cow when it comes to plant machinery, processes or staffing, from the outset, is beneficial when making larger improvement changes. This backing will also drive the approach to expanding the seed, as the lessons learned in upgrading infrastructure can be directly applied to other brownfield applications.
7.1.3 Capable champions
For the company to be driven in the right direction, it is critical to select a champion that is familiar with the goals of the company and how to bring them in line with a lean philosophy.
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This champion should understand the role he is playing, and be able to identify and showcase any potential gains or flaws using process studies, VSMs and cross flow diagrams.
The champion's personality is critical. He or she must be able to facilitate and drive role- players in various departments to ensure that root causes and solutions are being fully understood.
It is counter-productive to implement a lean initiative where management is not fully behind the champion. While politics will always play a role on the shop-floor, he/she must be able to showcase the vision using the team-developed lean tools, with relevant data, to managers and operators that will create buy-in towards a more sustainable initiative.
The champion must be passionate and engaging to ensure that the application of lean tools towards a lean system is not hindered by people unwilling to change their philosophies. The champion must be able to inspire and direct change and encourage the team to look ahead to see the bigger picture beyond the immediate improvement loop
7.1.4 Hands-on Approach
When implementing anything new, the first instinct is to look to a resource with experience of a similar system to ascertain what is required to make the new system capable. When it comes to implementing a lean seed with the intent for it to showcase a change and improvement culture, the seed and those within its boundary must understand that the change must be necessary and immediate. The seed must be empowered to make the change happen, this can only happen using a team that is hands-on.
By ensuring that the solutions developed in a loop are implemented immediately, it showcases how serious a company’s investment is in dealing with issues, finding the root- cause and creating an effective solution.
7.1.5 Focus on sustainability
A manufacturing cell requires repeatable and consistent results, if the cell is unable to achieve these critical tasks within the production environment, the customer, be it an internal or external one, will seek to find a more stable alternative.
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Ensuring that a system that has been implemented is still working and attaining the same output or better, through experience, requires your cross-functional team to be aware of the fall backs and create intuitive solutions that allow for the system to be self-sustaining.
Not all sustainability solutions are an easy fit, and the company needs to have the team focus on sustainability by building in quality or the value adding processes to ensure that the product relies on those systems to be produced effectively. By ensuring that the company is ready to fulfil these requirements, the lean seed stands as a viable implementation strategy to create a lean culture within a seed that can trial and develop solutions relevant to that facility or plant and showcase the real significant gains the manufacturing industry has come to hope for rather than expect.