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Lean Thinking is a
management philosophy that arose out of the development of the Toyota
Production System. In many ways this philosophy is counter-intuitive
to the way managers have traditionally administered work design. The
traditional methods are based on mass production ideas and techniques
- push as many people or products through the process as fast as you
can.
However, process thinking
at Toyota is a bit different.
“Brilliant process
management is our strategy. We get brilliant results from average
people managing brilliant processes.
We observe that our
competitors often get average (or worse) results from brilliant
people managing broken processes.”
This is often overlooked,
as people seize on the more tangible aspects. Engineers may latch on
to tools and philosophies like KANBAN, Heijunka, and Jidoka, and
think they have captured its essence. But the core principle is that
people are the most important asset. For that reason management must
continually support those who add value in order to secure long-term
productivity and financial improvement and enduring culture change.
ACARP Research - Best
Practice Mines
In research on Roadway
Development best practices reported in 2005 by ACARP (Australian Coal
Association Research Program) a wide range of performance levels were
reported. Factors other than mining conditions and equipment were
seen to be at play. Key factors differentiating best practice mines
included:
-
Driven” culture, desire to succeed, focus on getting things
right, accountability.
-
Understanding of roadway development as a process, and the
application of short interval process control.
-
Degree of involvement of employees.
-
Focus on utilisation of personnel through provision of
adequate fit for purpose equipment.
-
High levels of reliability and availability engineered into
equipment, with focus on maintaining equipment fit for purpose.
-
Awareness of and aggressive application of new technology,
equipment and systems to improve safety, productivity and costs.
What has this to do with
Lean Six Sigma Implementations?
Lean organisations seek to
maximise the flow of materials, information and cash. Smooth flow
necessitates partnering with customers and suppliers, achieving set
up reductions, and introducing pull systems for supplies movement.
The goal is Zero Waste - Zero Lost Information - Zero Rework.
Farthing West’s experience
supports the findings of ACARP.
-
Focus
on the process as a whole (e.g., a development panel is a business
process that contains multiple interacting parts - Engineering,
Maintenance, Planning, Shift Operations, Supply, Manning).
-
Use cross-functional teams from the whole value stream to
communicate and solve problems.
-
Use data to drive the improvement process. Measure it -
make meaning of it - act on it. That is; do you have the right
data? What are the cycle times for bolting? What are the cycle
times for panel advances? What is the response time for delivering
supplies to the panel?
-
Take action on the host of systemic minor issues involved, not
just a few larger issues, in order to genuinely improve the process.
A Framework for Business
Excellence in Mining
The Goal is zero waste,
zero lost information, zero rework. Information is vital for this to
happen.
-
Use improvement oriented performance measures and action (we
don’t put up with slow travel times - we fix the road between cars
and keep the speeds to standard).
-
Use visual control (a diagram for the procedure -a place
for everything and everything in its place).
-
Link daily operations measure to the strategic objectives (if
we need 10m per shift for development to finish on time for the
longwall, we need to report progress each shift to make sure we stay
on track).
-
Balance financial with non financial measures.
-
Make continuous improvement the responsibility of all
(involvement is the key to a motivated and knowledgeable workforce).
-
Continually identify and eliminate the causes of waste in all
its forms.
-
Measure what is important to the next customer in the value
stream (are we on horizon, on centre?).
-
Ensure alignment of purpose by all the players along the value
stream.
By working on real
problems that add wealth to the business and mentoring staff in the
use of continuous improvement tools Farthing West trains busy
managers to be more effective, develops future managers and
accelerates achievement of a Lean Six Sigma culture.
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