Successful ways to perform a 5S audit
When performing a 5S audit please use a 5S audit check sheet.
Use one check sheet for each area you audit. I hope you remembered to partition your plant and office in 5S areas.
That will be very helpful as you "attack" every opportunity for improvement or non-conformance in each area.
Some helpful hints to get you started:
Applying 5S Tools to Supply Chain Management
Abstract. Supply strategies in a lean environment should support the operations strategy. It is appropriate then to use lean concepts and lean terminology in the creation of supply strategy for lean operations. This paper examines supply strategy development in a lean production environment by utilizing 5S, a key lean concept. The concepts of lean supply and 5S will be introduced followed by a discussion of how the 5S methodology may be used to develop and implement a supply strategy.
Over Production - Manufacturing wastes
The word over production can be used to describe a type of waste which is in most of the places and we never think this as a waste. This is producing something before it is actually required. This can be applied to the bigger picture or in more localized sense.
Team building
Team building is one of the most important aspects of lean manufacturing. As I explained earlier lean manufacturing treat the organization as a single unit. Therefore departmental thinking will not be good in lean manufacturing. This is applicable to individuals working in the organization. They are lead to the ultimate objective of the organization, with various job functions. They are made into teams sometimes cross functional teams to accomplish the objectives of the organization.
Can all the wastes be avoided?
If I am to give a more theoretical answer for the above question, the answer is yes. Yes you can avoid all the wastes in the system in theory. But in practical situations removing all the wastes might not be possible. Some might be not possible due to technical concerns; some are due to various obvious factors.
The Value of One-Piece-Flow
When the Nutritional Services Department at Florida Hospital implemented "lean manufacturing" techniques to identify cost and spacesaving solutions in 2005, the effort helped its administration avoid more than $9 million in capital costs and reduce annual labor costs by nearly $350,000 (see cover story in the August, 2006 FM).
Kaikaku Project Management (KPM)
In the 1990s, Japanese companies experienced a deflationary depression called the “lost ten years”. To survive the depression, they looked for solutions in the kaikaku (reforms) of business management, organizations and technology, while struggling to regain their global competitiveness. We have observed that the companies that utilized the intellectual property of the entire organization were more successful in their reforms than those who focused only on their technological abilities.
What is value stream mapping?
When you are trying to produce better products and develop a better organization, you may turn to value stream mapping. Value stream mapping is similar to the design of a river because it is a process that carries along things with it to other places. The things that come along with value stream mapping will flow in a natural order, like the river does.
Value Stream Mapping method
The Value Stream Mapping method (VSM) is a visualization tool oriented to the Toyota version of Lean Manufacturing (Toyota Production System). It helps to understand and streamline work processes using the tools and techniques of Lean Manufacturing. The goal of VSM is to identify, demonstrate and decrease waste in the process.
Creating a Poka-Yoke world
Machine vision technology cuts down installation and maintenance time of ‘zero defects’ systems
‘Poka-Yoke’ techniques are now widely prevalent amongst manufacturers all over the world and across industry verticals. While majority of ‘Poka-Yoke’ systems are based on basic mechanical jigs and fixtures, there is increasing popularity for more versatile and instantly reconfigurable machine vision based ‘Poka-Yoke’ systems.
PPAPs for the Automotive Industry
Can You Say PPAP?
PPAP stands for Production Part Approval Process. If you want to sound cool, you will pronounce the acronym pee-pap. The term PPAP is unique to the automotive industry but the considerable documentation required by the PPAP procedure is similar to those in the aviation, military and nuclear industries. The term refers to the documentation required to verify manufacturing capability and product performance prior to shipment of the product itself. Wire and cable products generally require about 30 pages of PPAP documentation for each part number.
Condensation of the 14 Points of Management
Origin of the 14 points. The 14 points are the basis for transformation of American industry. It will not suffice merely to solve problems, big or little. Adoption and action on the 14 points are the signal that the management intend to stay in business and aim to protect investors and jobs.