Focused improvement is the engine of WCM.
As the one of ten World Class Manufacturing pillars, Focused Improvement have a big task to manage the way for improvements in the factory, driven by 5 indicators:
- Number of improvement projects
- Extension of gathered knowledge through the factory
- Involvement of employees
- Benefit / Cost Ratio
- Number of improvement proposal per employee
Most important issue for Focused Improvement is to indentify and solve the root causes of attacked problems in order to achieve the maximum benefit vs cost ratio.
In order to achive this Focused Improvement must try to involve as much people as it is possible so that each person of the different teamworks can acquire methodological know how to adopt the right tools adequate to the complexity of the attacked problem.
Objectives of FI are simple but hard to realise:
• Improve safety, quality and labour indicators.
• Reduce transformation costs.
• Increase the number of the people involved in focused improvement projects.
• Support the horizontal expansion of methodologies.
As all other WCM Pillars and FI activities are based on 7 steps:
1. Definition of model area or machine (Bottleneck process, major loses)
2. Stratification of loses
3. Selection of the project, preperation for deployment
4. Form the team for improvement
5. Project activities with identification of correct method
6. Cost / Benefit analysis
7. Monitoring and horizontal deployment
Seven steps of Focused Improvement
As an exemple of Focused Improvement
Step 1 here is one exemple of the bottleneck process that is solved by implementing correct methodes and tools. The managament want to increase production in body shop. FI step 1 says find bottleneck process . Also that is the main source of our losses
Step 2. Then by applying method 5W+1H we can define the problem and get much better knowledge regarding the problem that needs to be solved , and form the team
Step 3, 4. In order to analyze the root cause of the problem we can use 4M analysis (Man – Machine – Method – Material)
Step 5. Finaly in step 6 FI is calculating benefit / cost ratio. Through the example we can see that systematic approach can be very usefull for any demand.
Implementation of WCM can increase the capability of a manufacturer to compete with any other manufacturing organization, with the aspiration of achieving world-beating standards in all organizational aspects. World class manufacturing encompasses the practices of total quality management, continuous improvement, international benchmarking, and flexible working.
Bottleneck process
Define the problem 5W + 1H
4M Analysis (Find the root cause)
Benefit / Cost ratio
Focused Improvement WCM pillar presentation
FI – Focused Improvement System przez Lean-Management
