Process Improvement

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About the Course

Lean is a systematic approach to eliminating waste and creating flow within an organization to improve overall customer value. The foundation for success with lean is a problem-solving culture, based on coordinated process improvement and people development. Leaders from manufacturing, to service industries, to medical organizations have benefited from the techniques pioneered by Toyota. This series of classes teaches not only the tools of lean, but also offers proven leadership techniques for implementing lean in your organization, managing culture change, and developing continuous improvement engagement throughout your workforce. This training will assist companies in saving time, money, and precious resources by creating the most efficient team possible. Benefits of implementing these techniques include coaching and developing team members who actively pursue improvement in safety, quality, productivity, and intentional employee engagement.

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Agenda

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Monday–Thursday 8:00 a.m.–4:30 p.m.

Friday 8:00–11:30 a.m

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Monday | Creating a Foundation of Stability, Leading through Lean, and Value Stream Mapping (VSM)

The leader’s role in using fundamental lean principles is demonstrated and reinforced using a hands-on Buzz factory simulation. Value Stream Mapping is introduced to enable one to grasp the current condition and develop breakthrough challenges aligned with the company vision and goals. The foundation of Lean is standardization and stability. The 8 wastes are introduced coupled with lean tools & countermeasures. Value Stream Maps provide the Plan in the PDCA improvement cycle. Value-stream mapping gives leaders a picture of the entire production process, both value and non-value-creating activities. The VSM process consists of identifying value streams/product groups, mapping the current state of material and information flow, assessing waste in the process, and designing the desired process.

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Tuesday | Kata—Improvement & Coaching and Intro to DiSC

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On day two, focus shifts to the application of the Toyota Kata discipline to drive continuous improvement, focusing on habits, rapid PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, Adjust) cycles, and sustainability of Continuous Improvement initiatives utilizing the Buzz simulation. Teambuilding exercises reinforce the improvement Kata process and the communication skills essential for the Coaching Kata. The DiSC Profile allows one to know their preferred style and how to more effectively communicate interpersonally and with teams. Leaders need the dual ability to improve processes and develop people to create and sustain a culture of improvement. A Kata is a discipline through which the lean leader serves as a coach/mentor to develop team members. This training introduces the Improvement & Coaching Katas. In the Improvement Kata, participants follow a four-step, scientific pattern that challenges team members to strive for improvement. Through the Coaching Kata, participants learn to follow a mentoring methodology that develops a leader’s skill to coach while simultaneously developing team members’ knowledge. The Kata process is based on the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) scientific method through which actions are planned, tested, measured, and adjusted towards the achievement of a target condition. The DiSC profile assessment is used for participants to better understand behavioral and communication preferences within themselves and among others.

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Wednesday | Leading & Sustaining with Eight-Step Problem Solving

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Day three utilizes a lean management framework and incorporates eight-step problem solving along with exercises in problem solving and teambuilding. Leading and Sustaining Lean involves a framework of strategic alignment, disciplined culture, and operational transparency. The Lean Management System is comprised of elements including visual systems, process metrics, leader standard work, A3 problem solving, accountability boards, suggestion systems, and Gemba walks. This training is designed to teach a disciplined process to foster a problem-solving culture, to build accountability, and to reinforce PDCA thinking and management. Combining the Kata process with the Leading and Sustaining Lean system builds the disciplined structure for successful lean implementations.

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Thursday | Importance of Standards, Five S, TWI Job Methods & Job Instruction

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Day four uses a Quick Changeover Simulation to stress the importance of stability & standardization as the foundation for problem-solving. The foundation of continuous Improvement is Stability & Standardization. Before a problem—a gap from a standard—can be identified, a standard must be in place. Utilizing a stamping press simulation, participants use the TWI Job Methods questioning process to break down the changeover. Stability is introduced via the 5S methodology (Sort, Set-In-Order, Shine, Standardize, and Sustain). PDCA Kata iterations are used to improve towards the target conditions.

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Friday | TWI JI & Lean Culture

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Day five features Four-Step Job Instruction and a systems perspective approach to people processes.

The Four-Step Job Instruction is demonstrated stressing important steps, key points & reasons for key points as the standard for consistency in training methods. Sustaining continuous improvement efforts requires defining the company culture and developing team members. The lean philosophy and process must be systematically aligned with the organization's core values in order to seamlessly cultivate a problem-solving culture. Lean Culture exposes the participants to the systems necessary to prepare lean leaders, to foster the sustained process of continuous improvement, and permeate continuous improvement throughout the organization.

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