8/27/2010
By Michael Spigoda, Comau Manufacturing
Perfection can be described in many ways and can come in many forms. Some people may see it as the perfect golf swing while others may see it as the Grand Canyon. At Comau it can be seen as delivering a superior product that exceeds customer expectations.
A product does not automatically arrive at this state; it requires a collaborated team effort between Project Management, Design, Supply Chain and Manufacturing. Each phase of the project life cycle builds upon the previous phase. Involvement from the entire Project Team throughout each phase ensures the product is customer focused, on time and optimized ----- or in one word, perfection.
The Comau Powertrain Team recently completed the customer buy off for a SmartCell assembly system that will be shipped to a European based customer. The System included a SmartCell, a robotic load/unload, kitting area and gasket insertion. The teamwork and effort of the entire project team delivered a world-class product or, in the words of our customer, “perfect”.
7/26/2010
By Noman Husain, LEAN Coach
One of the most effective and widely used Lean tools is 5S. 5S is a workplace organization and visual controls methodology that refer to five Japanese words—seiri, seiton, seiso, seiketsu, and shitsuke.
Although Toyota is credited with the development and popularization of 5S methodology, however, the origin of 5S is rooted in the works of American pioneers who were studied by Japanese managers including Sakichi Toyoda, Kiichiro Toyoda and Taaichi Ohno. Among the notable Americans were Frederick W. Taylor's Scientific Management (1911) and Henry Ford (1922). Indeed, Ford's CANDO program (Cleaning up, Arranging, Neatness, Discipline, Ongoing Improvement), which builds on Taylor's work, appears as the obvious origin for 5S.
Phases of 5S:
1. Sort (Seiri)
2. Store (Seiton)
3. Shine (Seiso)
4. Standardize (Seiketsu)
5. Sustain (Shitsuke)
1. Sort
Sorting is separating the essential materials from the nonessential. Nonessential items are those not needed for present production. The procedure that involves identifying the nonessential items in a work area is called “tagging.” The goal of sorting is to simplify the work environment and break the ‘just in case’ mentality. When in doubt, move it out!
2. Store
Storing involves organizing the essential materials in the workplace. This phase can also be referred to as Simplifying. Make it visual and obvious if something is out of place. Make it easy for everyone to find and use them – use “30 second” rule. The goal of storing is to eliminate wasted time looking for materials and tools. A place for everything and everything in its place.
3. Shine
Shine is cleaning the work area and keeping it clean on a regular basis. It is regimented, scheduled cleaning of the entire work area. The purpose of shine is to rid the workplace of all dust and dirt (dirt is often the root cause of premature equipment wear and product failure). A cleaner workplace allows for quicker problem detection and is a safer workplace. A key point is that maintaining cleanliness should be part of the daily work - not an occasional activity initiated when things get too messy.
4. Standardize
Standardize means to set up the rules for Sort, Store and Shine, implement the rules on a consistent basis and maintain the workplace at a level in which non conformities become obvious. Standards must be simple and easy to follow. Everyone should know exactly what his or her responsibilities are for adhering to the first 3 S's.
5. Sustain
To sustain is to perform the Five S’s on an ongoing and systematic basis until it become a way of life. Sustaining is the continuation of sort, straighten, shine and standard. Measurement drives behavior, and if we do not pay attention to the sustainment it will degrade. This is the most difficult step. If nothing is done, nothing will improve
Implementing and maintaining 5S will pay huge dividends to the company by creating safer workplace, increasing productivity, reducing waste and improving morale. 5/7/2010
Author: Noman Husain – Lean Coach
In my last blog, I talked about Value and non Value added work. The focus of this blog is non Value added work or Waste. Again, Lean is simply creating Value and eliminating Waste.
So, what is waste? It is the use of any resources (man, machine, method and material) beyond what the customer is willing to pay for. Taiichi Ohno identified ‘7’ forms of waste (plus one – the 8th waste, underutilization of people). An easy way to remember the 8 wastes is by acronym – TIM P WOOD.
Here are the 8 forms of waste:
Transportation:
Unnecessary movement of materials, equipment or personnel using resources between processes, departments or facilities is waste. In an office, it is the unnecessary transportation of documents or information. Often times, materials, supplies and information are moved several times before reaching the permanent location. All this movement is waste.
Inventory:
Any raw material, work in progress or finished material which is not needed now is waste. Excess inventory takes up space, may cause safety hazard and may become obsolete as the requirements change. In an office, excess data, unneeded files and extra supplies are waste. Having extra inventory means having more to do – more storage, more time to look, more time to transport and more processing.
Motion:
Any movement of a worker more than is necessary for the process is waste. All unnecessary motion is a form of waste. Inefficient layout and operating procedures are often responsible for extra walking, extra body movements and extra steps.
People:
Human capital that is not fully deployed or utilized is the biggest waste of all 8 wastes. People are the greatest asset of any company and yet, we fail to fully engage, utilize and use their talents to eliminate waste. Quite often, the most knowledgeable people got neglected when implementing new ideas and revising processes.
Waiting:
People or parts that are waiting to complete the job are waste. Waiting is idle time and it disrupts the flow. It adds no value to the product and certainly, customer is not willing to pay for it.
Over Production:
To produce, sooner, faster or in greater quantities than the customer requirements is waste. Often times it is driven by the ‘Just-in-case’ mentality. Overproducing doesn’t improve efficiency and it consumes resources. Overproduction is often called the mother of all wastes as it drives all other wastes – more storage, transportation, movement, waiting, over processing and so on.
Over Processing:
This involves redundant activities such as performing unnecessary work on the product, checking someone’s work, excessive reviews and multiple approvals.
Defect:
Producing material or work which doesn’t meet the standards. Reworking or redoing the defective work is clearly a wasteful activity. Doing so require more resources, disruption to the normal process, loss of productivity and customer dissatisfaction.
In many processes, as much as 95% of all activities are waste. So, how much of your time is spent in non value added activities, fighting fires, expediting, reworking or chasing HOT jobs?
The key is learning to recognize waste. Without seeing the waste, it can’t be eliminated. Challenging ‘status quo’ or ‘we have always done it this way’ mentality is the secret ingredient to a Leaner organization.
Until my next blog, be Lean…
4/12/2010
Lean is a comprehensive process improvement methodology that focuses on eliminating waste so that all activities/steps add value from the customer’s perspective. A process is Lean if it uses only the absolute minimum of resources (man, machine, method and material) to add value to the product.
“Lean is much more than techniques. It is a way of thinking – a whole systems approach that creates culture in everyone in the organization to continuously improve their processes and production.” Management Expert, Jim P Womack.
Lean has evolved during the last hundred years as an approach to improving business operations. It started in manufacturing, however, now accepted and applied in office and services industries equally well.
Common Lean terms regarding value:
Value Added Work
Value added work is the work that results in a finished product. Value added activities change the form, fit or function of a product or service. Keep in mind that a customer is only willing to pay for value; if they feel that their money is being wasted as a result of insufficient processes, the customer will take his business elsewhere. Examples of Value added work:
- Assembling products, preparing engineering drawings, examining patients, processing customer deposits.
Non Value Added Work
Non-value added work, also called waste or MUDA, refers to work that doesn't add value to or is unnecessary for the overall project. The customer is not willing to pay for the non-value added work. Examples of non Value-added work:
- Walking to get tools for machining operation, waiting for customer specifications, getting to the doctor office, inspecting product.
Business Non Value Added Work
This work must be completed even if not value added to the customer. Examples of business non value added work includes regulatory and legal requirements.
In a typical process, non value added activities account for 95% of total lead time.
Bottom line, non value added work must be eliminated, reduced or simplified. I will talk more on the types of non value added work (waste) and the ways to eliminate waste in my future blogs.
If you have any Lean ideas to make your process better, please feel free to contact me at noman.husain2@comauinc.com. 3/25/2010
Author: Noman Husain, Lean Coach
Hello, my name is Noman Husain and I am the Lean coach at Comau Inc. This is my first blog about Lean initiatives at the Comau. I am planning to write regular blogs to update on the Lean activities at the company.
So, let’s talk briefly about CPS and Lean:
CPS (Comau Production System) – CPS is an operating methodology that focuses on Daily Schedule Control and Daily Performance Metrics to improve productivity. CPS sets a systematic method to measure and achieve KPI’s – productivity, lost time, safety and housekeeping, schedule adherence.
Lean – A comprehensive business approach that focuses on eliminating waste so that all activities/steps add value from the customer’s perspective – simply maximizing customer value while minimizing waste.
We have been implementing CPS and Lean at the Comau Novi facility for last 12 months and the process has shown significant savings. The company embraced the philosophy and recently launched a global CPS Lean initiative for the manufacturing plants. The CPS Lean activities will soon begin in Mexico, Romania, France and Italy. The sponsor of this initiative is VP of Comau Industrial Operations, Eugenio Spinolo.
This week, we are kicking off this initiative with a 4 day CPS Lean training to the implementation team members from Romania, Italy and France. The training consists of two days of hands-on CPS training followed by two days of hands-on Lean training. The team will learn about the CPS methodology and how to set up a baseline to measure performance. They will learn key Lean tools for process improvements and participate in a Kaizen event.
I will be back soon with more updates. 2/25/2010
Author: Mike Spigoda, Comau Manufacturing
Customer satisfaction is a key objective to any successful organization. Satisfaction can be measured with metrics ranging from “speed to customer” or product quality. A Global team is a vital component which can enable on time product delivery (“speed to customer”).
A project my team is currently working on involves retooling and upgrading multiple CNC machining cells. The cells were originally manufactured by Comau at the Castres, France manufacturing facility. The customer location (North America) and project timing prohibited the team from sending the cells back to France for the necessary modifications. No problem. The Comau France team traveled to Michigan to partner with our local teams to complete the tasks. This partnership is helping develop a local knowledge base which will allow Comau to respond to customer needs even more quickly and efficiently. Moreover, the experience has allowed the teams from Comau France and North America an opportunity to share best practices.
The project is currently 50% complete and is on pace to be completed on schedule because of our global teamwork. 12/29/2009Author: Max Falcone, Product Development Engineer with contributions from Joe Cyrek
I wasn’t able to make the second trip to Germany, so we took the opportunity to let my manager, Joe Cyrek, meet our customer, and demonstrate our commitment by carrying out the testing himself.
Joe met with Ray, Claudio and Luigi at the customer’s facility to perform the remainder of the testing and review all documented tests.
The test were in “full auto” at 100% production speed, exceeding the customer requirements with the RecogniSense system guiding the robot to not only pick parts out of the rack, but to load racks with parts.
The test was successful because:
- The customer is pleased with the results and has identified an area in the plant where they would like us to install the product for a true production test.
- We were able to document the comprehensive tests that prove RecogniSense performs the way we claim it does.
- We have created videos and summary presentations, to be posted on the website.
Joe wrapped up his trip by traveling to a few other major automotive manufacturers in Germany to showcase our product line. The presentations of RecogniSense received rave reviews. One customer sent an e-mail indicating if half of what Joe told him about RecogniSense is true, they are sold on the technology.
In conclusion, through one trip we were able to:
- Prove our product effectiveness on the customers tooling, using a global team
- Receive customer buy-in on a new product
- Get positive feedback on RecogniSense from customers
During our demos we presented a unified, global team with an outstanding product. We are currently processing some upcoming projects from the two customers we visited. 10/7/2009
Author: Max Falcone, Product Development Engineer
I recently returned from a trip to Germany. As I was walking through customs, the officer and I went through the following exchange:
US Customs Agent: “You have anything to declare?”
Me: “Yes, I am glad to be home.” (He didn’t look impressed)
US Customs Agent: “What kind of business where you doing in Germany?”
Me: “I went there to demonstrate some American technology.”
US Customs Agent: “How did that go?” (Now he had a smirk)
Me: “Better than I could have ever expected.”
US Customs Agent: “Welcome home.” (As he handed me my paperwork with a smile)
I told you that story so that I could tell you this story.
On September 1st, Comau Inc. robot programmer Jeff Milton and I flew to Germany to take part in a two-week-long test of the RecogniSense™ robot guidance system at a customer’s facility. Neither one of us had ever been to Europe, so it was a learning experience for us both. After a nine hour flight, we landed in Frankfurt. After some wandering around, a few wrong turns and two information kiosks later, we found our way to the Bahnhof, or high speed rail. A three-hour ride with three train changes on the high speed rail and we were at our destination.
We were exhausted, but eager to work, so we went straight to the testing facility. Our contact in Germany was Ray Bevis. Ray is part of the engineering function in Comau Germany and was our unofficial translator. Also meeting us in Germany was Luigi Petri and Claudio Marcantonio. Luigi is part of the Advanced Engineering Vision team in Italy and Claudio is a robot programmer from Comau Italy, living in Germany.
It was apparent from the start of our first day that the odds were stacked against us. Claudio and Ray had never seen the RecogniSense™ system. Luigi, Jeff and I had never seen the customer specific robot. All of the information we had was in German. The robot was not equipped to handle the Ethernet protocol that our system uses to send data back and forth. The gripper was not fitting the part properly. The list goes on, and as I said, it was shaping up to be an interesting trip.
We worked through each issue methodically and efficiently. We trusted each other and we learned together. We all knew that failing was not an option. When it was all said and done, not only were we successful in our testing, but the customer wanted us back the next week for phase two of testing. This was an incredible feeling of accomplishment, customer buy-in, and trust in Germany.
This trip was a perfect example of how Comau can pull together a diverse group of players anywhere in the world who can work together towards a common goal and provide the best experience we can for our customer.
We went into the testing as the Comau group and we came out of the testing as the Comau team. The second phase of testing wrapped up October 2nd with some great results. Stay tuned for the next installment…
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