TCUK10 Graham Wignall - Lean Docs

There’s No Stopping Us Now!What we can learn from the Toyota Production System, or Lean Documentation 101

Graham WignallBusiness Development Director

There’s No Stopping Us Now!

Topics For Today

Why learn about lean?

TPS, Lean techniques and documentation

Types of waste in documentation

Building the business case

Conclusions

Q&A

Leantechniques

Types ofwaste

Re-use ofcontent

A time anda place Conclusions

Managingcontent Q&A

“A good catchword can obscure analysis for fifty years...”

Wendell L Willkie

Why Learn About Lean?

LearningAbout Lean

Types ofwaste

Managingcontent

Re-use ofcontent

ConclusionsA time anda place

Q&A

Why Learn About Lean?

Too many projects, not enough funds

What’s hot? (and what’s not...)

Don’t speak Geek (or if you must...)

“He that idly loses 5s. worth of time, loses 5s., and might as prudently throw 5s. into the river.”

Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard’s Almanac

Lean Techniques & Documentation

Learningabout Lean

Types ofwaste

Managingcontent

Re-use ofcontent


Q&A

Publishing – How Expensive Is It?

Typical figures for technical documentation show Technical illustration costs per page $200 Authoring/proofing costs per page $200 Translation costs per page (20 languages) $800

Total cost per page $1,200

If you have a range of 50 products, each with a 200 page manual, you could be spending $12,000,000 per year!

It MUST be possible to do this more efficiently…

“There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.”

Peter F. Drucker

Types Of Waste

Learningabout Lean

Types ofwaste

Managingcontent

Re-use ofcontent


Q&A

Lean Manufacturing focuses on seven kinds of waste (or Muda, Mura and Muri in TPS terminology):

Overproduction

Motion

Waiting

Conveyance

Processing

Inventory

Correction

Types Of Waste In Lean Manufacturing

There are five main areas in documentation where waste occurs:

Publishing ‘over-complete’ documentation that caters for multiple configurations, variants or audiences

Lack of integration between engineering and technical documentation departments

Multiple authors writing the same thing in different ways introducing inconsistency and lowering quality

Process or control deficiencies allowing out of date information to be used or published

Unnecessary review cycles

Types Of Waste In Documentation

Re-use Of Content

Learningabout Lean

Types ofwaste

Managingcontent

Re-use ofcontent


Q&A

無駄Muda: activity that adds no value

“All we are doing is looking at the time line, from the moment the customer gives us an order to the point when we collect the cash. And we are reducing the time line by reducing the non-value adding wastes.”

Taiichi Ohno, Toyota

The same content appears more than once in a document Procedures Warnings, Cautions and Advisories

Re-use Of Content

Only use lifting equipment

designed for the task.

Never expose lifting equipment

to loads exceeding the specified

safe working load (SWL) value.

Check lifting equipment visually

for damages prior to use.

Check that all dowels are

secured with locking pins before

lifting.

When replacing parts, only use

original parts authorized by

ACME Inc.

a. Install jack adapters (1) on brackets (2).

(1) Place adapters (1) on brackets (2).

(2) Insert pins (3) in holes of adapter (1) and brackets (2).

b. Position two 5-ton tripod jacks (4) under adapters (1).

Use jacks. (1) Turn two pressure valve screws (5) clockwise to close. Use

jack handle (6). (2) Pump handle (6) until ram (7) contacts adapter (1).

c. Position 3-ton tripod jack (8) under tail boom

jack pad (9). (1) Turn pressure valve screw (10) clockwise to close. Use jack

handle (11). (2) Pump handle (11) until ram (12) contacts pad (9).

d. Release parking brake (para 1.61).

The same content appears in more than one document Product data sheets User guides Maintenance manuals FAQs

Re-use Of Content

The same content relates to more than one product Components and subassemblies Procedures Boilerplate

Re-use Of Content

BMW 120d BMW 520dBMW 320d

‘Accidental’ Content

Learningabout Lean

Types ofwaste

Managingcontent

Re-use ofcontent


Q&A

“How do I write thee? Let me count the ways...”with apologies to Elizabeth Barrett Browning

無駄Muda: activity that adds no value

WARNING: Switch power off only when the fan has stopped

WARNING: Switch power off once the fan has stopped

WARNING: Disconnect power only when the fan has stopped

WARNING: Never switch the power off until the fan has stopped

WARNING: Do not power down until the fan has stopped

WARNING: Do not power down before the fan has stopped

WARNING: You must wait until the fan has stopped before switching off the power

WARNING: Wait until the fan has stopped running before switching off the power

WARNING: Do not disconnect power if fan is running

WARNING: Fan must be stopped before disconnecting power



Accidental content is very expensive It has to be proofed It has to be reviewed It may have to be translated It has to be published It reduces consistency It reduces clarity It reduces quality It reduces usability

Driving Efficiency

Learningabout Lean

Types ofwaste

Re-use ofcontent

Managingcontent


Q&A

斑Mura: unevenness, inconsistency

“Time waste differs from material waste in that there can be no salvage. The easiest of all wastes and the hardest to correct is the waste of time, because wasted time does not litter the floor like wasted material.”

Henry Ford

Feast And Famine

Modules can be written, reviewed and translated in parallel: Reduced time to market More effective use of resources

Publish Publish

Translate Translate Review Review Write Write

Publish Publish Translate Translate Review Review Write Write




“When you buy bananas all you want is the fruit not the skin, but you have to pay for the skin also. It is a waste. And you the customer should not have to pay for the waste.”

Shigeo Shingo, Toyota

Driving Efficiency

Learningabout Lean

Types ofwaste

Re-use ofcontent

Managingcontent


Q&A

斑Mura: unevenness, inconsistency

Everywhere you look, customers are paying for banana skins

The glove-box manual that tells them all about the optional Sat Nav they don’t have

The handbook in 20 languages, 19 of which they can’t read

The 400 pages of documentation when all they need to know is where to find the power switch

Customer Centric Documentation

Move to “mass customisation” in documentation

Deliver the right material in the right quantity to the right person

Deliver only what is needed

Assemble documentation from components

Assemble and publish on demand

Publish “Just In Time”

Customer Centric Documentation

“The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.”

Bill Gates, Microsoft

Managing Content

Learningabout Lean

Types ofwaste

Managingcontent

Re-use ofcontent


Q&A

Muri: overburden, lack of standardisation

無理

Any new method that reduces Muda or Mura but produces more work downstream for people or equipment eventually produces a new type of inefficiency

Moving from tens or hundreds of documents to thousands or tens of thousands of components represents a major challenge for people and systems

Identifying, versioning, managing and assembling output requires new tools and skills

As the number of ‘moving parts’ increases, so does the management overhead, particularly when dealing with an extended supply chain

The Challenge Of Re-Use

To get maximum value from your documentation resources, you should be able to do a number of things:

Write once, use many. Re-purpose. Manage translations where appropriate. Publish to multiple outputs.

Component Content Management

Building The Business Case

Learningabout Lean

Types ofwaste

Re-use ofcontent


Managingcontent Q&A

“The most efficient way to produce anything is to bring together under one management as many as possible of the activities needed to turn out the product.”

Peter Drucker, Management Consultant

Re-use Of Content – The Opportunity?


Total cost per page $1,200 Total cost for 10,000 pages $12,000,000

Industry case studies show typical figures for re-use of 20-30% or more

If re-use allows you reduce the amount of content you produce, that amounts to

3,000 pages per year $3,600,000 per year

‘Accidental’ Content – How Expensive?



If you reduce the ‘accidental’ new content by just 10% you save:

$20 per page authoring $80 per page translating $1,000,000 per year

Automation – The Opportunity?



SDL’s experience indicates that human ‘transaction’ costs account for 50% of document production

Automation typically reduces these transactions by 30% saving:

$30 per page authoring $120 per page translating $1,500,000 per year

Conclusions

Learningabout Lean

Types ofwaste

Re-use ofcontent


Managingcontent Q&A

“If you need a new process and don't install it, you pay for it without getting it.”

Ken Stork, past president, Association for Manufacturing Excellence

Conclusions

Many organisations have invested heavily in Lean Manufacturing tools and methodologies, but their documentation lags far behind.

Authoring Management tools to enforce terminology and reduce ‘accidental’ content creation

Component Content Management to support modular content and re-use

Dynamic Publishing tools to build customer centric documentation on demand

Align the requirements of Technical Communications with wider corporate initiatives.

Learn the language of those who have access to funding!

Questions & Answers

Learningabout Lean

Types ofwaste

Re-use ofcontent


Managingcontent Q&A

DITA Workshops

DITA Workshops with JoAnn Hackos @ SDL in Maidenhead:

Minimalism: Creating Information People Can Use December 7th-8th

DITA: Getting Started December 9th – 10th

www.comtech-serv.com

© 2009 SDL International. Company Confidential. Forward-looking information is based upon multiple assumptions and uncertainties and does not necessarily represent the company’s outlook.

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