Lean in the Office - Virginia Techvtrc.vt.edu/content/vtrc_vt_edu/en/ILean2017_Resources/_jcr_content... · Lean in the Office 17 Calendar Days and Business Days in the Same Process

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Lean in the Office

Mark OakesManufacturing ManagerMerit Medical

From the book OFFICE KAIZEN by William Lareau

Assignment Waste: Creating a report “Just in Case it is needed for a meeting with the boss”.

Waiting Waste: Waiting for all parties to arrive to begin a meeting.

Processing Waste: A hard worker gets the job done, but takes longer than everyone else due to poor training.

Variability Waste: Customer requests are not handled easily due to a lack of information and training by all who handle customer calls.

Tampering Waste: An error results in a “new” process that requires the boss to review every document.

Missing Information Waste: Input partial data to “get the ball rolling”, but there is no completion of all the required fields resulting in lots of questions and errors.

OFFICE WASTE

Lean in the Office 2

Two Basic Approaches for Improvement

• Physical Improvements– Co‐location of steps or functions (using a string or spaghetti diagram)– Visual improvements (5S, color coding, organization of the workspace etc.)– Hands Free Phones

• Process Improvements– Eliminating non‐value adding steps– Improving broken steps– Improving productivity of a step or task


The Real Savings are in Process Improvements $$

Physical Improvements


Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5

Step 6

Co‐Locate

Select the Process and Form a Team

• Is the process in need of Improved Speed, Cost and Quality– Pick a viable process with significant repetition or impact– Be aware of office politics

• Team Members– Area Manager (They will say “I didn’t know we did that”)– The people that do the work (They will say “I told you for years”)– Some outside eyes (They will say “I can’t believe you do that”)– Tech Wizard (They will say “I can automate that”)


Documenting the Process

• Use printer paper and large post‐it notes– Can capture in Visio or Power Point (Later)

• If there are SOP’s, have them available• If there are contracts involved, have them available• Use copies of screen shots if needed• Use copies of actual forms if needed• during mapping• Use ranges for estimates of time or quality if needed




Account Manager

Enter the data from the customer request

Incoming Quality LevelProcessing TimeTotal Lead TimeOutgoing Quality LevelOthers if Important

Paper TransferElectronic Transfer

Processing Time‐How long does it take to accomplish the task with no distractions

Total Lead Time‐Including wait time, distractions and processing time

Customer Request Form

HighlightSections Completed



Account Manager


Incoming Quality Level 80%Processing Time 10‐90 MinsTotal Lead Time 4 HoursOutgoing Quality Level 95%


Ask really good questions and listen to the answers

How do you perform this task? Did you say you use a cheat sheet for some of the information? What type of information is typically missing?

Dig, Dig, Dig into the process step



Account Manager


Is the request over $10,000

Yes

70%

No30%

Legal

Reviews the Customer Request (approve, reject or

request changes)

Edits (3 Cycles) on average

VP of Operations


request changes)

Approve

1%Reject

99%General Manger

Reviews the Customer Request (approve, reject or request changes)

(Not fully documented here)



Account Manager




I find it easier to capture issues while you are documenting the process. Only capture the issue. Do not try to develop a solution because this whole step may be removed as you create the future state

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The Issue Board

1. Explore the Cheat Sheet‐ What does it do? Does everyone use one? Can it be built into the

system?2. Research the editing

Why so much?



Account Manager



Totals may or may not be valuable. Issues arise on how it is calculated, how do you handle re‐work etc.

Legal


request changes)


Totals(If you need them)

RTY .80 x .30 = 24%Processing Time 40‐150 MinsTotal Lead Time 52 HoursOutgoing Quality Level (NA)

Improving the Process


Overproduction (Flooding a down stream process with too much volume)

Waiting

Transportation

Non-Value Added Processing (Doing things with Re (Review, Reconcile, Re-print etc.))

Excess Inventory

Defects (Pay for this 3 times (Did it once, Re-worked it, Didn’t work on the next one))

Excess Motion

Underutilized People (You mean Excel could have done this in seconds!)

Lean Waste



How big of a change can the organization handle?

Phase 1 – Fix the existing process to work as intended

Phase 2 – Significant change (automate, higher skill set, delegate authority)

Do you have a plan for the people if they are impacted?



– Which steps add value (e.g. require analysis and action)– Require extra processing (e.g. redundant data entry)– Correction of any form (e.g. paperwork errors)– Motion & Transportation (e.g. to/from file cabinets)– Overproducing (e.g. where is the work piling up and why)– Underutilized People (e.g. limited authority to change)

Eliminate non-value adding steps

Improve value adding steps

Combine where possible to reduce hand-offs and changeovers



Lean Concepts & Tools– Standardized Work– Quality at the Source– Workplace Organization– Visual Controls & Management– People Involvement– Cellular/Team Concepts– Equipment Reliability



The Improved Process is Now the Current State

Use it for:

Knowledge Capture and Training

Succession Planning

Experiences Encountered ‐ Problems and Solutions


Calendar Days and Business Days in the Same ProcessLack of Information Sharing from Sales to OperationsNot Understanding the Capabilities of the SoftwareUsing Remote Printing CapabilitiesExtremely Low Dollar Signature AuthorityToo Many Management Reviews of the DocumentToo Many Required Signatures (They Don’t Read It!)

Lean In the Office


Questions

[email protected]

Documents

Lean in the Office - Virginia Techvtrc.vt.edu/content/vtrc_vt_edu/en/ILean2017_Resources/_jcr_content... · Lean in the Office 17 Calendar Days and Business Days in the Same Process