Lean Product Development Process

Tim McMahonOFS Fitel

Exercise

• Stand• Fold your arms • Which arm is on top?• Unfold your arms and refold them with the

opposite arm on top.• Some will find it easy. Some may not.• Does the new position feel comfortable?

Introduction

• In today’s globally competitive environment speed is everything.

• Design teams need to be fast, flexible and highly effective.

• Applying Lean in product development requires optimizing the growth of knowledge about the product, customer, and manufacturing.

Definition

• Lean Product Development - A practical approach to accelerating time-to-market through aggressive waste elimination in planning, resource management, design control, and interdisciplinary communication.

3 Key Elements

• Lean Product Development Process comprises:

1. Driving waste out of the product development process.

2. Improving the way projects are executed.3. Visualizing the product development process.

Lean the Process

• By closely examining the entire product development process from a Lean perspective, the opportunities to drive out waste and increase value become obvious.

• Learn to identify the Eight Wastes– Defects– Over Production– Waiting– Non-utilized

Resources/Talent– Transportation– Inventory– Motion– Excess Processing

Defects

• Defects are the result of executed processes that did not produce value.– Incomplete information– Quality is lacking or suspect– Reworking product of processes– Ambiguous information– Inaccurate information– Missed tolerances or specifications

Overproduction

• Waste from producing product that is not currently needed or product that is not needed at all.– Too much detail– Unnecessary information– Cost overruns from excessive time– Overlap of strategic and non-strategic projects

competing for limited resources

Waiting

• No value added while people wait for product to process or product waits for people or machines.– Unbalanced workflow with the team– Time spent getting approvals– Unavailable information– Hand offs, where we pass something to someone

else

Non-utilized Resources/Talent

• The waste of underutilized intelligence and intellect are commonly referred to as behavioral waste.– Underutilizing people’s knowledge and creativity– Uneven workflow resulting with some team

members overburdened while others are underutilized

Transportation

• While the product is moving, no value is added to it.– Carrying, mailing, or even emailing documents

stops the process– Electronic system hand offs– Multiple sources– Incompatible destinations requiring multiple

transport

Inventory

• Inventory is the collection of unprocessed documents, data objects, and transactions queued-up between people and processes.– Collections of unprocessed information and data– Incomplete content– Too much information

Motion

• Excess movement by people or equipment only consumes time and resources without producing value.– Efficiency of software – number of mouse clicks,

routines, and transactions– Frequency of searching for information– Information pushed to wrong people

Excess Processing

• Doing more than what is necessary to generate satisfactory value as defined by the customer.– Using software that functions beyond what is

needed– Product designs or processes that are too complex– Excessive number of iterations or verifications– Over-designed or over-engineered product

Project Execution• In a Lean environment, the expectation is that everyone has

two responsibilities.– First, to run the business on a day-to-day basis.– Second, to improve the business, or contribute to improving it

continuously.• Improvement efforts are generally categorized by the scope,

scale, and duration of the improvement task.– Longer duration, more complex improvement tasks require the

problem solving team to utilize a project.• How do we standardize, communicate, and visually manage

project management process effectively?– In the Lean environment that is something called an A3.

A3 - What is it really?• The A3 is a “way of thinking”.• Complex situations broken into a simple data driven stories.• It forces you to filter and refine your thoughts to fit on one

sheet of paper in such a way that management has all of their major questions answered by reading a single sheet of paper.

• It is a way to coach and develop associates by providing a forum for discussion about the specific point in the story and the thinking behind it.

• Consensus building tool through the department/group/company.

A3 Guidelines

• A good A3 should “tell a story” about a proposal, project, problem, or process.

• It balances words with graphics to tell the story.– Find the most effective graphics to emphasize your ideas,

plans, and/or results.

• Every word or graph on the A3 should mean something.

• Use underlined or bold text to focus attention on key points.

Characteristics of an Effective A3• Easy to read• Involve team members to create• Data-driven and factual• Clear objectives and statements• Analysis of the situation or problem• Cost evaluation or alternative evaluation• Clear action plans• Clear follow-up activities• Share the lessons learned

– You can solve the problems, but if you don’t share what you’ve learned, you have missed a key opportunity.

General A3 Flow – PDCAPlan – Do – Check - Act

A3 Example

Make the Process Visual

• Visual boards displaying necessary information provide a status at a glance.

• “Stand-up” meetings in combination with the visual boards allow for optimized communication.

• Monitor the process with metrics.

Flow the Process

See the Process

Keys to Visualization

• Entire system is visible in one place.

• Weekly updates and review at the board.

• Can see WIP in process easily.

• Individual A3’s provide specific project detail on granular level.

Management Reviews• Identifying, qualifying, and funding projects/programs that

address the business strategy.• Managing organizational resource demand, capacity, and

capability.• Measuring performance to ensure that projects/programs are

collectively meeting the portfolio strategy.• Identifying and taking corrective actions on projects/programs

not in compliance with portfolio objectives and commitments.• Establishing effective communication and reporting

mechanisms that enable timely, fact-based, decision-making regarding projects, programs, and the overall portfolio.

• Implementing a process to continuously improve the portfolio.

Monitor the Metrics• % projects on schedule• Total value of projects in portfolio• Total headcount assigned to the

portfolio of R&D projects• Planned vs. Actual spend• # projects completed• # projects added• # projects in each stage of the

pipeline– Development– Test– Qualify– Launch

Summary

• Remember that the pursuit of Lean is a relentless journey and requires strong commitment to change and continuous improvement.

• A Lean Product Development Process will drive profitable, sustain growth and customer value creation.

Tim McMahonhttp://www.linkedin.com/in/timothyfmcmahon

Lean Manufacturing Leader

OFS FitelAvon, CT

mcmahont@ofsoptics.com

Founder & ContributorA Lean Journey Bloghttp://leanjourneytruenorth.blogspot.com