Manufacturing Improvement – Keeping it Simple.

Making process outcomes more predictable is a primary objective of manufacturing improvement. In fact, predictability and the elimination of variance is so important that the engineering toolbox of Lean/Six Sigma emerged to help deal with it. As an example of the impact of variance in manufacturing, a production planner running a tight schedule would likely prefer that a purchased item quoted with 10-day lead time, reliably ships in 9 to 11 days, rather than somewhere in a range of 2 to 18 days, with price and all other factors being equal.

One of the great things about making operations more predictable, is that the first steps don’t need math or much sophistication to achieve. This is where 5S comes out of the toolbox to improve control over a process and to reduce variation.

5S has been around for a long time, but relatively unknown outside of manufacturing, so it’s great to see it being discovered and re-branded in different ways, such as for making a household operate more effectively. As a result, someone who has never even heard of 5S for manufacturing, will likely still be familiar with some, or all, of the following steps. 

Step 1. Remove everything unnecessary to the process. (Sort)

Step 2. Take what is necessary and optimize its location. (Straighten)

Step 3. Prevent things from getting downgraded, keep it maintained. (Shine)

Step 4. Standardize the Operations. In MISys Manufacturing, this is the Routing setup. (Standardize)

Step 5. Manage the Work Center and Process. For example, by using operational data collected by the Manufacturing system to take action. (Sustain) 

Applying the 5S methodology is a useful first step in Manufacturing Process improvement and it integrates very well with routing operations found in many Manufacturing software systems. Give 5S, or whatever name you call it, a try...!

Matt.