Retired course
This course has been retired and is no longer supported.
About this lesson
Lean process control focuses on maintaining the process flow of the Should-Be process. It relies on principles of visual control, empowerment, and continuous improvement.
Exercise files
Download this lesson’s related exercise files.
Lean Process Control.docx61.6 KB Lean Process Control - Solution.docx
61.5 KB
Quick reference
Lean Process Control
Lean process control focuses on maintaining the process flow of the Should-Be process. It relies on principles of visual control, empowerment, and continuous improvement.
When to use
Once the Should-Be process has been implemented in the Improve stage, Lean control practices are used to sustain it during the Control stage.
Instructions
The focus of Lean improvements has been to eliminate waste. This includes waste in how the improved process is managed. Over time, many large organizations develop bureaucracy that slows down decision-making and centralizes power in the hands of senior management. The speed of a Lean process usually requires that the process control and decision-making be in the hands of the operators who are already present in the process. The Lean process has several enabling characteristics that make this mode of control very feasible.
The Lean process is usually simple to see and follow with minimal branches and decisions. The process can be seen, either physically or virtually, and because it is so fast it can be scheduled with pull scheduling principles instead of push principles. The small lot size reduces inventory and lead time, while the work stations are often designed to provide high quality results without extensive testing and inspection. These advantages of the Lean process allow the use of Lean control principles.
Performance Boards
Visual control normally requires the use of performance boards. These are areas located within or near the process that show the status of the current process performance measurements. They normally include measurements for quality, delivery, cycle time, safety and customer satisfaction. The team holds daily (or more frequent) standup meetings in front of the board to review progress, issues, and provide directions for the day. The boards promote transparency in expectations and performance leading to better team alignment.
Empowerment
Lean processes do not have material and resources waiting on permission to do the next step. In order to maintain the flow, the operators are given the authority to manage the process. Through the use of the Lean tools, they know what is expected to be done next and through training and the use of the Six Sigma tools they know how to accomplish the work correctly. Empowerment is not just a “buzz word” in Lean Six Sigma. Operators have the knowledge and authority to manage the process and achieve the business goals.
Kaizen
Kaizen is the Japanese term for continuous improvement. Lean control includes the operators identifying and implementing continuous improvements to ensure waste does not creep back into the process. Kaizen events are often used to focus on problem spots in the process. They consist of multi-functional brainstorming and problem solving events with a focus on action. The attendees determine what should be done and then do it. The goal is to quickly make things better, not necessarily perfect.
Hints & tips
- Lean control is as much a culture change as it is a set of technical or management disciplines. The resistance is often cultural resistance. Some people do not like the accountability that comes with the daily use of performance boards (exposing those who are creating problems) and some people are uncomfortable with empowerment (they are comfortable with the boss making all the decisions). When the resistance is cultural, coaching will be needed.
- Kaizen events are action focused. It is better to take some action and then tweak it as you go along, then to wait and study it.
- 00:04 Hi, I'm Ray Sheen.
- 00:06 Now since your project was a process improvement project,
- 00:10 a likely concern is how do we control the process going forward?
- 00:15 Are there ways that we can help the process be robust and continue to maintain
- 00:19 high performance even though the business and industry will likely change over time?
- 00:25 There is good reason for that concern.
- 00:28 And that is that the world we live in seems to be getting more complicated
- 00:32 everyday and of course, that affects process management.
- 00:35 With the lean solution, you can increase the likelihood that your process
- 00:39 will be robust enough to survive and thrive.
- 00:43 Let me illustrate that point by comparing the typical operating environment for
- 00:46 most organizations, with the environment that the lean process managers face.
- 00:51 While the typical operating environment is complex and messy,
- 00:54 the lean process is simple, straight-line flow and is often under visual control.
- 00:59 The typical environment relies on status reports from managers and
- 01:03 lead operators, some of which are late and some are just plain wrong.
- 01:07 The operator reports what they think you wanna hear and
- 01:10 not the reality of what is happening.
- 01:12 Whereas the lean report, everything is visual and everything is real time.
- 01:17 The typical environment uses push scheduling
- 01:19 with the accompanying ways to non-certainty.
- 01:21 Lean uses pull scheduling which reduces the cycle time and
- 01:25 improves customer satisfaction.
- 01:26 Lean uses just-in-time inventory management to reduce the cost, but
- 01:31 the typical process environment has to use just-in-case inventory buffers
- 01:36 to hide problems, again adding cost to the typical environment.
- 01:40 Typical environments used large batch processing for
- 01:43 local efficiencies and total process and efficiency.
- 01:46 Lean uses batch size of one, or at least as small as possible, for
- 01:50 faster response time.
- 01:52 One of the impacts is that the typical environment has long
- 01:55 lead times to get things done.
- 01:56 But the lean environment has short lead times,
- 01:59 sometimes as short as the tack time.
- 02:02 The typical environment has to rely on inspection and
- 02:04 tests to inspect in quality.
- 02:06 The lean environment is self-inspecting and
- 02:09 the quality is built in right up front and not tweaked in at the end of the process.
- 02:13 Finally, we get to empowerment.
- 02:15 The typical environment is normally functionally managed and
- 02:18 operators are told what to do.
- 02:20 The lean process environment is often managed by team operators
- 02:23 who work within a value stream.
- 02:25 And thanks to visual control, JIT, Kanban and work cell design, they're able and
- 02:30 willing to manage the process themselves.
- 02:33 Let's look at a few of the tools that are used in a lean process control.
- 02:37 The first one is the performance board.
- 02:39 The performance board is an element of lean visual control approach.
- 02:43 It is located in the work center and is updated every day,
- 02:46 or sometimes every shift.
- 02:48 It usually shows charts or tables with the process goals and the recent performance.
- 02:53 The specific performance board metrics that are tracked will depend upon
- 02:57 the organization's culture and strategy,and the process characteristics.
- 03:01 Some of the more common measurements include quality metrics, safety metrics,
- 03:05 schedule deliveries and customer satisfaction, or customer returns.
- 03:10 Again, the organization will choose what is most relevant for the process.
- 03:14 Just keep in mind, you get what you measure.
- 03:16 Through this open visual communication, both operators and
- 03:20 management understand the goals and expectations for the process.
- 03:24 Many organizations will start the day with a quick stand-up meeting
- 03:27 to cover any hot items and set priorities have for the day.
- 03:30 When organizations have the lean performance board, this meeting is usually
- 03:34 in front of the board and significant items in the metric can be noted and
- 03:38 updated right there on the board.
- 03:41 One final caution, there are infinite number of forms and
- 03:44 presentations of the metrics, pick one that is easy for you to maintain and
- 03:48 is aligned with your process goals.
- 03:50 The key ground rules are simple and visual.
- 03:53 You want understanding, not confusion.
- 03:56 In order to get the full benefit of lean process control, that old
- 03:59 buzzword empowerment, must really mean something as it applies to the process.
- 04:04 Now the textbook definition of empowerment is the management practice of sharing
- 04:08 information, authority and rewards with employees within a work center.
- 04:13 Empowerment for us means that the operators and associates are confident to
- 04:17 take initiative, to insure that the process meets or exceeds its goals.
- 04:21 Primary reason they have this confidence and empowerment is the simple,
- 04:25 straightforward description of the process.
- 04:28 And a visual control process helps operators and
- 04:30 associates understand what is desired and how close we are to achieving those goals.
- 04:36 Knowledge is power.
- 04:37 They're further empowered if some of the six sigma control methodologies are being
- 04:41 used, because they will have the confidence
- 04:44 to know if what they're doing is giving beneficial results.
- 04:48 And if not, they know what to do.
- 04:50 Again, knowledge is power.
- 04:52 The last topic in this area is Kaizen.
- 04:55 Kaizen is the japanese word for continuous improvement.
- 04:58 It relies on shoe heart cycle of plan, do, check, act.
- 05:02 In most organisations a Kaizen is an event.
- 05:05 It's a short, focused improvement event or project.
- 05:09 Normally it will be with a cross-functional team of subject matter
- 05:12 experts from the area that is the focus for the Kaizen.
- 05:15 Those experts operate as a team for the duration of the event.
- 05:19 Some organizations have rigid agenda and tools for conducting these and
- 05:24 some do them at a very free willing fashion.
- 05:27 In my experience, the tools and agenda are not nearly as important as the focus and
- 05:31 empowerment of the team.
- 05:33 Their goal is to get something done that improves the performance and
- 05:37 the direction of the goal.
- 05:38 These meetings are action-oriented.
- 05:41 Get it done now.
- 05:42 Don't let perfection stand in the way of making things better.
- 05:46 Of course, that is one of the reasons for cross-functional subject matter experts.
- 05:50 They know what can be done and how to do it well.
- 05:54 From my experience and I've been involved in dozens and dozens of these,
- 05:58 both as a team member and facilitator.
- 06:00 The team has to come out of these sessions with clear actions of things they can do
- 06:05 and there is follow-up then to ensure that it is done.
- 06:09 Lean process control relies on empowerment and
- 06:13 transparent sharing of process information.
- 06:16 And this is possible thanks to the simplification
- 06:19 that came from creating a lean process.
Lesson notes are only available for subscribers.
PMI, PMP, CAPM and PMBOK are registered marks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.