Give me a lever!
April 13, 2010 by david.evanson
Archimedes is quoted as saying: “Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.”
If you want to improve factory OEE, let great real time data be your fulcrum and let your empowered and engaged team be your lever.
With a big enough reason you can move the world.
Give me a lever...
The Benefit of the doubt?
November 22, 2009 by david.evanson
I’ve just been going through my RSS feeds for this week and saw this great blog entry from Seth Godin about how we deal with instances when we misunderstand the communication from a friend versus a stranger:
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/11/benefit-of-the-doubt.html
This got me thinking about where else we give the benefit of the doubt rather than probing and prodding below the surface to really understand what causes us to get the results that we’re getting.
For example - How often in your production meetings do you give your colleagues the benefit of the doubt when discussing factory performance? When discussing improvement initiatives? When discussing capital investment? When discussing OEE performance? When carrying out 1-2-1 reviews?
We frequently observe that factory decision making can based on production loss information which can be as low a 33% accurate…and we see teams taking this at face value, working hard, and wondering why performance is flat or sliding backwards.
Let me offer a motto that i personally use everytime i walk into a site: “Seek to Understand before being Understood“.
Next time you have a production meeting seek to understand where the data comes from, how accurate it is, what possible errors it may have, and therefore how effective it has been for guiding your actions.
Understand the challenges that your team face, and their teams. If you don’t do this, who else will?
Becoming an OEE Fitness Instructor
April 5, 2009 by david.evanson
What do OEE improvement and the gym have in common?
- They both involve training people to carry out activities which in the short term they may not understand or even enjoy with the intention of realising a longer term beneficial outcome - be it less downtime, or the ability to walk up the stairs without running out of breath.
So to explain how this is relevant let me take you through the process that most good quality gyms will take you through when you join:
Your Gym Fitness Instructor:
- You meet an instructor who chats about why you’re there, helps you to identify your desired outcomes, and helps you to create a rough plan of your objectives.
- The instructor takes you to the first machine. Tells you what it does and how it works. The instructor then gets on the machine and demonstrates some repetitions
- You get on the machine and repeat what the instructor did. The instructor coaches and guides you till they’re happy you can repeat without them.
- Repeat for each machine on your programme.
- At the end of the tour the instructor checks that you’re happy, completes your plan with you, and tells you when they’ll review progress.
- Some time in the next couple of weeks the instructor catches up with you and reviews progress. Helps you with any difficulties and may fine tune the programme.
- Final review and programme tweak for the next stage
Your Traditional Manufacturing Manager:
- You need to do this because it’s in your objectives/we have to meet an order/we’re in the brown stuff.
- Do you understand?
- Yes brilliant, get on with it come to me if you have a problem.
- Review…hmmm our OEE is still the same. Why aren’t we getting the results that we want? Must be something wrong with………(start listing excuses here).
Be honest - is your method of getting your team to act
differently more like example 1 or example 2?
What would be the impact on our teams if we were to spend
more time as OEE Fitness Instructors and less time as managers?
Inspiring workplace
March 26, 2009 by david.evanson
If you’re interested in having the ultimate engaged, accountable workforce then you will probably be fascinated by the book “Maverick” by Ricardo Semler.
“Maverick” is the story of how Ricardo took the business his father had run for decades which had a very traditional autocratic managment style, removed 80% of the management team, and converted it into a lean, people-focussed democratic business run by the employees for the employees.
Whilst discussing this with my colleague David we wondered if Semco were still in business over 10 years later and i’m delighted to say that they certainly seem to be! Check out this awesome video to find out more:
The video of Semco today:
http://dotsub.com/view/c5946f57-8f5e-4e5b-be2d-b89a14b6d245
The book on Amazon:
Struggling to improve?
March 23, 2009 by david.evanson
Something that struck me the other day was how many sites have had Lean Initiative-itis over the years.By this i mean that they’ve tried to implement various of lean/quality/OEE activities, some internally, some with consultants but for some reason they’ve struggled to improve.
I’m sure we all recognise the symptoms - branded literature up on the walls from past consultant-supported activity, semi-filled in paperwork, practices in place that exist due to habit rather than the value that they add, a weariness from the folks on the factory floor when it comes to ‘another funny acronym’.
I know things are bad when we talk to an operator about “quick changeovers” and they tell me they know all about that “SMED stuff”…..as they start a 6 hour changeover. Or if every front line manager i talk to has 9-5 meetings every day, or when i walk a line and see more than 1 noticeboard…and it’s out of date.
Here’s something that i have come to believe - the Lean toolkit contains some great tools for reducing waste and improving OEE and there still comes a point in my opinion where “if you can’t change the people, change the people”.
Far too often i see implementations that are attempted from a very genuine desire to improve yet with poor people-management support. Quite often in sites that are in this place there are fantastic performance management tools available and they’re not being used.
When we look at the sites that we know get the most sustainable performance one thing they all have in common is that there is a robust performance mangagement system in place and being implemented in full on a daily basis.
If you’re introducing any sort of change process (lean, an OEE drive, a quality drive) here are my thoughts on how to be successful:
1. Make it personal - people have to care. Make sure they have an emotional reason for doing this…make sure YOU have an emotional reason for doing this.
2. You can’t build a strong house on a weak foundation - get the basics right first; ensure that you have a people performance management system in place AND WORKING!
3. If you have the wrong person in the wrong role then you’re not helping them or yourself…they’re probably miserable. Use your tools to help them find a role where they can be happy and productive. This happened to me early in my corporate career and i look back with huge gratitude to the director who did this with me in such an open and supportive manner.
4. “Aces in Places”: Make your best people responsible for creating change and get them to coach your rising stars
5. Ensure that your implementation team have precise objectives for this implementation and that they are linked to personal performance objectives
6. Carry out regular documented reviews to coach on performance and provide guidance/focus
7. Follow up on all actions that come from the reviews
8. Hold people to account for implementing the change: Reward for success and use your performance management tools if the project is floundering
As ever - delighted to welcome your feedback as these are simply my ideas post a 2 hour workout on Monday evening! So fill out the box below and let me know what you think.
Create instant change, now.
January 23, 2009 by david.evanson
One of the questions that comes up on some forums is: “Why is the implementation of Lean/OEE activity so slow?”….or “What can we do to speed up our Lean implemenation?”.
I believe that I know a way that you can create huge, unstoppable change almost instantly.
Firstly, I would say that any improvement initiative will be very slow to implement if there’s no driving need to change. In fact i believe that if there is a big enough need to act differently, i.e. enough desire to improve or enough need to stop hurting, then change will be not just fast, it will be instantaneous. I also believe this is to be a universal human truth for all behaviour, not just manufacturing improvement.
The principles of NLP state that there are 2 key motivational factors to enable change:
- A need to move away from a current source of discomfort or pain. We call this “away” motivation.
- PLUS a desire to move towards a source of pleasure or enjoyment. We call this “towards” motivation.
**read more about motivation types at the excellent Pegasus NLP Blog**
In order to achieve change all individuals, and therefore organisations, need to have an appropriate balance of these 2 factors. Therefore, the ability of an organisation to change is directly proportional to the need for that change to be implemented, and this need is generated by combining the need to avoid particular results whilst simultaneously achieving better performance.
When the right level of “towards” and “away” motivations exist in an organisation we say that the team have ‘a burning platform’ to change. With a burning platform in place change happens. Fast. Unstoppably.
I wrote a blog about “the burning platform” a very short while ago: http://oeejourney.optimumfx.com/2008/12/17/burning-platforms-for-change/
EXAMPLES:
- I’ve worked in bottling sites that are so profitable (especially in the spirits industry) that implementing minor changes has taken >36 months.
- I’ve also worked in soft drinks sites where OEE has jumped from the low 50’s to the high 70’s in 12months.
- Most radically in a powder packaging factory where OEE jumped from 23% (and about to massively short on customer orders) to 68% in only 8 weeks.
The contributing factor in each environment is the level of pain that’s felt by the management and operator teams. In the powder packaging example they were in such deep trouble it was almost literally “change or die”. In this environment change is fast, radical, and all-consuming - infact the challenge is to slow it down and make sure the changes are sustained.
So here’s a really great question for you to ask yourself:
“How can we create the right level of need to change in our business to achieve our business and personal goals?
Massively reduce your Overtime bill
January 7, 2009 by david.evanson
If you run a plant with lots of hand packing how interested are you in reducing your overtime costs?
I’m guessing that the answer is a big resounding “VERY”!
I believe that just 5 steps with our XL800 system will provide you with the answer you need - and the payback is likely to be within our free trial (depending on the size of your overtime bill!). Call us now on +44 121 447 8520 to find out more.
Just this week i was in an FMCG plant with a hand packing hall. Every individual unit is manually lifted from the line and placed into a cardboard box, sealed, and then hand palletised. The manager i was with explained how amazing it was that when the team were behind on performance and needed overtime to finish the run, just how frequently the amount of time needed was exactly 1 or 2 hours! Perhaps this may sound familar to you?
So here’s a suggestion that could massively reduce your overtime bill: Install an XL800 in your manual handling hall and use it to display the performance of your packing team.
Here’s how to massively cut your overtime bill:
1. Get a signal:
- Firstly find some way to get a pulse for every box packed.
- This site had a really simple automated tape machine built into the conveyor - fully mechanical with 3 spring-loaded moving parts. The answer: install a £20 laser eye to pick up the movement of one moving part.
2. Work out a reasonable run rate (cycle time) for the packing team:
- What takt time do your team need to work at to meet output? What speed can they realistically achieve? Calculate the first one from the speed of your slowest automated machine. Calculate the second one through some line based timings - ensure you consider your health and safety requirements.
3. Install your XL800 system to display:
- Target packing speed
- Actual packing speed
- Mins lost due to slow running/stops
- Units left till end of run
Goal Count Down Scoreboard
- Or work out what KPI’s are most motivating for your team - remember that the XL800 is recording over 100 KPI’s all the time, including; number of slow cycles, number of minor stops, mins changeover time.
4. Review their performance….with the team….several times in the day. Ensure that they understand the metrics. Ensure that your front line management team use the metrics to support and encourage the team rather than to beat them up.
5. Watch your overtime bill freefall as the team become engaged with real-time data that they can control.
Warning: THIS WILL IMPROVE THE PRODUCTIVITY OF YOUR TEAM AND YOU MAY NEED TO FIND THEM MORE JOBS TO DO, OR GET MORE PRODUCT TO MAKE.
I remember seeing this process used most effectively in an electronics company where the teams were told their daily target, and given responsibility to deliver that target however they wanted. If that meant working faster so that they could all go for breaks at the same time, then that was their choice.
If you would like to massively reduce your manual handling overtime bill, give OptimumFX a call right now on +44 121 447 8520, or follow the link to send us an email.
New Year New Objectives? New Year New Actions!!!
January 7, 2009 by david.evanson
Hello and welcome back from your Christmas and New Year Holidays. All the team here at OptimumFX hope that you have had a fantastic break and are back in your factories feeling charged up and invigorated after the break.
On Monday we had our first team meeting of 2009 and one of our favourite topics of conversation came up quite early in the day: “how to convert ideas to improvement”….yes we were initially talking about New Year Resolutions! For me, there’s something quite special about that time between Christmas and New Year that gives me the chance to think a little bit differently about what i want to achieve in the next 12 months. Perhaps you may also have some fresh ideas and objectives as a result of the holiday?
If this is the case, may i ask a question? As we come to the end of the first week in January how are you progressing with your resolutions? How happy are you with your progress?
When we talk about OEE and productivity improvement we often talk to our customers about this formula:
(Information x Focus) x Action = Results
Simply, if you want to achieve great results you need to have the right data to track your progress and identify your issues, the right level of focus and commitment to reviewing performance, and then (and this is the most important part), you have to take action!
So if you’re not happy with your progress perhaps it might be worth asking yourself:
1. What information can i use to track my progress?
- This may be a KPI sheet, or an internal feel of progress, or customer reviews, or feedback from your colleagues, or a move in your financials. How specific and clear is your objective - we’ll talk another time about how to set well defined objectives and i’m sure most of you may have seen the SMART acronym (Specific…and positive, Measureable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely)
2. What level of focus am i applying to the data?
- Do i want to review this data weekly/Monthly/Quaterly? How am i going to hold myself to account for making the data important, for making it get used? How am i going to follow up on actions?
3. Take action!
- The easiest way to get a 50% improvement in OEE is to improve 50 little things by 1%….yet so many people look for some sort of magic solution that fixes one issue by 50%. Lots of little actions over a year = A MASSIVE CHANGE.
Or you could be one of those people who regularly has some fantastic, inspiring, motivating, dynamic ideas….and then sits on them: Not achieving results, not changing, not committing to action, and not getting what you want.
Burning Platforms for change
December 17, 2008 by david.evanson
When we start working with new sites and start talking about the actions necessary to generate an increase in productivity and the ways in which the site could manage Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) one of the first things we look for is desire to change.
Simply, and i’m sure many of you would agree, if your management team doesn’t have a desire to change then no change will occur. What change will occur if your operators have no desire for change?
The answer: very little.
Why: Simple pareto - if 20% of your workforce (your managers) will be working flat out trying to drive improvements into place that are often greatly resisted, how successful are they likely to be?
Here’s the mysterious thing….in probably 80% of the businesses we go to this desire for change stops cascading down at middle or junior management level.
Quite often in FMCG businesses this desire to change is fuelled by what we call “a burning platform” i.e. an emergency situation in which change is inevitable. The burning platform may be a negative ‘push’ such as a supply issue or equipment failure, or a positive ‘pull’ such as winning a new piece of business or commiting to a change plan for the future.
When i read the news right at the moment there are lots of references to burning platforms with the so called ‘credit crisis’/'credit crunch’ that the media is using to sell papers at the moment. Just this morning i was reading this news update on the Food Manufacture website identifying how supermarket chains are placing pressure on manufacturers to cut costs in an effort to boost consumer spending.
Now here are some thoughts for your leadership team:
- Do you feel that you are in some sort of burning platform scenario with a huge need to cut cost and improve performance?
- Do you have an improvement process in place, do you need to cut costs, or are you planning a big improvement activity?
- If the answer is ‘yes’ to the 2 questions above: how effectively do you believe your ‘burning platform’ is being cascaded through the business?
- How willing and capable do you believe your teams are to adapt to this change…and what actions are they currently taking to prove this? A measure here - if you’re apprehensive even discussing change with them….then you already know your answer!
Simply:
If your burning platform is being felt at all levels of your team then change is inevitable. Vast, massive, unstoppable, OEE driving, productivity boosting change!
If your burning platform is stopping at your middle and front line management teams (as can often be case) then change will be a long hard slog!
Call to action:
What action could you take to better communicate the need for change in your business?
Your burning platform:
from that same food manufacturer article: Nick O’Reilly of BRS is quoted as saying “manufacturers should critically review their businesses and operations to see if there were any skill gaps in their managements that could be filled by interim managers.”
So again - what are you doing to motivate your teams to change because if you’re not then perhaps the statement above might be the first sparks of your burning platform.
“The end of the world is nigh (again)”
December 2, 2008 by david.evanson
I’ve just finished reading this awesome blog post by Reg Connolly about the power of perception and think you will also find it interesting.
NLP is an integral part of the OptimumFX business with 1/2 the team trained, and the other half gaining exposure all the time. I wrote a short article on this on our main website in February 2007.
For us our experiences to date with NLP have helped us to set really powerful internal goals that we have the capability to communicate to each other in meaningful ways.This article is a great example of how different people experience events in different ways - the example of the journalists on the train. To a lesser extent whenever we set business or project goals the potential for the same misunderstanding always remains and NLP processes can help us to maximise the effectiveness of our communication.
We also frequently refer to specific NLP processes when talking to sites about OEE improvement and the ways of helping people to understand what the improvement means to them. Most specifically when we’re working with a management team to create a plan for change we have found that our NLP training can help us to ask even better questions to facilitate the process.
There are 2 points that really resonated for me in Reg’s blog:
1. The power of frames - how the way in which we tune our mind to pick up information on the world…and more specifically, how these frames can be set by the press to help them sell more papers. For us I wonder how we can tune people into finding and delivering change?
2. Creating change. The “shock-sadden-scare” approach that Reg outlines is effective, and i wonder how else can we support people to create results through empowering them to change, rather than driving them to change.
When we talk to you about change and about using data (be it manual collection, XL800, or LineView) to drive that change what we are attempting to do is support your requirement to improve OEE (sell more papers) through the use of factual data that provides transparent comparison for robust decision making.
READ REG’s GREAT BLOG ENTITLED “THE END OF THE WORLD IS NIGH (AGAIN)” BY CLICKING HERE
