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about Gemba
In the previous article, I wrote on gemba, and explained the golden rules of
gemba management. gemba means the real place, where the products are
produced on the shop floor. The first of the golden rule is go to gemba.
Managers should always stay in close contact with what goes on in gemba and
the best way to do so is to go to gemba. However, most managers prefer to
stay at their desk, making decisions based on reports coming from gemba.
These reports reach their desks several hours or, at times, several days
after the problems have happened, and by the time managers start taking
decisions, the timing has been lost. On the other hand, if a manager goes to
gemba the moment problems happened, a decision can be made immediately.
Let's imagine a case where a reject was made on the machine. If a manager
goes there immediately and have a good look at what has happened, most
conditions that have created the problem should still be visible, such as
the conditions of the work, the machine used and the reject that was
created. The manager can ask the operator how the reject was produced, and
if the operator had witnessed anything abnormal. Chances are that you will
be able to identify the root cause of the trouble right on the spot.
This takes us to the second of the Golden Rules of gemba Management, "check
the gembutsu."
gembutsu is written in Chinese characters as follows: i i. It means real
things or tangible items, or something that you can touch and feel.
If a reject is produced, such as a work piece that does not meet the
specifications, it is gembutsu. If a machine is broken down, the machine is
gembutsu. If a defective product is delivered to the customer, such a
product is gembutsu, and the customer himself is also gembutsu. If you go to
gemba immediately after the problem has happened, you can observe the
conditions as they are. You do not need any report, or any data, because
what you observe there is the REAL DATA. gemba is the place where the
problem has happened, and gembutsu is the REAL DATA in gemba.
When you observe gembutsu in gemba, you can be closest to the problem.
For instance, a machine has stopped in gemba and if you go to gemba
immediately, and observe
gembutsu (the machine) and find that the machine has stopped due to
excessive vibration, which was ceased due to loosened bolts and nuts (also
gembutsu). Then, you can solve the problem by tightening the bolts and nuts.
In the early days when color TV sets were first introduced into the market, an
European TV manufacturer ordered 100 sets of special electric tubes to be
incorporated
into their color TV sets to a Japanese company. When the European company
reported that four of the tubes malfunctioned to the Japanese supplier, they
were
surprised to hear that the supplier would send two engineers to investigate
the matter,
as they were expecting to receive by air 4 good tubes, which would have been
enough. Sending two engineers to Europe must have cost a lot more to the
Japanese
company than sending the 4 tubes by air.
When the engineers arrived, they said that these malfunctioning tubes were the
most important gembutsu for them, and asked detailed questions on how and where
these malfunctions occurred, and whether the nature of the malfunctions was
chemical,
electrical or mechanical failures. They said that these are new products
with many
opportunities for the color TV's and therefore, such information would be
crucial in
designing new products, and wrapped them up as if they were very fragile and
precious valuables and brought them home.
Thus, the gembutsu you come across in gemba always carries valuable information
with it. On going to gemba, on the other hand, I often find that rejects are
thrown
into the waste bin as something unwanted and undesirable and people do not
seem to
realize how much valuable information they can carry if you take the trouble
of having
a good look at gembutsu. gemba KAIZEN often starts by looking at the
discarded items in the waste bins.
Quality is usually regarded to be the job of quality personnel, and whenever
quality
problems are found, quality personnel are brought in to solve the problem.
In gemba,
however, the workers and their supervisor have a most important job of assuring
quality. If they follow the gemba-gembutsu principle, they will find that
most of the
quality-related problems can be solved.
Morning Market (Asaichi)
Morning market (asaichi) is an activity employed in Japanese companies as a part
of daily activities to reduce rejects in gemba by supervisors and operators
on the line.
Morning market derives its name from the markets where farmers bring their daily
produce to sell. The Japanese word asaichi also means "the first thing in
the morning."
gemba's morning market displays rejects on the table the first thing in the
morning of
the day after they are made, so that countermeasures may be adopted on the spot
and as soon as practicable, based on the gemba-gembutsu principles.
All participants in this activity stand up. Morning market differs
distinctly from
other types of quality-related problem-solving activities involving staff,
in that the
supervisor and operators must play a leading role, with a commitment never
to carry
forward the same problem to the next day.
Nobody in gemba produces rejects out of a desire to do so. Any yet they continue
to occur. The causes are many, including the following:
1)Abrupt breakdown of equipment.
2)Forced equipment deterioration that goes beyond the specified allowances.
3)Failure to follow standards.
4)Failure of materials and parts to meet specifications.
5)Failure to maintain 5S.
6)Careless and absentminded mistakes.
Unless management determines the root cause of these problems one by one,
gemba will soon be filled with a mountain of rejects.
Morning market in gemba consists of the following steps:
1)An operator tags and places in a red box all rejects in a particular
process and
lists the rejects in the quality morning market report.
2)The next morning, the supervisors in charge brings both the reports and
gembutsu to the morning market corner and displays the rejects on the desk.
3)The supervisor reviews the rejects with the operators and discuss
countermeasures.
4)The rejects are classified according to three categories (types A, B, and
C), and
countermeasures are adopted as soon as practicable.
It is important that both the supervisor and the workforce touch and hold the
gembutsu (in this case, the rejects) themselves. They should see them, smell
them,
taste them (if necessary), and discuss how they were made at the specific work
site (gemba), and what equipment (also gembutsu) was used. In Type A, the
causes are clear and countermeasures can be taken immediately, such as the
operator not following the standards. Type B are cases where causes are known
but countermeasure cannot be deployed and Type C refers to unidentified case.
After Type A problems have been solved, countermeasures to prevent recurrence
must be adopted. As for problems of Types B and C, the supervisor must
report them to the section manager, who will hold a meeting later to devise
solutions and will present the result to the plant manager.
When a company holds its first morning market, participants may find that
there are too many rejects to fit on one table. But if morning market
continues for
three months, the rejects, as well as the time for the meeting, will be greatly
reduced. In the meantime, plant productivity and profitability will also
improve.
The plant manager should attend morning markets at different sites within the
plant each day in order to become familiar with the problems encountered in
each place.
Source :
Kaizen Institute, Ltd.
Copyright Central Publisher Ltd
Posted at 04:48 pm by fridayanto
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What does KAIZEN mean?
The Japanese word KAIZEN is now well known on the floors of factories all
over the world. It is written with the two kanji characters at left. KAI
means alter, renew, reform, or to be corrected, among other meanings, and
ZEN means simply good (source: The Kanji Dictionary, Spahn & Hadamitzky). In
everyday Japanese, KAIZEN means improvement. For people in factories,
though, KAIZEN means a lot more than that. It means the relentless process
of finding and eliminating MUDA (or waste). That is why KAIZEN is sometimes
translated in English as Continuous Improvement, because experts felt that
saying merely improvement gave the wrong impression. MUDA is everywhere.
Eliminate it and you will find it in new places. And so KAIZEN is endless.
A common misunderstanding of the word KAIZEN is that it refers to Japanese
factory management practices in general. This may be due to the fact that
often people learn about these practices in a GEMBA KAIZEN EVENT, or
Continuous Improvement Workshop. This is often a week-long workshop held in
a certain area of a factory (this area is called the GEMBA), to solve
problems immediately by finding MUDA and eliminating it. People then have a
personal experience with this challenge, and thus the word KAIZEN retains an
overpowering impression. But the KAIZEN process is only one part of the whole.
What does MUDA mean?
In everyday Japanese, MUDA means useless, futile, and waste (source:
MS/Shogakkan Bookshelf Basic). The word's meaning for production management
is essentially the same, but another, simpler definition of MUDA is
non-value-adding.
A good example of MUDA that relates to the value placed on JUST IN TIME
supply, might be a yard filled with raw materials bought for projected
orders that have not been received yet. Under conventional accounting
practices, these materials are assets, even though the manufacturer does not
know when they will be turned into product. JUST IN TIME views these
materials as MUDA, essentially useless, a waste of purchasing resources
because they add no value to products known to be sold.
The following areas are often the source of MUDA: over-production, waiting,
conveyance, processing, inventory, motion, and correction.
MUDA can be found everywhere in an organization or system. The definition is
uncompromising, and some non-value-adding activities that cannot be
eliminated are still defined as MUDA, waste. This insistence on viewing them
in a negative light drives KAIZEN (or Continuous Improvement) activities in
a relentless pursuit of better methods by all members of an organization.
What does HEIJUNKA
or (Production Smoothing) mean?
HEIJUNKA (or Production Smoothing)is the foundation for the pillars of the
Toyota Production System (or TPS, see diagram at left). A corporation's
objectives should be to deliver products of a quality, price, and within a
timeframe defined by the customer. HEIJUNKA, or Production Smoothing is a
technique used to adapt production to naturally fluctuating customer demand.
The Japanese word HEIJUNKA (pronounced hey June kah), means literally "make
flat and level." Customer demand must be met with the customer's preferred
delivery times, but customer demand is "bumpy," while factories prefer
"level," or stable production. So, a manufacturer needs to try and smooth
out these bumps in production.
The main tool for smoothing production is frequent changing of the model mix
to be run on a given line. Instead of running large batches of one model
after another, TPS advocates small batches of many models over short periods
of time. This requires faster changeovers, but results in smaller lots of
finished goods that are shipped frequently.
What does JIDOKA
or (Autonomation) mean?
JIDOKA (or Autonomation)is one of the pillars of the Toyota Production
System (or TPS, see diagram at left). A corporation's objectives should be
to deliver products of a quality, price, and within a timeframe defined by
the customer. JIDOKA is the concept of adding an element of human judgement
to automated equipment. In doing this, the equipment becomes capable of
discriminating against unacceptable quality, and the automated process
becomes more reliable. The Japanese kanji characters for JIDOKA (pronounced
gee dough kah) are a kind of pun on another word in Japanese also pronounced
the same but written with a different middle character and meaning simply
"automation." Thus the English word Autonomation (or "autonomous operation)
was coined to convey the meaning of "automation with a human element,"
because the middle kanji for DO in JIDOKA includes a character representing
a human being.
A good example of JIDOKA is the TOYOTA power loom developed in the early
20th century. A problem existed with shuttlecocks that would stick and
create defects in the cloth being produced. Before power looms, a weaver
would be able to remedy any such problems before proceeding, but power looms
continued mindlessly on, producing uacceptable quality that required the
cloth to be unravelled and backed up, boosting costs and making quality
suspect. The TOYOTA loom incorporated a simple stopper that was activated by
a sticking shuttlecock, and thus the machine became more "human," and "knew"
when to stop. The end result was a reliable system that was cheaper to
operate and produced the expected quality. JIDOKA prevents products with
unacceptable quality from continuing in the process.
poka yoke :
POKAYOKE (pronounced poe kah yo kay), mistake proofing
Source :
FredHarriman.com
Factory Interpreting Page
Posted at 09:57 pm by fridayanto
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Friday, November 26, 2004 |
Seminar Otomasi dan Perancangan Produk Jurusan Teknik Industri Universitas Katolik Parahyangan mengundang Bapak/Ibu untuk berpartisipasi dalam Seminar Nasional Otomasi II: The World of Automation 2004. Seminar ini diselenggarakan oleh Jurusan Teknik Industri UNPAR bekerja sama dengan PT IBM Indonesia.
Tema Seminar
Otomasi dan Perancangan Produk dalam Sistem Manufaktur
Waktu dan tempat
2-3 Desember 2004, pukul 8.00-17.00
Hotel Sheraton Bandung, Jl. Ir. H. Juanda 390 Bandung
Pembicara Utama
Wakil-wakil dari PT IBM Indonesia-CATIA (Nanang Ali Sutisna, M. Eng), PT Polytron Indonesia, MIDC/Metal Industries Development Center (Dr.Ing Indra Djodikusumo), Henindo Technology dan Geomagic Reverse Engineering Software (Bpk. Djoko Sutjiaman).
Free CATIA Workshop: "Proses Design/Engineering Berbasis Knowledgeware"
Peserta seminar dapat mengikuti pelatihan sehari software CATIA secara gratis yang diadakan tanggal 4 dan 6 Desember 2004. (Tempat terbatas, keterangan lebih lanjut silakan menghubungi sekretariat seminar.)
Biaya Pendaftaran
Mahasiswa S1 (tempat terbatas) : Rp 150.000
Mahasiswa S2/S3 : Rp 250.000
Akademisi/Praktisi : Rp 450.000
Dapat ditransfer ke:
BCA Cab. Bandung Trade Center (BTC)
a/n. Cynthia Prithadevi J.
No. Rek: 514 008 9259
Informasi & Pendaftaran
Sekretariat Seminar Nasional Otomasi II
Lab. Aplikasi Teknologi, Jurusan Teknik Industri Universitas Katolik Parahyangan
Jl. Ciumbuleuit No. 94 Bandung 40141, Gedung 8
Telp. (022) 2032 700 ext. 615
0812 236 5583 (Ign. A. Sandy, MT)
0856 211 8628 (Hendrik M., MT)
Fax. (022) 2032 700
Email: semnas_ti@home.unpar.ac.id
semnas_ti@telkom.net
Posted at 11:52 pm by fridayanto
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