Text Box: Train, Practice and Get Lean Many people would have you believe there is a secret formula to the Lean process that everyone is talking about. Lean is very much a simple process. If you walk too much, it’s waste. If you produce too much, it’s waste. If you transport too much, it’s waste. If you move too much, it’s waste. If you rework too much, it’s waste. If you improve too much, it’s good—the opposite to waste. This site focuses on what’s good—Value Added and Lean. The WCM Centre implements the original COMMON-SENSE Lean-KAIZEN principles of the Toyota Production System (TPS). Many companies benefit from the practical steps used at the WCM Centre to create a culture of Continuous Improvement in every type of workplace. It’s not rocket science, it’s just common sense, and it’s all about efficiency. The Lean Network Be part of a group of companies who have implemented Lean-Kaizen Continuous Improvement over the past seventeen years and are benefiting today from increased productivity and dramatic cost reductions simply through employee involvement and generating thousands of ideas each month. The Enterprise Ireland funded LeanStart and LeanPlus Programmes The WCM Centre is listed on the Enterprise Ireland directory of registered LeanStart and LeanPlus providers. Our LeanStart programme is highly effective and focuses on intensive training and implementation of the core Lean tools. All LeanStart projects so far have achieved a minimum ten-fold return on investment. LeanPlus projects have yielded much more. Contact us to get started and avail of the unique opportunity to receive funded training and development. The LeanStart and LeanPlus Toolkit Imagine the benefits in productivity and quality if every employee in your company knew, understood and applied the Lean Toolkit Solutions to make the work easier, safer and faster. Network companies benefit from the following short Toolkit Modules for improving Productivity, Quality, Cost, Delivery, Safety and Morale. It’s all about Respect For People’s Creative Talent…….. Quick and Easy Kaizen, to help everyone make daily improvements The Seven Wastes, to identify non-value added activities DMAIC Problem Solving, a methodology to structure your projects Heinrich’s Law of Failure, to understand how processes fail Value Stream Mapping, to reduce lead-time and inventory Root Cause Analysis —6xM’s x 5 Whys, CEDAC, for problem solving PDCA— Plan-Do-Check-Act to manage the stages of improvement IE Time & Motion Analysis, to eliminate wasteful process activities 3-Keys to Handling and Storage, reducing waste of motion Kaizen Blitz, to make rapid improvements in a short timeframe Standard Work & Operations, for repeatable processes Visual Workplace, to standardize visual story boards and displays A3 Reporting, to simplify and clarify project communications 5S Workplace Organisation, to create an organised workplace Kanban, to create a min / max signaling system to Pull products PM Analysis, condition assessment and monitoring for equipment One-Point Lessons, to create visual standards on equipment Precision Equipment Setup, to establish equipment repeatability Autonomous Maintenance, equipment care for operators SMED—Quick Changeover, for faster changeovers OEE Analysis, to find the root causes of equipment losses FMEA, to evaluate and assess the impact of failures Poka-Yoke (Mistake Proofing), to eliminate defects and errors Visual Controls, to create a safe and reliable workplace Manager’s Walk—Gemba Walk, to motivate all employees LeanStart and LeanPlus Events to generate many improvements Three and Five Day Lean-Kaizen events involve theory, workplace practical and productivity improvements where in excess of 80% of the improvement ideas are implemented during the event. Team projects are selected by department and focus on waste, delays, errors, mistakes, downtime, losses, etc. Solutions include 5S Workplace Organisation, Visual Controls, Fast Changeovers, Cellular layout, Autonomous Maintenance, Standard Work, PM Analysis, Root cause analysis, OEE analysis and many improvement ideas through process and workplace study. The Lean-Kaizen Networks Who is involved in the Lean Networks? Over the past four years a group of Irish companies have been implementing the principles of the TPS - Toyota Production System with some great results. Companies such as Ansamed, Harmac, Moffett Engineering, Iralco, Killarney Plastics, Hasbro, Trend Technologies, Mergon International, Sennheiser, Bose Ireland, Forest Tosara, Irish Distillers, Imperial Mulingar, KCI Manufacturing, Bewleys, Lufthansa Technik and many more. Actual ROI results from LeanStart projects RETURN ON INVESTMENT tells you the percentage return you have made over a specified period as a result of investing in a training programme. On the assumption that benefits will continue to accrue some time after the training, then the period that you specify is critical to the ROI figure you will obtain. ROI value is also based on the value of products being made. % ROI = (gains-costs) / costs x 100% 219% - €480K - Assembly output increase, 750 ideas 303% - €142K - Assembly output increase, 1,400 ideas 221% - €367K - Lead time reduction, 340 ideas 247% - €542K - Cycle time reduction through cells, 150 ideas 397% - €379K - Assembly output increase, 800 ideas 357% - €180K - Changeover-time reduction, 250 ideas Its all about sharing best practices and new ideas We are currently seeking more companies to join this dynamic group looking to reduce costs and increase productivity with projects such as: Increased uptime, output and OEE Reduced defects Reduced cycle-time and lead-time Companies involved in the Kaizen Network avail of discounts on Kaizen Events and can participate for free in events taking place in other member companies. Contact us for case studies and examples at the address detailed below. The Lean Times Newsletter Our monthly newsletter sharing stories and best practice ideas from leading Irish companies To subscribe to the Kaizen Network Newsletter, The Lean Times, please click leantimes@wcm.ie Lean Idea Generation every month Our Lean Idea Generators visit each company every few weeks to train, coach and encourage the Kaizen teams to generate many improvement ideas making the workplace easier and more productive. If your company joined the Kaizen Network this month imagine how many ideas could be generated and implemented within three months. One idea per employee per day. Quick and Easy Kaizen Make ideas work for the benefit of the employees by eliminating wasted movement, searching and waiting. The secret to Quick and Easy Kaizen is that it is literally Quick and Easy. The secret to employee involvement is education on the ability to identify waste and by providing everyone with the tools and techniques to generate ideas every day. Quick and Easy Kaizen is a valuable approach to a highly motivated workforce and give companies a great advantage in these worrying economic times. The Best Way—Respect for People Maybe there is no ideal way. All we can do is try our best every day. What we do know is this, when you treat people with the utmost respect for their talent then you will get an immediate and positive response. The most effective Way—An Idea A Day We have discovered some very simple and effective approaches to setting up an idea management system over the past few years to try and encourage each employee to come up with an Idea a Day. Firstly, you’ve got to educate each employee on the principles of Idea Generation and then make it interesting and easy to start getting ideas. It is within the capability of each employee to come up with one improvement idea per day as a solution to a workplace problem. Focus on the Problem Solving Call the Lean-Kaizen Network to begin your own Problem-Solving Ideas programme and witness the benefits of employee involvement and workplace creativity. A culture of Continuous Improvement Each workplace should ideally have a leader who will encourage daily improvement initiatives and focus on the natural talent and creativity of each employee. This is where the concept of Standard Work is expertly coordinated by Pat McAdam in Bose Ireland in Carrickmacross, Co. Monaghan. The Lean-Kaizen Network companies have each excelled in certain areas and a common thread throughout all of the companies is Standard Work. Killarney Plastics, Bose, and Ansamed are also excellent examples of how Lean-Kaizen is led from the top and standard work becomes the glue to hold daily continuous improvement together. If you want to be Lean, train and practice regularly - just like doing Karate Kata Eliminate waste, eliminate downtime, introduce precision, educate, train, change behaviour and practice every day. That’s the secret to Lean. Practicing new ways and techniques is the only way to become World Class. Contact the WCM Centre to learn how to exercise, become fit and practice the Lean Kaizen Way. Or what Toyota call, The Improvement Kata. Don’t forget, keep things simple and user-friendly A final note on the Lean process is to keep things simple. It’s important to focus on the necessary needs and not be blinded by specific tools and techniques. Always try to ask this question: “to what problem is this the solution?” Once you clearly define the problem in the first place, then all the tools and solutions will fall into place. Check out the video on the right as an example of 5S gone wrong and a humorous take on it.

A networking team review visual display boards at one of the Kaizen Network companies
A joint team training session on VSM in a network company

A joint team training session on VSM in a network company
The WCM Kaizen Centre, Lean Manufacturing training and development on the Lean Toolbox, Kaizen, 5S System, Visual Controls, VSM, TPM, SMED, Kanban, Standard Work, Kaizen Projects, Lean Projects, Lean Network, Lean Sigma DMAIC, Call Tony Corrigan 086-1678545

The WCM Centre      Bringing best practices to your workplace
A team from Mergon visiting Bose to get a flavour of their 5S Visual Display boards and implementation plan

A group briefing given by The Godfather of Lean, Mr. Norman Bodek, to Bose employees at the plant in Carrickmacross following the highly successful Lean-Kaizen Conference held in Athlone
A group briefing given by The Godfather of Lean, Mr. Norman Bodek, to Bose employees at the plant in Carrickmacross following the highly successful Lean-Kaizen Conference held in Athlone

Killarney Plastics—Tom Murphy and the team in Tri-Cel have done some tremendous work over the past twelve months in this area on 5S, Visual Controls, Cycle-time reduction and Standard Work.
Killarney Plastics - Tom Murphy and the team in Tri-Cel have done some tremendous work over the past twelve months in this area on 5S, Visual Controls, Cycle-time reduction and Standard Work. A 5S area map detailing area zones, zone owners and auditing frequency

A 5S area map detailing area zones, zone owners and auditing frequency
The Lean Team doing some valus-stream-mapping Bose Ireland in Carrickmacross

The Lean Team doing some value-stream-mapping in Bose Ireland in Carrickmacross
International experts Norman Bodek and David Veech visit ANSAmed in Boyle prior to the 2008 Lean Kaizen Conference. Pictured here with the management team of ANSAmed Ireland.

International experts Norman Bodek and David Veech visit ANSAmed in Boyle prior to the Lean Kaizen Conference. Pictured here with the management team of ANSAmed Ireland.
Richard Burke and Norman Bodek at the 2008 Lean Kaizen Conference

Richard Burke and Norman Bodek at the Lean Kaizen Conference
Norman Bodek giving light-hearted Kaizen introduction to the staff at Bose Ireland in Carrickmacross

Norman Bodek giving light-hearted Kaizen introduction to the staff at Bose Ireland in Carrickmacross

Michael Daly of Mergon International who achieved Six-Sigma quality levels by participating in the Kaizen Network

Richard Burke presenting at the Lean-kaizen Conference in Athlone
A team from Mergon visiting Bose to get a flavour of their 5S Visual Display boards and implementation plan

Tony Corrigan presenting the benefits of Kaizen improvements at the Lean-Kaizen Conference in Athlone
Tony Corrigan of the WCM Centre

Pat McAdam of Bose Ireland presenting the improvements made at the Carrickmacross plant by participating in the Kaizen Network
Michael Daly of Mergon InternationalPat McAdam of Bose IrelandLean Network facilitators get together in Athlone following the 2008 Lean-Kaizen Conference

Facilitators from the Kaizen Network companies meeting to review projects and share best practices. Companies represented here include ANSAmed, Bose, Harmac Medical, Moffett, Killarney Plastics and Trend Technologies
Lean Manufacturing Miracle training in Killarney Plastics

 

Lean Manufacturing Miracle training in Killarney Plastics

The proud M9 team in Moffett after implementing hundreds of ideas
Photo showing line efficiency improvements made as part of a lean project in an assembly plantPhoto showing cellular layout designed by WCM engineers.

Kieran Quinn from Ansamed in Bose taking a look at the Kaizen Ideas Board with Eamon Monahan

Bill Stacey from Hasbro doing VSM

Tool trolleys like these in Moffett reduce wasted time searching for tools and fittings
Tool trolleys like these in Moffett reduce wasted time searching for tools and fittings Showroom standards are the norm in this company

Showroom standards are the norm in this company
A Toyota representative explaining their use of Kanban boards at the logistics facility

A Toyota representative explaining their use of Kanban FIFO boards at the Fork Lift logistics facility in Tokyo during a Kaizen Network visit to Japan
A visual story board communicates daily activities in Bose, Carrickmacross

A visual story board communicates daily activities in Bose, Carrickmacross

A well made mobile tool chest helped achieve in excess of 90% reduction in changeovers on an extrusion line in a Cork company
A well made mobile tool chest to help fast changeovers Value stream mapping using a white board and post-its helps to analyse the process in the actual work-area

Value stream mapping using a white board and post-its helps to analyse the process in the actual work-area
Pat McAdam of Bose Ireland explaining the daily Standard Work practices to Norman Bodek during a plant visit

Pat McAdam of Bose Ireland explaining the daily Standard Work practices to Norman Bodek during a plant visit

A central information area communicates daily, weekly and monthly targets and performance results

A central communications area in this facility details live information which is updated every 4 hours
Good 5S soft-storage discovered in one of the Lean Network companies recently Visual display boards in Killarney Plastics communicate production and 5S targets

Visual display boards in Killarney Plastics communicate production and 5S targets

Good 5S soft-storage discovered in one of the Lean Network companies recently
Colour-coded block outlines clearly indicate storage locations for movable items

Colour-coded block outlines clearly indicate storage locations for movable items

A simple kaizen improvement idea to eliminate the wasted time it takes to remove 10 grub-screws from a flange

A simple kaizen improvement to eliminate the wasted time it takes to remove 10 grub-screws from a flangeThe Bose team during their SMED training and analysis session in Ansamed

Pat McAdam and the Bose team during their SMED training and analysis session in Ansamed, Boyle, Co. Roscommon

 

The WCM Centre, Woodlands

South Douglas Road

Cork, Ireland

Email: The WCM Centre

 

Also at:

Athlone, Co. Westmeath

 

Contact: Tony Corrigan

+353-86-1678545
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The Kaizen Network,leanstart,leanplus,lean,lean-manufacturing,5S-system,5s-steps,5s-project,5s-visual-control,5s-network,5s's,5s,workplace-creativity, THE KAIZEN NETWORK LOGO. KAIZEN PROJECT, KAIZEN TRAINING, KAIZEN CENTRE, KAIZEN IDEAS, KAIZEN DMAIC. KAIZEN, KAIZEN CENTRE, KAIZEN TRAINING, KAIZEN NETWORK, KAIZEN PROJECT, KAIZEN CREATIVITY, KAIZEN DMAIC, KAIZEN PDCA Tony Corrigan, Managing Director of The WCM Centre, specialises in best maintenance practices to increase uptime and process reliability.IDEAS-System KAIZEN NETWORK - KAIZEN CENTRE - KAIZEN PROJECT - KAIZEN TRAINING - KAIZEN DMAIC - KAIZEN PDCA - KAIZEN IDEAS - KAIZEN FORUM - KAIZEN CIP - KAIZEN TPS

Tony Corrigan of The WCM Centre helps businesses implement Lean-Kaizen tools and techniques including Kaizen, 5S, SMED, TPM, OEE, and many other Lean solutions.  He is an equipment management expert and specialises in optimising Overall Equipment Effectiveness—OEE.

 

Tony invented the IDEAS-System in 2009 to help businesses create a culture of continuous improvement. Now in 2011 he is helping companies to progress through the Enterprise Ireland LeanStart and LeanPlus efficiency projects. If your company is interested in the EI Lean project then contact Tony at 086-1678545 or email him at corrigan@wcm.ie

 

Delivering confidence for over 25 years.

The IDEAS-System™

 

The IDEAS-System is a step-by-step approach to solving problems. Contact us to discover the stages of the IDEAS-System and learn how these steps can help to introduce a culture of daily improvement with all workplace employees.

 

WCM stands for Workplace Creativity Methods and our tools and techniques can help all businesses grow and develop through the creativity of every employee in the workplace. 

 
IDEAS logo at the WCM Centre. Tony Corrigan

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The WCM Kaizen Centre, Lean Manufacturing training and development on the Lean Toolbox, Kaizen, 5S System, Visual Controls, VSM, TPM, SMED, Kanban, Standard Work, Kaizen Projects, Lean Projects, Lean Network, Lean Sigma DMAIC, Call Tony Corrigan 086-1678545