prepared foods factory where input of
the most expensive ingredient was 100
pounds and output was 86 pounds.
After each tray was finished, it was
weighed. Those that didn’t meet the
weight requirements got kicked to the
side. When a few trays in a row got
kicked aside, a worker walked over and
turned the dial to dispense more of one
type of food item onto the tray in order
to meet the weight requirement.
The problem was that the worker had
increased the most expensive ingredient
of the package—throwing yield assumptions and balance sheets into disarray—
without alerting anyone or investigating
the issue. The best way to drive change is
to invite people into the process by giving them a voice and encouraging them
to participate and solve problems. Give
people an incentive to take personal accountability. In a non-Lean environment, a worker might see a problem but
think, “Hey, it’s not my job to identify
or fix the problem—I just make the
stuff.” In a Lean environment, the associate is empowered to stop the line and
fix the problem. We generally start this
process by establishing what we call “the
visual factory.”
Most every food processor I visit has
unexplained yield loss and most don’t
have a visual factory. This is not a coincidence. In a visual factory, the workers
have clear, easily understood visual cues
to help them do their jobs. First steps in
creating a visual factory include 5S, or
workplace organization and standardization; real-time visual displays on the
process and goals; and visual control to
communicate information that supports
standardized activities.
In this case, nobody ever set a clear,
visual indicator as to what each ingredient should weigh. The worker was simply following the protocol he knew.
Once procedures regarding control of
critical variables are clearly defined, operators are encouraged to make consistent adjustments so that variation in the
process is reduced, thereby increasing
the utilization of raw material and equipment output. One of the most important tools in sustaining change is a visual
management system that displays metrics and daily corrective actions. Management must create an environment
where operators take charge of and responsibility for maintaining these metrics, analyzing the data and reacting to
them on a real-time basis.
Setting clear expectations and giving
employees the power to correct abnor-malities is the least expensive way to
manufacture safe food. The addition of
kaizen teams may, in the long run, be the
secret sauce! ;
David Beal is a director and team leader
of TBM Consulting Group and a LeanSigma® Master Black Belt; he had 25
years of experience in the automotive industry before turning his efforts to Lean
conversions worldwide. Prior to joining
TBM, Beal was the managing director of
European operations for Preferred Technologies Group and a multi-site plant
manager for United Technologies in the
U.S. He has been a trusted advisor to
companies, such as McCain Foods,
Hubbell, Inc. and Pella Corporation.
