Case Study 001: Factory diagnosis (Simple type)

We received a request for a half-day factory diagnosis from an automobile parts maker, so we implemented a “simple factory diagnosis” and submitted the following report. Basically we only raise issues since the time is limited, but if it is decided to conduct consulting in the future, we will create a detailed improvement plan.

1. Diagnosis report 1-1．　5S 1-2．　Safety 1-3．　Quality 1-4．　Cost 1-5．　Delivery 1-6.　 Manufacturing

2．Future issues and countermeasures 2-1．　Manpower 2-2．　Line・Jig 2-3．　Materials・Parts 2-4．　Operation method

1-1. Diagnosis report （5S）

No.	Category	Contents
1	Sorting out・Setting in order	Thigs are disorderly placed. (Especially defect products) The location of placed things is unclear　⇒　There is a risk that different products or defective products will be mixed into non-defective products
2	Shining・Spic-and Span	The work area is clean, but there is some dust in the corners and on the shelves They are dragging the floor when they move distribution boxes (made of plastic cardboard / cardboard). It is necessary to consider that the bottom of the box is scraped off by friction with the floor surface, and that dust and dirt are scattered or fall into the stacked lower boxes and carried to other divisions. As a factory of resin products, we cannot say handling of distribution boxes is good Removal of dust and dirt is basically suction. At the molding factory, they blow air into the distribution boxes and the partition plates in order to remove dust and dirt, but the outer bottoms and outer peripheries of the boxes are not blown. What happens to dust and dirt blown away by air? As a factory that handles resin products, it can be said the quality awareness is low.
3	Sustaining	Workplace is inactive. All answers to work-related questions are vague. It is considered that this is caused by the lack of guidance on operation methods and precautions related to manufacturing. Once after supervisor gives instructions, everything is left to operators. The location of placed things is unclear　⇒　There is a risk that different products or defective products will be mixed into non-defective products

1-2. Diagnosis report (Safety)

No	Category	Contents
1	Safe work	Due to the product characteristics and operation contents, the occurrence of minor accidents, such as scratch, cannot be said “zero,” but any items to be raised as a problem cannot be confirmed at this stage.

1-3. Diagnosis report (Quality)

No.	Category	Contents
1	Awareness of defects	The most important issue in this diagnosis is that although quality issues are questioned by customers, there is no sense of crisis among managers, supervisors, and operators at manufacturing shop floor.
2	Actual status of countermeasures for defects is unclear	Regarding the defect details, there is a check sheet of the number of occurrences and the defective portion of bad raw materials, but there is no data on the details of how to deal with it. ※Making countermeasures against failures of purchased parts is difficult because there is a partner, and there is a sense in the workplace that there is no choice but to do what you can and do.
3	Not working hard to prevent outflow of defects to customers	In the inspection before putting in the assembly line, they are struggling to find the failure of parts. However in the re-inspection after the completion of the assembly, a lot of defective products of the same contents are found. ※Managers and supervisors think this is because of personal reasons such as inexperience and ability differences and leave this situation.
4	Making countermeasures for early mastery and variation of operator’s skill is manager and supervisor’s work	It will increase operator’s skills that determining inspection procedures and checkpoints, setting standards for everyone to perform inspections using the same procedures and methods, and providing a chance of discussion for different points of check methods when defective parts overlooked in the receiving inspection before putting into the line and then those are found in the inspection after assembly is completed. ※Operators make judgement whether it is defect or not based on their feelings or consultation with their colleagues since a supervisor is not there, so the ability of operators will not increase. After they deal with one defect, they regard it as settled down.
5	If managers and supervisors are not in the manufacturing shop floor, it’s impossible to know the reality of workplace	Management means that you do not forget to check to prevent abnormalities. Checking is possible only when there is a mechanism to distinguish between the correct state and abnormal state by seeing Genchi (actual site), Genbutsu (actual item), and the current state. When a defect occurs, a supervisor should deal with it as soon as possible, and it should be based on Genchi (actual site), Genbutsu (actual item), and the current state, same as management. ※In the operation method of the daily work at the workplace, in what state it is correct, and in what state you cannot identify abnormality? The worker is waiting and showing that something is wrong, but it is neglected.
6	Confusing inspection and sorting	The purpose of inspection is to find the cause from the results and make countermeasures to prevent the recurrence of the found cause. Quality will improve by the accumulation of detail data of failures, causes of occurrence, and countermeasures. Inspection, which is currently referred to as the inspection process, is a sorting work to select good products from many products. As long as this work is continued, countermeasures for quality do not progress. ※Although we confirmed the data of the sorting work, we could not confirm the data of countermeasures and the data of how the current situation changed after the countermeasures.
7	No cooperation between inspection, quality assurance section, and manufacturing shop floor	The recruitment of regular employees in charge of quality is evaluated for their active attitude to take measures against defects. However, only reinforcing inspection and quality assurance section does not improve quality. ※The inspection and quality assurance section are assistants for the manufacturing shop floor, and quality should be ensured in the manufacturing shop floor.

1-4. Diagnosis report (Cost)

No.	Category	Contents
1	Cost awareness	Profit (company profit) could be plus or minus depending on how you manufacture products. ※As far as examining the current manufacturing shop floor, the cost awareness of managers and supervisors is not “0”, but is close to it.
2	Neglect of waste	When they undertook the job, they discussed how many minutes to make one set with sales person and started. They say that the number of workers has increased significantly due to poor receiving parts and the outflow of defective products to customers, but this is just an excuse of managers and supervisors who do not see the shop floor. ※Most operators repeat work and waiting. However, supervisors do not recognize the necessity to find out the cause.

1-5. Diagnosis report (Delivery)

No.	Category	Contents
1	Keep delivery time	1 .They ignore costs and keep delivery time. Managers and supervisors say that it is hard to do that, but it is a matter of course that every company must do. It will continue as long as quality and production are not stable. ※Manufacturing that ignores costs makes it difficult to find out the root cause of quality issue.

1-6. Diagnosis report (Manufacturing)

No.	Category	Contents
1	One set flow	One set flow is established when all of quality, quantity and delivery time are satisfied. If R is good, L is bad. This repeat disturbs the flow of products on the production line, and it disturbs the flow of operators. Disorder of operator’s flow makes it impossible to distinguish between normal and abnormal. If we cannot distinguish between normal and abnormal, they cannot take countermeasures. As a result, the production is left to the shop floor operators. Frequent failures increase cost. ※This is the current situation, and this situation is caused because managers and supervisors were not in the manufacturing shop floor and their motivation was not enough.
2	IE technology	The “Time measurement” and “Standardized work combination table” are tools for shop floor analysis, but advanced technique is required to master them, so managers and supervisors need an enthusiasm to “protect my workplace by myself” to utilize these tools. The “Standardized work combination table” is a “tool for visual management of shop floor” that shows the actual situation of the shop floor on paper, and it can be utilized by understanding details such as operation contents and check points of the process created based on takt time. If they simply conduct the time measurement and making of the combination table because they are told to do so, they might be able to find some problems, but they can’t figure out improve measures. Making improvement measures requires deep understanding of the actual situation of the shop floor. Currently the main task for them is to place a relief operator outside the line and support the delayed processes. The inspection process does not require any tools, jigs, nor fixed place, so support is possible. Assembly process does not have spare jigs and tools, and even if the takt is accelerated by the inspection support, the assembly process can be operated only with the specified takt. If materials are piled up before assembly, operators have to wait. If inspection delays, the assembly process has to wait, and if materials are accumulated before assembly, inspection process and relief operator have to wait, and its repeat is the current situation of their manufacturing.

1-7.Future issues and countermeasures (Manpower)

No.	Category	Issues	Countermeasures
1	Segregation of duties	Employee roles are unclear	Recheck the organization chart Recheck the segregation of duties
2	Shop floor supervisor (Group leader・Process manager)	There is no supervisor who always stay at the manufacturing shop floor	Have a supervisor who stay at the shop floor
3	Line leader	There is no line leader who always stay at the manufacturing shop floor	Have a line leader who stay at the shop floor
4	Shop floor operator	Appropriate test for operation has not been performed	Appropriate “visual inspection” test “Work speed and accuracy” test “Eye movement” training

2-2. Future issues and countermeasures (Line・Jig)

2-3. Future issues and countermeasures (Materials・Parts)

No.	Category	Issues	Countermeasures
1	A lot of quality defects	Defective products are delivered from supplier at receiving inspection	Ask supplier to strengthen their shipping inspection ReqAir blow of paintinguest a failure analysis Provide feedback on details of defects found during receiving inspection Conduct training for suppliers
2	Air blow of painting	Air blow is operated next to the degreasing process and trash flies	Divide operation area
3	Control of material amount	Depending on the production plan and quality situation of the supplier, the delivery amount of the four materials from supplier, front (left and right) and rear (left and right), is not unified, so sometimes the inventory amount of the four materials is insufficient.	Manage the inventory of the distribution center by the order point management (Kanban system), and order the insufficient materials to the supplier. In addition, by changing the ordering work of materials to Kanban system, even part-time worker can manage the inventory.

2-4. Future issues and countermeasures (Operation method)

No.	Category	Issues	Countermeasures
1	Illuminance management	​Light illuminance and direction vary depending on the process	Unify the light environment Keep 750lx 局Change to local part illumination Consider reflection
2	Waiting	If there is a defective material, cycle time fluctuates and operators cannot work with the rhythm. This leads to a decreased concentration of workers, and make it difficult to ensure quality.	​Perform quality inspection for all products at the receiving inspection and put only the acceptable products into the line.
3	When a defect is found	When a defect is found, everything is left to operators since there are no unified rules.	“Receiving inspection” Write down the cause of a defect and defective portion Report the situation to a group leader at fixed time. “Assy1″・”Assy2″・”Inspection”・”Packing” Stop the line and report to a line leader and group leader Write down the cause of a defect and defective portion. Receiving inspection staff and each operator share the defect information. Move to repair area
4	Finger pointing and calling	Self-check is not performed at the end of work	Conduct finger pointing and calling, and confirm saying “Yoshi (=OK)!”
5	Through standardized work	Work procedures are different by each operator	Review standardized work and train operators thoroughly