Kaizen Event Implementation Manual Dearborn-Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss About The Kaizen Event Implementation Manual Dearborn? Answer: Introduction Latino Engineering, a 30 year old engineering company has achieved tremendous success over its lifetime, under the leadership and management of the founder, Dominic Latino, a mechanical engineer with a passion for quality engineering products. Through Dominic and his teams leadership, the company has developed a reputation for quality supplying various engineering products and components to diverse industries including utilities, oil and gas, infrastructure, and construction. Because of its great reputation, profitability, and client base, a consortium of investors bought the company, and retained most of the companys workforce, albeit with some managers quitting to seek greener pastures. Fearing loss of complete control, the founder, Dominic, also decided to sell the company and retire. However, a year after, several cracks are appearing; clients are complaining of poor customer service, defective engineering equipment, poor design and development follow-up with the clients, issue r esolution turnaround taking too long, and cases of the wrong equipment being sent to customers. This report provides ways by which the new owners can identify the source of the problems and proposes a plan for continuous improvement methodologies to return the company to its former glory and attain new standards of quality and reliability. The plan will be illustrated using pictorial methods and a plan for the implementation of the continuous improvement plan. Continuous Improvement Plan The quality improvement process at Latino Engineering must start with how the root causes for the problems are identified, having been acknowledged that problems exist. The proposed methodology involves the implementation of the 7 Quality Control (7 QC) Tools for Continuous Improvement of Manufacturing Processes known popularly as the 7 QC tools (Oakland 2014). The 7 QC Tools refer to statistical tools introduced and developed in Japan, which according to Magar and Shinde (2014) can be used to tackle 95% of all problems related to manufacturing. The 7 QC Tools include; The Pareto Diagram The Cause and Effect Diagram A Histogram Control Charts Scatter Diagrams Use of Graphs Check Sheets These are discussed in the following sections on how Latino Engineering will apply them to solve existing problems and further improve their products and services. The diagram (shown in Appendix II: 7 QC Diagram) shows how the methodology discussed below should proceed. Before implementing the 7 QC Tools, it is important that the root causes are identified and a higher level overview provided. This is achieved using the POTI (Processes, Organization, Technology, and Information). This is an Agile process that enables incremental assessment and improvement of the problems identified; this method is used by implementing the 7 QC Tools (Cano, Moguerza Redchuk 2012). The POTI diagram is shown in Appendix I: POTI Diagram. Using the POTI diagram, Latino Engineering organizational culture must be evaluated as it seems the root cause of most problems, given the company retained most of the staff under the previous management of Dominic. In evaluating the organizational culture; the structur e of the organization will be reviewed, along with roles and skills required for present and future business functions, staffing levels, and from this analysis, changes to the companys organizational structure will be proposed and implemented. This is because after some former managers departed, the new culture seems not to focus on quality and customer satisfaction as happened under the leadership of Dominic and his managers ('Project Management Tips', 2017). Next, the processes will be evaluated to include the business functions and processes at the company, performance levels, operational costs, the vision and required future state as processes have a bearing on many factors, including communication and quality assurance. Next, the technology requirements for Latino Engineering will be evaluated to see gaps and introduce technology that will enhance quality design such as the use of Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Auto CAD (Sanchez, Hampson Vaux 2016) along with systems such as CRM and ERP programs to enhance communication and ensure quality customer service (Crandall Crandall 2015). Finally, the information component will be evaluated to determine the necessary information required and the relevant data; the communication between company and clients will be evaluated, as is communication with designers, engineers, and customer service agents. This will identify the root cause of the problems and is an essential process before implementing a continuous improvement plan (CIP) using the 7 QC Tool to improve on product quality and customer service The Pareto Diagram This tool is particularly important for the Latino Engineering problems because it arranges items in the order of their contributing magnitude so that the few items that exert the maximum influence are identified (Cano, Moguerza Redchuk 2012). Based on the identified problems the biggest problem must be the issue of poor design and development follow up with clients, which contributes to most of the other problems that are assumed to be 35% of the problems and must be happening pervasively at the organization. The second problem is that of poor communication as the first issue shows follow up during design and development is poor; this contributes to 30% of the problem. The third major issue is as a result of the first two problems and are defective engineering products, that should contributed (assumed) 25 of the problems being experienced. The next problem is non-responsive customer service and team that we assume contributes 15% of problems. Next cause is too long turnaround in d ealing with issues that we assume contributed 10%, and the final issue is cases where wrong equipment is packed and delivered to the clients and we assume this contributes to 5% of problem in terms of impact. These are then visually represented in a Pareto chart by tabulating the absolute numbers; for example, the number of times every week of poor design and follow in design and development with clients. The number of times this is done is established and recorded (Suganthi Samuel 2006). For all the items, this data is collected and tabulated with the Y axis of the chart having two sides; the left will show the numbers while the right side will show the percent contributions (See Appendix III: Pareto). Graphs and points are developed and the points joined; at this point the chart is ready for interpretation. At some point, the chart slope will change suddenly and its the point that separates the vital few from useful many (Srivastava 2006). Focus will be placed on the vital few fo r the best impacts. Cause and Effect Diagram Once the Pareto diagram is developed and interpreted, the cause and effect diagram is developed; this is a tool used to show the systematic relationships between symptoms and/or results and its possible causes. The tool enables systematic ideas about ides to be developed on the problem causes. Poor communication can be due to weak management controls and lack of necessary tools to aid communication and design. This will require on agreeing on what effect is and defining it so that causes for it can be established (Chandramouli 2013). The effect is placed at the right end of the entire diagram and then the spine drawn (See Appendix III how this looks). Arrows are used to connect the possible causes to the backbone. After brainstorming to establish the causes of poor design (such as unsuitable design tools and poor use of design tools, lack of proper testing of tools or use of simulation software such as Siemens PLM to simulate performance after design and make changes based on simulat ion results), according to Middleton Sutton (2005). The relative importance of identified causes will then be discussed and brainstorming sessions held for more causes and the list of important causes shortlisted. The cause and effect for the identified complaints include; Cause Effect Poor design parameters Poor design and development follow up with clients Lack of sufficient testing of equipment prototypes Lack or insufficient simulation runs of design Poor culture of communication with customer during design and development Poor understanding of client needs Poor controls by managers on communication, design, and simulation/ testing standards Lack of the necessary tools to aid quality design Poor design systems Defective engineering equipment Lack of sufficient testing of equipment prototypes Lack of strict quality control by management Poor raw materials purchased Lack of proper planning of manufacturing and production activities leading to rushed production Poor understanding of product and design requirements Poor organizational culture Too long turnaround time for issue resolution Lack of proper understanding of customer concerns Poor customer service Poor tools for managing communication with clients, such a s not logging customer complaints Lack of coordination between departments Non responsive customer service team Poor organizational culture Few contact points with customers Lack of tools such a CRM software for customer service Poor inventory control and management systems wrong engineering equipment was packaged and delivered to clients Poor internal communication Lack of enterprise systems to manage aspects of logistics and communication Histogram This is a frequency distribution diagram that depicts the distribution patterns of what has been an observed, grouped in class interval that are convenient and arranged in the order of their magnitude. The histograms will be used in studying distribution patterns of the observations and drawing conclusions concerning the process using the established pattern. For this activity, about 50 observations about an item will be collected and values arranged in ascending manner. The range of values will then be divided into convenient groups, each representative of an equal class interval. The group numbers will be approximately the square root of the number of observations; in this case we will have seven groupings. For each group, the frequency is noted and a Cartesian plane chart drawn with the frequency shown on the Y axis and the appropriate scales on the X axis (See Appendix IV). For every group, bars will be drawn and the distribution patterns for problems and issues studied and evalu ated and conclusions drawn ('What is Six Sigma' 2017). Control Charts All production processes have inherent variability due either to assignable causes (that can be prevented) and random causes (that are not preventable). The chart will enable assignable causes to be made out and production troubles diagnosed and corrected for engineering equipment Latino produces with substantial improvements possible. Using this chart, we will know when a process must be left alone and when action must be taken. This will be done by identifying attributes and quantifying them as variables and the mean and range also identified. X is the sub group mean while R is the range showing the difference between the maximum and minimum within the sub group. Control charts that deplete the _X and R variations; R charts will be used when sub groups are between 2 and 5 and s charts used when they are above 5. Control charts for attributes will then be developed (Charantimath 2011) Scatter Diagram This helps show the relationships between variables; for instance how is poor design tools related to poor quality products? There are variable in which a relationship can be non-existent. Relationships can be weak or strong, positive or negative and can be a simple relationship or a complex one. This will entail drawing a scatter diagram with one variable on the X axis and another on the Y axis and using a best line of fit, the relationship can be determined, along with the mathematics representation in the form y = mx + c (The slope of the diagram) which can be used to predict how one variable changes in response to the other variable (Charantimath 2011) (See Appendix V) The data found during analysis will then be represented as pictorial data in the form of graphs to enable a quick understanding of what they mean, rather than having to read through the description and analysis of the data. Depending on the data types collected, various types of graphs can be used, for instance line graphs for data changes, bar graphs for data size comparisons, Gantt charts for scheduling and planning, and radar charts for showing data changes (Shiba, Graham, Walden Petrolini 2007). Check Sheets The final steps in employing the 7 QC Tools will be to develop check sheets which requires that the collected data and information is comprehensive and relevant. The check sheets are used for data collection and will be specific for the data to be collected. The check sheets can be incorporated into a CRM or ERP software application so that the communication with clients data is recorded for future review; same as design, simulation, and testing engineering components. This data will be stored in the software application and used by management for decision making and observing trends; the data can be extracted and used for data sheets. The collected data using check sheets must be classified meaningfully, through a process known as stratification to help with understanding of dispersion and relevance of the data. These can then be panned and used for obtaining meaningful outputs (Shiba, Graham, Walden Petrolini 2007) The application of the 7 QC and the POTI diagram development will be the first step in attaining better product quality and providing better customer service and support for the Latino Engineering Company. Once the relevant problems are identified, effort must be made to continuously make improvements to all processes. The concept of continuous improvement posits that steps are repeated to identify causes of problems and classify them, and then implement solutions that improve the product by eliminating/ minimizing the causes. Further, continuous improvement requires that overall processes are further refined, even after causes of problems have been eliminated to continuously make customers happy. It is a cycle that is continuous and should be part of the organizational culture at an organization. This will require identifying opportunities in the entire work flow where improvements can be made; for example, using modern BIM and Auto CAD software during engineering components design and then employing PLM software for simulation; the simulation will give the theoretical performance of the products and then these can be refined for further improvements. After making design improvements, simulations are run again until the desired performance metrics for the design are attained. A final design is then made and a prototype produced, which is then tested under different conditions and refinements made to design, before the final version is produced. Continuous improvements must occur at all different levels of the organization, starting from procurement of raw materials, contacts with the customer, design, improvements, delivery, and handing customer concerns. After identifying improvement opportunities, a plan will be developed, using various tools, on how the way present processes can be improved. For instance, an ERP can be implemented to help manage orders and raw materials supply and an integrated CRM be used for managing customer concerns and complaints. After developing the plan, it is then executed; for instance, improving on reporting structures for the design process, using modern design and simulation software, employing information systems or improving them , changing the organizational culture to be more responsive to customer needs, even training employees on various aspects, including customer service and product design. After execution, a review is done through data collection to evaluate the impact of the improvement measures and decide on which ones have little or no impact and what has greater impact. In employing continuous improvement (CI), the requirements for success are identified; such as a maximum acceptable numbe r for defects per product, maximum turn around tie in dealing with client concerns, number of tests before a component is manufactured, response times to customer concerns, number of simulations before final design is approved; among others (Nakamura 2000). This process also requires effective project management approaches and skills to achieve Continuous improvement approaches include the use of methodologies such as Lean Production where the Kaizen technique is used. Kaizen is a Japanese principle developed too enable continuous improvement and is a strategy requiring employees at all the organization levels to proactively work together to attain improvements that are regular and incremental during the manufacturing process (Laraia, Hall Moody 1999). Kaizen works by combining all talents within an organization to create a powerful improvement engine. Kaizen has a dual nature consisting of action plans and a philosophy. As action plan, Kaizen entails organizing events aimed at improving specific areas in an organization and involve employee teas at all levels in the organization, especially employees in the plant floor (Ortiz 2014). At Latino Engineering, it will require all employees improving processes such as communication, machining, testing, and shipping products to customers. The philosophical aspect of Kaizen requi res developing a culture in which all employees are involved actively in making suggestions for improvements and having these reviewed and implemented. This then becomes a natural way of thinking for the employees of the company, including managers. The Kaizen method will require the following steps to be followed; Setting goals with a given background; such as reducing defects in products to less than 4% for every 1000 units of the product Reviewing the present state such as of defective products and developing an improvement plan Implementing the improvements, such as following the QC tolls method Reviewing the measures taken and dealing with what does not work, such as eliminating some tools or methods Reporting results and determining follow up items. The kaizen approach is to be implemented using a scientific approach involving Planning, Doing, Checking, and Acting. These will also entail Total Quality Management (TQM) principles to ensure quality define all production work (Mika 2006) Conclusions Latino Engineering has been a successful company held in high regard by customers for quality engineering products and quality delivery. Because of its impressive revenue and customer base, investors wanted a piece of the company. The founder and owner, Dominic, a passionate engineer decided to sell the company altogether rather than a portion as this would mean he lost control especially in decision making. After a year, Latino Engineering is faced with serious challenges, including defective equipment, poor design and development follow up with customers, very long turnaround in handling customer issues, a customer service team that is non-responsive, and cases where the wrong equipment is packed and sent to customers. To resolve these issues, Latino Engineering will need to use the 7 QC Tool to identify and correct these problems, in the context of Kaizen and TQM platforms for continuous improvement. The identification of problems will be done using the POTI model/ tool. These ste ps will ensure significant changes after the three month period to ensure improvements. References Cano, E. L., Moguerza, J. M., Redchuk, A. (2012). Six sigma with R statistical engineering for process improvement. 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