Implementing a

Lean Manufacturing
Plan

Ryan Henderson

EMGT 594

Mentor: Dr. J. Lee

Fall 2006

Research Paper

This paper was created to put one of my greatest accomplishments in my career on paper
to share with anyone that is encountering a similar scenario, wants to learn more about
lean or that is extremely board and has run out of reading material.

I added lots of opinions from lessons learned from my project experience. I have also
included valuable history on lean as well as comparisons of past manufacturing theories.

The research for this topic was fun. Lean Manufacturing is a passion of mine that I
excelled at and had a great time executing everyday with my previous job.
Unfortunately, in my current position as an Account executive for a Valve and
instrumentation representative company, I do not have the opportunity to create and
improve manufacturing processes as I did in my previous positions. However, I hope to
get the opportunity to implement the lean tools and resources again in a future position.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Research Problem

2. Objective
1. Purpose of Research

3. Background
1. Definition of Lean Manufacturing

1. History of Lean Manufacturing

9-12

2. Value of Lean Manufacturing

13-14

3. Transitioning to Lean Manufacturing

14-17

4. Customer Focus

17-19

5. Lean = Perfection

19-20

6. Lean vs. Mass Production

20-26

7. Focusing on Waste

26-35

4. Lean Tools
1.

Six Sigma

2.

Kaizen

36

36-37
3.

Value Stream Mapping

37

4.

Spaghetti Diagram

37-38

5.

Set up reduction

38

6.

JIT

38

7.

Takt Time

38

8.

Value added vs Non-value added

38

9.

5-S

39

5. Key Actions for a Successful Lean Manufacturing System

39-40

6. Lean implementation Plan

41-42

7. Case Study

43-52

8. Conclusion

53-55

9. Definitions

56-61

10. References

62

CHARTS AND ILLUSTRATIONS

1. Graphical explanation of lean

2. Illustration of Mass vs. Lean

23

3. Mass vs. Lean comparison charts

24-25

4. Case Study Utilization, Efficiency & Productivity results

53

ANNEX I
5-S IMPLEMENTATION
1. INTRODUCTION

64-68

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

69-74

3. METHODOLGY AND PROBLEM SOLVING APPORACH

74-76

4. EVALUATION OF METHODOLGY

76

5. CONCLUSIONS

76-79

6. REFERENCES

79

Research Problem

The research problem is to attempt to create a Lean Manufacturing

implementation plan for an existing Manufacturing facility that has
been in service for over 30 years.

Lean Manufacturing is a new concept to this organization and most of

the workers have been performing in their current positions for at least
10 years. The work force is not open to change and management has
been pushing the lean concept for months.

Objective
The purpose of this research is to provide the reader with a thorough
definition, back ground and implementation plan for lean
manufacturing in an established manufacturing environment.

The layout of the paper will allow the reader the ability to fully

understand lean manufacturing, how it evolved, where it is going and

how it can help turn any manufacturing firm into a successful, efficient
and cost saving company.

Background
Lean Manufacturing is a system that uses a minimal amount of
resources to produce a high volume of high quality products with some
variety. (Stevenson)

Lean Manufacturing can also be defined as:

"A systematic approach to identifying and eliminating waste (nonvalue-added activities) through continuous improvement by flowing the
product at the pull of the customer in pursuit of perfection." (MFG
Solutions website)

Lean Manufacturing

Customer(s)

Stage & Ship

Assembly

Process

Additional Process
(if required)

Materials

Objective: Elimination of Waste

Value added time = minutes

Cycle time = hours or days

Illustration provided by Cooper Cameron Corp.

HISTORY OF LEAN MANUFACTURING

The "lean manufacturing" concept was introduced to American
factories in the early 1990s. A study was conducted by the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology which focused on the
manufacturing transition from mass production to Lean production.
This study was described in a book called The Machine That Changed
the World (Womack, Jones & Roos, 1990). Throughout the book,
Womack, Jones & Roos discuss the significant performance gap
between Western and Japanese automotive industries. The book
describes the key elements which were the infrastructure for which the
Japanese created their superior performance capability. This
performance is better known as lean manufacturing. The term "lean"
was used because Japanese business methods adopted this concept
decades before it was introduced to the USA, by utilizing less human
effort, capital investment, floor space, materials, and time in all aspects
of operations. The resulting competition among U.S. and Japanese
automakers over the last 25 years has lead to the adoption of these
principles within all U.S. manufacturing businesses. Taiichi Ohno, Eiji
Toyoda and Shingeo Shingo of Toyota Motor Co. were the fore fathers
9

of the Lean manufacturing Concept. After World War II, Japan was
literally non existent, yet the Toyota Motor Co. planned to extend the
capacity of their automatic loom company by producing automobiles.
After visiting various automobile plants in the United States, Toyota
realized that they lacked the capacity to compete head-to-head with
established companies like Ford and GM. Toyota also realized that the
vulnerability of the Western style manufacturing system (Mass
Production) was that it worked best when only one type of model was
manufactured at a time, with no modifications and with absolutely no
setbacks with in the operation lines (i.e. machine breakdowns or
maintenance related issues, power outages, tooling issues, etc..) during
production.

Taiichi Ohno, one of Toyota's executives, realized that to compete with

mass production manufacturers, Toyota would have to produce small
quantities of automobiles with high variety.

In 1956, Taiichi Ohno visited the United States and came across an
unusual discovery that was ultimately the answer that Toyota Motor
10

Co. was looking for. The surprising issue was that he did not find the
answer in a manufacturing plant. He found his answer in an American
grocery store. At the time, Japan did not have many grocery stores and
Taiichi Ohno was quite impressed with how American customers chose
when and where, how many, and what type of goods they wanted in
American grocery stores. Immediately, Taiichi knew that the only way
that Toyota could compete with the large mass production systems of
the US was to transform the Toyota automobile plants existing
manufacturing system into a process which offered the same type of
choices and efficiency available to their customers as the American
grocery stores were currently offering.

After an extensive array of experiments, Taiichi Ohno created a new

manufacturing concept called the Toyota Production System (TPS) or
later called the Lean Manufacturing System by the American
manufacturing enthusiast. The theory behind TPS was that small-batch
sized production runs could be achieved if waste was eliminated and
continuous flow was implemented.

11

Lean Manufacturing is a concept that was created to give a

Manufacturing environment the ability to accommodate a variety of
different parts and sizes without having to adjust such factors as
increasing overhead, work force or equipment. In fact, the basic idea of
Lean Manufacturing is to reduce those factors in order to complete a
part in the cheapest, most efficient manor, without reducing the quality
of the product.

Some of the key factors in becoming successful when using the lean
concept are to have skilled/cross trained workers and flexible
equipment. In a lean environment, workers must be capable of
executing a variety of different tasks. They are also required to think
on their own and innovate ways of fixing and preventing defective parts
from occurring. Your equipment must have the capability to machine a
variety of different parts. It is vital to the success of a Lean
Manufacturing system that the machinery in that system has the
flexibility to quickly adapt to any type of catastrophic machine loss,
maintenance downtime, or a high volume of unusual parts, which were
driven by quick turn around customer orders.
12

VALUE OF LEAN MANUFACTURING

In a lean production system, the value of a product is defined solely by
the customers needs. The product must meet the customer's
requirements at a specified time and for the right price. The various
behind the scene operations and manufacturing short cuts that
manufacturers conduct on a daily basis to deliver a product are
generally of little interest to customers. To view value through the eyes
of the customer requires most companies to undergo a comprehensive
analysis of all of their business processes. Identifying the value in lean
production requires the company to fully understand all of the activities
required to produce a specific product. Once the company understands
its processes, it must improve and upgrade the entire process from the
viewpoint of the customer needs. This viewpoint is critically important
because it helps identify activities that clearly add value (value-added
activities), activities that add no value but cannot be avoided, and
activities that add no value (non-value-added activities), and that can be
avoided. Once these activities are identified, the company can begin
making adjustments to build upon the positive, value-addedactivities, and change or remove the negative, non-value-activities.
13

As a company begins to transition to the Lean system, the company, as

well as their customers quickly begin to see the positive effects, and the
overwhelming value of implementing the Lean Manufacturing System.

TRANSITIONING TO LEAN MANUFACTURING

For any organization, making the transition to the Lean Manufacturing
system involves everyone, sometimes even including vendors and 3rd
party individuals in the origination. However, there are a series of (4)
steps that typically make up the transitioning phases fro most
manufacturing organizations. The first step is getting your workforce
involved and to think outside of the box. In the past, most
manufacturing environments required each of their separate activities
or operational areas to focus on their specifically assigned task only. In
the Lean process, focusing on your job obviously still applies; however,
it is critical to the success of a Lean Manufacturing environment that
everyone looks at the entire process and not just their specifically
assigned duties.

14

The next two steps is where the Manufacturing (ME) or Industrial (IE)
Engineering department plays the most critical and important role of
the entire organizations transformation to the Lean System. The
ME/IE department will be the designers, creators and implementers for
any organization that is planning on making the transition to the Lean
system. In most organizations the ME/IE department normally creates
the work and production orders, trouble shoots tooling or machine
issues, and assists the production personnel with whatever issues they
might encounter in the production facility. By understanding the
routine activities throughout the entire production facility, the ME/IE
department will understand the material flow and needs of the
production supervisors and the personnel in the production facility
throughout the entire transition to the Lean Manufacturing System.

The second step is to plot out the flow of material throughout the
manufacturing facility using diagrams and PC automated drawing aids.
Again, this step will more than likely be executed by the organizations
ME/IE department. By plotting out the material flow, companies can
see areas that need improvement by the way that they transport material
15

to and from work centers and they will also be able to identify errors in
their current processes. The diagrams will also assist the organization
with identifying the non-value-added activities that must be removed or
improved.

The third step involves removing or improving the previously identified

non-value-added activities. Some examples of non-value-added
activities are material handling (forklifts, cranes, etc...), high volumes
of machine setups, material flow, parts storage, etc. In some situations,
it might be impossible to remove a non-value-added activity. In this
situation an organization would need to conduct a brain storming
activity to produce the proper answer for the non-value-added activity
that can not be avoided. This activity is usually hosted by the ME/IE
department and is called a Kaizen event.

The fourth and final step is continuous improvement. This is the most
difficult step throughout the Lean Manufacturing transition. It is a step
that must involve the entire organization in order for the Lean
Manufacturing transition to be successful. The transition to a lean
16

environment does not happen easily or instantaneously. In order for a

company to successfully implement a Lean Manufacturing system, and
to more importantly keep the system in place and flourishing, a
continuous improvement mentality is a must, in order for an
organization to reach its preplanned lean goals. The term "continuous
improvement" means incremental improvement of products, processes,
or services over time, with the goal of reducing waste to improve
workplace functionality, customer service, or product performance
(Suzaki, 1987).

Continuous improvement principles, as practiced by the most devoted

manufacturers, result in astonishing improvements in performance that
competitors find nearly impossible to achieve (MAMTC website).

CUSTOMER FOCUS
An organization which operates under the lean manufacturing system
focuses more on its customers than it does on running machines faster,
in order to absorb unwanted labor and overhead expenses. In a properly

17

run Lean system, an organization seeks out customer input and

feedback to assure quality and customer satisfaction. The lean system
operates under this philosophy in order to support present and future
sales.

The main goal of an Organization that has implemented the Lean

Manufacturing System is to eliminate wastes, which will ultimately
assist in producing a higher quality product in a limited amount of time,
in the most efficient manor, and at the lowest possible cost. This goal
is also the ideal transaction for the customer. Every customer wants the
best product available, at the best price and in the properly allotted
amount of time, according to their requirements.

Customer focus is a task that has been overlooked in the past

Manufacturing systems. Most of the manufacturing organizations that
were operating with the past manufacturing systems relied on large
batch sizes and repetitive sizes and designs. Under these guidelines,
the concern of customer satisfaction was not a priority. These systems
sold the customers a high volume of identical parts, in a reasonable
18

amount of time, and at a decent, non-competitive price. However, with

todays market, these types of manufacturing systems have become
obsolete. With the ever-changing customer demand and the push for
decreased inventories, only a true lean system can actually meet and
exceed customer requirements and standards.

Making a high volume of various different products, in the same

facility, all delivered on time to the exact customer tolerances is a
concept that could have never been imagined 30 years ago. With
todays technology and with the support and resources that an
organization receives from implementing a Lean Manufacturing system
the unimaginable can become an everyday practice.

LEAN = PERFECTION
The true concept of lean production is pushing an organization to strive
for manufacturing perfection. What is manufacturing perfection?
Manufacturing perfection is when an organization can produce its
products with zero manufacturing defects, maintain a low inventory
system, consume little overhead and indirect labor costs, have zero
19

maintenance or machine issues, zero safety related issues and meet all
of the customers requirements and delivery times on every order that
the organization receives.

There are endless opportunities for improving the utilization of all

types of assets in a manufacturing environment. By systematically
eliminating waste, an organization can reduce the unnecessary
operating costs such as rework, WIP, allotted handling times, and even
unneeded inventories. The most impressive and eye catching output
from implementing the Lean system in a manufacturing environment is
the satisfaction that is felt by the organizations customers from
receiving their ordered product at a maximum value and at the lowest
price. While reaching manufacturing perfection may be literally or
financially impossible, its pursuit is a goal worth striving for because it
helps maintain a constant awareness against non-value-added activities.

LEAN VS MASS PRODUCTION

For many years manufacturers that were operating in the Mass
Production system created a high volume of products in anticipation of
20

having a stable market for them. Operations in the traditional Mass

Production system were driven by sales forecasts, causing firms to
stockpile inventories in case they were needed. One of the main
differences in Lean Manufacturing vs. Mass Production is that Lean is
based on the idea that production can and should be driven by real
customer demand. Instead of an organization producing what they think
they will sell in the upcoming months, Lean Manufacturing can
produce exactly what your customer wants, with shorter lead times.
Lean Manufacturing Instead of pushing a product to a particular
market, it's pulled there through a system that's set up to quickly
respond to customer demand.
When analyzing the flow of material in a successful lean environment
vs. a traditional mass production system, you will notice that all of the
parts of a finished product have production lines which work some
what independently of one another. This process was designed to work
this way so that all of the parts will be manufactured at the same time,
thus meeting at the assembly area at the same time. By designing the
process this way, individual production lines are never waiting on one

21

another, which is normally the case in the Mass Production

manufacturing environment.
Lean organizations have the capability to produce higher-quality
products faster, and in more efficient and economically lower volumes
than organizations that are still operating in the mass production
system. A lean organization can produce double the amount of total
products, at a higher quality level, in a fraction of the time and space, at
a much lower cost, with a fraction of the normal (WIP) work-in-process
inventory than a Mass Production system. The concept of the Lean
management system consists of operating at the most efficient and
effective level possible, with the lowest cost, and without waste.
A comparison of a Lean Manufacturing System vs. Mass Production
System can be observed on the charts following this page.

22

Mass Production
Objective: Maximize Economies of Scale
Materials

Additional
Process(es)

Storage

Receivin
g
Warehou
se
Process
Materials

Storage

Rework

Assembly

Shipping
Warehou
se
Ship

Value added time = minutes

Cycle time = weeks

23

24

Product-out strategy focused on exploiting economies of

Customer focused strategy focused on identifying and

scale of stable product designs and non-unique technologies

exploiting shifting competitive advantage.

Business Strategy

Makes what engineers want in large quantities at statistically

Makes what customers want with zero defect, when they
Customer Satisfaction

acceptable quality levels; dispose of unused inventory at sale

want it, and only in the quantities they order
prices

Leadership by executive command

Leadership by vision and broad participation

Leadership
Hierarchical structures that encourage following orders and
Flat structures that encourage initiative and encourage the
discourage the flow of vital information that highlights defects,
flow of vital information that highlights defects, operator
Organization

operator errors, equipment abnormalities, and organizational

errors, equipment abnormalities, and organizational
deficiencies.
deficiencies.

External Relations

Based on price

Information Management

Information-weak management based on abstract reports

Based on long-term relationships

Information-rich management based on visual control
systems maintained by all employees

Culture of loyalty and obedience, subculture of alienation and

Harmonious culture of involvement based on long-term

labor strife

development of human resources

Large-scale machines, functional layout, minimal skills, long

Human-scale machines, cell-type layout, multi-skilling,

production runs, massive inventories

one-piece flow, zero inventories

Cultural

Production

Smart tools that assume standardized work, strength in

Dumb tools that assume an extreme division of labor, the
Operational capability

problem identification, hypothesis generation, and

following of orders, and no problem solving skills
experimentation
Equipment management by production, maintenance and

Maintenance

Maintenance by maintenance specialists

engineering
Team-based model, with high input from customers and
"Isolated genius" model, with little input from customers and

Engineering

concurrent development of product and production

little respect for production realities.
process design

(Chart found on www.MAMTC.com)

25

26

MANUFACTURING METHODS:

TRADITIONAL MASS PRODUCTION

LEAN PRODUCTION

Production schedules are based on

Forecast product is pushed through the facility

Customer Order product is pulled through the

Products manufactured to

Replenish finished goods inventory

facility
Fill customer orders (immediate shipments)

Production cycle times are

Weeks/months

Hours/days

Manufacturing lot size quantities are

Large, with large batches moving between operations; product is

Small, and based on one-piece flow between

Plant and equipment layout is

sent ahead of each operation

By department function

operations
By product flow, using cells or lines for product

Quality is assured

Through lot sampling

families
100% at the production source

Workers are typically assigned

One person per machine

With one person handling several machines

Worker empowerment is

Low little input into how operation is performed

High has responsibility for identifying and

implementing improvements
Inventory levels are High large warehouse of finished goods, and central storeroom Low small amounts between operations, ship often
Inventory turns are

for in-process staging

Low 6-9 turns pr year or less

High 20+ turns per year

Flexibility in changing manufacturing

Low difficult to handle and adjust to

High easy to adjust to and implement

schedules is
Manufacturing costs are

Rising and difficult to control

Stable/decreasing and under control

(Chart found on www.MAMTC.com

27

FOCUSING ON WASTE
The main focus of a properly implemented Lean Manufacturing system
is to eliminate waste in every area of production, including customer
relations, product design, supplier relations, and operations
management. Waste" is anything that the customer does not pay for.
The goal of the Lean Manufacturing system is to reduce the amount of
human effort, inventory, time to develop new and existing products,
and floor space. These goals are set in order to transform the
organization in to a facility that has the capability to be highly
responsive to customer demand while continuing to produce high
quality products in the most efficient and economical manner possible.

The most common form of waste normally found in a lean

manufacturing system is over production. Overproduction occurs
when an organization produces more products than demanded by its
customers, or it produces a high volume of products before they are
needed.

28

Some of the common causes for overproduction waste include:

Over stocking of commonly ordered products

Misuse of automation

Long process setup

Un-level scheduling

Unbalanced work load

Over engineered

Redundant inspections

Another common form of waste is operator waiting time and

transportation. In every Non-Lean Manufacturing environment operator
wait time and transportation are both unnecessary forms of waste. In
a non-lean environment, it is common to observe an operator that is
waiting for a non-efficient machine to finish machining a particular
part, a machine that is unusable due to scheduled or unscheduled
maintenance, or even the use of a crane or lifting device. Non-lean
environments will also have a high volume of transportation waste.
Examples of transportation waste could be due to operators waiting on
forklifts or part transportation vehicles or other transportation wastes

29

which are driven by an inefficiently laid out manufacturing facility.

Operator waiting time and transportation wastes do not add any value
to the product. Instead of improving the waiting time and
transportation, they both should be minimized and eliminated (one way
to eliminate transportation and waiting time wastes is to implement
production cells). Some common causes of waiting time and
transportation wastes include:

1. Unbalanced work loads (mainly waiting time wastes)

2. Unplanned maintenance (mainly waiting time wastes)
3. Long process set-up times (mainly waiting time wastes)
4. Misuses of automation (mainly waiting time wastes)
5. Upstream quality problems (mainly waiting time wastes)
6. Limited amount of lifting devices
7. Improper machine/part designation
8. Poor plant layout
9. Poor understanding of the process flow for production
10. Large batch sizes, long lead times, and large storage areas

Waiting time and Transportation wastes are both problems that can
seriously affect the productivity and product throughput time of a

30

manufacturing facility. The ideal principle in the Lean system is to

maximize the utilization and efficiency of the worker instead of
maximizing the utilization of the machines and other indirect resources.
One way to improve the utilization and efficiency of operators is to
form production cells. A production cell configuration is a strategy
that is designed to increase the flexibility of an operation in order to
produce a high volume of different products in smaller batch sizes,
while reducing wastes and operating costs and increasing the overall
production of the work force (Cooper Cameron Corp). Cells are
implemented in a manufacturing environment to allow the operator the
opportunity to execute 2 or more tasks at one given time. In a
production cell, an operator can have a part running in one machine,
while another part is running in a different machine, and be prepping,
drilling or marking a finished or unfinished part all at the same time in
the same cell. (In a properly configured production cell an
organization, in theory, is getting (2) or more operations completed for
the price of (1)operation).

31

By implementing cells in a manufacturing environment, an

organization can substantially increase work force productivity, and
decrease product throughput and takt time.

Inventory or Work in Process (WIP) is also an unwanted type of waste

when working with a Lean Manufacturing system. This problem occurs
in operational situations due to over sizing of batch sizes or improperly
balancing the processes by not redesigning or adjusting the processes
with longer cycle times.
Some of the common causes of excess inventory include:
1. High volume of safety stock
2. Product complexity
3. Unleveled scheduling
4. Poor forecasting
5. Unbalanced workload
6. Unreliable shipments by suppliers
7. Misunderstood communications
8. Reward systems

An organization can also have types of waste that do not necessarily

reflect the back end of the business. Inadequately managed Business
32

Processes are a common type of waste in a non-lean or improperly

managed lean environment. Business processes are derived from Sales,
purchasing, procurement, QA, Engineering, Management, HR, etc...
Business Process waste should be added or eliminated by asking why a
specific processing step is needed, does that process need to be
eliminated or created, will these processes help or not help create a
specific product and why is that specific product produced. By asking
and analyzing these questions, all unnecessary processing steps should
be eliminated.
Causes for processing waste include:

Product changes without process changes

Over stocking commonly ordered products

True customer requirements undefined

Over processing to accommodate downtime

Lack of communications

Redundant approvals

Extra copies/excessive information

Shortage of needed vendor produced parts

Weak management

Undefined work processes

33

Lack of procedure or process ownership

Non-value added activities are a type of waste that must be removed

from an organizations existing processes. Non-value-added activity is
any activity in a manufacturing environment that does not provide
value or assistance in producing a particular product.
Causes of non-value-added-activities are:
1. Poor facility or cellular layouts
2. Longer cycle times
3. Unbalanced work loads
4. Improperly managed inventories
5. Lack of transportation resources
6. Rework or deficiencies
7. Inconsistent work methods
8. Poor work organization and cleanliness
9. Lack of discipline and managerial presence

Manufacturing defective products is also a common form of waste. A

theory in a Lean Manufacturing System is to prevent the occurrence of
defects instead of finding and repairing the defects. Reworking
personnel errors or even vendor related errors on products is a form of
waste that is detrimental to the success of an organization that is
34

operating in the lean manufacturing system. When reworking defective

products, an organization is forced to absorb the cost of the original
production that caused the defective finished parts. By continuously
absorbing rework type costs an organization begins to suffer from a
decrease in profit on those particular products. The organization will
also suffer in many other ways from rework related operations. One
major setback that is also caused by rework operations is product
delivery time. In most manufacturing environments, all operations are
executed within a tight production schedule. When a defect is found in
a finished part, the preplanned delivery schedule is affected. The
rework operation ultimately offsets the delivery time that was quoted to
the customer. The effected delivery time could possibly reduce the
profit margin of this product, or it could even impinge on future
relations with the customer.
Causes of defective waste include:
1. Weak process control
2. Poor quality
3. Unbalanced inventory levels
4. Improperly planned maintenance
5. Inadequate education/training/work instructions
35

6. Product design
7. Customer needs not understood
8. Underutilizing personnel
9. Personnel not willing to change, politics, the business culture
10. Poor hiring practices
11. Low or no investment in training
12. Under paid workers, high turnover strategy for personnel

Nearly every type of waste in the production process can fit into at least
one of these categories. Organizations that understand the concept of
Lean manufacturing view waste as the main variance, which
significantly limits business performance and threatens success unless
it is persistently eliminated over time. Lean manufacturing is an
approach that eliminates waste by reducing costs in the overall
production process, in operations within that process, and in the
utilization of direct labor.

In a Lean Manufacturing System, the focus is on making the entire

process flow correctly, not just the improvement of one or more
individual operations.

36

LEAN Tools
1. Six Sigma (Lean Sigma) the objective of Six Sigma is a
measurement-based strategy that focuses on process
improvement and variation reduction through successful Six
Sigma Improvement projects. These projects are executed
through 5 principles called DMAIC.
1. Define
2. Measure
3. Analyze
4. Improve
5. Control
2. Kaizen event is a meeting that is coordinated to bring together
several functional areas of a Manufacturing facility in order to
design a concept to fix a non-value-added operation that is
unavoidable.

When a Kaizen event is scheduled, all of the disciplines that are

involved with that specific non-value-added activity are
37

requested by the ME/IE department to attend the event. Usually

areas such as Product Engineering, QA/QC, Shop Supervisors
and Production Control (PC) are the attendees who join in with
the ME/IE department to conduct the event. The participants of
the event will ultimately work together to create and implement a
process to transform the non-value-added activity into a valueadded activity or lessen the overall negative effect of that specific
activity.
3. Value Stream Mapping, VSM is a visualization tool oriented to
the Toyota version of Lean Manufacturing (Toyota Production
System). VSM helps to understand work processes in support of
the Lean Manufacturing principles through the use of graphical
models that display the entire process and the products move
from one step to the other.
4. Spaghetti Diagram is another visualization tool that is created
with a series of lines that start at the point where the part is
received at the facility as raw material or partially completed and
then each move, , all the way to the shipment of the part is
labeled with a simple line. In the end, the spaghetti diagram will
38

show every step the part takes until completion in order to help
the lean representative eliminate unnecessary waste within that
process.
5. Set up reduction, decreasing the set up time for each part or
process step.
6. JIT - Just in time inventory is requesting inventory from suppliers
just in time to manufacture the parts for the required delivery
time.
7. Takt time, the rate or time that a completed product is finished
8. Value added vs Non value added times; Value added actions meet
the following criteria:
1) the customer is willing to pay for this activity.
2) It must be done right the first time.
3) The action must somehow change the product or service in
some manner.

39

9. 5-S = Sort, Set in order, Shine, Standardize and Sustain.

1. Sort (Seiri) the first S focuses on eliminating unnecessary
items from the workplace.
2. Set in Order (Seiton) is the second of the 5Ss and focuses
on efficient and effective storage methods.
3. Shine: (Seiso) Once you have eliminated the unneeded
items that have been clogging your work areas and identified
and located the necessary items, the next step is to thoroughly
clean the work area.
4. Standardize: (Seiketsu) Once the first three 5Ss have been
implemented, you should concentrate on standardizing best
practice in your work area.
5. Sustain: (Shitsuke) Sustain focuses on defining a new status
quo and standard of work place organization.
**Note 5-S is explained in further detail in ANNEX I**

40

KEY ACTIONS FOR A SUCCESSFUL LEAN MANUFACTURING SYSTEM

Elimination of waste

Equipment reliability

Continuous process capability improvement

Implement (FMS) Flexible Manufacturing Systems

Continuous flow

Less inventory required throughout the production process, raw material, WIP,
and finished goods

Reduction of rework and scrap

Lead time reduction

Error proofing

Stop the Line quality system

Implement Kaizen events and Kanban systems

Visual management/5-S

In station process control

Prepare and motivate people

Must create a common understanding of the need to change to lean

Push decision making and system development down to the "lowest levels"

Remove roadblocks (i.e. people, layout, systems (non-value-added initiators))

Tolerate the beginning transition mistakes, patience, etc

41

Willingness to take risks

Share information and manage expectations

Key Actions continued:

Level production

Favorable Takt Times

Quick Changeover

Teamwork

Point of use storage

Widespread positive attitude towards continuous Improvement, quality, training

and recruiting future workers with the appropriate skills

Employee involvement and empowerment

Cross-trained workers

Identify and empower champions, particularly operations managers

Will need to install "enlightened" and realistic performance measures, evaluation,

and reward systems

Measure results and not number activities/events

Tie improvements, long term, to key macro level performance targets (i.e.
inventory turns, quality, delivery, overall cost reductions)

The need to execute pilot projects prior to rolling culture out across the
organization

After early gains in operations, share the info across the ENTIRE organization

Involve everyone when creating the LEAN goals.

42

43

Implementation Plan
In considering the creation of my implementation plan for the Valve
manufacturing facility I considered the following steps in the design of
the plan.
1. Map our (spaghetti diagram) of the entire facility and flow of the
material throughout the plant.
2. Conduct research that consists of interviewing and spending
quality time with the personnel on the shop floor. This step is
extremely important to ensure that the plan is realistic and to
grasp the technical language and actual everyday processes that
are used on the shop floor.
3. Involve the chain of command, Shop Supervisors and key shop
floor personnel through out the process, especially in the final
stages for feedback that will ensure that the plan is realistic from
an operations view as well as a fincial and budgetary view.
4. Involve outside vendors for external input and quotes for
budgetary purposes
5. Complete the plan modify processes, complete machine move
drawings, discuss plan with lean team & involve COC.
44

6. Calculate costs and compare with budget

7. Plan modifications modifications were required due to
budgetary issues, Chain of command required adjustments and
lean team meetings.
8. Execute the plan
9. Utilize 5-S, Six Sigma and other lean tools to improve and
sustain the Lean Plan.

45

Case Study
STEP 1
I conducted this research experiment while I was in a Lean
Manufacturing Engineering position with a local Oil & Gas Valve
manufacturer. The Manufacturing facility is state of the art, with
central A/C & Heat, and is over 200,000 Square feet in size. The
facility was technologically advanced with 21st Century Processes and
Equipment. The Facility contained over 75 CNC vertical and
horizontal Lathes and Mills.

The mapping process took over 2 months to finalize and piece together
in a package that could be used to create the concept of the future plan.
Spending 6 hours on the shop floor on a daily basis was normal.
Normally, I would spend 4 of the 6 hours per day with the machinist
and welders asking questions, listening to their problems and watching
them execute their daily responsibilities. This is a very tough task
because most of these machinists have been doing their assigned duties
for 10 20 years. They have seen many people come and go and lots
of plans for change implemented and then fail. They are wise beyond
46

their years to say the least. The problem persists because the operators
sometimes feel as if you are prying in their business or that you are
observing them only to run to their supervisors critiquing every move.
It was very important to ensure they were comfortable and to
immediately get the point across that you were there to help, not take
their job away. It was a difficult task at times, but it was vital to the
success of the Lean plan.

The last 2 hours of my daily shop time consisted of collecting cycle and
throughput times. This task was also tough and consisted of
clandestine type operations to sneak around and time the operators
during their machine or welding runs. These times were very
important; in order to properly record the data that was needed to create
a successful lean plan.

The balance of my day after the time in the shop consisted of transfer
the data and notes that were recorded to a digital journal posted on my
pc. This daily journal was finally combined, critiqued and finalized in

47

to a report that was ultimately the design of my Lean implementation

plan.

STEP 2
As stated in the initial paragraph of this case study, the facility had
incorporated 21st century processes from previous 6 sigma projects.
Cooper Cameron Corporation implemented a huge 6 sigma initiation
program several years before the Lean concept was initiated. The
processes were excellent and definitely reduced costs and improving
quality. However, all of the processes worked in an individual manor.
They did not overlap and interconnect like processes should work in a
properly designed lean manufacturing plan. The processes
modifications and new designs absorbed the majority of our time and
focus during meetings. Successful processes are the key to a successful
lean plan, and we ensured that our processes were sounds, well thought
out and critiqued.

48

The process modifications were changed and created mainly due to the
machine moves and new machine purchases. There were 8 New
Processes implemented and 35 existing processes modified.
Some of the existing processes were modified due to the production
lines transforming in to a series of cells. By converting the previous
machine layouts in to cells, now instead of moving from one machine
to the next, the operator could perform any where from 3 to 5 tasks all
at one time, once the machines are set in the designed cells and
running.

STEP 3 & 4
There were 25 Shop personnel, 4 office workers, 3 outside contractors
and 1 lean consultant that were involved with the project. The shop
personnel were supervisors, lead men and senior operators. The office
workers consisted of 1 production engineer, Six Sigma Black belt,
Accountant and I. The 2 of the 3 contractors were from the 2 vendors
that were supplying the new machines for us and the 3rd contractor was
supplying us with our new equipment for the assembly and test areas.

49

The lean consultant was not a really big help, but he did provide us
with some excellent resources.
STEP 5
The training that was involved was priceless and was an excellent tool
to not only train but to build up motivation and to brainstorm processes
and potential layout plans. Each shop worker had a total of about 40
hours of training over the duration of the initial phase. The meetings
took up about 25 hours of time over the 14 months. The training
sessions consisted of lean, 5-S, JIT inventory, MRO scheduling & 6sigma. Our meetings focused mainly on machine moves, 5-S and
process modifications.

The discussions involving designing and modifying our existing

processes took place during our lean team meetings. The new and
existing modification processes were modified again, and finalized
during our final week of the planning phase, which was when we
completed the plan.

50

STEP 6
After the plan was finally approved by management, an AFE
(Authorization for expenditure) was then required and needed approval
in order to receive the capital funds necessary to pay for moving the
machines, purchasing new machines, part conveyors, rollers, chains,
slings, etc

Once the AFE was created and put into the corporate system for
approval, I had a lot of time on my hands (5 weeks) waiting for the
authorization and budgetary numbers to begin the implementation.
During the waiting period I had a minimum of 2 meetings per week
with the supervisors and 2 specialty selected employees from each
product line. The meetings were held to review the future lean plan, as
well as to strategize what moves should be executed first, which lines
had to be completed the quickest due to importance to the overall
throughput of the products and many other issues that related to these.
There were also several issues that were critiqued and revisited during
this time. Some of these issues were changed due to justifications and
total agreements by the supervisors, operators and me.
51

STEP 7
Finally the AFE was approved. A major project meeting was called and
all of the shop and office personnel and the chain of command that had
been involved with the project from the beginning stages up to that
point were required to attend. The meeting was held to finalize any the
budget, prioritize the sequence of events once the project would begin,
and to discuss any open ended issues. After these issues were taken
care of the processes had to be modified again, due to the chain of
command requesting changes due to statistical impact estimates as well
unrealistic budgetary requests during the initial planning phase. Once
the processes were finalized, all final questions were answered and we
moved on to reviewing the scheme of how the plan was to be
implemented.

Following the meeting, the work began. Between the contractors that
were called in and the in-house work, the project took 5 months,
costing 1.2 million dollars. This was a major facelift to the facility.
The original concept of implementing a lean implementation plan was
to improve the throughput and delivery of the products, increase the
52

companies cost savings, and to make room for several new product
lines that were moving to this facility due to a corporate level buyout of
several competitor lines.

STEP 9
Once the main phase of the plan was completed, another tough step was
in our path to success. I realized that I needed to create a set of
procedures that would help the plan to continue the improvements from
a standard operating procedure (SOP) point of view. After researching
several topics, I quickly discovered a concept that actually falls under
the lean concept. The concept that now covers the SOPs for the
company is called 5-S. **Note there is a further explanation with
examples of 5-S in the Annex that accompanies this research paper.**

The project was a success. The major construction, capital expenses

and machine movement took place during the initial 5 months as
previously described. In total, the project took 14 months to complete
the initial phase. I consider the 14 month point the initial phase due to
Cooper Cameron acquiring several new valve lines. The new valve
53

lines moved in shortly after the project was approximately 90%

complete. The new lines required some modifications to my Lean plan
as well as to accompany the new processes and equipment.

The project cost over $800,000. The cost covered new personal
equipment, modifications to existing equipment and machine platforms,
meetings and training resources, machine moves and sustain
operations. The costs did not cover the new machine purchases. The
new machines fell under several different 6 sigma projects that were
taking place simultaneously with the lean plan. This was an excellent
situation because the machines were not allocated to the lean budget,
but played a vital role in the success of the layout of the new lean
facility and the new processes.

The benefits of the lean implementation plan exceed the initial

calculated returns. The pay per year was estimated to be over $450,000
per year. This was a surprising value, when considering that the initial
calculation produces a savings of $300,000 per year. The $450,000
significantly decreased out pay back time from 2.6 years to 1,7 years.
54

The difference in pay back period is huge when justifying the project as
well as promoting the success of a project to the Chain of Command
and the Accounting and Finance Managers.

Utilization, Efficiency and Productivity are 3 factors that are calculated

and tracked on a weekly basis by that facility Chain of Command all
the way to corporate level.

Utilization is defined by the corporation

as the amount of time with in a given work period that a particular

machine is running (utilized) to standard. Efficiency is defined as the
amount of parts produced to standard by a particular worker at his or
her assigned machine with in a given work period. Productivity is
calculated by dividing the utilization by the efficiency.

Prior to the lean implementation plan being executed with in the

facility, the facility was producing excellent results for utilization,
efficiency and productivity. However, the results were dramatically
improved after the lean plan was implemented.

55

Tough issues that were encountered throughout the case study:

Dealing with the Chain of Command and Accounting and
Finance Managers.
o Getting them to agree on the following
Cost of the Lean Plan.
Hard sell in the beginning due to Old School
mindset.
Productivity and fear of revenue loss due to plan
execution.
Changing the mindset of the shop operators from the old
way to the lean way.
Keeping all personnel motivated throughout the planning
phase of the project.
Convincing the Supervisors to allot time for the operators to
attend the meetings and training, which ultimately effected
productivity and parts produced.
Sustaining the plan, modifications, new processes and the lean
concept.

56

CONCLUSION
An organization that has created and implemented a proper Lean
Manufacturing System shows that it has the ability to learn, improve
and change. The Lean production concept is a manufacturing process
distinct to all of the other manufacturing processes. The Lean
Manufacturing system is a system that requires office and shop
personnel cooperation and empowerment, continuous improvement and
process upgrading and change. When an organization decides to
transform its existing manufacturing system in to a lean system, the
organization will make errors along the way. However, in a properly
implemented and maintained lean system, errors are usually a one-time
issue. In a properly designed and managed lean system these errors are
a form of waste that the lean manufacturing philosophy and its methods
identify and eliminate. Once the lean system is in place, and the waste
have been eliminated, an organization which is manufacturing in a
properly run Lean system will optimize its overall business and
customer relations, as well as separate itself from its competitors by

57

raising the business standards to an unimaginable level with in that

organizations industry.

58

Definitions:

TAKT Work time available divided by the number of pieces sold

during a given period of time. (http://www.mamtc.com)

MAMTC The Mid-America Manufacturing Technology Center

(MAMTC) is a service organization that helps small and mid-sized
manufacturers increase their sales and productivity, reduce costs, and
improve quality. (http://www.mamtc.com)

Value-added activity is any activity in a manufacturing environment

that provides value or assistance in producing a particular product.

Non-value-added activity is any activity in a manufacturing

environment that does not provide value or assistance in producing a
particular product.

59

Kaizen event is a meeting that is coordinated to bring together several

functional areas of a Manufacturing facility in order to design a
concept to fix a non-value-added operation that is not a simple fix.

Kanban Systems A Kanban system allows an organization to reduce

production lead time which in turn reduces the amount of inventory
required. A Kanban is a card containing all the information required to
be done on a product at each stage along its path to completion and
which parts are needed at subsequent processes. A Kanban System
consists of a set of these cards, with one being allocated for each part
being manufactured, that travel between preceding and subsequent
processes. These cards are used to control work-in-progress (W.I.P.),
production, and inventory flow. A Kanban System allows a company to
use Just-In-Time (J.I.T) Production and Ordering Systems which allow
them to minimize their inventories while still satisfying customer
demands. (www.scm.ittoolbox.com)

60

WIP Work-in-process. WIP is a term that is used when products are

sitting still, or not being worked on, while moving throughout a facility
from one work area to another.

Overproduction occurs when an organization produces more products

than demanded by its customers or it produces a high volume of
products before they are needed.

Continuous improvement is the incremental improvement of products,

processes, or services over time, with the goal of reducing waste to
improve workplace functionality, customer service, or product
performance (Suzaki, 1987) (http://www.mamtc.com).

Lean Manufacturing is a system that uses a minimal amount of

resources to produce a high volume of high quality products with some
variety. (Stevenson)
Lean Manufacturing can also be defined as:
"A systematic approach to identifying and eliminating waste (nonvalue-added activities) through continuous improvement by flowing the
61

product at the pull of the customer in pursuit of perfection." (MFG

Solutions website)

Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMS) is a configuration of

computer-managed numerical work stations where materials are
automatically handled and machine loaded. (www.kwaliteg.co.za)

Production cell configuration is a strategy that is designed to

increase the flexibility of an operation, in order to produce a high
volume of different products in smaller batch sizes, while reducing
operating costs and increasing the overall production of the work
force. (Cooper Cameron Corp)

Waste is any type of service or operation that the customer does not
pay for. (This is the same as non-value-added activities)

Stop the Line Quality System is when the power is given to

workers to stop the process when abnormalities occur, allowing them

62

to prevent the defect or variation from being passed along.

(http://www.profitec.com/)

Throughput is the total amount of time it takes a part to reach

completion from the time that it starts being machined, to the minute it
is finished and moves on the next phase of its production cycle.

Safety Stock is a surplus inventory which is stored in order to protect

the company from inefficiencies and unexpected problems or customer
orders.

Manufacturing perfection is when an organization can produce its

products with zero manufacturing defects, a low inventory system, little
overhead and indirect labor costs, no maintenance or machine issues,
zero personnel safety related issues and meet all of the customers
requirements and delivery times on every order that organization
receives.

63

Just-in-time is a strategy for inventory management in which raw

materials and components are delivered from the vendor or supplier
immediately before they are needed in the manufacturing process.
(http://www.investorwords.com/cgi-bin/getword.cgi?2688)

Visual Management (5-S) focuses on effective work place

organization and standardized work procedures. 5S is a tool that is
designed to simplify your work environment. 5-S reduces waste and
non-value activities, while improving quality, efficiency and safety.
(Cooper Cameron Corp)
1. Sort (Seiri) Keep only what is required
2. Set in Order (Seiton) Arrange and identify for ease of use, organize
3.

Shine (Seiso) Clean regularly. Clean up everything thats left

4.

Standardize (Seiketsu) Eliminate causes and reduce variations, make

standards obvious

5. Sustain (Shitsuke) Set discipline, plan, schedule, train AND STICK TO

IT!

64

References:

1. Operations Management (7th Edition), William J. Stevenson (pgs.

26-27)
2. Cooper Cameron Corp. Lean Manufacturing training presentation
3. 5-S for Operations: 5 pillars of the visual workplace, Productivity
Press, 1996
4. The Machine That Changed the World, Womack, Jones & Roos,
1990
5. http://www.profitec.com/.
6. www.kwaliteg.co.za
7. www.scm.ittoolbox.com
8. http://www.mamtc.com/lean/intro_intro.asp
9. http://www.mfgsolutions.org/lean.html

65

APPENDIX I

Implementing the 5-S concept in an Oil and Gas

Ball Valve Manufacturing Facility
Final Research Paper
EMGT 540 SP 2006
Ryan Henderson

66

INTRODUCTION
Organization, cleanliness, appearance, quality and safety are issues that
are key factors involved in the direct success of Manufacturing
Processes. All of these issues must be closely observed, tracked and
constantly improved to perform consistently at a level which allows the
company to meet the customers demands. Numerous organizing quality
methods have been developed to prevent problems with the issues
previously listed. Some of the main issues with the proposed methods
were inconsistency and unrealistic goals.

The Management team

decided to implement the Japanese 5-S concept.

This research is motivated by an actual manufacturing problem in a

continuous manufacturing system of a Trunion Ball Valve Company. On
the average, the Ball Valve plant receives more than 100 customer orders
in a month, totaling about 250 valves. The production system is capable
of producing a large number of valves with different sizes, through
multiple processing lines. A large number of process constraints exist
due to varied capabilities of the production lines and the sizing

67

differences of the valves. Most of the valves can be produced on more

than one line and some of the processes require the sharing of special
tools. However, most of the problems are due to the lack of organization,
consistency and standardization.
The current work place organization plan is informal and based on the
operators personal preference and experience. With an increasing
emphasis on the multiple responsibilities of workers, increase of valve
options and operational shifts the management team decided to
implement a plan that would eliminate the current process issues in the
Manufacturing facility. The management team decided that the 5S
concept could effectively impact the way the company do business.
Based on Japanese words that begin with S, the 5S Philosophy
focuses on effective work place organization and standardized work
procedures. 5S was designed to simplify the work environment, reduces
waste and non-value activity while improving quality efficiency and
safety.
1. Sort (Seiri) the first S focuses on eliminating unnecessary items
from the workplace. The operator is required to sort through his
68

or her work area, removing all of the tools that are not needed on
a daily basis. The operator moves all of the seldom used or
special items to an easily identifiable area for storage.
Sorting is an excellent way to free up valuable floor space and
eliminate such things as broken tools, obsolete jigs and fixtures,
scrap and excess raw material. The Sort process also helps
prevent the JIC job mentality (Just In Case.)
2. Set In Order (Seiton) is the second of the 5Ss and focuses on
efficient and effective storage methods.
You must ask yourself these questions:
What do I need to do my job?
Where should I locate this item?
How many of this item do I really need?
Strategies for effective Set In Order are: painting floors,
outlining work areas and locations, shadow boards, and
modular shelving and cabinets for needed items such as trash

69

cans, brooms, mop and buckets. Imagine how much time is

wasted every day looking for a broom? The broom should
have a specific location where all employees can find it.
3. Shine: (Seiso) Once you have eliminated the unneeded items that
have been clogging your work areas and identified and located
the necessary items, the next step is to thoroughly clean the work
area. Daily follow-up cleaning is necessary in order to sustain
this improvement. Workers take pride in a clean and clutter-free
work area and the Shine step will help create ownership in the
equipment and facility. Workers will also begin to notice changes
in equipment and facility location such as air, oil and coolant
leaks, repeat contamination and vibration, broken, fatigue,
breakage, and misalignment. These changes, if left unattended,
could lead to equipment failure and loss of production.

4. Standardize: (Seiketsu) Once the first three 5Ss have been

implemented, you should concentrate on standardizing best

70

practice in your work area. Allow your employees to participate

in the development of such standards.
5. Sustain: (Shitsuke) this is by far the most difficult S to
implement and achieve. Human nature is to resist change and
more than a few organizations have found themselves with a dirty
cluttered shop a few months following their attempt to implement
5S. The tendency is to return to the status quo and the comfort
zone of the "old way" of doing things. Sustain focuses on
defining a new status quo and standard of work place
organization.
Once fully implemented, the 5S process can increase morale,
create positive impressions on customers, and increase efficiency
and organization. Not only will employees feel better about
where they work, the effect on continuous improvement can lead
to less waste, better quality and faster lead times. Any of which
will make the organization more profitable and competitive in the
market place.

71

LITERATURE REVIEW
Implementing the 5-S concept into an Oil and Gas service industry
company is not the easiest concept to create a plan for. Reason being,
most firms change processes for each job. Their workers are cross
trained and are veterans of their trades. These issues culminate into an
ending conclusion that consists of personnel that are unwilling to
change, inconsistent processes which make it hard for the 5-S leaders to
arrow down their scope to create the perfect scenario and the industry is
not use to improvement plans such as 5-S.

During my research for implementing 5-S in a Valve Manufacturing

environment, it was difficult to find documentation that pertained to the
industry that I was focusing on. Many concepts have been created from
5-S, which focus mainly on repetitive manufacturing facilities. In the
Oil and Gas or energy service industry, it is hard to find a repetitive
type manufacturing environment.

Most Energy service companies

change processes for each job. Some Energy service manufacturers

create new processes everyday. Another key issue is time. Usually

72

these firms are under thin time restraints.

This impedes upon the

workers time to create and implement 5-S related ideas.

The article titled, An investigation into Japanese 5-S practice in UK

industry, Warwood & Knowles, Oct 2004, provides the findings from a
survey on 5-S from Manufacturing Organizations throughout the
United Kingdom. The research thoroughly reviews the 5-S literature
and how it pertains to the UK workers. The authors also conducted a
survey using a questionnaire, and then they followed-up the
questionnaire with a series of semi-structured interviews and critique
findings with the literature. The conclusions of the research are that
practice and theory are closely related and any differences in the
implementation of 5-S can be attributed mainly to the maturity of the 5S program. Clearly, there is great scope for the application of 5-S in the
non-manufacturing environment. I found these types of research
articles to be overwhelming popular throughout my research.
However, as you can tell by my summary of the article, they are
normally very vague and unrelated to specific fields, especially the
Energy Services Industry.
73

Switched

on,

JUNE

2004,

five

successful

years

into

lean

manufacturing, ASCO Valve is on a never-ending journey of continuous

improvement, as Director of Operations Pete Viens explains to Gary
Toushek.

This was an interesting article that I found in North American Industry

Magazine.

ASCO valve is a very popular valve manufacturing

company.

They have an excellent reputation and produce a wide

variety of valve options. This article, though not directly for the energy
service industry, correlates perfectly to what I am trying to accomplish
with my research. In the article, Pete Viens explains how ASCO has
implemented Kaizen events or quick change over events in
combination with the 5-S concept, which now occur monthly, have
dramatically changed the way that ASCO manufacturers their valves.
These changes have ultimately increased productivity by 30 - 60 %.
That is a remarkable improvement when you consider the simple
changes that are involved with the 5-S concept.

74

5-S is an excellent tool to motivate and improve the moral of the

work force. Not only does it help to improve Quality, Safety
and appearance, it allows the lowest level workers to express
and implement their ideas. By allowing the workforce the
opportunity to become involved in 5-S they are immediately
responsible for implementing 5-S into their work area. This
gives them the responsibility of a project manager for that
area. That statement says it all. It creates and builds
confidence in that individual gives them purpose and
excitement to create, implement and constantly improve
their 5-S plan. The following article is an excellent example
of how 5-S can positively impact an organization on an
individual basis.

75

The following is a transcript of the prestigious Industrial Maintenance

and Plant Operation (IMPO) Magazine's Cover Story of
September 2003. Best Practices: Metaldyne's 5S Showcase. The
auto supplier's die-casting facility in Niles, IL, is nearing plantwide completion of a 5S strategy that has both bonded the
workforce and helped keep the unit competitive through tough
times.

76

Dolack adds that management at Niles and corporate-level managers

are honestly interested in what the workers do "and how they do
it. Through 5S," he says, "the Metaldyne Corp. is trying to
communicate to the working people that they have a lot more
control over their own destiny than they think, that they are
really the people who make the difference as to whether the
parts are good or bad or a plant is safe or not safe, and whether
we get jobs or not." This quote from the article sums up my
previous statement and shows how the 5-S tool is not only a
productivity, clean house and safety improvement tool, it is
also a morale boosting tool that brings the entire work force
together. It also generates enthusiasm, energy and builds pride
among the workers for their efforts in implementing the 5-S
tools in to their assigned work areas.

A few questions that must be addressed that have been discovered after
conducting the literature review for this research paper are as follows:
1.

How will the shop workers react to the changes that will be

caused by implementing the 5-S concept within the Valve

77

Manufacturing Facility?
2.

How long will it take for the workers and management to

accept the changes and the new responsibilities from the 5-S
implementation?
3.

What are some key areas with in the shop that need more

focus compared to less used areas.

4.

How will the responsibilities be assigned and how will

supervisors allot time for workers to implement the 5-S tools

into their every day practices.

METHODOLGY AND PROBLEM SOLVING APPORACH

The methodology used to implement the research objective was fairly
simple.

From the resources that are available via the internet and

books/journals, the most important part was establishing a solid plan.

The plan included the following:

Get line supervisors involved immediately

Allow them to pick the lead men for each line

Start small

78

Introduce all of the members to 5-S

Help with the first project on each line

Start and complete a project before moving to the next

one.

Continue to teach the 5-S concepts on a bi-weekly

basis

Ensure that everyone is committed

Continue to push and motivate

Change out lead men from each line on a quarterly

basis

Reward excellent performance

By creating and implementing this plan, everyone with in the 5-S

implementation plan was onboard and ready to go from Day1. The
workers thoroughly enjoyed the 5-S program. It instilled pride and
enthusiasm among all of the workers. They were all very excited to
finally have the opportunity to implement ideas that they had though of
for years. Many of their ideas were excellent and played a vital role in
79

increasing the efficiency and productivity of the manufacturing process.

In many ways, the quality and safety improved with in the facility as
well. Most importantly, all of the workers now took more pride and felt
responsible for their projects and daily work.

EVALUATION OF METHODOLGY
The outcome of the 5-S concept project was excellent.

All of the

personnel involved thoroughly enjoyed coming up with various

improvement ideas. The projects allowed the workers to come out of
their working molds and use some of their creativity and ingenuity. The
projects also instilled pride with in the workers, knowing that they
implemented their own ideas.
Quality, safety and visual improvements were also noted from the
completion of each project.

Areas were now neat, efficient, more

productive and clean. It was very impressive to observe some of the

before and after pictures of each project.

CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS

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The 5-S Concept is an excellent project to implement in any workplace.

5-S was created to improve Manufacturing environments but the
concept can be used to help improve any workplace or home. Once the
5 steps are implemented, discipline and continued effort will be needed
in order for the project to succeed and expand throughout the mindset
of the workforce and the facility.

In an Oil and Gas environment change is a hard challenge for any

skilled process holder no matter what the skill level or age. Most of the
workers have been around for decades and understand their work and
perform very well in that discipline.

However, once someone

introduces the workers to 5-S and provides them the teaching, resources
and time to implement the ideas, they will run with it. The Oil and Gas
work force will do an excellent job due to their pride and knowledge of
tricks of the trade and experience.
The 5-S concept is an excellent concept for any environment or
industry. It is also a must for the Oil and Gas industry. Due to
increased customer demands and work force cutbacks, it is extremely
important to be lean, organized and produce quality product in a safe
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and efficient environment.

There is no better way to create an

environment that can compete in todays Oil and Gas market than by
implementing the 5-S concept into the mindset of the worker and the
workplace.
The outcome for the 5-S implementation for the research objective was
positive.

The manufacturing operations benefited greatly from the

improved morale, motivation and enthusiasm of the workers.

The

quality, safety and productivity reaped the benefits of the 5-S program
too. The over all looks of the facility improved greatly as well. Most
importantly, the workers pride and team mindset improved in a
positive dramatic fashion.
Future research directions for the facility are ongoing. The company
implemented Six Sigma at the corporate level in 1998. This is a long
term project that will take years to fully integrate within the mindset of
the office and shop personnel.

Most have embraced it, but with

workers in the tens of thousands and over 100 facilities World wide, it
will take a while for the concept to be fully grasped across the board.
The 5-S concept has been updated and ongoing everyday after the
conclusion of this research with in the specified facility.

The
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researched facility has undergone many changes and taken on several

new product lines from buy outs. These product lines and changes will
soon undergo the transformation caused by implementing the 5-S
concept.

Until the opportunity to implement the 5-S concept is

available, the 5-S initiative team will continue to implement the

toughest 5-S step, sustain.

REFERENCES
1.
2.

5-S Training Cooper Cameron 2002

An investigation into Japanese 5-S practice in UK industry,
Stephen J. Warwood, Graeme Knowles, TQM Magazine, Oct
2004 Volume: 16 Issue: 5 Page: 347 353.

3.

Switched on, June 2004, Five successful years into lean

manufacturing, Director of Operations (ASCO Valves) Pete
Viens explains to Gary Toushek,
http://www.themanufacturer.com/naindustry/content_page.html?
article_id=214

4.

Best Practices: Metaldyne's 5S Showcase, Industrial Maintenance

and Plant Operation (IMPO), Cover Story, September 2003, By
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Rick Carter, Editor-in-Chief

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