Lean Manufacturing - Without proper planning

[PennStateIE]

I have a question. I am leaving my current job and moving on to better things (I believe). One of the concepts I tried to implement in my current job (and something that my boss wanted) was a lean manufacturing concept on our production department.

The problem I was running into was we don't plan anything, I could not control inventory and clean up areas, and there was a general sense of not wanting to change (among other things). I expressed these concerns to my boss and he told me that this company will NEVER plan and to move on, they will NEVER let me get rid of product and inventory that is not needed so move on and it is my job to convince everyone from management down to the floor people that change is needed (without showing numbers).

Like I mentioned before, I am now moving on and I have suggested to this company that they do not need to hire another engineer until they are ready to make some changes. My boss told me that they do not need to make these changes to be "lean and productive".

My question really is how would you feel about that? Would you want to be the only engineer for a company with that policy?

 

[aspearin1]

No... I interviewed with a company about a year ago. They flat out told me that were not, are not, and do not wish to be lean. They maintain huge buildings with 60ft ceilings. Most of the machinery utilize only 20 ft vertically. The only place that took up there ceiling height was there warehouse inventory. They walk about 1/8 mile from one village operation to another. When I walked in, I saw quite a bit of waste. But then they decided they wanted to cut cost. So they decided to automate. Why? To cut labor... not overhead, not scrap. In addition they decided that their they could not place the automated system into the current building (of which I disagree), so they built a new building, doubling the size of their plant for machine that takes up about 1% of the floor space. On my walkthrough, I saw one machine, and one space for planned machinery. The rest of the floor space is taken up by scattered pallets. I imagined what it might cost to heat the place, and then I realized how very cold I was. I don't think it was heated. Anyway, they offered me a job, for peanuts. And I declined. It became clear that what they wanted was to hire someone to maintain the path to one person's distorted view of efficiency, rather than bring in new ideas. That was top down.

I did, however, interview with a company that was really on track with lean manufacturing. No underutilized space, machinery, or people. It was like an ant colony watching these people work. The CEO admitted to me that it would not be possible if they had not gotten lean cooperation from their suppliers as well as their customers. Some people think "lean" means fewer people. But this company was ALL people, few machines. And they were lean. Raw material. Product residence time in a warehouse was less than 24 hours. It was impressive. (but they also offered peanuts, so I had to turn that job down too.)

ChemE, M.E. EIT
"The only constant in life is change." -Bruce Lee

 

[PennStateIE]

Thanks. At least the first company you interviewed with told you they did not want to go lean. The company I work for told me they DID want to be lean....they just do not want to adopt any of the practices of lean.

That is one of the reasons I did not last long here.

I am told they are going to look for another engineer to move them to lean and will not look for them to change. I have told them it will not work. Am I crazy?

 

[aspearin1]

Move on, and wish them best of luck. You've done all you can do.

ChemE, M.E. EIT
"The only constant in life is change." -Bruce Lee

 

[PennStateIE]

Thanks!

 

[MadMango]

I think you've already done the right thing by going elsewhere. Companies that want all the benefits of a program, but are unwilling to do any work to reap the rewards will not grow. They might exist for several decades, but won't grow.

We had a situation here where we implemented lean manufacturing for some hydraulic cylinders. We had done a bunch of studies to determine how many carts we needed and how many cylinders each cart would need to hold. The system was working great for about 6 months, then we got a new VP of Operations. He wanted to increase production, and thought by changing the carts to make them hold 50% more cylinders would do the trick. Now everytime I walk through the manufacturing floor, all I see are loads of compleated cylinders, stacked on shelves.

[green]"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."[/green]
Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943.
Have you read faq731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

 

[BillPSU]

Implementation of any program (JIT,Lean,TQM) starts with management buy in. It is obvious from your posting your company does not want to change and thinks it is doing the best things already. The time will come where change will be required or the company will die. In this case the company may die or be bought out by somebody who knows what needs to be done.

 

[PSE]

PennStateIE,

"If you don't have a plan, you have a plan to fail" (unknown).

You did well to move on to a different employer. Like others here, I turned down offers from companies that despite what they said, were unwilling to support improvements in their operations. Aspearin1 reminded me of one prospective employer that stated with pride that their inventory accuracy had increased to 20%! There also was stuff all over the place and you could not tell which parts were good and which weren't. While you might feel that you could do no wrong if you took such a job, you would have rapidly become very frustrated with the lack of the ability to implement improvements. The same day that I was interviewing, the local news was there reporting on layoff announcements.

Regards,

 

[PennStateIE]

Thanks! I feel better. I started my new job today and it is like night and day. Much Much better.