Driving Operational Performance Through People, Processes and Systems

While many operational improvement projects focus solely on production or maintenance issues, a holistic approach across departments may be necessary to save a struggling plant. The client was stuck barely treading water, without the bandwidth or knowledge of how to pull themselves out of a bad place, and with issues spilling into every department. Vicious cycles are hard to break without outside intervention. For example:

• Mandatory overtime and weekends due to not meeting production goals and being short staffed led to employee dissatisfaction and high rates of turnover. New employees without experience struggled to run equipment, leading to missed production goals and continuing the cycle of overtime and frustration all over again.
• Poor performance created a culture of needing to run at all costs, encouraging maintenance to use quick fixes. Maintenance also lacked a PM program, which only exacerbated equipment degradation and led to large downtime events.
• Lack of structure in the warehouse led to inventory inaccuracies and missed shipments. Additionally, ineffective planning resulted in overruns of unnecessary products taking up valuable rack space, causing production lines to be shut down at times due to lack of space in the warehouse.

As One Consulting partnered with them to develop an action and recovery plan; focused efforts spread across production, maintenance, warehouse and shipping, planning and scheduling, and human resources, with an overarching management operating system (MOS) to tie everything together. The goal was to break the cycles, teach new ways of operating, and install sustainability measures so they could move forward and continue to improve over time.

For the scope of this project, a focus line was identified to use as a model for consultant to implement tools and train plant team, with the expectation that these tools and skills would be carried over to other lines.

Tools Utilized:

• Centerline
• Changeover Procedures
• Operational SOPs and OPLs

Approach & Results:

• The first improvement initiative was executing a Centerline program on major machine centers on the focus line (Check out Mastering Centerline Excellence – As One Consulting for more detail on Centerlining). Second, changeover documentation was created to reduce changeover times and ensure consistency across shifts and with new employees.
• For the focus line, OEE improved by 31% (from 45% to 59%). Operators experienced fewer micro-stops and large downtime events, spent less time dialing in after changeovers, and operated consistently across shifts.

Across the plant, preventative maintenance was not being scheduled or given priority, maintenance was only fixing issues as they arose, and there was a lack of organization of critical spares and consumable parts.

Tools Utilized:

• Preventative Maintenance (PM) documentation & scheduling
• Critical spares management
• Bill of Materials (BOMs)

Approach & Results:

• PMs were created, critical spares were identified, parts warehouse was organized, and BOMs were created for production equipment.
• Down days for maintenance activities were built into the production schedule, resulting in planned downtime to perform PM’s and fix issues instead of reacting to breakdowns. After moving away from reactive maintenance, the maintenance manager was able to spend more time managing the team and was not stuck on floor fixing breakdowns.

The two onsite warehouses struggled with overflowing racks, missing and inaccurate inventory, and unclear targets. Additionally, they fell short fulfilling outbound loads, loaded orders incorrectly, and frequently shut down production lines due to perceived lack of space in the warehouses.

Tools Utilized:

• Visual management
• Inventory accuracy
• Warehouse accountabilities (RACI) & standard work

Approach & Results:

• The warehouses were manually inventoried to get accurate counts and were then reorganized with visual management (rack labels, maps, etc.). To drive productivity, shift targets were established, and supervisor standard work was created in conjunction with a Warehouse RACI to hold team accountable for targets.
• For sustainability, the warehouses were monitored with weekly Gemba walks to ensure inventory stays accurate and racks are filled properly. One of the biggest impacts was the fact that production was no longer shut down due to lack of warehouse space.

Before implementing the recovery plan, the planning and scheduling department struggled with constant schedule churn, unclear priorities, and a gross mismatch between plant capability and scheduled volumes, resulting in frequent incomplete schedules.

Tools Utilized:

• Changeover time identification
• Locked (frozen) schedule and schedule sequencing
• Decreased number and set order of changeovers

Approach: & Results:

• To begin, the team identified changeover times and targets, updating old standards, and utilizing the new standards in planning. A locked schedule was the new expectation, and the production team was held accountable for staying on schedule and only using next logical sequence changes when absolutely necessary to change schedule.
• Clear communication between planning, production, maintenance, and warehouse ensured everyone stays on schedule and got the time / products needed.

One of the largest challenges was the lack of staffing and inadequate training, leading employees to feel overworked (12 hour shifts, mandatory Saturdays) and undertrained, contributing to high turnover and low retention rates for new hires.

Tools Utilized:

• Major hiring events
• Skills matrix, documented expectations for roles, & performance/skill reviews
• Formalized onboarding & training documentation

Approach & Results:

• Gaps in interview support as well as probationary period flaws of new hires were identified through mapping the recruitment process through orientation. A new supervisor training matrix was created, as well as documented skills and qualification for all positions in the plant. Finally, a plant trainer was hired to be responsible for training new hires.
• Hiring events generated three large orientation classes and plant wide efforts were made to improve retention, bring new hires up to speed, and improve overall morale.

To properly manage the recovery effort and ensure sustainability in the future, consultants worked with the plant leadership to install a robust management operating system (MOS).

Tools Utilized:

• Meeting guides, scorecards, and shift reporting
• Leader standard work, Gemba walks, and shopfloor visual management
• Escalation process, Root Cause Analysis, and problem-solving training

Approach & Results:

• As One installed critical meetings, including a Daily Direction Setting (DDS). Supervisors and managers were given standard work to provide structure to their days, reducing firefighting. The client team was trained on using an escalation process and root cause analysis.
• After coaching, meetings were productive and focused on improving performance. Supervisors used standard work to stay on task and complete the same duties across shifts. Performance was tracked using visual management tools, which allowed for early intervention of problems, instead of going hours or shifts without meeting targets.

When plant wide problems spiral out of control, drastic action is required to interrupt and reverse bad habits and vicious cycles. They lacked the capacity and experience needed to dig themselves out of their poor performance hole. After partnering with the As One team, the client saw dramatic improvements in production performance, reduction in mechanical/maintenance related downtime, better adherence to production schedule, faster and more accurate shipping, and increased employee retention and satisfaction.

For any project to be successful long term, the client needs to be invested in their own success, commit to lasting behavioral changes, stay diligent with accountability, and continue utilizing and improving upon the installed tools. As One places heavy emphasis on installing sustainability measures through an integrated MOS, so that performance improvement is always front of mind and bad habits don’t creep back.