Leading the Change 443

Chapter 20. Leading the Change 443

the plant would allow for quick replenishment of damaged jigs or changes to existing equipment.

They next described their accomplishment in the area of one-piece flow. The group knew this was the ideal in lean manufacturing, based on an internal Acme workshop they had attended, and believed that Yoshina would therefore approve of their approach. The team was even prouder to report that due to the final machining cut, the initial one piece would become two individual finished pistons downstream in the process. Therefore, the line would enjoy enhanced productivity numbers, since handling one piece upstream meant two pieces of finished product downstream.

They then moved on to discuss the work flow in their cell. Everyone knew that the machine from Vendor 2 was about 66 percent faster than the machine from Vendor 5. Instead of waiting for a challenging question from Yoshina with regard to operator balance, the team anticipated the query and presented a chute concept that would be installed on several of the machines to hold a dozen pieces of work in process. Since the Vendor 2 machine was faster, it would be manually loaded and unloaded by an operator. On the other hand, due to the slower cycle time of Vendor 5, an automatic load/unload option had been purchased for that machine. In this way, it was calculated that the additional time the human operator took to load and unload parts from the Vendor 2 machine would offset its faster cycle time, thus bringing it into rhythm with the Vendor 5 machine. To complete the system, the dozen pieces of work in process would act as a buffer, just in case the automatic load/unload mechanism and the manual load/unload operator got out of sync with one another.

As for how the tool actually hit the metal, the X10 team decided to clamp the piece of metal to be machined in place, then move the tooling up and down above the piece in order to machine it. Coolant would be sprayed over the workpiece, and the plant’s first implemen- tation of standardized work would require operators to remove the chip build-up from the fixtures and tooling every hour.

These decisions enabled the new X10 module to fit into an unusually shaped space on the manufacturing floor, next to the two other X10 cells (Figure 20-3). Achieving this co-location goal was projected to save the material handlers supplying the line over 200 hours annually. The X10 team also reaffirmed the decision of previous X10 teams to keep the two metal-coating processes at an outside vendor, though their quality had taken a turn for the worse. This would increase work in process levels by 15 percent, but they would not have to invest in the $95,000 equipment and associated training.

T HE T OYOTA W AY F IELDBOOK

They concluded the presentation with an update from the quality leader on the team. Due to the projected savings from various decisions throughout the design process, the team was planning to use surplus funds to invest in a data collection package that would monitor each machine’s performance. Data could then be gathered at a PC with software capable of producing reports showing various metrics of interest such as down time, number of pieces produced, and machine cycle time. Collecting this sort of information was extremely important since the quality level of the current two X10 modules were not meeting targets.

With this, the presentation was over. Yoshina did not specifically comment on any of the plans presented. Instead, he approached the table and handed them a suggested layout for the X10 line that he had sketched during the presentation. They were surprised to see that Yoshina did not constrain the line to the oddly shaped space that was available next to the two current modules, but instead had sketched a straight-line layout. They agreed to discuss this proposal with the plant manager. Yoshina then thanked the group for their time and said he looked forward to hearing the layout decision.

Four days later Yoshina received an invitation to meet with the industrial engineer on the project. In the meeting, the engineer reported that after talking with the plant manager, it was decided that the layout would remain as the team had originally suggested. The plant manager did not understand why a layout that would require rearranging the proposed area to accommodate a straight-line flow was suggested. Yoshina realized that if the plant manager had taken a few minutes to go out to the floor, he would have seen the uneven risers, snakelike walk paths, and tight confines that characterized the convoluted layout he was supporting (Figure 20-3).

Upon hearing this news, Yoshina was obviously very disturbed. He could not figure out why Acme was paying his company hundreds of thou- sands of dollars in consulting fees for recommendations that would only be rejected. He got up from the meeting and stormed off, mut-

tering a barely audible “Yappari” 4 under his breath. Performance Results of Two Machining Lines

Which line performed better? In late 2004 both the A1 and X10 designed piston lines had been installed and were running for approximately two years. Though minimal official data exists for the performance of the A1 and X10 lines for the time they had been

4 This Japanese word evokes a feeling something to the effect of “as was expected,” or “just as I thought.”

Select A1 Line Characteristics

Previous Process

4 pieces in grinder at a time

4 pieces WIP at a time

1 machine builder

Gauging (1pc/1000)