CASE: QUALITY PARTS COMPANY
Questions
1. Which of the changes being considered by the manager of Quality Parts Company are counter to the lean philosophy? The philosophy of Lean Production involves the removal of wastes and non-value processes or production in the supply chain. The manager of Quality Parts Company has been contemplating to install an automated ordering system to help control inventories and to keep the skids filled. But this means the use of inventory as the reason to continue moving production forward. This change would not be recommended in a Just-In-Time process, for it will create holding time and non-value storage production. She is also planning to add three inspectors to clean up the quality problem. This would also be a waste and a non-value aspect, for it will add new salaries to pay. In-process inspections can be done by their own factory workers. They should be their own inspectors to create personal responsibility to motivate them to produce quality output production. Another is about setting up a rework line to speed repairs. This does not follow a lean philosophy for this will only add more time and cost for labor and machine utilization. The company should only focus on reducing waste including overproduction. Finally, to look into high-rise shelving to store parts coming off machine 4. Installing high rise shelves would create or add non-value storage of wasteful inventory in their process. Storing excess in production is considered a waste, and in a Lean philosophy company there is no room for additional stocks. Lean Philosophy main goal is to eliminate waste as thorough as possible, and factory inventory causes major waste for the company including in Quality Parts Company.

2. Make recommendations for lean improvements in such areas as scheduling, layout, kanban, task groupings, and inventory. Use quantitative data as much as possible; state necessary assumptions. Quality Parts Company has room for improvements in different areas, and there are recommendations that are needed to be addressed using lean philosophy to enhance their operations to produce better quality outputs. The company’s Operations and Setup time shows one of the highest operation and second to the highest in their set up time to be found in Step 1: Lathe with a 50-minute bottleneck. Automating this step or adding a machine to help boost operations to help speed up and improve production is a recommendation. It is also found that operation time is high on Assembly, having 50-minute bottleneck on Assembly step 1 and 3, and a 45-minute operation time in Assembly step 2. Improvements in the scheduling area should be ensured. Sufficient employees are needed to be hired with equal shifts for this area. The assembly line has to be given more attention to reduce waiting time for other lines to produce faster. The company’s layout of Gizmo production flow is counterproductive with skids ranging far apart. This will only cause more delay in process and waiting time in production. Using Lean philosophy, it is recommended to realign the skids necessary to reduce waiting periods and improve production. Using Lean philosophy can also be applied to Task groupings. The realignment of skids can also apply similar functions of grouping skids of the same area. This will improve production capacity and reduce time and inventory. Inventory should only be storing minimum parts needed for final products keeping a Just-In-Time process philosophy and applying it using Kanban control system.

3. Sketch the operation of a pull system for running Quality Parts Company’s current system. The operation of a pull system should reduce the lead time of Quality Parts Company’s current system. By using the Kanban pull system, factory workers, produce when a signal is given. It normally uses cards or empty containers before they have permission. The current layout of the company creates more time to process and have large bottlenecks that decrease production. Creating a simple layout like a straight or U-shaped production line should benefit the company making the flow of raw materials and parts efficient and smoother as it transfers to the different steps and departments. The company’s physical workflow also needs improvement. A cleaner workflow can be established by swapping machine 1 and machine 3 to give through Milling while Lathe is on hold. Placing Paint between assemblies can also improve time efficiency. Removing the wall or adding a door between skids 7 and 8 would reduce travel time and increase efficiency. Setting a Kanban system between machine 4 and assembly department step 9 should eliminate storage and non-value inventory, and act as a signal in the operation when they need to replenish needed supplies or when they reach limits to be able to stop production as well. [pic]

4. Outline a plan for introducing lean at Quality Parts Company. Steps in planning to introduce Lean Philosophy at Quality Parts Company. Guided by emphasized direction during implementation of the Company’s change. a. Recommendation b. Acceptance and Permission c. Development of Schedule for Implementation d. Training of Employees e. Team Development f. Implementation of Waste Reduction and Non-Value Process g. Retooling of machines and supply chain. h. Reallocation or realignment of work space i. Implementation of work flow

References: Operations and Supply Chain Management 14th edition by F. Robert Jacobs and Richard B. Chase – Chapter 14 pg. 347, 351, 353, 357, and 360 – 362

Task Groupings / Group Technology (GT) and Productivity https://hbr.org/1984/07/group-technology-and-productivity