PGDM- Lean Six Sigma by Operations & Supply Chain

About the Speaker

Mr. Aniruddha Bhalchandra Viladkar conducted this session on Lean Six Sigma. He has a professional education in CLSSBB and is a certified six sigma black belt from KPMG. He has a work experience of 37 years and has achieved several milestones. Also, he has 15 years of experience in various industries. He is currently working as a professional trainer and facilitator since 1999.

Mr. Aniruddha is active in the field of Lean Management & Quality Management. He has implemented Lean Manufacturing practices for Mahindra & Mahindra’s supplier cluster at Haridwar, Uttarakhand, India.  He was also trainer and facilitator for an LSI having turnover around 2000 Cr. For MSA and SPC PAN India for their Nasik, Pune and Chennai plants. He has also provided training and Gemba sessions regarding these subjects for the same plants.He has also provided ISO 9000 guidance / consultancy in the field of mechanical industry, plastic, rubber, finance/banks, hospitals. He has conducted freelance internal audits for large scale organizations for TS 16949.

Coming to the education of Mr. Aniruddha, he has completed Bachelor of Science in Physics from Mumbai University later he completed Master of Science in Physics and then he completed Diploma in Electronics and Radio Engineering from St. Xavier’s Technical Institute, Mahim, Mumbai.

Six Sigma

• The roots of Six Sigma as a measurement standard can be traced back to Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777-1855) who introduced the concept of the normal curve. Six Sigma as a measurement standard in product variation can be traced back to the 1920’s when Walter Shewhart showed that three sigma from the mean is the point where a process requires correction. Many measurement standards (Cpk, Zero Defects, etc.) later came on the scene but credit for coining the term “Six Sigma” goes to a Motorola engineer named Bill Smith.
• Six Sigma is a set of management tools and techniques designed to improve business by reducing the likelihood of error. It is a data-driven approach that uses a statistical methodology for eliminating defects. When organizations implement Six Sigma as a program or initiative, it often appears that they only have added, in an unstructured fashion, a few new tools to their toolbox through training classes.
• One extension of this approach is to apply the tools as needed to assigned projects. It’s important to note, however, that the selection, management, and execution of projects are not typically an integral part of the organization. The distinction between Six Sigma and lean has blurred, with the term "lean Six Sigma" being used more and more often because process improvement requires aspects of both approaches to attain positive results.
• Lean Manufacturing: -
• The concept of Lean begins with Toyota Production Systems. In 1913, Henry Ford propounded the flow of production by experimenting with interchanging and movement of different parts to achieve standardization of work. However, there was a limitation to the Ford’s system that it lacked variety and was applied to only one specification.
• Toyota inspired from the Ford’s flow of production concept and invented the Toyota Production System. The premise of this new system is to change the focus from the use and utilization of individual machines to the workflow from the total process. The Toyota Product system aims at reducing the cost of production, enhancing the quality of products, and increasing the throughput times so that the dynamic customer needs are met.
• This coined the term Lean manufacturing which refers to the application of Lean practices, principles, and tools to the development and manufacture of physical products. Many manufacturers are using Lean manufacturing principles to eliminate waste, optimize processes, cut costs, boost innovation, and reduce time to market in a fast-paced, volatile, ever-changing global marketplace.
• The phrase “Lean manufacturing” is synonymous with removing waste – and eliminating waste is certainly a key element of any Lean practice. But the goal of practicing Lean manufacturing isn’t simply to eliminate waste – it’s to sustainably deliver value to the customer.
• “4P” Model of Lean: -
• Philosophy - Companies must first determine their essential purpose. For some companies, profit may be the driving motivation, while others may exist for philanthropic purposes. Water and wastewater utilities provide an essential service to customers. Besides the general purpose of the organization, a company must also determine its philosophical drivers. These can include core values, mission, and vision.
• Process - Once purpose has been determined, a company must determine the process by which it reaches its customer and produces the product, whatever that product may be. Simply put, process refers to the way in which a business operates in relation to its customer and its internal operations. Most of the key principles of Lean thinking can be applied during the process step. Unfortunately, it is also the step at which many businesses become stuck if they lose focus or lack cooperation from employees or management.
• People - People refers not only to those for whom the product or service is created, but also the people within the organization who create the product or service. In other words, people are customers and employees, as well as some consultants and suppliers. Developing employees, growing leaders, improving management, and showing respect at all levels are important facets of this critical step.
• Performance - Performance is the final step of the Lean approach and is in line with the perfection principle. A company must assess any improvement in its ability to deliver its product or service and identify any additional gaps. Lean implementation typically goes through many trials and iterations before truly successful performance is achieved. Again, it is critical to remember that Lean is a continuous process that requires vigilance and ongoing effort from an organization.

Goals Of Lean Manufacturing:

The goal of lean manufacturing is to incorporate

• Less human effort – Focusing more on automation rather than manual work is an efficient way to improve manufacturing. The robot manipulators are nowadays used in to achieve this. The lesser the human effort quicker is the process.
• Less inventory – The aim here is to keep minimum inventory in a company though this is not the case generally seen in a manufacturing unit. Keeping the inventory in limit will lead to less wastage of products.
• Less time to develop products – A company should have a better R&D department to develop the product more quickly and efficiently. Also, the company management structure will play an important role in development time.
• Less space – If the company premises occupy a larger part of land, than the plant layout must be varied accordingly. A company with large area say with warehouse and production unit a little far away from each other would lead in overall delay in delivering and storing the finished products.

Keeping in mind the above 4 goals the following are some conditions that are to be followed to achieve an ideal lean manufacturing process:

• Zero breakdowns.
• Zero defects.
• Zero delays.
• Zero inventory.
• Zero accidents.
• Zero paper.
• Wastages of Lean

Lean thinking aims to remove wastes from work processes. Waste is any action or step in a process that does not add value to the customer. In other words, waste is any process that the customer does not want to pay for. The original seven waste (Muda) were developed by Taiichi Ohno, the Chief Engineer at Toyota, as part of the Toyota Production System (TPS).

The seven wastes are Transportation, Inventory, Motion, Waiting, Overproduction, Overprocessing and Defects. They are often referred to by the acronym ‘TIMWOOD’. These wastes increased to 9 in the modern lean thinking namely:

• Transportation - Waste in transportation includes movement of people, tools, inventory, equipment, or products further than necessary. Excessive movement of materials can lead to product damage and defects. Additionally, excessive movement of people and equipment can lead to unnecessary work, greater wear and tear, and exhaustion.
• Inventory - Often it is difficult to think about excess inventory as waste. In accounting, inventory is seen as an asset and oftentimes suppliers give discount for bulk purchases. But having more inventory than necessary to sustain a steady flow of work can lead to problems including product defects or damage materials, greater

lead time in the production process, an inefficient allocation of capital, and problems being hidden away in the inventory.

• Motion - The waste in motion includes any unnecessary movement of people, equipment, or machinery. This includes walking, lifting, reaching, bending, stretching, and moving. Tasks that require excessive motion should be redesigned to enhance the work of personnel and increase the health and safety levels.
• Waiting - The waste of waiting includes: 1) people waiting on material or equipment and 2) idle equipment. Waiting time is often caused by unevenness in the production stations and can result in excess inventory and overproduction.
• Over Production- Overproduction occurs when manufacturing a product or an element of the product before it is being asked for or required. It may be tempting to produce as many products as possible when there is idle worker or equipment time.
• Over Processing - Over-processing refers to doing more work, adding more components, or having more steps in a product or service than what is required by the customer. In manufacturing this could include using a higher precision equipment than necessary, using components with capacities beyond what is required, running more analysis than needed, over-engineering a solution, adjusting a component after it has already been installed, and having more functionalities in a product than needed.
• Defects - Defects occurs when the product is not fit for use. This typically results in either reworking or scrapping the product. Both results are wasteful as they add additional costs to the operations without delivering any value to the customer.
• Underutilized People - This waste occurs when organizations separate the role of management from employees. In some organizations, management’s responsibility is planning, organizing, controlling, and innovating the production process. The employee’s role is to simply follow orders and execute the work as planned. By not engaging the frontline worker’s knowledge and expertise, it is difficult to improve processes.
• Behavior – People’s behavior plays an important role in manufacturing process. As a company is made from its people. A person who is at manager post and is least interested in his/her job will create a chain of communication gaps across the departments, this could lead to cause of the above factors.

Lean Manufacturing Tools: -

There are numerous lean manufacturing tools available for use in your company. They combine to make a comprehensive whole that can be applied as Lean within your organization. These tools are most successful when used together, although several can be utilized on their own to solve specific problems in your organization. Below some tools are well described.

The Five S

• 5s is defined as an approach that produces a clean, uncluttered, safe, and well-organized workplace to reduce waste and maximize productivity.
• It is intended to aid in the creation of a high-quality work environment, both physically and mentally. The 5S principle can be applied to any workspace that is conducive to visual control and lean production.