LEAN PRINCIPLES FOR TEAMS

Course Description

Many companies in southern California have retained their competitive edge by reducing waste and increasing productivity through the implementation of a variety of innovative techniques and methods that fall under a general body of knowledge called Lean Operations.

With this course, you can prepare an entire team or just send one or two employees to learn how to lead the implementation of lean initiatives that could fundamentally change your company’s operations with significant gains in productivity and reduced operating costs.

Audience

Participants are leaders of organizations, supervisors, and value stream workers, no matter the business type, looking to start or revitalize an autonomous team organizational structure to achieve its many benefits.

Prerequisites

None.

Topics and Course Content

This course will cover topics such as:

Getting Ready for Lean

• Getting people involved and leading change
• A history of manufacturing – understanding why we do things the way we do
• Developing a new non-blaming culture focused on cooperative problem-solving
• How to keep people motivated and involved in implementing lean
• Structured problem-solving and teamwork
• Understanding quality control and its importance in lean implementation

The Elements of Lean and a High Performance Workplace

• Understanding the seven areas of waste
• Getting the workplace organized – the 5S program
• Process analysis and the identification of process or product families
• Eliyahu Goldratts’ Theory of Constraints – focusing on the pacer process
• Batch processing to continuous flow
• Workplace layout – job shop and flow shop
• The visual workplace
• Cellular operations

Implementation Strategies

• Value steam analysis
• Understanding and using TAKT time
• Balancing and leveling schedule and capacity
• Setup reduction techniques
• Setting up a KANBAN system (as it applies for supplies and inventory availability)
• Planning and conducting a KAIZEN event
• Setting up a TPM (Total Productive Maintenance) program (as needed)

Learning Goals and Results

At the conclusion of the course, the participants will be able to:

• Have a clear understanding and confidence to start the implementation of the powerful lean organizational structure
• Recognize the benefits of what a team structure will bring to customers, the organization’s quality, cost, and delivery measures, and its effect on employee motivation
• Lead improvement events
• Construct value stream maps to guide improvements
• Identify waste and recognize opportunities where Lean approaches can improve processes
• Select and apply the appropriate Lean methods and tools to reduce waste

Time Investment

This class is 80 hours of classroom time taken in 4-hour sessions over the course of 20 consecutive weeks.

Please Note: Course content and time investment can also be customized to an individual company’s needs.