Blog
The articles below explain how to overcome common barriers to improvement and how industry leaders sustain the gains where others are not able to.
This is based on our work with well-known and award winning organisations. There is much to learn from them. If there are any topics you would like is to add, please get in touch.
For more detailed articles check out our DAK Academy website guide which contains links to videos, articles and downloads.
Avoiding the Manufacturing "Whack a Mole" Game
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Around 500BC Heraclitus a Greek philosopher presented the assertion that life is in constant flux and that “the only constant is change”.
Heraclitus was notorious for his use of riddles to get people to reflect on the meaning, gain insight and alter their perspective. In this case he wanted people to think about how to prepare for change so that they are ready for whatever the future holds.
This message is as relevant now as it was then. What we do today will not be good enough in the future so...prepare to adapt. Those that don't will experience the equivalent of a Manufacturing "whack a mole" game
The Cross Functional Improvement Engine
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The barriers to higher levels of performance most frequently occur at the interface between functions. An effective Continuous Improvement programme will surface and resolve these barriers.
This often overlooked aspect, is an essential foundation for the creation of a proactive improvement culture to fuel the journey to industry leading performance.
The gains are significant because once this is in place, the synergy released improves the quality and pace of improvement across the organisation.
The leadership challenge is to make that happen but that involves aligning improvement priorities and workflows across the organisation.
Maintenance Planners as Improvement Leaders
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Research into improvement journeys of successful organisations identifies that bottom up driven improvement programmes are 3 times more effective than those purely driven top down. The backbone of the more successful improvement activities, is an (often informal) improvement leader network.
At the heart of this improvement network process are Maintenance Planners, their role includes actions to:
Engaging the Organisation With Delivery of Project Gains
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Research shows that where employees contribute to projects they are more than 3 times as successful as those that are purely driven top down.
Formally or informally, the backbone of these more successful projects, involves a network of stakeholders who work together to overcome the challenges faced by projects throughout their journey from investment concept to beneficial operation.
Keeping Workers and Attracting New Talent
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People want to feel that they are working for an organisation that knows what it is doing. One that has a purpose that they can relate to and become engaged with.
Naturally money is important but a characteristic of organisations that have low employee turnover is a drive to find answers that matter to lasting business success which encourages:
- A deeper understanding of how to do better, sustain gains and build the capabilities that the business needs to succeed.
- Engagement of peoples curiosity about what could be possible and alignment of personal and business led capability development priorities.
What employees want
Creating Your Digitisation Road Map
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Research into successful early adopters of advanced technology reveals that the biggest gains from advances in technology are due to the way the digitisation of information transforms traditionally functional workflows.
The improved quality of feedback from front line assets and true customer demand makes it possible to more closely integrate the workflows of sales, order processing, planning, engineering, material supply and operations and logistics.
That means that many of the rules of thumb used to deal with complex decisions are no longer the best option. That includes those used by planners to manage demand flows and those used by accountants for standard costing.
For example digitisation can...
The Missing Link to Lasting Improvement
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It is very easy to get locked into a cycle of fixing issues that are never fully resolved so they need to be fixed again at a later date.
To understand why this issue is so common, take a look at the 5 types of improvement solution. These relate to:
Overcoming Inertia
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This is the second article setting out how to deliver step up gains. If you haven't read the first one click here.
The most frequent reason for problem solving inertia is a lack of clarity about who is accountable for the fix to solve process.
Organisations that overcome this inertia well, put responsibility for the solution closest to the problem. That is they develop their front line team ability to achieve stable operation and support activities to ratchet up performance. Progress is measured by the teamwork development steps set out below.
The TPM Journey to Excellence
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TPM works best when it is used to increase shop floor problem ownership, develop skills and enhance cross functional collaboration.
That delivers the systematic removal of waste and hidden losses by those involved in creating customer value.
The TPM journey begins with actions to deal with 2 areas which research shows contribute to 85% of the causes of breakdowns. These are:
Ratcheting Up Performance
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In Manufacturing, most instances of unplanned downtime are due to small stops. These are not the major breakdowns that are central to Reliability failure curve concepts. Unsurprisingly failure curves don’t help when trying to resolve what is referred to in TPM as idling and minor stops.
Some organisations using TPM Focused Improvement tools, have been able to extend average time between intervention from the minutes experienced by many manufacturers to hours or more.
