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CNC machine shops have it rough. Customers order smaller lot sizes and demand faster turnaround than ever before. More parts are made from nasty materials like Inconel and titanium, with tolerances and geometries so challenging they make even seasoned machinists quake in their steel-toed boots. To stay profitable, many embrace lean and Six-Sigma methodologies, but keeping foreign competitors or even the shop next door at bay takes a lot more than cutting some fat from business processes. Shops must become agile if they want to compete in this brave new world of low-volume, high-complexity machining.

Agile means having the equipment, tooling, software and know-how to respond quickly to changing customer needs while still making a buck. By their very nature, horizontal machining centers are one of an agile shop’s best friends. With built-in pallet changers standard on most machines, efficient chip flow and the ability to hit all sides of a part in a single setup, horizontals increase part throughput while reducing cost compared to their vertical cousins. Add a linear pallet system or pallet pool and a large-capacity tool magazine and shops can simply leave tools and fixtures in the machine indefinitely.

This makes setup for many parts a set-it-and-forget-it affair. And, with options such as broken tool detection and automated parts handling, the transition to lights-out manufacturing becomes a reality for many shops, allowing for unattended production at night and process prove-out during the day.

A Mighty Big Spread

Of course, it takes more than equipment to become an agile shop. It takes a focused, well-managed plan and having robust processes in place to get there (see sidebar on page 43). Let’s pretend, however, that you’re already have the agility of an Olympic triathlete, having addressed the sales and quoting, purchasing, quality control and engineering processes—all key parts of being agile. It’s time to shop for a new HMC, one that will help you along the road to agile. Dave Ward, product manager for Makino Inc., Mason, Ohio, said HMCs give shops the ability to quickly respond to customer demands, while also making short runs profitable.

“There are a number of reasons for this,” Ward said. “For starters, consider the work envelope. The typical 20 “×40 ” vertical is one of the most popular machining centers in the country. Those machines have roughly 800 sq. in. of space for setting up jobs. Horizontals, on the other hand, utilize a cylindrical work envelope—unwind that cylinder and you’re looking at twice the usable workspace as a typical VMC. Then consider there are two pallets on a horizontal and you have easily four times the available real estate as a comparably sized vertical.”

In addition to that large work envelope, the automatic pallet changer seen on virtually all HMCs means shops can load parts or change jobs on one pallet while the machine works on the other. This improves production efficiency and, properly leveraged, increases agility as well.

“By taking advantage of the machining capability in a 4-axis horizontal, together with tombstone-style fixturing, shops can easily have eight jobs set up at any given time, one on each side of the tombstone,” Ward explained. “With a little planning, you can either leave those jobs in place between runs or load a new faceplate and quickly get a different job into operation. This aspect of HMCs delivers flexibility unavailable from a traditional vertical.”

Granted, VMCs can be outfitted with rotary tables and pallet changers, accomplishing much the same thing. Yet this “bolt-on” approach can’t compete against a horizontal in terms of rigidity and accuracy, two attributes necessary for agile manufacturing.

Despite the obvious advantages, Ward said shops must be careful when choosing a horizontal. “You can have the best CAM system, the best machinists, all of your tools and raw material ready to rock and roll, but if you don’t have the right machine tool, you’re very limited.”

There’s a lot to consider. Ward said many machine tools stay in place for 15 years or so on average. But unless they own a crystal ball, most shops can’t predict what they’ll be doing next year or even the next day, let alone a decade from now. “Let’s say you’re running aluminum die castings today, so you select a machine with the latest 20,000-rpm spindle,” Ward said. “What happens 3 months from now when that job runs out and the next one is for cast iron parts?” For this reason, Ward said, shops should look for the best spindle technology available, preferably one with direct-drive motors, high torque and wide-ranging rpm capability. “If you’re looking to be agile and ready to handle whatever comes in the door, you really need to think ahead—prepare for the future with a horizontal machining center that is designed and built for versatility.”

Sharpest Tools in the Shed

Machine shops that operate versatile HMCs are usually in cycle 90 percent of the time, 7 days a week, which boosts their return on investment, according to David Lucius, vice president of sales for Methods Machine Tools Inc., Sudbury, Mass. There are plenty of shops adept at agile machining, but it’s a high bar to reach. “There are a couple of things working against you with high-mix, low-volume production,” Lucius said. “For one, your operators need to be very skilled.”

With lot sizes of five to 30 pieces and perhaps several dozen jobs available to run at any given time, an operator is responsible for managing multiple and, possibly, completely different parts throughout any given day. This means programming, inspection, tool offsets … the list goes on, all of it controlled by a few shop-floor Jedi knights. “The biggest challenge you have in this environment is the organization of your shop and your people,” Lucius said. “The actual machining is the easy part.”

He suggested material flow and workholding as excellent places to begin this organization. “It’s critical for shops to develop a standardized strategy on how to fixture their parts. The ones that are best at this put a lot of thought up front into workholding flexibility and how they feed raw material.”

Another key component is pallet layout. Most shops begin their horizontal journey with a single machine, adding on a pallet pool or linear pallet system as the business grows. Lucius said: “Not every shop can write a $2 million check for a multimachine flexible machining system. But they can, perhaps, get into a nice twin-pallet horizontal with 120 tools to start. Within a year or two, they can secure an eight-pallet system or add another machine. This lets you start with a much smaller investment.”

One company that started with a multipallet solution right away is Kenlee Precision Corp., Baltimore. Kenlee selected a 6-pallet, 120 tool KIWA KH-45 HMC from Methods, giving them the ability to accommodate high-mix, low-volume manufacturing demand. Alternately, another common strategy employed by Bass Machine, also located in Baltimore, was to purchase a pair of KIWA KH-45 HMCs—one with 60 tools and the other expandable to 120 tools.

The caveat is to make certain that adding capability doesn’t throw production into the tank. “Integrating multiple machines after the fact can easily cost several weeks of downtime,” Lucius said. “Buying modular equipment, with in-the-field expandable tool and pallet technology, helps alleviate this disruption.”

In Bass Machine’s case, this means they can have more tools or pallets on their KIWAs within 1 week, minimizing any negative impact on production.

One and Done

Another company that’s done just that is Choice Precision Inc., Whitehall, Pa. With a shop full of modern CNC equipment, including Mazak Palletech Manufacturing Systems equipped with pallet stackers and large-capacity tool magazines, Choice is one of the shops helping to define agile manufacturing. President Beth Rothwell agreed that winning at this game takes far more than high-tech equipment. “You can’t just buy a few horizontals and expect to be successful. Achieving this level of flexibility requires a cultural change: shop organization, employee education, tooling and fixturing—all of the elements have to be considered.”

Contacts:
Marc Valois
President and CEO
Intersol Group Ltd.
613-230-6424 ext.  241 | mvalois@intersol.ca

Larry Coté
President and CEO
Lean Advisors, Inc.
1-613-382-1583 | lcote@intersol.ca

Intersol Group Ltd. and Lean Advisors join forces to form a full service, integrated, top-tier management consultancy firm.

OTTAWA – May 20, 2014 – Intersol Group Ltd. and Lean Advisors Inc. today announced a joining of forces to combine Intersol’s strategic and cultural management expertise with Lean Advisors’ process transformation methodology.

With tremendous ongoing pressure in all sectors to do more with the resources they have, while streamlining business process and shaving costs, the focus has to be not only on process transformation, but also on strategic and leadership transformation.  The gap has been in how to integrate these elements with a view to creating ongoing sustainability.

Over the last couple of months serious discussion between these premiere consulting, training and coaching organizations has culminated in the two corporations jointly agreeing to provide a much needed solution.

“What we have just accomplished, by combining Intersol Group’s and Lean Advisors’ knowledge and expertise, gives organizations the complete knowledge, both of vision and action, that they require to effectively change their group or organization to meet the needs of their clients in the future,” said Larry Coté, President and CEO of Lean Advisers, Inc., “Our amalgamation is a union of expert talent that will give clients the complete solution to overcome and conquer the challenges facing them today and for decades to come.”

“We are delighted to welcome Lean Advisors into the Intersol Group of Companies,” said Marc Valois, CEO of Intersol Group Ltd. “Their Lean process expertise and methodologies, combined with Intersol Group’s expertise in Change Management, Employee Engagement, Leadership and cultural transformation provides a compelling way for organizations of all types and sizes to adapt to continual change while creating more value for the clients, members and stakeholders they serve.  The sustainability of the solutions we create with our clients will be a key differentiator for their organizations of the future.”

About Lean Advisors, Inc.
Lean Advisors is one of the most respected Lean consulting groups in North America.  Founded over 14 years ago and based in North America, it has built a team of senior consultants with hands-on experience in a variety of sectors.  In addition to their work with industry, the company has led the way to successful Lean practice in fields such as Healthcare, Education, Government and Manufacturing.

Their senior consultants are passionate about Lean transformation.  Their mastery of Lean and Kaizen methods combined with hands-on industry experience has prepared them for tough ‘real world’ issues such as resistance, outside perceptions, conflicting agendas, and the need for senior management support.  They help individuals become Lean leaders within their organizations as they overcome resistance to change and instill a Lean culture of continuous improvement. To learn more, please visit www.leanadvisors.com

About Intersol Group Ltd.
Intersol Group Ltd. is a bilingual team of experienced consulting, facilitation and learning professionals whose expertise lies in harnessing and building lasting organizational capacity for its clients.  Since 1989, the Intersol team has successfully delivered over 6,000 projects to hundreds of public sector, private sector and non-profit organizations across Canada.

Whether the focus is on shaping vision and strategy, on managing change, on stakeholder consultation, or on high performance teamwork, Intersol helps organizations leverage the knowledge, experience and expertise inherent in their own people.

Using processes, methods and tools that engage people to collaborate effectively and efficiently, we work with clients in the areas Stakeholder Engagement and Public Involvement; Direction Setting and Organizational Effectiveness; and Individual Effectiveness and Workplace Learning.  To learn more, please visit www.intersol.ca

Following are some typical questions we often receive about LEAN:

1. What is LEAN? LEAN is not a tool. LEAN is a unique way of thinking about how to assess and improve processes with a primary purpose of increasing value to clients.  When implemented properly, LEAN thinking will work for any process or organization that is looking to ‘do more with what they have’, in addition to adding value by improving quality, service and speed of delivery.
2. How is LEAN a solution? LEAN is an all-encompassing, strategic and tactical solution that engages staff to create an environment of client-focused energy to continuously provide value.  It breaks down the barriers between departments and develops a cohesive organization that moves in a common direction, constantly providing more value without increasing client costs.  LEAN enables public sector agencies to work more effectively and efficiently as a team by eliminating waste in their processes.
3. What impact will LEAN have if done properly? Numerous public sector organisations are using LEAN methods to dramatically improve the quality, service, and speed of their processes. The results have been impressive.

Here are some typical results that have been attained by various government groups:

• 25 – 100% increase in capacity without adding resources or working harder;
• 25 – 50% improvement in quality and customer satisfaction;
• 25 – 100% improvement in financial performance;
• Increased employee engagement and reduced firefighting and stress – staff are focused on devoting more time and resources to their core business and competencies.

The LEAN culture works to change the sorts of attitudes that create wasteful, ‘silo’ behaviours and interdepartmental friction. As a result, workloads become more balanced, fluctuations in pressures are reduced, and employees become more engaged as they participate in the improvements. Our government is continually being asked to do more with less.  Intersol combines its knowledge and expertise in Change Management with LEAN to provide a powerful solution to the challenge.

The workshop will begin with an introduction to Lean and the common elements of Lean transformation programs. This will include a frank and objective discussion/presentation on what to look for when trying to decide whether to adopt Lean or even consider getting that knowledge. Lean practitioners from Industry Canada’s Intellectual Property Office will then present and discuss their journey using Lean. They will demonstrate their successes and challenges of the past and the plans and roadmap ahead for the future.

Register HERE

Date:          April 16, 2014

Location: RCAF Officer’s Mess
158 Gloucester Avenue
Ottawa, ON

Time:       8:00am – 8:30am: Registration and Breakfast
8:30am – 10:30am: Presentation
10:30am – 11:00am: Knowledge Sharing

Price:      $100.00 + HST

Speakers: Jean-Rene Drapeau, Director, Business Improvement Services – Canadian Intellectual Property Office, Industry Canada (CIPO)

Bob Nolan, Manager, Lean Management Centre – Canadian Intellectual Property Office, Industry Canada

Larry Cote, President, Lean Advisors Inc.

Our organization, Lean Advisors Inc., work with clients from a wide business spectrum including manufacturing, service, healthcare, education and government. In every case, we often hear, “Lean sounds good, but we are different.” Although every organization may be different in terms of what product or service they provide, our message is consistent. Lean is a customer centric philosophy designed to support organizations to better understand and meet the needs of their customers. Ultimate goal is to deliver the best product, with the highest quality and at least cost. This is non-negotiable.

The term Lean is probably one of the most misused terms, being used to describe every business process ‘improvement’ activity in the last 15-20 years. Lean is simply about creating more value for customers by eliminating activities that are considered waste. Any activity or process that consumes resources, adds cost or time without creating value becomes the target for elimination. Thus, Lean will work for any process or business that is looking to add value.

Different types of Waste exist in every company from the front office, to the production floor through to customer delivery. The easy part is to identify and classify the different types of waste. Knowing how to properly remove waste is much more challenging.  Waste is actually a symptom of poor workplace organization and work flow.

One of the important aspects of Lean is the focus on ‘system-level’ improvements (versus ‘point improvements’). It’s the system-level work that can remove waste and dramatically improve an organization’s bottom line results.

System thinking is about optimizing the end to end processes within a organization from the initial order or sales contact through to scheduling, production, distribution and ultimate delivery to the customer. Often organizations exceed in some of these areas but very few actually look at the entire end to end process or Value Stream. Lean analysis through Value Stream Mapping often uncovers situations where one segment of the business or one process step is optimized at the expense of another business segment or process.

Lean is actually a common sense approach based on five fundamental principles:

1. Define Value from the Customer Perspective
2. Identify and understand the end to end Value Stream
3. Make Value Flow within the end to end Value Stream
4. Create Pull from the customer
5. Strive for perfection

Where do we start?

One of the most common questions we are asked is – “Where do we start?” and “How do we do it the ‘right’ way?”  The key to success is to have an effective plan specifically for your situation and environment.  Without an effective plan, you will either fail totally or not maximize your potential.  This is actually the toughest challenge for the senior leadership in any organization.

It is critical to introduce an integrated Lean Transformation.  A three phase approach to adopting and applying Lean provides the best assurance to sustain your efforts over the long term and to embed Lean, creating a continuous improvement culture.

Phase 1- Strategic Planning

As organizations realize that they are at risk, they must begin to look for solutions. Current practices successfully brought companies to where they are today but unfortunately those same practices will not be enough for tomorrow. It is important for organizations to recognize the need for change and to begin a new journey to reinvent themselves. This does not mean you ignore your past but rather celebrate those successes and use them to leverage thinking to generate new solutions that can carry you into the future.
Leaders must be prepared to critically view the current situation from their clients perspective and to align their strategy/direction accordingly. Key metrics must be established to support and reinforce this new client-centric business perspective.

Phase 2- Developing the Plan

Developing the plan is actually applying the second principle of Lean. Enterprise Value Stream Mapping is a fundamental Lean tool that becomes the driver of change.
Enterprise Value Stream Mapping captures all activities along the entire Value Stream from customer order through to the production and delivery of the product or service. This tool provides us with the complete picture of the Current State and designs a more effective Future State; a vision of how we will organize work and processes with less waste.  Enterprise Value Stream Mapping includes the information, communication and scheduling flows to help companies fully understand how each process step or activity connects and integrates (or not) from a system perspective.

A value stream is the set of all activities, from request to delivery, used to provide a product or service to clients. Understanding and improving processes as integrated end-to-end systems is fundamental to real and sustainable improvement. An Enterprise Value Stream Map comprises of 3 components:

• Current State Map – Visual representation of how work / product presently moves through the Value Stream.
• Future State Map –  A 3-6 month visual representation of the vision, applying Lean Principles of Lean to design out waste.
• Implementation Plan – A documented plan outlining the Kaizens or Rapid Improvement Events necessary to transform The Value Stream from Current to Future State

Enterprise Value Stream Mapping takes the complexity of the end to end processes within a company and transforms it into a simple, visual document. This document is then used to analyze and develop the ‘right’ Future State Implementation Plan. It will have an accurate understanding of the ‘whole picture’ with identified changes creating ‘system’ improvements. Enterprise Value Stream Mapping is imperative for companies who want to have a clear and effective plan for change.

Phase 3 – Executing on the Plan

Executing the plan is the most critical phase for companies. This is the stage where real change must happen. It is important for the Senior Leadership to actively support and reinforce the need for change. Support involves a clear message that the Implementation Plan is not negotiable. The day to day issues although important cannot be an excuse. Time and resources must be allocated to support change. The status quo is not acceptable. New management performance measures developed in Phase 1 drive new management behavior to measure and reward action.

This action is in the form of structured rapid improvement events, commonly referred to as Kaizens. Kaizen is a combination of two Japanese words that simply means change for the better.

Kaizen Events move companies away from traditional lengthy projects where valuable resources spend more time in meeting rooms and completing updates than in making change happen.  Kaizen Events are a focused approach that brings critical resources together and empowers participants to not only root cause and determine solutions but most importantly to implement change. Time and effort is spent to support the value stream, reinforce system thinking to create sustainable improvement. Kaizen is action focused!

The Lean journey requires real effort and a true customer centric commitment. It is not something that can be partially introduced. Through our experience, working with many clients from many different industries, it has been demonstrated that a structured plan is critical to any Lean implementation. The 3 – phase approach described above provides an excellent framework for companies to start their Lean journey.

Mike Boucher Bio

Vice President Client Services
Mike has had extensive experience with Lean in his role leading companies in their Continuous Improvement and Lean journey. Over 20 years, he held numerous operational positions with a major distribution and logistics corporation.

Mike has had the opportunity to experience production and operational issues that are common to all organizations and companies.  He has dealt with the seemingly conflicting objectives to exceed customer expectations, while maintaining the highest level of quality at the lowest possible cost. The combination of hands-on experience and theoretical knowledge of Lean has made him an authority and an accomplished advisor.

Since the 2008 initial implementation of Lean in Saskatchewan’s Ministry of Health, the Ministry has experienced the emergence of a culture of continuous improvement. Most of the Ministry’s Lean teams, which began in partnership with Lean Advisors Inc.,  are not only sustaining their initial improvements but continue to work toward further progress and achievements through Lean.

Click Here to watch video and learn more about Saskatchewans Health System achievements with Lean.

Thank you to all who attended the January 24  Webinar “Management Capacity: Creating Standard Leadership Roles for the Lean Supervisor” – if you missed it, click here to view the recording.

There were a number of great questions asked by attendees during the Webinar. Mike Boucher, VP of Client Services at Lean Advisors shared his insights and knowledge. Below are Mike’s responses to questions posed at the webinar:

Q.  What is the right time to apply the management capacity program?

A. We have found that management capacity can be applied throughout the 3 phases of our Lean Transformation program. In our Foundations phase, we set the strategic direction with the stakeholders and begin selecting value streams. Often, at this stage, we identify areas where managers or teams are overly stressed to try to support other activities.  The goal is to move change forward where it is critically needed but if our management team isn’t capable of providing the support and resources to make that change happen, then we would introduce the management capacity program to free up time in order to enable the necessary change in the identified areas.

In the second phase, (VSM phase), we assess our current state, develop our future state and create an implementation plan. Once we’ve reviewed the implementation plan and understand the resources required to support the kaizen events, we begin to identify that it might be too aggressive given the available resources. At this point, we would stop, reassess and create the opportunity for the managers to be able to support the implementation plan. Again, we would introduce the management capacity program as a stepping stone to leading our process change.

The third element involves the execution of the kaizens and implementation plan. Quite often, a great implementation plan begins to fade away on us as delays begin to creep in and we lose momentum. At this point, senior leadership needs to take a step back and acknowledge the resourcing issue and lack of management support for the value streams. In order to support those mangers, we would introduce the management capacity program to free up their time and place structure into scheduling the change elements that we’ve introduced in the implementation plan.

Q.  Should we introduce the program across the entire organization or should we introduce it one department at a time?

A. This is not always a straight forward answer. I often ask the organization to look at what their success rate has been in the past in terms of resourcing, programs and making change happen. Often, the answer is “we don’t have a very good success rate.” So, my recommendation typically is to focus on the area where they are trying to drive change first. They should focus on the critical areas, the crisis issues and where crisis is happening and then we figure out how we’re going to resource again and put in the necessary time as senior leaders to support the change.

Q.  Would these assessments be conducted with different levels of management separately or together?

A. In terms of the assessments, I would look at it from a value stream perspective. Who is the management team within the value stream? And within that value stream, I would want all managers, regardless of level, to participate in the program. One manager or supervisor may be creating the problems for someone else, so if they are working on it collaboratively and collectively and doing their reviews as a group, they begin to address issues from a team perspective – rather than individually.

Q.  Can you give an example of a value stream for an office manager?

A. In terms of an office or admin environment, I often see manager’s time tied up not really addressing what they are directly responsible for but actually focusing a lot of their attention in other areas. In particular, I’ve seen a lot of managers putting a large amount of time into a hiring process, perhaps an area that they don’t really excel at but end up being dragged down and spending a lot of their time supporting the hiring process and it’s taking them away from their actual day to day responsibilities and the things they are directly responsible for.  That is not to say the hiring process isn’t important but we need to understand what is the goal of these managers in the hiring process and what can they realistically do and what work should be moved to where it belongs. In many cases, this is because it can be done more effectively. In other cases, we are just duplicating effort.

With so little hours in a day, where do they find the time?

Join us for our free webinar, “Management Capacity:  Creating Standard Leadership Roles for the Lean Supervisor.” Mike Boucher, our Vice President of Client Services, will share his insights.

We will show you how to free up management time by understanding executive priorities and analyzing management activities, creating Standard Leadership Roles.

Date: Thursday, August 30, 2012

Time: 1300 – 1345 EST

Space is limited. Register Today!

About the Presenter:

Mike has had extensive experience with Lean in his role leading companies in their Continuous Improvement and Lean journey. Over 20 years, he held numerous operational positions with a major distribution and logistics corporation.  Mike has worked with various healthcare organizations and Government and College administrations including the Ministry of Health, Fleming College, Mayo Clinic, Toronto Sick Children’s Hospital, Marietta Memorial Hospital, Luther Midelfort Hospital and others. Lean applications within the healthcare setting include; Surgical Value Streams,Core Labs, Cytogenetics, Micro-Biology, Critical Care Units, Emergency Dept, Pre Surgical Center, Outpatient Clinics, Admissions & Discharge etc.  In the Government and College transformations, he worked on all administrative processes including policy, finance, human resources activities, quality etc.

Consistently, Lean applications in these settings focuses on optimizing service to the clients and improving turnaround times/lead times.  Through this endeavor, Mike has worked with teams to improve flow and truly identify the needs of the client. Unnecessary costs and wasteful activities are eliminated in order to better support staff in their efforts to provide service or value to their clients.

Mike’s greatest asset is his ability to simplify complex production and process issues through the application Lean principles and practice.  Mike is a strong promoter of Value Stream Mapping as one of the most important tools that companies can use to align their organization and promote a customer focused perspective. It is this approach that allows companies to best identify their waste and systematically remove it from their processes and value streams.

Lean Advisors has deep experience helping people in government undergo this journey. Our Lean consultants understand political pressures, seemingly contradictory requirements, and the complexity of achieving true end-to-end value in large complex organizations. Our customer community is full of champions who have overcome barriers and made Lean Government a reality.

Lean Advisors employs senior consultants who are veterans in the industries they serve. To learn more about how we can help you make your organization everything that it can be, Contact Us or Call 1-877-778-6413.