Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Boosts Efficiency
by Jeanne Chircop
At a Glance . . .
Workers at a U.S. Navy
ship-repair facility in Japan
reaped multiple benefits
from straightening up
and reorganizing their
workspace.
The newly configured
workspace allowed the
facility to cut inventory,
improve workplace safety,
cut cycle time significantly,
and save money.
A little housekeeping went a long way for the men in charge of rigging-gear inventory at the U.S. Naval
Ship Repair Facility and Japan Regional Maintenance Center (SRF/JRMC), Yokosuka detachment.
By straightening and organizing their workspace, they:
Its no wonder theyre called the Lean Dream Team. Nor is it any surprise their model will now
be followed at a sister SRF-JRMC detachment in Sasebo, Japan, and at Naval Facilities Engineering
Command (NAVFAC) Far East, which is also located in Yokosuka and serves both the Navy and U.S.
Marine Corps.
Whats more, Naval Sea Systems Commandthe technical authority for ship maintenance and
repairis spearheading similar Lean implementation within the entire Navy maintenance community.
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1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Brainstorming
5S (sort, set in order, sweep and shine, standardize, sustain)
Time studies
Data collection
Spaghetti diagrams
Value Stream Maps (VSM)
Brainstorming
Quality training at SRF-JRMC Yokosuka had taught employees that
a work group can come up with many ideas quickly through smallgroup brainstorming. Members of the Lean Dream Team used this
method as the first step in their improvement effort to identify:
Key stakeholders
Impact on stakeholders
Root causes
Through brainstorming, team members pinpointed the SRF-JRMC
Yokosuka production shops as their primary customers (key stakeholders). They agreed that the primary areas of impact on their
customers involved timeliness, productivity, cost, and technical
compliance. Among shop workers, safety and expertise were key.
They also agreed that improvement in their shop would require
better processes for parts management, storage, and access; more
efficient use of space; and better scheduling of work projects.
The 5Ss
Correctly implemented, Lean enterprise results in:
Inventory reduction
Cycle-time reduction
Standardized high quality
Increased work productivity through improved scheduling
Enhanced customer satisfaction
A TEAM Approach
For the Lean Dream Team, the word TEAM means Together,
Everyone Achieves More. For their improvement challenge,
team members had a goal of achieving more productivity with
less inventory, time, and effort.
The team used six different process tools and methods to analyze
their existing levels of efficiency, identify root causes of inefficiencies, and devise solutions for addressing wasted time and effort:
One of the most effective process improvement tools for managing inventory is composed of a series of five steps, all of which
begin with the letter S in both English and Japanese:
Sort (Seiri)
Set in order (Seiton)
Sweep and shine (Seisou)
Standardize (Seiketsu)
Sustain (Sitsuke)
Time Studies
Conducting time studies of all maintenance processes provided
the team with baseline data on cycle times. These data enabled
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Data Collection
Customer
Request
Spaghetti Diagrams
A spaghetti diagram shows the physical layout of a shop with
distances between workstations marked and workflow patterns
indicated. Observing and measuring the distances workers traveled
within the shop helped the team identify wasted effort. It also helped
workers identify workstations that could be relocated, so they would
be closer to the other areas those workers routinely used.
Gear
available
Retrieve
Gear
Change gear
Form is
filled in
Substitute?
POC
signature
No Issue
Wrong
Gear
Addition
Form is
filed
Long term
Manager
PC input
Issue
Gear
Excess inventory
Disorganized parts storage
Inefficient layout of workstations
Complexity in workflow
Scheduling conflicts
Unnecessary paperwork
Cycle of Improvement
The Lean Improvement Life Cycle is based on the wellestablished Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle.
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Act
9. Capture Improvements
& Standardize
10. Evaluate Team
& Next Steps
Plan
1. Select Focus Problem
2. Gather Data & Investigate
3. Identify Root Causes
4. Brainstorm Possible Solutions
5. Develop Solution Plan
Maintenance
space
226 ft
Storage space
1126 ft
Continuous
Improvement
Do
6. Implement
Solution Plan
Check
7. Verify Results
(Compare with 2. Above)
8. Confirm Acceptance
Inspection
space
202 ft
Maintenance
space
479 ft
Storage space
382 ft
Inspection
space
780 ft
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80
40
X7
8M
X1
Shop/code
X7
8M
10
20
10
20
X3
18
times
30
X1
30
50
X3
Quantity
40
X6
8
C7
00
Shop/code
Gear item quantities
200
200
180
180
160
296
items
140
40
40
20
20
X1
X3
Shop/code
48
items
60
X7
2
80
60
8M
100
80
120
100
X6
8
C7
00
120
X7
140
X1
1
X3
8M
160
X6
8
C7
00
Quantity
60
50
70
105
times
60
80
X6
8
C7
00
70
Shop/code
Lean Dream Team members also shared their results and lessons learned with colleagues and customers at SRF-JRMC
Yokosuka, with the wider Japanese community through participation in a QC team competition and with U.S. Naval Sea
(NAVSEA) Systems Command staff. Newsletters, shop tours,
and briefings helped spread the word to colleagues. The team
was awarded a JUSE QC team award by the Union of Japanese
Scientists and Engineers (JUSE) at the team competition in
Hokkaido, Japan. And with the support and encouragement of
NAVSEA, the team exported its new rigging gear program to
SRF-JRMC Sasebo Detachment and NAVFAC Far East.
The Lean Dream Team also received international recognition through participation in the 2006 ASQ International Team
Excellence Award competition, where members competed
against 26 similar teams carefully selected as finalists from
around the worldincluding three other teams from the SRFJRMC. The event was held during the ASQ World Conference
on Quality and Improvement in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in May
2006. Although the team ultimately did not place among the
gold, silver, or bronze top-three slots, team members are recognized as world leaders in quality management. They left the
competition with the words, Well be back!
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