As a follow up to our last article, How the DMAIC Process Helps Sustain Achievements and Drive Continuous Improvements, below is another example and case study based on the need to reduce design cycle time. After setting the parameters, I will outline the DMAIC Lean method and demonstrate how this process can be used.
One of the many challenges and perhaps the root cause of all these challenges is the demand to design and mass produce a custom-made product. In a Toyota factory on a production line, they will not build a Tundra truck, an Avalon sedan, and then next a Prius. No, they dedicate a line to the production of only one model. When the component and truss industry designs a ranch home, even two similar homes can have many different details. Architectural specs for hips, pitch, heel height, span, overhang, interior vaults, coffers, and cathedrals can all vary. This is not the post-war 1950s and 1960s. In today’s market, the customer often wants to modify plans to create something unique and personal. Today, even a tract housing project offers so many options to a base plan that the next 5 “models” can each be different, requiring additional design time and costs.
Case Study:
Great news, your sales team is selling more, 25% more. With a team of all stars or not, every design department only has so much capacity. How will your company tackle additional work to take advantage of additional sales? In today’s market, hiring new designers to relocate and join your company is becoming increasingly difficult, if not impossible. Working with remote designers can be a struggle as well. If it takes 4 hours to design a 2,800 square foot house, what is involved and why does it take this amount of time?
Whether you’re uncertain of the answers or completely confident that you already know them, I encourage you to try this approach. Sit down with your team, ask the 5 whys, and carefully listen to their response. The following questions are 5 examples of what you might want to ask and topics to explore.
- What are the challenges involved in the design of this house?
- Once you’ve started, do you face interruptions? What interrupts you? Do you have all of the information you need to start the design; if not, why?
- What steps in the process take you the most time?
- Is the design software a challenge? Have you received training to take full advantage of the program or do you need additional help? (How many of us understand and take full advantage of Microsoft Word or Excel?)
- Does everyone in the department tackle house design in the same way? What are the steps and approach of each designer, and is there an opportunity to apply a “best practice” to this process?
Applying the DMAIC method to this case study starts with these actions:
- Define—outline the new goal, explaining the challenge, reasons, and urgency
The goal: design 25% more, cut design time 25%. The challenge: how can this goal be obtained without adding additional members to the department.
- Measure—measure the design time to establish a baseline
Baseline measurement: For the purpose of this case study, assume that on average your design department team takes 4 hours to input the wall and heel heights, lay out the roof trusses, design and optimize each different truss type, and provide the customer a placement plan.
- Analyze—identify and document each step of the current design process
What is your process? What steps create value? Where is the waste in this process? Can steps that add little or no value be eliminated? Are there ways to accelerate and streamline the design time and process?
- Improve—develop a plan and a critical path to improve and reduce design time by 25%
How are you going to accomplish this goal? Each team member should be encouraged and have a chance to provide input, present their ideas, and obtain consensus and buy in. Engage your software provider to review the improvement steps and ask for recommendations on how to speed up the process. Is the software being used correctly and to its full potential? Remeasure the new procedures and calculate the time saved.
- Control—develop a control plan to sustain gains obtained in the improvement phase
Standardize the new and improved best practice, ensuring all team members understand and adopt the same process. Document, to ensure that the learning gained via improvement is institutionalized and shared across the team by having it documented with proper work procedures. Monitor by having supervisors audit the work of others to detect and correct changes, errors, or omissions as and when they occur in the process, thereby assuring that improvement gains continue to hold. Use a Response Plan which identifies the next steps to be done if changes are detected in the process as it is monitored.
The DMAIC process will help you achieve your goals. The real question is: are you ready for change? When you’re ready to look at your existing processes with a critical eye, then you’re ready to start making the changes that will improve your company and your bottom line.
Next Month:
Implementing additional Lean tools to improve productivity
A Certified Lean Practitioner, Keith Parker has helped companies define and implement practices that improve their businesses and their bottom lines. You may reach Keith at 612-239-1089 or email.