Implementing A Continuous Improvement Process
- 1. Implementing a Continuous Improvement Process in a manufacturing plant Written by: Kevin Buche
- 2. What is Continuous Improvement? Continuous Improvement aim’s at creating a site wide culture that recognizes losses at all levels and works to eliminate them.
- 3. Elimination of accidents Elimination of quality defects Elimination of breakdowns Reduction of line stoppages Reduction of change-over times Reduction of water and energy use Reduction of solid waste Reduction of material over-usage What can be achieved trough Continuous Improvement?
- 4. How can this be achieved? Management buy-in: Understanding the process first hand and driving the culture change Operator involvement: The knowledge is on the production floor. Data is gold: Capturing the current situation to understand where the opportunities are. One small step at a time: Results are achieved in small steps that are compounded with time.
- 5. Here are only a few Continuous Improvement tools Kaizen: Step based improvement process 5S: Everything has it’s place using visual aids SMED: Change-over time reduction process BAT: Breakdown Analysis Tool 4M, Why? Root cause analysis TAMMO: Targeted Autonomous Machine Maintenance by Operators OEE: Overall Equipment Effectiveness