Having a Bullseye Helps

When I present at conferences or do workshops, the organizers ask for a biography. They love to see awards, accolades, and achievements. While I am able to perform the same card trick that Magician Shin Lim did to win America’s Got Talent, they never seem interested in having that listed. So, over the years, I list the various business-related items, which include “Shingo Prize Winner. Though I have to admit it makes me feel like a fraud.

The Shingo Prize is an award for operational excellence given to organizations worldwide by the Shingo Institute. It is administered through the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University. An organization must apply for the award. In the application, the organization must list data about business improvements, accomplishments, and how they adhere to Shingo Guiding Principles. If the application is deemed worthy, the organization is audited by third-party examiners and scored against the Shingo Model. If the score is high enough, an organization may be awarded a Gold, Silver, or Bronze Medallion. You can read more about it on the Shingo website HERE .

In 2013, when I was a Director of Operational Excellence for a Division of a global medical device manufacturer, one of our plants applied, and won a Bronze Award. I say I feel like a fraud as the factory had set the wheels in motion before I joined the company, and all I did was encourage and support them to do the application. I did several site visits (Always a joy as the plant was in Athlone, Ireland, and I loved the country, people, and, I admit, a nice pint of Guinness). And the work that the team did there was truly impressive.

There were issues with the machines on the assembly lines going down. The engineering staff that did maintenance and repair seemed to be perpetually short-staffed, or always tied up changing out equipment to do basic preventive maintenance. The Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) a key metric in plant operations was on a steady downward trend ultimately hitting 70%, an unacceptable level.

The OpEx team decided to tackle this issue. Led by one of the best OpEx Leaders, and one of the hardest-working people, I have ever known, Bernadette “Bernie” Reynolds. She assembled a team and dove into problem-solving. They determined engineering support was maxed out, and machine operators were not empowered to help with maintenance. They began an initiative called Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) that taught operators how to perform preventative maintenance and simple repairs within Good Manufacturing Process (GMP) Standards.?The training was in small digestible bits and supported with graphic job aids and standard work checklists. A communications plan was developed to ensure all involved were on the same page, also to promote the project to other areas of the plant, as well as keeping Senior Leadership posted

After TPM implementation, OEE jumped from 70% to 85% and continued to climb over time. Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) of machines increased 42% from 400 to 946 hours. Machine availability went up from 90% to 95%. All of this led to increased output at lower costs. Additionally, empowering the employees improved morale and pride.??

The plant’s TPM initiative provided a foundation for the plant to build upon. Bernie and the team decided to use the Shingo Model to provide a framework for growth, and to use the Shingo Prize as a goal to shoot for. So they did. Adhering to the model, the Athlone plant applied for, and won a Bronze Shingo Prize, on their first attempt! Winning a Shingo Prize is big but doing it on a first attempt is HUGE!

Again, I had little to do other than support and champion the application. But the award had an impact beyond the one plant…it had bearing the other six factories in our division. Our plant in Tijuana, one of the largest in the Company, struggled with many issues. They looked at the Award and begin incorporating part of the Shingo Model into their management structure. While they did not feel comfortable setting a goal of winning a Shingo Prize, they did begin to rely on the Shingo Model framework to improve operations.

And the lessons learned from the Shingo win have carried over for me as I transitioned into consulting. When starting out, I was in a meeting with a client who wanted to start a change management initiative but did not feel he would have his leadership’s support. In talking (and listening) with him I got the impression that the company’s leaders loved accolades; trophies, awards, mentions in industry publications, and the like. So I brought up the Shingo Prize (as well as the Baldrige Prize, a similar award sponsored by the US Government. But more about that in another article).

Outlining how going for the Shingo would provide him with a prepackaged framework; lessening the amount of work he would have to do. And having a shiny award for his bosses to focus on would give him their support. He loved it, and that’s what we did. They didn’t win anything while I was working with them, but they saw improvement, and isn’t that the real prize?

#quality #lean #leansixsigma #operationalexcellence #processimprovement #totalqualitymanagement #storytelling #innovation?#lean #leantraining?#leanthinking?