The Importance of Benchmarking to Learn Lean Concepts

The best benchmarking I ever did occurred over multiple visits in the late 1990's with the Wiremold company on both scheduled and unscheduled tours of their factory, processes, kaizen events and day to day running of operations with their teams.

I was there regularly visiting my friend Manny who ran the kaizen promotion office there at the time.?

I had met Manny a year or so earlier in Japan when we both participated in the Shingijutsu Gemba Kaizen event in November of 1997.

On one particular visit, I was a participant for the day on one of his kaizen events in order to experience how he ran them.

Art Byrne, CEO of Wiremold at the time and architect of Wiremold's lean journey was walking by and Manny introduced me to him.

Art then asked me if I’d ever witnessed their die changeover and would I like to see it because they are about to change it over.?

I gave him a very enthusiastic, yes!

And we all headed over to the hydraulic metal forming press they were about to change over.

Art said it takes two people, about 2 minutes to complete the changeover. ?

Before this benchmarking visit, I had participated in set up reduction events on vertical and horizontal lathes that brought set-up times from several hours down to 15 minutes and I thought we were as low as we could go.

I had read about single minute exchange of die and it helped influence how we got to those 15 minutes, but I remember scratching my head thinking that single minute was not possible for us.

But here I am, about to witness a 2 minute changeover, so you bet I was interested!

As soon as we reached the press, an operator brought over a spool of the new material to be punched out. ?

He positioned it in place right next to the existing spool waiting to be swapped out.?

Then he walked over to get a hydraulic cart and manuevered it over to a die set that was positioned on a long storage rack located directly behind the press where all of their dies for that press were also stored. ?

He was able to easily retrieve the die set very quickly by himself using that adjustable hydraulic lift.?

He then walked it over about 20 feet and moved it into a waiting position in the back of the press.?

He then waited there until it was time for changeover. ?

Then the second operator showed up and moved to the front of the machine with a second hydraulic lift. The two then waited about a minute and then got started.??

They both simultaneously hit stop buttons on both sides of the machine and immediately started removing the quick bolts that were holding the punch and die in place. ?

I noticed that this immediately started a very large clock nearby to start from zero seconds.

The operator in back then pushed the die set forward and it slid onto the hydraulic lift in the front.?

The operator in front then backed it away slightly and returned to the front of the machine.?

The operator in back then slid the new die set into place and they both applied the quick bolts to the new die set and press.?

Once it was in place, the operator in front moved over to connect the new material into the feed.?

Then he walked back to the press and they both restarted the machine and it successfully started punching out the new material.

The timer on the clock stopped at 1 minute, 45 seconds.?

Art was pleased and smiling big.?

He said it keeps getting a few seconds faster each time he witnesses it.

Then the operator in front brought the die set over to their repair clinic where I got a quick tour of what they do there.

They slid the die set onto a u shaped conveyor belt where it moves through several stations.?

In the first station they take it apart.?

In the second station they clean it out with a high power industrial vacuum and other approved cleaners.?

Then in the third position it gets inspected.?

If it’s a quick and easy repair it’s repaired in the next station.?

If it’s a complicated repair it gets sent out for refurbishment. ?

It was like a quality clinic for die sets.

I was told that once the die set is fully cleaned, repaired and ready to go, it’s brought back to that storage location and put on the shelf.

Then they told me if I wait a few minutes, I can see them return a die that just came back.

So I did wait and watched them bring it over to the large storage rack and place it in it's labeled location on the rack.

Art said that this clinic is the way they were able to get to a two minute changeover and it therefore was the most important part of the process. ?

After this particular visit I returned with all sorts of ideas and possibilities for the next level of improvements I was able to bring to the next kaizen events I either participated on or facilitated.

It gave me a much better understanding of how and why SMED, Single Minute Exchange of Die, got its name and an even better understanding of how important it is to incorporate multiple elements of lean at the same time in order to achieve game-changing results.

It’s been influencing my ideas, innovations and designs ever since.

So don't limit your learning to reading books and practicing what you learn in your own Gemba.

Get out there and be inspired to raise the bar on what you are calling your "best".

Get out and benchmark!

Reach out to me by email if you would like help implementing SMED at your facility.

[email protected]

Until next week,

Nicole.

P.S., whenever you are ready, here are a few key links to how I help leaders at all levels...

1.??Breakthrough Change Community

2.??Zen Sales to Shipments system.