The Passion of KAIZEN at VIBCO

During these last two weeks VIBCO had the pleasure to host a few very special guests from the Shingijutsu USA coaching team. Shingijutsu USA is a global leader in operations process improvement. Their focus is reducing cost and increasing reliability by improving flow, quality, and inventory reduction throughout production systems.

Kaizen is 'Learning to see'; A direct teaching and learning from the legacy of thought leader Ohno San! It’s about getting your employees to approach problem solving and the analysis of actual root causes from a different continuous and curious approach. Kaizen is exactly what Shingijutsu USA coached VIBCO on. We spent a total of 5 full days working hard on a Kaizen project in our cells. A big shout out to Rudy Go and his team member Eto San (Hirohiko Eto) for their encouragement and help while navigating our team to continuously practice Lean and Kaizen.

" Assemblers must speak up. Negative comments are positive to the company because improvements will be made."

-Eto San

• Kaizen Explained: KAI= Change & ZEN= Good (Change for good is called as Kaizen)
• Genba Explained: Genba (現場, also romanized as 'gemba') is a Japanese term meaning "the actual place". This term is used to describe personal observation of work on the shop floor/Assembly area. Japanese say it as Learn by doing by going to the Genba. In business, genba refers to the place where value is created; in manufacturing the genba is the factory floor; in our case the specific cell was our genba.
• Shingijutsu Explained: Production SIQMI (S.P.S): This is a methodology used by Shingijutsu to incorporate Kaizen on the Shop Floor. It means “To make things in the right way”. SIQMI = System Integration of Quality, Material and Information.

" The Shingijutsu way forms engineered thinking for everyone. It is easy!"

-Rudy Go

Week 1: Kick off Meeting & Genba Kaizen for Current State

We dove right into learning from Rudy Go, how to implement Kaizen in Manufacturing. VIBCO is in the 19th year of our Lean journey; we understand lean but there is ALWAYS room to improve. Fresh eyes from the Shingijutsu Expert consultants help navigate though a complete Kaizen. Everyone needs a coach and Rudy and Eto San did that job exceptionally well for us. On the very first day we invited all employees into the lecture room for a brief overview of Kaizen, to communicate that processes and work with the layouts of cells which all will be improving (changing). The meeting also served to encourage moving our entire Kaizen Culture up a notch (i.e. Kakume)! Standard procedures were developed to eliminate miscommunication while improving overall efficiency for all the people at VIBCO.

" With Shingijutsu teaching us, you can feel the spirit of Ohno San in the room - The actual place of work"

-Karl Wadensten, CEO VIBCO Inc.

VIBCO's Cell Kaizen began with our key leaders from the Office, Engineering, and the Manufacturing Floor forming four teams. Each team worked in a separate area of the value stream process; doing deep dives of understanding of the Kaizen operation. They focused on determining the "Current State" by going to the Genba. On the first factory walk through, one team spotted an improvement that they were able to implement immediately, before reaching the implementation stage!

(Photo To Right) The Vibration Nation Observation Circle is VIBCO's "Ohno Circle". Taiichi Ohno, the executive of Toyota, was well known for walking onto the shop and drawing a circle on the floor. He would then go and stand in the circle and observe, think, and analyze. This visually shows the location of current Genba.

Each team was responsible for routing the flow of feeder parts and assembly. This enabled them to perform an accurate time study. Rudy explained how to use standard work sheets, and standard work combination sheets in detail, step-by-step. He then showed the teams how to plot a Yamazumi chart which identified which operation is above Takt time. Takt time helps to prepare the standard operating procedure for assembly of a single Medium Electric Unit. We learned it is necessary to understand and calculate your Takt time by considering various KPI’s (Key Performance Indicator) when a demand is uncertain in a high-mix low-volume B2B business. We re-examined the importance of Single-Piece Flow, the repercussions of batch production, feeder parts, sequencing delivery time, and work flow cycles.

" This exercise allows to slow down the brain, helps to eliminate overthinking the process, and become one with the manufacturing."

- Rudy and Eto San

• Kakume Explained: The incorporation of lean & continuous culture on the shop floor.
• Yamazumi Explained: Yamazumi is a Japanese word that literally means to stack up.
• Yamazumi Chart Explained: A Yamazumi chart is a stacked bar chart that shows the balance of cycle time workloads between a number of operators, typically in an assembly line or work cell. Showing this information visually will really tell a story and lead you to the inspiration to fix and change.
• Takt Time Explained from Shingujitsu USA Resource Guide:

" To me, Kakume means caring about your people, loving your job, and sharing true purpose across the entire organization."

-Karl Wadensten, CEO VIBCO Inc.

Week 2: Minutes and Learning Outcomes from Kaizen Event

Week two with Rudy Go and Eto San was intense and focused on building quality in our production system and implementing improvements within the cell. This kaizen project took a total of three additional full days of implementation and powerful teamwork to assure quality at the source. Takt Time was determined, as an additional effort to generate ease in manufacturing! Our teams performed Barashi for three different units within the cell.

" The Barashi genius shared with us was one of the best things! Looking at the process, visually and hands-on is the Barashi way. I wish I learned this 19 years ago. This concept is one of the best exercises to focus on now."

-Karl Wadensten, CEO VIBCO Inc.

They disassembled each unit piece by piece to understand each step and to determine if sub assemblies or additional steps were required. (i.e. welding, sealing, painting) For some of the team members, this was their first time seeing a vibrator being built from start to finish! We calculated the cycle time and total assembly time for a new assembler. This helps determine the problems that an employee might face during the assembly process. The ergonomics in the assembly process also need to be considered. How can you make a unit flow through the line without having risk of injury by lifting, turning, and twisting the unit?

Post Genba, different improvement proposals were presented by each team. Efforts to add value to the current assembly processes and the "Future State" of VIBCO's cell were considered. We determined Muda in each step of assembly and its remediation. Material flow was a concern, it was taking too many steps to gather all material necessary. The layout of a cell or line should be designed to eliminate unneeded motion and create efficient and continuous flow.

"Real magic happens on the Shop Floor" It is now time to incorporate all 3 lines into 1 to simulate the Mix Model Assembly line for the cell!

We learned how one person can act as a Mizumashi "water spider." Their job is to collect all the pieces needed to assemble the sub-assemblies and the final product. Putting all the material into a 'kit' made the assembly process run much faster and more efficiently! Using the kits and standard operating procedures allows one person to have the capacity to assemble many different kinds of models as they are needed. (Just in time)

" You cannot do what you can not do & You don't know what you don't know! This will show you a new experience of learning. "

-Rudy Go

Post implementation, VIBCO's teams collected data on the time it took to assemble one complete unit and then compared that time to their previous trials; tracking improvement. Teams presented the results and discussed further improvements which could be implemented throughout other production lines on VIBCO's manufacturing floor.

We have adopted a new way of thinking:

1. Work with a team and respect each others strengths. VIBCO is a strengths based organization and understanding individual employee's strengths is a core value to our system.
2. Free to ask questions; that's how we learn
3. Many small improvement steps = success

At the conclusion at end of our last day, we realized how far we still needed to go. We were reminded to take one small step at a time and to respect the people working on the line. Those doing the work may have great Kaizen and improvement ideas that should be incorporated into the process from the beginning. We believe in Lean, Kaizen, and continuously improving the quality of our business. We plan to sustain and continue kaizen, as we carry what we have learned to the other production lines at VIBCO. This not only includes lines, cells and the manufacturing floor; but the office departments as well. We learned that Kaizen is for everyone.

" Kaizen is for everyone- individuals, business, & community. It makes your life better. "

-Rudy Go

• Barashi Explained: An operation for documenting assembly, sub-assembly and knowing the manufacturing process.
• Barashi Diagram Explained: A Barashi diagram helps to create a standard work procedure for assembly operations. It is ultimately a fishbone diagram that will give a complete, perspicuous understanding of all the parts included in the assembly along with all the steps and sub-assembly procedures.
• Barashi Digram Example from Shingijutsu USA Resource Guide:

• Muda Explained: MUDA = WASTE. The 7 types of Muda are Motion, Waiting, Transportation, Inventory, Rework, Over-Production, and Over-Processing. There is also an 8th type of waste that is known as an under-utilization of people. (For further information, Karl Wadensten talks about VIBCO's "WAR ON MUDA".)
• Mizumashi Explained: Mizumashi is an ultra-high frequency pulling method of feeder parts and supply it to assembler in kits with reduced transportation.

A Word From The CEO

" The world is complex and life at home can be stressful. We believe you don't need to add more stress to your day.

We believe it's important to control our workspace so we have less stress in our work lives.

We are working beyond the old retirement age. We are all getting older and making work easier allows us to work longer.

We believe we need to work smarter not harder. We will cross train employees, so we can flex into other jobs or departments. We will learn and grow so we can get pieces out faster, without working harder."

-Karl Wadensten, CEO VIBCO Inc.

Thank you again to Rudy Go, Eto San, and their Shingujitsu USA team for sharing so much knowledge and practical thinking with our team at VIBCO. Interesting in learning more about Kaizen? Grab a copy of their book newest book, "Kaizen Forever".

"Kaizen Forever: Teachings of Chihiro Nakao shares the mindset that created Toyota’s production method and their overall management practice. There is no other book like this one." Order book here: https://bobemiliani.com/book/kaizen-forever-book/

Karl Wadensten, CEO VIBCO Inc.

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