LeanMANUFACTURING with each requiring up to 3,000 components. So, if you’re trying to slash the time it takes to build one from 25-30 days to 23-25 days you need standard work instructions for every task that’s involved in the process. That’s what Khalil focused on within the first six months of the Diploma program. He stripped down the work performed in each bay to understand the value activity better. “The way our internal manufacturing department used to work, they didn’t allocate time to a particular task, but that’s how our production team works. It’s a disconnect between the two teams. When I took on the manufacturing responsibility, it seemed the natural way they’ve tried to deal with the problem was to take on extra resources rather than adapt and try to work out exactly why the process wasn’t flowing and the outputs weren’t as high as they should be,” Khalil said. “I wanted to gauge the actual cost of operations, the way we work, then learn how to measure percentage of savings based on the implementation of the process. “This was where Peter was fantastic. He’s shown me how to analyse that sort of data, how to go back to basics and go from there and identify what works versus what doesn’t.” The goal was a model with a
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Takt time of 1.5 days, which would increase production output by 25 per cent. A key gain was better managing components moving into the production line and the on-site manufacture and delivery of parts to each work bay.
Setting standards “If you don’t have standards, how do you know you are guaranteed to produce a bus in the required time frame? When you have so many components going into a bus, if there’s one component that is constantly a problem, the process stalls. If you can’t move the bus on, all work in the other cells stops,” says McGregor Khalil agreed, saying the biggest eye-opener from his work with McGregor was realising unless you follow the processes step by step, the “process falls apart and starts quickly working against you rather than for you”. He’s also shaved 10 hours off his average work week, now putting in about 50 hours because he needs to be on site less. “What the guys now understand to be productive versus what was considered to be productive 10 months ago is a different ball park altogether. They all buy into what they’re each working on in the plant and how their productivity impacts other areas,” he said. As well, there’s been a drop in absenteeism. “We’ve reduced headcount from
around 45 a year ago to 33 now in the manufacturing department including supervisors, but we’ve maintained if not improved the productivity with a reduced headcount.” In reflecting, Khalil’s motivation to make improvements meant he paced through the 10 units of the diploma program in just 10 months. Not bad for someone who last did formal education in 1995 – when he completed his HSC. The study
bug has bit. Charlies has applied to enrol in another Diploma course – in lean manufacturing this time – to keep continuous improvements on his radar. For more information on the relevant qualification, visit http://www. improvegroup.com.au/training/ nationally-recognised-training/generalmanagement/diploma-of-productionmanagement.
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