Beyond LEAN: Trust your instincts

Developing a bone-deep understanding of your operations by honing intuitive talents.

Seasoned managers seem to develop a sixth sense — an instinctive way to evaluate performance and operating conditions based on staff mood changes or variations in the sound of equipment that’s operating.

Metrics are considered essential to any quality or performance management program today. Such metrics commonly utilize LEAN principles to assess operational efficiency by objectively evaluating data that’s gathered and poured into spreadsheets, graphs and efficiency reports. This process measurement is important in determining what really needs to be improved.

Some managers, though, take a step back from the metrics and use what might be called a sixth sense — an instinct — to gauge their operation’s performance. In his book Blink, Malcolm Gladwell examines this kind of intuitive knowing. He reports about how our minds process information; dovetailing nicely with getting the most out of LEAN manufacturing principles and metrics.

In a LEAN manufacturing environment, work should flow smoothly between departments and processes, without special or exception processing or delays. A benefit of a LEAN-oriented workplace is that while metrics are important, you don’t need complex statistical analyses to recognize improvement opportunities. What you do need to is an understanding of your operation’s optimal operating characteristics, and your understanding of it needs to be bone-deep.

Gladwell points out that this kind of information-gathering is crucial if you want to strengthen your ability to separate important information from the “noise” that comes at us daily. He calls this “thin-slicing.” He also notes that the ability to sift out significant detail is one you can learn.

Developing your sixth sense should start with a slow walk through your operation, keeping in mind that the LEAN production operations goal is to be well-organized and efficient. Consider this field work and realize that it’s as important to focus on what you don’t see as on what you can directly observe.

No waste or red ink: The work environment is clean, well organized and logically designed. Machine controls are identical for all identical equipment, independent of vintage. Work instructions are comprehensive and identical for all jobs. Waste is identified and disposed of before it accumulates. Both materials and information flows easily and rapidly through the process.
No searching or wandering: Everyone should have the tools and materials available for the job. Tools should be organized and employees should use the right tool for the job. 5S principals are an excellent way to organize the work environment.
No delays or waiting for materials: Work should flow through the process; no one should be waiting for materials, people or paperwork to arrive on time. The JIT principals can organize workflow to deliver materials to the right place, at the right time.
No special processing or guesswork: Work is standardized and displayed. All the information for people to effectively do their job is available, accurate and complete.
No detours or obstacles: Everyone has a clear idea of the workflow and process. Employees have a clean work environment. Walk ways and work areas enable a straight shot to get between points. People should not have to walk around equipment, people, racks or materials.
No extraneous stuff: Work areas should contain the tools, materials and equipment for the job – no less or no more.
No injuries: All injuries are preventable. Injuries are typically the result of rushing, cluttered work environment or using the wrong tool for the job. Safety procedures must be built into the work processes. A comprehensive safety program and daily safety meetings emphasize the importance of safety and keep employees accountable for a safe work environment.

The information you gain by directly observing the performance and flow of work in your operations can be used to validate collected process data and statistical analyses. Others may see your abilities as “magic,” but it’s really a matter of developing the “sixth sense” all of us have.

LEAN & Six-Sigma Tools for Newspapers

Today, the newspaper industry is looking for anything and everything to improve efficiency and reduce costs to survive. Unfortunately, the typical approach is cutting staff and quality of goods; not looking at improving processes within the newspaper. The multi-media transition for the newspaper industry is begging for process improvements to lead the industry change. The answer is outside the traditional newspaper operation - there are two very important quality tools that can optimize the transition and reduce costs: LEAN and Six-Sigma

What are they?
LEAN: Root out waste so you can accelerate production.
Six-Sigma: Near-perfection is possible . . . so aim for it.

LEAN focuses on speed and efficiency, reducing cycle time, and focus on customer needs to define product value. To achieve such acceleration, LEAN finds waste and plans how to eliminate it. I.e., define optimal manufacturing processes to minimize production time and implements changes to improve efficiency. Waste is defined as non-value-added work, and there are eight types: wasted human talent, defects, sitting inventory, overproduction, waiting time, motion, transportation and waste processing—the time required to handle the consequences of the types of waste. LEAN uses specific tools to analyze process flow and delay times for each activity along the way. The results amassed provide a means of quantifying and eliminating the costs woven into the business complexities.
Downside: LEAN will not bring a process under statistical control.

Six-Sigma is all about manufacturing accuracy through a data-driven, problem-solving method to eliminate product defects identified by customers in ways that are sustainable. It involves a comprehensive set of quality-improvement tools, within a framework or set of rules and guidelines that has already shown itself to be effective at problem solving. Six-Sigma has been used to stabilize manufacturing operations by eliminating defects, produce products with higher reliability, and get new products to market faster. Applying Six-Sigma methodology is a complex process, one that requires internal changes in infrastructure to create an environment for obtaining results that are sustainable over time. The well-known Six-Sigma production standard is for no more than 3.4 defects per million product units. It’s a high target, and companies that apply Six-Sigma techniques correctly are meeting it routinely.
Downside: By itself, Six-Sigma cannot effect dramatic improvements in process speed or reduce invested capital.

United, the two tools quantify and eliminate the cost of complexity. Combining the two methodologies, LEAN Six-Sigma Manufacturing sets up interactions that reinforce each other. Percentage gains in Return on Investment Capital (ROIC) come much faster if LEAN and Six-Sigma are implemented together. “Just speed” or “just quality” will not produce the balanced results that enable an organization to ratchet up quality to a level defined by customers within a set time period. Industry leaders, such as Toyota and Motorola, have used LEAN Six-Sigma tools successfully to focus on customer needs and propel them to leadership positions in their respective industries. At the core, LEAN Six-Sigma is a data-based structure for making reality based decisions and eliminating waste out of the processes required to deliver news to the reader.

LEAN Six-Sigma Manufacturing Within the Industry
Many trends in the industry embody LEAN Six-Sigma Manufacturing principles, whether intentionally or not:

LEAN
1. Outsource functions for efficiency, cost reduction and better customer service.
2. Reduce the geographic area where papers are distributed, thereby reducing circulation, newsprint and transportation expenses, and allowing more targeted focus on the stated needs of core audiences.
3. Using common operational systems and data bases to optimize communication between departments.

SIX-SIGMA
1. Participate in the International Color Quality Club program and qualify for the SNAP Certificate to tighten and test printing competencies.
2. Participate in the ABC Insert Verification Process, as the audit program already has demonstrated that the industry is nearing 98-percent accuracy, indicating careful control of insertion processes.
3. Use production run data to track production efficiency and identify sources of downtime.
4. Determine the organization’s carbon footprint.

LEAN + SIX-SIGMA
1. Employ ink presets so that both ink and time are saved, newsprint waste is reduced, and product quality rises.
2. Use ICC profiles and GCR in your photo editing process to optimize quality and consistency of color photos.

All these suggestions will ultimately make your operation more efficient and cost effective, but more importantly it will refocus your management team and staff to look for answers and improvements beyond just cost cutting.

Can I be a commercial printer?

OK, I couldn't close out the week without a discussion about quality. When operating budgets get tight, which has been the case in the newspaper industry for several years, two things are the first to see the cost cutting knife - travel and consumables. Consumables? Yes, consumable because that is an operating cost and there is generally a relationship between a product's cost and quality. That is why premium gasoline is more expensive than regular and there are different grades of paper. So newspapers have been reducing their operating cost by using less expensive products.

So fast-forward to 2008, travel budgets are all but gone and newspapers have made decisions to use less expensive materials in their printing process. But is this a good idea. Newspapers have to meet customer and advertiser expectations by printing a quality product and generally that benchmark is met. (I'll talk about color gamut, ICC and ink density on another day) Now consider the trend in the newspaper industry: commercial printing. Commercial printing of either newsprint products or cold-set printing on E-Brite stock. This is where a newspaper might run into quality problems. If your press, consumables and quality systems are not dialed to the highest quality product you need to print, you'll have a very difficult time stretching your process capabilities to meet a higher print standard. So before you look at less expensive consumables, consider the impact of the new products on your capabilities and future business plans.

An example, a small market newspaper in Colorado added a UV printing tower to their press for covers and inside DT advertising. The strategy was to offer higher quality printing options to customers who left for heat-set products. The advantage to the newspaper is the ability to offer a later ad close (closer to the publication date), premier ad position and higher quality printing to customers looking to stand-out from ROP advertising. But to offer advertisers coated stock with the normal ROP schedule -- now that's an advantage! Advertisers are no longer required to contract commercial printing 6-8 weeks before the publication date. Now they can close an ad a few days, or even hours, before the press run. Getting back to my point about consumables, the consumable cost for UV printing is higher than cold-set news; but the advertiser is paying a premium for the higher quality.

So don't be too quick to cut consumable costs without comparing product performance. The higher price product might be achiving better performance or mileage; allowing you to produce a quality products in a broader range of print conditions.