Part 3: Analyzing Gaps to Sky-Rocket Productivity in a Factory

In the first part of this Lean case study, we learned that the situation we had at hand was to identify and solve a problem in 3 days within a limited budget. Within these circumstances, we were able to increase the company’s productivity by 150%!

In Part 1, we defined the problem and identified the goal statement. In Part 2, we elaborated on how we measured the current state – which is one of the most crucial steps in the successful implementation of Lean in any company. In this article, we’ll talk about Part 3 – i.e., how we pinpointed and analysed the exact gaps in the factory’s operations.

Analysis to Discover Gaps

To maximize the efficiency of Lean, we had to conduct an analysis to discover the gaps in the existing process. The involved asking the following questions:

• First, did the ‘prepare’ phase take more time than needed? – No.
• Second, did the ‘print’ phase take more time than needed? – Yes.

The capacity of the printing machine used here was roughly about 8,500 images per hour. Therefore, to complete 56,000 images, it shouldn’t take more than 6.7 hours! So, the question arises: why did it take 21 hours in all?

Data Collected by Studying the Printing Machine

The following is the data that was collected by observing the functioning of the printing machine:

• Lot studied = 3,500 sheets
• Estimated time to complete the lot = 30 minutes
• Noted time to complete = 47 minutes
• Excess time taken = 17 minutes
• Reasons for excess time:
  • Fold error = 8 minutes
  • Firing (software program related) error = 6 minutes
  • Other = 3 minutes
• Five Whys Analysis revealed that a ‘fold error’ was caused due to papers getting stuck! Consequently, the next question that arises is ‘why was paper getting stuck?’. The answer is that the paper quality was poor!

To further reaffirm this conclusion, a random sample of 10 lots (3,500 sheets per lot) was fed to one machine and was run without the ‘print’ phase. This confirmed that the problem did indeed lie with the printing process. The paper supplier was then informed of the problem. Following this, the company made a policy to only accept a presented lot if the random sample passed the ‘print test’ without a single fold error.

The third and fourth questions which were asked were as follows:

• Third, did the ‘slit’ phase take more time than needed? – No.
• Fourth, did the ‘stuff’ phase take more time than needed? – Yes.

The process between these two phases involved the manual transportation of the boxes of sheets to the slitting machine. Subsequently, these slit papers are moved to the stuffing room by contractors. Next, they divide them into an equal number of envelopes and stuff them accordingly. Keep in mind that the contractors paid workers by envelope. We found that it was this last phase that involved non-value-added activities!

Key observations

While monitoring the slitting and stuffing phases, these are the areas we focused on:

• First, the inventory between slitting and stuffing.
• Second, the inventory in the stuffing room. Each team member would sit with their share of work to finish the workload.
• Lastly, we observed that the ability and skill of each individual varied. This determined whether the workload would be completed on time!

During this observation, we made note of the specific technique they used during the stuffing phase.   Here is its elemental breakdown:

1. Tear – 3500 sheets are in A3 size. The slitting results in these to be converted into two A4 size sheets.

2. Fold – The A4 size sheet is then folded to fit in an envelope.

3. Pick and count – Pick and count the statements as a precondition to stuffing and verification. ‘Pick’ also applies if there are any extra inserts that should find their place in the envelope.

4. Stuff – The picked sheets are stuffed into envelopes.

5. Paste – The envelope is sealed.

6. Verify – Here, they check and arrange them against a post list.

So why was the stuffing phase killing so much time? It’s because once the contractor divided the slit sheets among workers, each one of them would do everything all by themselves! Consequently, this involved keeping glue, rubber bands, empty envelopes, and inserts (if any) to complete one job. Once done, they would tell the contractor. Following this, he would then prepare them for post and keep a count of the number of envelopes that each person completed. This helped him keep account of individual payments.  This took up a lot of unnecessary time throughout the entire process!

Now that we identified all the NVA areas, you can find out how we resolved them in our next article!