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CAREERS & TRAIN INLean thirling offers insights

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Firms love to learnLean techniques arenothing new, but thepresent climate isgenerating a muchkeener interest inthem, says Rod AddyKaizen, 5S, BIT. The languageof lean training is a little likeblending a martial arts classwith civU service mem os.It's easy to be cynical, but if you're willing topersev ere, strip away Ihe jargon and distil it,you'll arrive at principles that save companiesthousand s of pounds. That's got to merita closer look, especially in today's wintryeconomic climate.

Yep, lean, which at its most straightforwardis about elim inating as much flabby inefficiencyas p ossible, is taking off right now. But. .Itistine

happening in the industry. There's only so faryou can take things before it becomes aboutdriving value in the companies purchased,"It's not Just the small to medium-sizedbusinesses that are catching on. Leanspecialist Business Impact UK's cents includeeveryon e from General Mills lo (reen core .Fosh quickly dismisses the misconception

that firms with the m ost complex productionprocesses benefit the most from lean thinking,"In one example I know of, a company thatslices and dices leeks - you would havethought you can't get less complicatedthan that - saved 5150,000. Don't be pu toff lean becau se you don't hav e the classicmanufacturing profile."So what, exactly, ai-e some pop ular a reas ofIran training, and how do es it v ork in practice?Loads of examplesrevolve aroundhow do you do a

"The main areas th at tend to benefit fromlean are engineering ;ind automation," saysMelvyn Parr, o]ierations director for thesouthern region at Business Impact UK. Oftethis revolves around w hether com panies areusing the be st kit for a job or are o peratii\g it optimal levels.In fact, Fosh says lean boosts th e wholeproduction process, "There are b enefitsaround how raw m aterials come in and thelogistics at the other end, but 80% are aroundhow (;oinpanies operate tlie production area."Loads of examples revolve aroundchangeovers - how do you do a changeover,where is there dow ntime or wastage?"Parr says: "There a re m any styles of leaji,5for food is key, wlch is about making sure thworking environment is clean, everytiiing hasits place and w aste is removed."The acronym is derived from Japan esewords, translated into English as Sort, Set,Shine, Standardisation and Sustain, The tirststage. Sort, determines the optimum operatinlayout. The second stage implements it, thethird cleans up the area, on the basis that a

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CAREERS & TRAINING

REASEHEATH EXPANDS SERVICES FOR PROCESSORS

"i^rocess tlow - the way prod ucts are tak enthrough the line - is always key," adds Parr.He gives one example w here workers wereconstantly having to walk back and fort.hthrough one production area to take pro ductsto a door. Moving the door to a mo re logicalplace m ie production process s topped tliisfrom happ ening. "It cost S800 to move thedoor, but the time saved trimmed off S15,000-S16,000ayear."Kaizen is literally tran slated from theJapa nes e 'cha nge' and 'good'. It's a formof continuous improvement that aims toencourage groups from different stagesof production, sometimes even fromdifferent industries, Lo collaborate, offeringfresh p erspe ctives to solve problem s. Thehope is also tha t by involving everyone inthe production pro cess, employees areempowered by taking ownership for the partthey play.

True, all the fancy term s amou nt to iscommon s ense an d th e ideal of how everybusiness should be operating. N evertheless,the s treng th of so much lean training lies in the

Reasebeath College, Chesbire, is beefingup services for processors in nortb westEngland, having appl ied for fu ndin gthrou gh the North West RegionalDevelopment Agency (NWRDA) to build a'business incubator unit '.

Derek Allen, food commercial managerat R easeheatb, says the cash cou ld eitherbe used to build development kitchensor - more l ikely - a miniature processingplant. The facil it ies could the n be used bysmall start-up businesses, farm businesseslooking to diversify or larger businessesexploring different processing techniques.

"Wh at's missing in the public sectoris the abil ity to make small produ ctionbatcbes, for example, for test m arketing , "says Al len .

He says larger businesses often foundthis too disruptive to their standardproduction runs and not vtforth their t ime.

The college is also working with tbeNWRDA to set up a Food & EnterpriseHub, for which 1M has been allocatedover three years. The hub w il l lookparticularly at technology transfer andinnovation projects.

A furt her scheme concerns setting upa body l inking food processors to trainingproviders with the rigbt facil i t ies fortheir foo d science and technical projects.Reaseheatb College, Chester U niversity,Liverpool John Moores and the University

In the first, instance, Fo sh says: "One of th ecomplications larger companies [operatingin sites across the UK] come across is thatmost fundijig is dispe rsed on a regional basis.W e will work with the com pany and thetraiiiing provic 1er to identiiy hmding stream s.Potentially up to 100% ' some types oftraining is subsidised."Among its vride portfolio of course s.Business Impact UK specialises in BusinessImprovement Techniques (BIT) Level IINVQs, which are fully funded through thegovernment's Train to Gain programme.A surprisingly small amo unt of staff time isinvolved, given the returns. Business ImpactUK, for exam ple, takes groups of 12 through16 hours of lean teclu ques in a format tosuit them, possibly two eight hour sessions orWe will w ork toidentify fundingstream s. Potentially

of C entral Lancasbire are involved , aim ingto te am up to fo rm Food Science & TechnicaSolutions.

"We're trying to place projects businesseswant done with the most appropr iateinst i tut ion and are developing a fram eworktha t wou ld enable us to d o that," says Al len

Commercial t ie-ups could includeanything from product development andreformulation to testing new processingmethods. For example, says Allen, Reaseheabad advanced steam infusion facil i t ies fortreating milk and dairy firms have alreadyexpressed an interest in using this equ ipm e

"We 're cJoing a lot of ingredien tsappl icat ion work, inc luding tria ls for f i rmspursuing beal tb and nutr i t io n c la ims."The college, whicb is the da iry cba mpionwithin the National Skil ls Academy for Food& Drink Ma nufactu re, is already involvedin product developme nt wi th companiesranging from Robert Wiseman Dairies to HJHeinz.

Alle n says he expects Food Science &Technical Solutions to be launched in theearly part of this year, pending fu r thermeet ings between those involved.

Reasebeatb was ranked as 'outstanding'in ail criteria at its last Office for StandardsIn Ed ucation , Children's Services and Skills(OFSTED) inspertion. It has also been declara Beacon College for offering outstandingteacbing and learning.

four four hou r o nes. In this way it ha.s recentldealt with more than 100 staff at two Bern ardMatthews processing sites. In the process ithas tackled everyt.hing from reducin g weighcheck times by relocating layout and checkstations to redesigning a packaging macfiinespindle to stop slipping and wasted material."We take groups through three projectslinked to what they wan t to look at, such asthe causes of machine down time," says Parr"You're talking abo ut five days in total, but thcould be stretched over 12 weeks,"L evels of administration are kept to aminimum. "People hear the w ords NVQ ortraining an d tJiink, 'oh m y god, what about, althe paperw ork?' W hat we do is very hands onAs Food Manufacture went to press, theNSA published 'L ean Times Call for L eanSolutions ', providing an overview of leanconcepts for businesses.Given all the h ype, it would b e perve rse noto review the literature.The NSA is directly linked to th ree majorlean training providers , Peter Rowley inGrimsby, CQM Training & Consultancy in

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