nh circle pocketbook a6

8/8/2019 NH Circle Pocketbook A6

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Honda Motor Europe Ltd.

Caversham Bridge House, Waterman Place, Reading RG1 8DN

Telephone +44 (118) 956 6399 Fax +44 (118) 955 4772

Issued 01/98

NH Circles

NH Circle Pocketbook A6 13/7/00 2:31 pm Page 1


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NH CircleAssociate Pocketbook



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5

A small team

of Associateswho decidevoluntarilyto tackle aproblem that

will improvetheir area

What is an NH Circle?4



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6

you !

Who should join?

Any Associate can and should

take part, because NHC is

for all of us.

You do the job. You know the real problems. You have the best

ideas on how to solve your problems and improve your workplace.

You are the expert. No-one else can see what you do.

NH Circle is not just something that is done by Associates in

manufacturing. Improvements can and should be made in the

Office and Engineering areas too. These are just as important.



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8 9What does it result in?

a better quality product

a better working environment

increased customer satisfaction good teamwork using a

common approach to

problem solving



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10 Why should I do it?

In short, because your

participation in your NH Circle

will make your working timemore rewarding and improve

your workplace.

It'll increase your long-term job satisfaction and increase your

understanding of your work.

Your participation in NH Circles will also help your personalgrowth by giving you positive experiences within the workplace.

And also give you a greater say in Honda.

me ?

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How could we organise one?

Ideally, your circle should consist of between four and

six Associates.

That way, you'll have plenty of people to create solutions efficiently.

Yet every member will have a chance to air their opinions.

The first time you convene your NH Circle, you should

introduce yourself to anyone who doesnt yet know you.

Be honest. Present your strengths and weaknesses, so your

fellow team members understand each other.

Appoint a leader. He or shewill focus your activities on your

improvement goal.

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Then choose a

name for yourNH Circle

Youll work moresuccessfullyif you have

your own

team identity

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The Stages

1 Form a circle

3 Choose a theme

4 Set a schedule

and target

5 Understand

your current

situation

10 Reviewing

your NH Circle6 Analyse data

to find a cause

2 Look at the problems

in your workplace

7 Choose

a counter

measure

9 Making the

presentation

8 Check the

effectiveness of your

counter measure



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16 Stage 1: Form a circle

First you should have an

in-depth discussion to decide

how to move forward.

Make sure you have your say. Its your responsibility to develop

ideas and deepen discussion - you shouldn't leave it all to your

elected Circle Leader.

You'll also find it easier if you look at what other NH Circle teamshave achieved, and how they did it.

Stage 2: Look at the problems in your workplace

Having discussed your general

approach, consider whats

happening in your workplace.Ask questions such as:

do we cause any problems to our customers?

do we have difficulty in doing our job?

are we efficient - or is there waste or scrap?

do we have to rework or rewrite systems

or documents?

is there anything that you can do to further

improve safety in your workplace or the general

working environment?

Remember. Look carefully to find the problems.

Some are so obvious that you may overlook them.

You shouldlisten to others.Be positive andco-operative

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Stage 3: Choose a theme

Your theme is the area your

Quality Circle has chosen

to address.

Be careful to pick a theme that your Quality Circle can tackle

effectively. You should be able to use your own resources,

and must not require bought-in packages or expertise.

Your theme must be acceptable to all members, and will benefit

you and others in and around the workplace.

We would strongly recommend you do not choose too big a theme.

Ideally, you should look for a problem that can be solved within

4-5 months.

18 19Stage 4: Set a schedule and target

Use your experience and

knowledge. Have an in-depth

discussion with all circle members.

Decide what needs doing, who is responsible, and when the

activity will finish. Choose very carefully which Circle members

should do which job. Take into account each Circle members

personality, skil ls and ability.

If you can you should define your target exactly using concrete

figures. Choose Our target is to reduce wastage from 5% to 2%

within four months, rather than Our target is to reduce wastage,

because its easier to judge if youve succeeded. But dont

forget to challenge and question the target - you must be realistic.

In time you'll discover that, with consensus, almost anything is

possible. And take your time - you should be devoting between

four and six hours a month to Circle activity.



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20 Stage 5: Understand your current situation

Collecting information about thecurrent situation is one of the

most critical stages in your

Circle activity.

Be thorough and factual. Avoid imposing opinions and dont

make pre-judgements. And make sure you have enough

information, because without an effective baseline you cant

measure your results after you've applied your counter-measures.

Get the facts

21Stage 6:Analyse data to find a cause

Now youre ready to look for

the cause of the problems.

You can use common sense to attack many problems within your

workplace. However, your training will also cover a number of

special tools that will help you understand the situation more exactly.

Analyse the information by type or location. Show the current

situation or method, and look at the data youve gathered to

highlight the problems. Where are they? Why are they happening?

Take care at this stage. If you fail to find the real cause of your

problem, your developed solution is unlikely to work.

If you needhelp ask yourteam leadersor co-ordinators



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22 Stage 8: Check the effectiveness of your counter-measure

You must check the effectiveness of your counter-measures very

carefully at every step.

Youve taken a great deal of time and effort to get this far, so plan

how youre going to implement counter-measures.

Ask yourself these questions:

who will do it?

when will it be done?

where will it be done?

why are we doing it?

how will it be accomplished?

Now youre ready to implement your counter-measure.

If you find the problems still there, or only partially solved, after

implementing the counter-measure, it means you did not identify

the real cause of the problem.

Use graphs to help you

understand real effectiveness.Vague feelings can be misleading.

23Stage 7: Choose a counter-measure

Your solution should have

three characteristics. It should:

tackle the real cause of the problem

be easy to implement and monitor

be low cost

Start by brainstorming. Hold a Circle meeting, and allow everyone

to talk. Be open to their ideas and develop them with as much

energy as you do your own. Attack the problem from every angle

you can think of. Develop others ideas.



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24 25

If youve solved

a problemsuccessfully,

you must tryto maintainthe level ofeffectiveness

you have

achieved

Weve found its a good idea

to set out a visual control.

That way its clear if anything

starts to go wrong.



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Stage 9: Making the presentation

As you have probably guessed

by now, you shouldnt leave

the presentation to one person.All Associates in the team

should be involved.

Show the whole picture, and explain:

1 How and why you chose the theme, and set the goal.

2 Explain the problem clearly, based on the datayou gathered.

3 Your understanding of where you have

reached today.

4 How you analysed the problems, and pinpointed

the real cause.

5 How you chose and implemented your

counter-measure.

6 How you checked its effectiveness.

7 What steps you have taken to prevent the problem

happening again.

8 How you reviewed your activity.

9 Your plan for the future.

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Presentations are usually limited to 10 minutes.

And dont forget to practice the presentation in advance.

Make your

presentationclear and brief



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Stage 10: Reviewing your NH Circle activity

NH Circle activity is continuous.

Its important to always review

what has been done, soyour next theme will be even

more successful.

You should ask the following questions:

did all the Circle members get involved?

did the Circle members work well as a team? did we listen to each other?

what things did we do well?

what things could we have improved on?

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So now youare ready tostart yournext theme!



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30 NH Circles round the world

As an Associate of Honda in Europe, you are a member of the

Afro European Bloc, one of four blocs across the world - the

other blocs are Japan, The Americas and Asia (Oceania).

Each bloc holds its own convention - usually annually - for the

top NH Circles from each business group within its area. The

blocs' six winning Circles then go forward to the World convention,

held every two years - or to other blocs conventions in other years.

So, as well as making improvements to your workplace and work

and also learning new skills, NH Circles represent a real opportunity

to meet other Honda Associates within the Afro European Bloc

and from across the world.

NH Circles

As a key part of the companys

goal of realising a new Honda,

NH Circles were originatedin 1978.

In that first year 11,016 Associates formed 1,062 Circles in

Hondas Japanese Manufacturing facilities. By the mid 90s

NH Circles had become a truly global undertaking with over

113,000 Associates taking part in nearly 14,000 Circles.

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Now Honda

Next HondaNew Honda



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You're probably not yet ready to

start forming your own NH Circle,

though. Thats why your NHCpromoter will train you so you're

totally at home with taking part

in NH Circles.

Please see page 38 for detailsof your NHC contacts.

Where do I go from here?

This pocketbook is designed

to tell you about the concepts

involved in taking part inNH Circles, and what they

can do for you. It will also act

as a valuable reference for

you over the coming months.

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Award-winning NH Circles

Sherlock Holmes

from Honda Italia

Front cowl to screen matching

Component manufacturing faults were leading to great amounts

of wasted time repairing before assembly was possible. A Pareto

diagram showed the largest number of problems were in front

cowl to screen matching not complying with quality standards.

Building a Cause and Effect diagram enabled the Sherlock

Holmes circle to pinpoint the causes of problems. Having

developed and implemented appropriate counter-measures,

the team hit its target and successfully reduced repair time.

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Threeaward-winningNH Circles fromthe 1997 AfroEuro Conventionin Barcelona ...



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Grimewatch

from Honda UK Manufacturing

Reduce dirt contamination of newly sprayed panels

Grimewatch collected data and identified roof panels were

most likely to be contaminated. The NH Circle set themselves

a target of reducing the overall rate from 31% to 15%, and

compared Accord with Civic production.

A Cause and Effect diagram helped identify possible causes of

dirt, and led to a series of counter measures being applied to

small production runs, and to discussions with suppliers. After

implementation, the overall rate of contamination has been

reduced to 13.6%.

Re-usables

from KELS, Belgium

Better re-use of cartons

Re-usables noticed a large number of cardboard cartons were

being disposed of, with unwanted environmental and economic

consequences. The NH Circle determined 40% of disposed

cartons were undamaged, and a significant proportion were

reusable, having the Honda logo, or no logo at all.

Using a Fishbone diagram, they identified counter-measures

to separate out the reusable cartons and carton sheets.

Implementing a series of counter-measures eventually ensured

no reusable cartons are now disposed of, decreasing packaging

costs by 32%.

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38 Contacts

These are the names of your NH Circle contacts:


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