POLCA Implementationat Olsen Engineering

International QRM ConferenceMadison, WisconsinOctober 29th 2002

Partners: Olsen Engineering John Deere

• Mark Dawson Plant Manager• Brad Miller Assistant Plant Manager• Doug Chadwick Production Control

Manager

• Todd Hansel John Deere Supply Development

Olsen Engineering, L.P.

• $ 22M in Sales• 11 Year Partner Supplier to John

Deere• 160 Employees• Over 5,000 part numbers• In- House Heat Treat & Zinc Plating• 138,000 Square foot Facility

Products

• 50% Pins• 25% Bushings• 15%

Miscellaneous machine parts & weldments

• 10% Bending/Rollover Protection

Pins BushingsMisc. Bend/ Rops

POLCA Implementation

• Over 3,500 Different Pin Types

ProcessesMany dissimilar routings- examples of just a few

Many dissimilar routings- examples of just a few

C u to f f / P in C e ll P in C e l l / I n d u c t io n I n d u c t io n / G r in d G r in d / Z in c

C u to f f / I n d u c t io n In d u c t io n / G r in d

C u to f f

C u to ff / P in C e ll P in C e ll / In d u c t io n In d u c t io n / G r in d G r in d / W e ld W e ld / Z in c

C O / P C

P C / IN D

IN D / G R

G R / C R

C R / G R

G R / W L D

W L D / ZN C

PROJECTBACKGROUND

Project Background

• Previous State– Inventory Everywhere: WIP and FG– Long Lead Times: 4 – 6 weeks– Hot Jobs

• Due to Long Lead Times, Micro Scheduling

– Scheduling: 3+ Schedulers• Working Weekends• Lead Men Scheduling Also

Project Background

• Need For Improvement

– Customer Demands

• Cost Reduction

• Competitive Analyses

• Kanban Direct (Lower Lead Times)

– Company Profitability

Project Background

• Investigation of Options

– Kanban

– Cells

– Pull without Cards

–POLCA!

POLCA

• POLCA Implementation Workshop– Hosted by QRM, February 20, 2002

– Basic Outline

– Pre-Requisites

– Helpful Suggestions

– Baseline for Building Strategy

POLCA

• Strategy– Assemble The Team

• Factory Managers

• Schedulers

• “The Deere Guy”

• “The Get It Done Guy”

• Department Leads and Others as Needed

POLCA

• Strategy

– Hardened Pins First

• About 50% of Total Business

• Covers Majority of Processes in Plant

• Will Show Most Significant Results

• Success Here Makes Easy Transition to

Other Areas

POLCA

• Strategy– Card Design & Card Management

– Card Quantities

– Procedures

– Quantum

– Authorization List

– HL/MRP

– FIFO Staging Areas/Racks

POLCA Cards

POLCA Station

POLCA Management

POLCA Staging Racks

POLCA

• Strategy– Training (Lean, QRM, and POLCA

Principles)– Support Projects

• 5S – Housekeeping• Setup Reduction• Cross-Training• Total Preventative Maintenance• Quality Improvements: Reject and Rework

POLCA

• Strategy

–JUST DO IT!

IMPLEMENTATION

Implementation

1) Decide “Support Work” needed and timing

2) Review routings3) Choose Families4) Prepare Staging Areas (Racks)5) Prepare POLCA stations6) Material Handling Trigger Boards7) Train Operators

Implementation

8) Tag Jobs and Organize on Racks9) Launch Process10) Monitor and Adjust Repeatedly

11) Proceed to Next Loop When Previous Loop is Stabilized

Implementation

• Support Work is key and requires substantial effort

• Steps 2 through 11 are concentrated efforts focused on one loop and are faster paced

Implementation

• We found POLCA implementation came in waves of exciting physical activity and lulls while larger issues were worked out (cross training, management issues, cultural issues, etc..)

Support Work at Olsen Engineering

• Quality Improvement

• Set-up Reduction

• 5S

• Cross Training

• Alternate Work Schedules

We were well on our way with the first three projects before we started POLCA

Some of these were key to the success of POLCA, required strong efforts and consumed large amounts of time

Here is an in-depth look

We were well on our way with the first three projects before we started POLCA

Some of these were key to the success of POLCA, required strong efforts and consumed large amounts of time

Here is an in-depth look

Quality Improvement

JOBS REJECTED AT FINAL INSPECTION

010,00020,00030,00040,00050,00060,00070,000

Jan-0

2

Feb-0

2

Mar-0

2

Apr-02

May-0

2

Jun-0

2

Jul-0

2

Aug-02

Goal is below 10,000 PPM

Pa

rts

pe

r m

illio

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REWORK HOURS PER

MILLION PRODUCTION HOURS

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

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40000

45000

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Quality Improvement

We Increased Communications,

Improved In-process Controls

and

Killed Many Root Causes!

We Increased Communications,

Improved In-process Controls

and

Killed Many Root Causes!

Set-Up Reduction

PLANT SET UP EFFICIENCY

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

110%

SET UP HOURS PERCENT OF

TOTAL OPERATOR HOURS

13%

14%

15%

16%

17%

18%

19%

20%

Set-Up Reduction

We Installed Set-Up Hours Tracking at Every Department

We Held Formal Set Up Reduction Events In Every Process on the “POLCA path”

We Installed Set-Up Hours Tracking at Every Department

We Held Formal Set Up Reduction Events In Every Process on the “POLCA path”

We did 5S

Installed Cleaning Stations-

1) Posted Work Instructions

2) Trained & Made Assignments

3)Performed Audits Relentlessly

Installed Cleaning Stations-

1) Posted Work Instructions

2) Trained & Made Assignments

3)Performed Audits Relentlessly

We removed unnecessary items from the plant for three months running!

We removed unnecessary items from the plant for three months running!

Cross Training

MASS Cross Training of 34 employees in 240 positions was started after first POLCA loop was implemented

MASS Cross Training of 34 employees in 240 positions was started after first POLCA loop was implemented

NameFirst Shift AB Bush AC Bush CNC Lathe CNC Mill Cut Off Fab Grinders Pin Cell Quick Turn Saws/CS Welding

Adams Dennis X XAnderson Larry X X X X X X X XBelk Craig X X XBomia Brad X X X XBrady Mark X X X X X X X X X X XCoon Terry X X X X XFrahs Mark X X X X X XFuller Mike X XGoodell Ed X XHorner Jason XKobilka john X X X X XMeggers Scott X x X no coolant XMelchert Steve X X X X X XPewe Derron X X X X X X X XRicheal Scott X X X X X XSchutt Mark X X X X XSchwien Greg X X X X X XSeible Brian X X XStarling Eric X X X X X XWidel Mike X X X X X X X X X X

Second ShiftEdgar Jeriah X X XFarmer Curtis X X XJewell Harlan X X XKaesbauer Betty Jo X X X XOsborne Eric XRichards Kevin X XSimonsen Dale X XStoker Kris X I XThaxton Julie X XUllrich Erica X XWhitacre Ross X X X X XWiese Dwight X XDon Dewitt X X

Department

A cross training matrix was planned with employees

and posted along with daily job assignments.

Bottlenecks will test the POLCA implementation!

Bottlenecks will test the POLCA implementation!

Alternate Work Schedules

• A Crew & B Crew• B Crew takes break and lunch

opposite of A Crew• We positioned B Crew as a positive:

they would be in line for better raises, improved promotion possibilities and would be more “lay off resistant”

COSTS

Costs

• Cross Training Operators $20,000

• Daily Shipments for Sub-contracting $16,000 Annually

• Racks, Carts, Tags, Cards, Signs$7,000

Costs

• Training $6,000– Lean Manufacturing– Total Productive Maintenance– Seminars– Conferences

• Dedicated Implementation Resources $35,000

BENEFITS OF POLCA

Benefits of Polca

• Cycle Time Reduction• WIP Reduction• Visual Management• Uncovers “Hidden” Problems• Cultural Change

Cycle (lead) Time Reduction

Days Reduced % Improved

• 21 > 6.6 68%

• 28 > 14.3 48%

• 30.6 > 15 51%

• 30.3 > 23.8 22%

Cycle (Lead) Time Reduction

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

PrePOLCA

6/ 10/ 02 8/ 5/ 02 9/ 6/ 02

21 Days 28 Days35 Days 42 Days

POLCA WIP Reduction

POLCA WIP Reduction

• Pin Cells • 82% Reduction

POLCA WIP Reduction

• Centerless Grinding

• 90% Reduction

POLCA WIP Reduction

• Welding• 90% Reduction

POLCA WIP Reduction

•Heat Treat•75% Reduction

0102030405060708090

100

Pre POLCA

Immediate Bottleneck Visualization

Card Holders

Labor Re-deployment

• Move employees to bottleneck areas

Un-covers “hidden” Problems

• Material Availability

• Perishable Tooling Availability

• Quality Issues• Machine Down

Time• Long Setups

Cultural Change

• Continuous improvement

LESSONS LEARNED

Lessons Learned

• Visual Management• Part Families• Support Activities• Outside Contractors• It Spreads!• Don’t Over-analyze, Just Do It!

POLCA Provides Visual Management

• Color Coding• Easy to know quantity of jobs an

area can produce- important for capacity planning

• Immediate bottleneck visualization• Upstream and downstream

scheduling conditions immediately assessable

Visual Management-Color Coding

• Improves Organization-Provides simple “routing instructions”

• Mistake Proofs-An out of place item is seen a

“mile away”

Visual Management-Color Coding

• Area Identifiers

Visual Management- Color Coding

• POLCA STATIONS

Visual Management- Color Coding

• POLCA Cards• Container Tags

Part Families

Part families should be seriously considered- through standardization they facilitate: • Building cells• Quicker set-ups• Ease of operator substitution in

times of bottlenecks• Better POLCA flow

Support Activities

• Before starting POLCA, consider the roadblocks that may keep you from a successful start up

• Most groundwork involves the tenets of QRM and may require six to twelve months to implement

Outside Subcontractors

• Daily shipments are helpful• If you have very cooperative

subcontractors- teach them to POLCA• To get up and running quickly, maintain

a POLCA station in your plant for each subcontractor. Material handlers operate the system.

It Spreads to Other Applications!

• Material Pre-stage Triggers were also installed in non-POLCA areas

• They led to improved “first operation” scheduling

It Spreads in Popularity!

• We picked up supporters through the first loop implementation

• An implementation team member gladly became a full time POLCA resource and is one of our strongest believers in POLCA

• Another volunteered to help the team set-up POLCA in the next loops

Don’t Over Analyze - Just Do It!

• Must have area experts and scheduling experts directly involved in implementation.

• Experts must be authorized to make quick decisions and major adjustments. Start with a high quantity of cards per loop and work it down as you see the affects of POLCA.

• Remember that the changes are reversible!• Embrace failure and learn from it.