A3 Method

OSI Systems

Organizational Life

It’s about getting results

We have good projects, ideas, programs and initiatives often failing to achieve the desired results

Most important issues transcend functional or departmental boundaries

Results can only be achieved with the help and cooperation of others

What is organizational life like today (current-state)?

Is there line outside your office?

“The problem is we need the new software upgrade to be Movex compliant”

“We need to upgrade the machines with quick-change tooling as part of our lean implementation”

Our competitor has reduced prices and we need this sales promotion to prevent losing market share”

With all the issues today how do get them aligned?

A Lot of Good Ideas

“I think we should increase new product development to beat the competition”

“I think we should outsource more to China to reduce our costs”

“I think we should trim the product line to get rid of the low margin, low runners”

With all the good ideas today how do get them aligned?

So Many Solutions!

“We need to implement lean to reduce waste and improve efficiency”

“We need a new supply chain initiative to buy more from low cost countries and reduce cost from current suppliers”

We need to do 80/20 analysis to weed out low margin business

With all the good solutions today how do get them aligned?

How Do We Get Aligned?

A3 is a problem solving approach intended to align the issues, ideas

and countermeasures

A3 Discipline (key concepts)

States the issue and why it is important

Provides background to facilitate understanding

Current performance and future goals

Analysis and root cause

Countermeasures and action plans

Measurement and adjustment

PDC A

Three Keys to Lean Leadership

Go See – Management must spent time on the front lines

Ask Why – Use the “Why?” technique daily

Show Respect – Respect your people. Let the people solve the problem. Not management.

A3 should change the way we manage and think

The A3 Management Discipline

A3 (PDCA) Story Board

17”

11” Plan

Heading

Footnotes

Do

Check Act

Grasp the situation

Try

Reflect

Hypothesis

Adjust

Cycles of learning and continuous work process improvement

Notice the Planning section is large (focus on the plan (not the solution))

A Format for Planning and Proposing – A3

“A3” is just a paper size (international 11” X 17”)

A3 planning began in the 60s as the Quality Circle problem solving report-out format

At Toyota, it evolved to become the standard format for problem solving proposals, plans and status reviews

What is important is not the format, but rather the process and thinking behind it

Again…A3 should be a way of thinking

An A3 is a PDCA Story Board(not a form, not even a standardized format)

Adjust for the type of story being told (quality problem versus company strategy)

Always the four steps of Plan, Do, Check and Act/Adjust

No exact or specific look or format

The more visual the better (pictures, charts, no small print)

Fits on one page (use baby A3s for complicated stories)

Must flow as a story (visual story teller)

A3 Process – The Scientific Method

Observe reality - “go see”

Presents facts

Proposed working countermeasures designed to achieve a stated goal

Gain agreement

Develop a plan for success

Follow-up with a process of checking and adjusting for actual results

Forces individuals to:

Toyota does not use the term solution. Countermeasures are thought to be experiments

A3s Work at Different Levels

Individuals use A3 thinking to propose projects, take initiative, show ownership, sell ideas, gain agreement and learn

Managers use A3 to coach and teach, assign clear responsibility, ownership and accountability, get good plans from subordinates and mentor employees

An organization uses A3 thinking to get decisions made, to achieve objectives, to get things done, to align people and teams along common goals and to learn

A3 is also used as a report out & instead of a 50 page PowerPointA3 can be used as a visual check of the processFor middle managers - A3 can be used to engage other departments

The A3 Process

It fosters dialogue within the organization

It develops thinking problem solvers

It encourages front-line initiative

It encourages PDCA

It clarifies the link between true problems and countermeasures

It serves as an organizational learning tool

It leads to results through effective countermeasures and solutions based on facts, data and analysis

PDCA & A3s

PDCA is the process to plan improvements and learn one’s way to successful implementation

PDCA thinking is used to propose and manage changes as experiments

A3 Storyboards are used to prepare and present the business case for proposed changes and/or countermeasures to problems

A3 process proactively seeks input and feedback to align proposed changes with priorities throughout the organization

PDCA Cycle of Learning for Results

ACT PLAN

DOCHECK TRY(Actions planned and implemented to test the theory)

REFLECT(Analysis of the

what and why of the results)

ADJUST(The theory for

better or sustained

results)

HYPOTHESIS(a theory of why it is happening and what will “fix” it))

GRASP the SITUATION…and Grasp, Plan & TEST Again Observations of what is happening & why

Typical A3 Layout

Title What is this A3 is about

Background

What is the standard of performance?

What is the history/context for this story?

Current Situation

What is our performance versus the standard?

What is the situation that dictates what we must do?

What are the gaps?

Goal

What performance do we want?What objectives do we want to achieve?

Analysis

What is (are) the root cause(s) of the problem

What requirements, constraints and alternatives need to be considered?

Recommendations

The countermeasures being proposed and the logic behind them (how they impact the root cause)

Plan

Action plan complete with Who, What, Where, When of all activities

Follow-up

How will we check to see if we are getting the desired results?

What remaining issues must we address?

Sign offs

Date, Team, Business Unit, Author

Must understand what really is the problem?

What is the “Right” Format?

As varied as the problems

As diverse as the people who will use it

The focus needs to be on a rigorous thinking process that leads to robust problem solving rather than a standardized format for the “form”

The tool needs to be flexible!

Many Different Tools Could Be Used

Background Graph SketchInvestigation/Current State Tally-sheet Histogram

Pareto Diagram Graph

Scatter Diagram Sketch

Control Chart CS Map

Target, Outcomes Chart Sketch

Action Plan Gantt Chart

Analysis Cause-and-effect Fishbone Control Chart

Relation Diagram Histogram

Tree Diagram Graph

Pareto Diagram Sketch

Scatter Diagram

Countermeasures Graph Chart

Sketch FS Map

Verification of Countermeasures Pareto Diagram Graph

Histogram Sketch

Scatter Diagram Chart

Preventions Sketch Chart

Review/Critique

Plan

ActCheck

Do

A3 Discipline

Stating the issue and why it is important

Providing background to facilitate understanding

Current performance and future goals

Analysis and root cause

Countermeasures and action plans

Measurement and adjustment

Sample A3Acme Stamping Steering Bracket Valve Stream ImprovementBackground•Production: Stamped-steel steering brackets (left and right hand drive).

•18,400 brackets/month; daily shipments in pallets of 10 trays of 20 brackets

•Customer State Street Assembly is requesting price cuts and tightening delivery requirements

Current Situation•Production Lead time: 23.6 days

•Processing time: only 188 seconds

•Large inventories of material between each process

•Long changeover times: downtime in welding

Current State Map

SII I II I

WW A A

Planning

Lead Time 23.6 DaysAnalysis

Each process operates as isolated islands, disconnected from customer

Push system; material builds up between each processes

Each process builds according to its own operating constraints (changeover, downtime, etc

Plans based on 90 and 30 day forecasts from customer. Weekly schedule for each department. System is frequently overridden to make delivery.

Goals: Improve profitability while meeting tougher customer demands:

Reduce lead time – 23.6 days to < 5 days

Reduce inventories: Stamping < 2 days / Welding – Eliminate / Shipping < 2 days

Current Situation•Create continuous flow in through Weld and Assembly

•Establish Takt Time: Base the pace of work through Weld and Assembly on customer demand

•Set new Weld-assembly cell as pacemaker for entire value stream

•Establish EPEX build schedule for stamping based on actual use of pacemaker cell and pull steel coils from supplier based on actual usage by stamping

•Reduce changeover time in Stamping and Weld

•Improve uptime in Weld

•Establish material handling routes for frequent with drawl and delivery

•Establish new production instruction system with Leveling Box

Future State MapPlanning

S Pacemaker Cell

Lead Time4.5 Days

Follow-up

Confirm reviews and involvement of related departments”

Production Control and Material Handling, Purchasing, Maintenance, Human Resources, Finance

Deliverables 1 2 3 4 5 6 Responsible Review

Kaizen Assy Sup Plt Manager

Weld

C/O

Pacemaker Mt’l Handling MH Manager

Daily Delivery

Does it tell a complete PDCA story?

Avoid selling the solution in the background. State only the facts.

Developing an A3 – Grasping the Situation

What is the current performance?

How does it vary from the standard?

What are the facts that you have observed?

Why is this important?

How does this relate to the purpose of the organization?

What analysis is needed to full understand the current situation?

Background & Current Situation

What is the problem?Why do we need to work on this?

Avoid broad statements. Should be specificGraphs & charts should be only for understanding

How are We “Solving” Problems?

Good people wanting to do the right thing and get work done, jumping to conclusions about perceived problems based on gut instinct and hearsay, applying poor fixes that are doomed to fail over the long-term.

Does this describe OSI?

Focus on understanding the problem not the solution.

Is the Issue Agreement?

Do we really agree on the where we want to go? On what the gap in performance is?

Do we really agree on how we will get there?

Transition Plan

Do we really agree on the where we are? On the current condition?

Current Sate

Future Sate

How Do We Get Agreement Today?

Do the “hard sell”

Force your perspective

State your case more strongly than others

“Meeting” people into submission

I’ve got the data

Engagement and Thinking

Here is how I see things what about you?

What am I missing?

What do you think?

What have you seen? “Gemba”

How can we go see together?

Engaging Conversations

Candor

Disagreement surface early

Informal dialogue

Getting firsthand understanding

Taking personalities out of the process

A3 as Storytelling

The A3, it’s description of the issues, proposals and plans must make sense to others

The link between the actions and the issue need to be based on the facts of the actual situation

The story must be complete (PDCA)

Your purpose is to get agreement that leads to action (engagement rather than convincing)

Try to create common understanding & agreements to get good resultsAsk the deep “why” questions. Get down to the root cause

Key Questions

Have you identified the gap between the current and future state?

Did you go to the gemba – observe and talk to the people who do the work in order to full grasp the situation?

Did you clarify the true business objective(s)?

Did you isolate the real root cause?

Did you uncover the right information to support good analysis?

Did you construct the A3 in the most clear and concise manner?

Do we really understand how this meets our objective?

Developing an A3 – Agreeing on a Plan

What does performance need to be to fill the gap?

Why aren’t we getting that performance today?

What will it take to change our performance?

What should our goal be for this issue?

What tools/methods/process will we use to determine the root cause and/or best solution?

What is the root cause?

What are the alternatives?

Goal and Analysis

Why this goal?

How do you know you fully understand what needs to be done?

Some Common Problems in Planning

We plan in terms of actions (tasks) rather than goals or objectives

Responsibilities and the specifics of deliverables are not clear

We plan in silos, out of context of the rest of organization or operation

We underestimate the time and effort required to implement

We don’t make reviews part of the plan

Before You Get to implementing the Plan?

What is the problem or issue?

Who owns the problem?

What is the root cause?

What are some of the possible countermeasures?

How will you decide which countermeasures to propose?

How will you get agreement from everyone concerned?

Focus on the problem before you attempt to find countermeasures.Purpose is to create an understanding to get agreement.Are you working on the right problem to begin with?Think robustly about countermeasures. Don’t get locked into 1 countermeasure.

Developing an A3 – Proposing Action

What is your recommendation / countermeasure (make sure it relates to the root cause)?

What is the plan (who, what, where, when)?

Gantt chart with exact timelines

DeliverablesWhy did you pick this countermeasure?How do you know this will work?

How will you make sure it gets done?

Remember you are writing a story

Developing an A3 – Checking, Adjusting and Standardizing

How will we know if the actions are delivering the expected results (measurements, timing)?

How will we make adjustments?

How can we standardize the new processes once they are working?

What have we learned?

How can we spread this learning?

How can we sustain the improvement?

What other areas do we need to look at?

How do we review with everyone and spread the lessons learned?

The Check on Your A3 Process

Without the underlying management philosophy, without PDCA as a discipline of the organization A3 can become just a new form to display old thinking.

Are we making better decisions and implementing them better and faster?

Are people more engaged in decision making? Is there more candid dialogue?

Is the focus on the process and the scientific method rather than the idea or the person?

Are we reducing the time to business results?

Summary A3 Process

Structure effective and efficient dialogue to foster understanding and reach agreement

17”

11” Plan

Heading

Footnotes

Do

Check Act

The Purpose of the A3 Process is to: