LEAN Management in the engineering design
by Daniel Hoscilo
What is LEAN?
“Lean pro vides a way to do more with less while com ing closer to pro vid ing cus tomers with exactly what they want.”
EssentiallyLEANisawayofthinking.ItwasdevelopedbytheJapanesecarmanufacturinggiantToyotaandcontinuouslyimprovedovermany years.UsingLEANtechniques,Toyotahasgrowntobethelargestcarmanufacturerinthe world.
Theobjectiveofleanistocontinuallyimproveprocessefficiency,qualityandtime.Leanaimstomeettheneedsofthecustomerandreducecostsbysystematicallyeliminatingwaste,allowingbetteruseofpeopleandassets.
Myths about LEAN?Lim ited to Manufacturing
Leancanbeappliedtoanyorganizationirrespectiveofsizeorthenatureoftheproductorservicetheorganizationprovides.
Focused on cut ting staff num bers
LEANisfocusedoneliminationofwaste.Providesanincreaseinproductivityandqualitywithasimultaneousreductionincostanddeliverytimetothecustomer.
It is a quick fix solution
Leanisaboutchallengingthewaythingsaredoneandopeningoureyestothatwasteandinefficiency.Theenvironmentinwhichanorganizationoperateswillcontinuetochangeandthatrequirestime.Itisanongoingprocess.
4 LEAN
Principles
Specify value: Knowwhatisimportanttothecustomerofthe
process
Identify and Eliminate
Waste: Fromtheprocess
Smooth the Flow: Allowworktopassfreelythroughtheprocesswithout
disturbance
Pursue Perfection: Make
improvementahabit
Recognize the need
for change
Establish key improvement
objectives
Find lean leader
Identify and prioritize
Find the opportunities
for improvement
within the organization
Deliver the opportunities
Action required depends on the
nature of the opportunity being
pursued
Sustain the improvement
culture
Create a virtuous circle of lean
process improvement
Step 1Step 4Step 2 Step 3
1Process of becoming LEAN
2Staff role in applying LEAN.
LEANisonlyasgoodasthepeoplethatmakeithappen.Criticalelementisthatlocalteamsundertaketheimprovementactivitiesintheirworkarea.Involvementofthoseaffectedbythechangeensuresthegainscanbesustainedoncetheyhavebeenmade.Itisequallyimportantthatcompanywillprovideallrequiredsupport.Staffneedtoknowwhattodo,howtodoitandwhentodoit.
HighwaysAgency/BBMMarerunbyChrisJenkinswhoisaLeanImprovementManager.HeisanexperiencedleancoachwhoisresponsibleforimplementingleanvisualmanagementtechniquesacrossHighwaysAgencyArea4andArea10.
3Tools
Over the years number of tools was developed to supportsuccessful deployment of LEAN. Right tools and are coreelementtoenabletheorganizationtoapplyallprinciplesoflean.
Thetoolsallowlocalimprovementteamstounderstandthevalue stream of their process and identify the waste andremoveit.Therearealsotoolsthatsmooththeflowthroughtheprocessandonesthathelptomaintainleanprocesses.
Currently at HighwaysAgency Collaborative Planning, SixSigma (DMAICT) and Highways Agency Lean MaturityAssessment Toolkit (HALMAT) are leading tolls used forimplementingLEAN.
4DMAICT diagram
5BIM + LEAN. Will this work?
BIMisaworkflowprocesstoprovidevirtualdesignandbuildinginformationtoprojects.ThemostpowerfulaspectofBIMisthe"I,”theinformation.Itisthecommunication/transfer/deliveryofprojectinformationtoOwners,Contractors,TradePartners,andevengovernmentalagencies.AndthisistheareawhereLEANisreallyabouttoshine.
WithinJacobswecanbestutilizeBIMinaLeanDesignworkflowthroughanumberofpracticessuchas:
- Investigatedesignoptionsearlyanddigitally- Becometheproject’smodelmanager.Organizationcapableto
integratemodelandnon-model(usuallyMicrosoftExcel)dataintoaBIMprojecthaveanadvantage
- UseTVD(TargetValueDesign)asdefinedearlier- OptimizeourConstructionDocuments
Andmanyothers.
6Proven benefits – M40 J15
Savings
Of
24k to 312k
Planning method used
across different
projects
Recover
3 months
delay
21% reduction in
surfacing
programme