Inter-Office Correspondence

Date Subject

To From cc

August xx, 20xx

Lean Enterprise - Self Assessment and Planning Form Plant Managers

Date:

Subject: Lean Enterprise Self-Assessment

From:

To: All Plant Managers cc All GM?s, VP?s, Presidents

As a follow-up to the self-assessment requested in January of this year, we ask each plant to update your self-assessments. Most plants completed the forms earlier this year, but we still have not heard from some of you. Please make every effort to have the self-assessment form completed and returned by September 30, 20xx. With your cooperation, we will achieve our target of 100 % participation. It is important that we understand where we are with this process and keep a focus on where improvements are needed.

Attached are the self-assessment forms. These have been revised somewhat to reflect best practices and raise the standards of excellence. For each category that you score less than 90%, we ask that you develop a roadmap for improvement. If your plant lacks expertise in any area, please ask for assistance.

Please return the completed assessments to _____________________.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE ASSESSMENT SHEETS

There are 11 areas for the lean assessment, including culture & awareness, problem solving,

standardized work, kaizen, material handling (kanban), quick changeover, 6S, visual management, total preventive maintenance, flexible operations and error-proofing. Please develop a roadmap for improvement for each area that you score less than 90% on. If you have any questions feel free to ask for assistance.

Each area has a two page assessment. For example, the first page of “culture & awareness” has a “Measurable” section (with levels and circles to be filled in). The second page of “culture &

awareness” consists of questions and a chart. The questions are designed to aid you in identifying the correct level of the measurable on the first page. The chart (enablers, disablers, and evidence of best practices) is intended to allow you to identify evidence of factors that encourage lean thinking

(enablers) or discourage it (disablers). The “evidence of best practices” box is where you would record practices or procedures which should be adopted and spread throughout the company.

Once consensus is reached on the number of “quarters” that should be filled in for each element, this measurable can be converted to a percentage. For example, you and your team achieve consensus that shading in three “quarters” of the level 3 measurable in “culture and awareness” is accurate. For the purposes of this calculation, consider all the “quarters” below level 3 as shaded in. So the calculation would be 11 “quarters” (four for level 1, four for level 2, four for level 3) divided by 20 total “quarters” or 55%.

After the eleven individual areas are assessed, the summary results are recorded on the radar chart and you and you team would then fill out the lean planning and lean tracking forms included at the end of this document.

Culture and Awareness

(Customer Focused - Employees Aware)

Definition: How management explains and acts upon its values. How ordinary problems are dealt with. How the plant perceives management attitudes and behaviors. How the customer (internal or external) is regarded. Communication within the plant. Instructions: Fill in the number of “quarters” for each circle that corresponds to the level observed in the plant. Use the questions on the back of this sheet to aid in evidence gathering % Level Measurable Evident 1

Employee awareness level of the plant vision, plant goals and customer expectations is

minimal.

Employees understand who their internal (next process) and external customers are and what they expect - they receive feedback from later processes in the plant; employees visit customer sites. Some employees are aware of the plant vision and goals.

All employees have access to key information, resources and support to meet and exceed customer expectations, including sales, quality and delivery issues. Most employees are aware of the plant vision and goals.

The organization fosters and measures employee satisfaction. There is evidence of

commitment to organizational goals; leaders build and support open 2-way communication, trust, teamwork and continuous improvement. All employees are aware of the plant vision and goals.

Problem solving teams are consistently assigned, trained, given authority and are working on all key top customer issues. Teams are obtaining permanent root cause solutions. Most employees share and promote the plant vision and goals.

1243 2

3

4

5

6

The \or abnormality occurs, people get to work at once to make a permanent corrective improvement. Every employee shares and promotes the plant vision and goals.

Cultural Awareness Assessment = Filled Quarters / Total Quarters ____/_24_ = _____ %

Key: 0: 1: 2: 0% - Not found anywhere

3: 4: 75% - Very typical, some exceptions 100% - Everywhere in plant, no exceptions 25% - Only seen in some areas 50% - Commonly found but not in the majority of cases Culture and Awareness Evidence Gathering (Customer Focused - Employees Aware)

Questions to ask to people in the plant to aid in your assessment... ? Has a customer-first attitude penetrated through every area of the plant? ? Do all employees fully understand who their customers are (next process), including end products at OEM customers ? ? Do all employees fully understand the expectations of their customers? ? Are employees informed about customer satisfaction (their current performance)? ? Do all employees have access to relevant information in order to exceed customer expectations (feedback, measurables, performance results, etc.)? ? Is employee satisfaction of the utmost importance? ? Is there openness, trust and teamwork throughout the plant? ? Whenever issues occur, are they faced quickly and openly? ? Are teams used wherever possible to solve problems? ? Are employees well trained in all key continuous improvement tools? ? Does management foster a commitment to goals by building support throughout the plant? ? Is there an excellent communication process throughout the plant? ? Is the communication within the plant both upward and downward? Enablers

Disablers Evidence of Best Practices

Visual Management

Definition: All process steps are clearly visible to all employees. Process status is quickly communicated by information boards, production equipment, etc. All the information needed to manage the business is easily available in real time to all employees. Management uses the visual system to make decisions. Abnormal production situations are easy to detect. Instructions: Fill in the number of “quarters” for each circle that corresponds to the level observed in the plant. Use the questions on the back of this sheet to aid in evidence gathering. Divide the number of quarters shaded by the total number of quarters to determine percent implementation.

Level

1

Measurable % Evident Required information is posted in the plant. Information is usually up to date.

1243 2

Some postings of production status. Most information is current and accurate. Some management attention to standardization of visuals. Abnormal situations are identified visually (e.g. andon board, go/no go lights).

3

4

5

Production status, job training, safety, kaizen, meeting, key measurables, problem solving boards are visible, up to date and showing continuous improvement. Abnormal situations are identified visually and management acts to correct them promptly. Some management decision-making is based upon visual status on the production floor. Additional visual management information such as Product Quality (returns, scrap, FTC,

SPC), productivity boards, preventive maintenance, etc. are updated immediately for each line or process, operators get immediate feedback on their performance. Most managers make decisions based upon visual status on the production floor. All the information required to run the plant is accurate, on the floor, and available in real-time. Everyone can tell when things are normal or abnormal; they respond at once to abnormalities. Visual management drives all operational decision-making.

Visual Management Assessment = Filled Quarters / Total Quarters ____/_20_ = _____ %

Key: 0: 1: 2:

0% - Not found anywhere

3: 4: 75% - Very typical, some exceptions 100% - Everywhere in plant, no exceptions 25% - Only seen in some areas 50% - Commonly found but not in the majority of cases