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| Design For Manufacturability Kaizen EventsJune 1, 2004 When people think of Kaizen events, they usually think of shop floor improvement. Rarely, if ever, do they think of product design. However, this is unfortunate since one area for which Kaizen Blitz events can be quite powerful is product design; changing the design itself will often result in significant reduction of waste. DFM Kaizen events result in less complexity: fewer parts and fewer operations. Fewer parts to order, plan, fabricate, and assemble result in significant cost savings. Sometimes called Design for Manufacturability Workshops, these Kaizen events typically result in 20% or greater reductions in product cost. DFM Kaizen events involve
design engineers, manufacturing engineers, buyers, quality engineers, and other
interested parties meeting for several days and following a process for reducing
the complexity of a design. Such
events involve six major steps very analogous to the steps of a kaizen event on
the shop floor: Step 1: Training The team is trained in the
concepts of design for manufacturability. Interactive
exercises are done to begin the process of helping the team to think
differently. Step 2: Current State Mapping The team maps out the current state (or baseline) design. This involves mapping the steps required to produce the product in great detail. Step 3:
Brainstorming The team members, using the tools they’ve learned in the training session, go through a brainstorming exercise. The goal is to generate as many ideas as possible for design improvement. Step 4: Select
Ideas and Create Future State Designs The team then selects
ideas and creates several future state designs, based on probability of
successful implementation. Step 5: Create Implementation Plan The team develops an implementation plan, which details tasks, dates, and responsible people for implementation of the design. Steps included often involve things like investigation of materials, functional testing, prototyping, 3-D modeling, and working with suppliers. After the event, the team
should meet periodically to status the plan and drive the implementation phase
to completion. In 3 – 6
months, the product cost savings should begin to be realized. Organizations can use DFM kaizen events to achieve their goal of lower cost without sacrificing value to their customers. This underutilized tool can be applied across all industries and typically results in 20% to 30% reductions in cost. Instead of going with their initial inclinations to squeeze suppliers and reduce value to decrease cost, management teams should champion DFM efforts in their organizations to reduce cost and add significantly to the bottom line. DFM Kaizen combined with kaizen on the shop floor make for a recipe for world-class success. Click here to subscribe to our free e-newsletter Learning to Lean and receive three articles like this one each month. About the Author Darren Dolcemascolo is an internationally recognized lecturer, author, and consultant. As Sr. Partner and co-founder of EMS Consulting Group, he specializes in productivity and quality improvement through lean manufacturing. Mr. Dolcemascolo has written the book Improving the Extended Value Stream: Lean for the Entire Supply Chain, published by Productivity Press in 2006. He has also been published in several manufacturing publications and has spoken at such venues as the Lean Management Solutions Conference, Outsourcing World Summit, Biophex, APICS, and ASQ. He has a BS in Industrial Engineering from Columbia University and an MBA with Graduate Honors from San Diego State University. | |||||||||||||||||
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