Improving Business Performance: Lean Management For Precision Engineering Works

Challenges Faced by Precision Engineering Works

Businesses face various challenges in their daily endeavour to make a profit, with competition being an important challenge. Other challenges to business performance and profitability include quality demands, maturing customer demands and advances in technology (Liker, & Morgan, 2006). For a company like Precision Engineering Works Private Limited (PEW) to succeed, there ought to be a concerted effort to ensure efficient and effective management of the organization to enable it to weather the competition and adapt to the ever-changing business environment. Effective project management has been touted as one of the main ways that companies can make their processes efficient leading to an improvement in their overall performance (O’Connor, 2008). According to PMBOK (2008), project management can be conceptualized as the application of appropriate skills, knowledge, techniques and tools to the activities of a project to the requirements of the project. However, most manufacturing firms are not easily amenable to the traditional project management systems as they deal with the continuous process (Kerzner, 2006). Project Management: For that fact, manufacturing companies borrow project management processes and principles and apply them in the running of the various departments such as finance, administration, sales, and production (Schonberger, 2007).

However, projects routinely fail to meet their objectives resulting in poor quality services and low customer satisfaction. The main culprit in projects fail to meet targets are delayed timelines and cost overruns. To solve the problems associated with ineffective project implementation, management researchers have proposed lean management, which can deal with projects involving ambiguity and task uncertainty (Staats et al., 2011).

Precision Engineering works Private Limited (PEW) is an engineering company that deals with the manufacture of plastic mouldings parts used in the telecommunication industry. The company has over 30 years’ experience in the industry serving the worlds most recognized telecommunications firms (Checkland, & Poulter, 2010). However, due to its perceived profitability, the industry has attracted many new entrants threatening PEW’s position in the market and by extension its profitability. With increased competition, the company is having a difficult time winning contracts as the erstwhile customers have more choices as some of the competitors are offering similar services to the one offered by PEW. Also, some of the company’s experienced workers are leaving and joining the competitors (Mehri, 2006).             

This report aims at indicating the identifying the root causes of the problems in the company after analyzing the firm using appropriate techniques and tools. Further, the report will include a continuous improvement plan aimed at providing solutions for the identified problems. The competencies from the employees and the management to effectively implement the necessary changes (Kerzner, 2006).

Project Management in Manufacturing Firms

We’re assuming that your business will run better on the off chance that you formalize your procedures, and you at that point screen, break down and adjust your procedures to be more proficient. Also, we often assume the schedule, the effort, the resource pool, the budget, and the cost constraints.    

Before any attempt is made at finding solutions to the problems an organization faces, it is prudent to first find the root causes of the problems. Without getting to the root causes of the issues that are identified, the management treats symptoms which give short-term relief but worsens the problems in the medium and long-term. Precision engineering works private limited company (PEW) faces various challenges including increased competition, fall in sales and market share, and hemorrhage of competent and experienced employees. There are problems in the company which require urgent solutions before they threaten the survival of the company. Lean manufacturing techniques might be the companies answer to identifying and addressing the problems that the company faces.

Lean manufacturing involves the production of the biggest variety of highest quality products using the least possible resources (Pettersen, 2009). Lean Manufacturing involves the elimination of waste (Chen et al., 2010), Continuous improvement (Proctor et al., 2004), ensuring zero defects, utilizes pull rather than push principles, uses multifunctional teams, has decentralized responsibilities, and employs vertical information systems (Mehri, 2006).

Once a company identifies a problem, it is important to get to the root causes of the problem immediately before it festers and gets harder to treat. To get to the PEW’s problem, the team used various tools and techniques. The common Root Cause Analysis Tools Include:

• Fishbone (Ishikawa)
• The five whys
• DMAIC roadmap
• Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA)
• Current Reality Tree
• Pareto Diagram
• Force Field Analysis     

The result of analysis of the problems and all their possible causes present in the form of a diagram that resembles a skeleton of a fish. The team, composed of the consulting company and the managers from the PEW company, analyzed the various causes of the problems facing the company with all of them starting with letter “M” including machine material, method, management, milieu, and man.

5 Whys

This technique involves the applications of questions in the quest for getting to the real roots of the problem. The practice involves the art of asking five well thought out questions to lead from the symptoms to the real deep-seated causes of the problems in question. In the current case, the team asked five questions starting with the visible problems that we identified including lack of competitiveness, competent and experienced workers bailing out of the company to join the competition and falling revenues. The first question is followed by the second one and by the fifth question the real problem becomes clear.

Lean Management to Address Ineffective Project Implementation

DMAIC stands for Defining, Developing, Measuring, Analyzing, Improving and Controlling, steps which help consultants and the management team to get to the real causes of problems to address them and prevent the same from getting worse and making the turnaround virtually impossible.   

In the above- mentioned root causes identification method, the consultants and management start with the identification of a standard, and it usually contains system blocks. The investigations start at the by hypothesizing about the possible points in which failure is likely to occur in the system blocks. The next step involves identifying the impacts of such failure modes in the system block and their severity. After identifying the impacts, the investigator then analyses the likelihood of the said failure occurring and the means of detecting them. Finally, the investigator calculates the Risk Priority Number (RPN), which done using the formula              

 RPN = Severity × Occurrence × Detection

Once the RPN values have been calculated, the researchers consider the various actions that can be instituted to either minimize the effects of the failure modes or actions that can increase the detection of the failure modes. It is important to start with the ones with the highest values and work downwards. The next step involves the recalculation of the RPN values after the corrective actions, the aim being to ensure that the final RPN values are low as possible (Bruch, Karltun, & Dencker, 2008).

Current Reality Tree

This system of root cause identification has the capacity of identifying all the problems within a system all at once. The Current Reality Tree is especially important in analyzing the problems existing with a complex system with the possibility of many causes of the problem. The first step in the identification of real causes of the issues using current reality tree method involves the listing of all the problems and undesirable events in within the system. The next step involves using the words “if” and “then” to link the problems thus creating a diagram depicting the problems and their real causes (Almstrom, & Kinnander, 2007).

The Pareto diagram method uses the concept that the majority of the problems have just a handful of significant causes. As such, the process involves the identification of a small number of causes using a Pareto Diagram. The investigator using this method looks at the graph and determines the factors that seem to occur at a higher frequency and expends all energy in dealing with these few issues as they are the 20% causes responsible for about 80% of the problem.

Tools and Techniques for Identifying Root Causes of Problems in PEW

Force Field Analysis

This method involves the analysis of the forces which are for or against a particular plan of change. The use of the Force Field Analysis is especially useful in the process of making decisions on whether to proceed with discard a plan. The first step in the process is the identification and description of the plan or the change proposal, and write the title in the middle of the page. Then, the investigator identifies the forces for change including a need to increase profitability, outdated processes, and changing demographics, and adds them to the left. The third step involves identifying the factors militating against the change plan such as fear of the unknown and government legislation, and placing them on the right column. Draw arrows and assign scores for each of the factors, and add all the values from each side. The final step involves decision-making on whether to proceed with the program or to go back to the drawing board (Joostein, Bongers, Janssen, 2009).

Any ceaseless change exertion needs in the first place an exact comprehension of the procedure that has been distinguished for development. The procedure can be in any piece of an organization’s matter of fact, however, should have the capacity to be mapped to distinguish the streams that make up the procedure.

Exploring ideas

The disappointment mode and impacts examination is a method that is utilized to decide the disappointments inside a specific framework. A ton of organizations utilizes this RCA device to discover which parts of the procedures are defective with the goal that they can be redressed. It additionally decides the occasions the disappointment happens, the activities executed by the association to keep the disappointment from repeating, and deciding territories, where moves made, were powerful. This apparatus is frequently done each time another procedure or item is created.

As an assembling administrator is accepting parts from an infusion shaping press, the administrator can contrast the recently made part with the standard part and check whether there are any noteworthy contrasts. On the off chance that there are, at that point, there’s an issue and it ought to be amended immediately

Evidence

Precision Engineering works Private Limited (PEW) is an engineering company that deals with the manufacture of plastic mouldings parts used in the telecommunication industry. The company has over 30 years’ experience in the industry serving the worlds most recognized telecommunications firms. However, due to its perceived profitability, the industry has attracted many new entrants threatening PEW’s position in the market and by extension its profitability. Some of the company’s experienced workers are leaving and joining the competitors

Continuous Improvement Plan for PEW

Milestones and deliverables

After an exhaustive writing audit, we discovered that the join utilization of Lean and Six Sigma is turning into the best philosophy these days and it is ceaselessly ruling all other change approaches. With the previously mentioned toolboxes of TQM, the approach of Six Sigma and Lean, organizations can without much of a stretch picked the procedure and toolboxes that will best suit the business issue and condition for usage.

After the RPN values have been calculated, the management considers the various actions that can be instituted to either minimize the effects of the failure modes or actions that can increase the detection of the failure modes. It is important to start with the ones with the highest values and work downwards. The next step involves the recalculation of the RPN values after the corrective actions, the aim being to ensure that the final RPN values are as low as possible.

Evaluation process

Results are characterized as medium-term impacts of undertaking yields. Results are detectable changes that can be connected to extend mediations. More often than not, they are the accomplishments of the venture accomplices. They are consistently connected to the proposed effect. Results are the outcomes that connection to the quick destinations as portrayed in the undertaking report.

Report

A task is responsible for accomplishing results and adding to the improvement effect. Since the accomplishment of expansive, long-haul advancement changes relies upon numerous variables, it is normally unrealistic to credit effect to one anticipate. All results of an undertaking ought to contribute to the planned effect.

Deciding what to do

This underlying stage enables members to conceptualize the issue to recognize the same number of conceivable main drivers. In this stage, the group can make circumstances and results graph which can be helpful amid meetings to generate new ideas.

Key Management is about recognisable proof and portrayal of the systems that chiefs can convey to accomplish better execution and an upper hand for their association. An association is said to have upper hand if its benefit is higher than the normal gainfulness for all organisations in its industry.

Technical management

Deliberate endeavours utilised in the auspicious sending of a procedure or framework, and in adjusting its cost, viability, and supportability over its life cycle.

Leadership

Leaders encourage themselves as well as other people to do the correct things. They set heading, assemble a rousing vision, and make something new. The initiative is tied in with mapping out where you have to go to “win” as a group or an association; and it is dynamic, energising, and rousing.

Purpose

Conclusion

Organisations confront different difficulties in their day by day try to make a benefit, with rivalry being a vital test. Different difficulties to business execution and gainfulness incorporate quality requests, developing client requests and advances in innovation. For an organisation like Precision Engineering Works Private Limited (PEW) to succeed, there should be a coordinated exertion to guarantee proficient and powerful administration of the association to empower it climate the opposition and adjust to the regularly changing business condition. Compelling task administration has been touted as one of the primary ways that organisations can make their procedures effective prompting a change in their general execution.  Venture administration can be conceptualized as the use of fitting aptitudes, learning, procedures and apparatuses to the exercises of a task to the prerequisites of the undertaking.

References

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Chen, H. Lindeke., R.R., Wyrick., D.D,. (2010). Lean automated manufacturing: avoiding the pitfalls to embrace the opportunities. Assembly Automation, 30(2), pp. 117–123.

Joostein, T. Bongers, I., Janssen, R., (2009). Application of lean thinking to health care: issues and observations. International Journal for Quality in Health Care, 21(5), pp. 341-347.

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