Continuous Improvement – Glenn Sommerville

There are plenty of tools out there to help us with continuous improvement projects or for problem solving, but it’s not about the tools! It’s about the mindset. The mindset to simplify, make things better, reduce errors or defects, and reduce waste.

It’s that time of year, at least where I live, that we anticipate warmer weather soon. We hope! That means the sap will start running for the annual maple syrup season. A friend, that owns a farming business, asked me to help him tap some trees and hook up the sap lines in preparation for the sap to start running. Sure beats the old days when I helped empty the buckets! Man that was hard work!

Snyder Heritage Farms has various products, one of which is maple syrup. Although not considered a large farm, they tap 2,500 trees with 3,800 taps pulling approximately 250,000 litres of sap through 24,000 feet of small lines. The small lines converge with 10,000 feet of larger main lines leading to the evaporator which boils the sap down to produce about 5,500 litres of pure Canadian maple syrup in an average season.

Even though I had helped in previous years, I was given a brief training course by the owner, Kevin Snyder, on the standard work to install the taps and connect the sap lines. Kevin gave me some key quality points to ensure the hole was drilled properly, the tap installed correctly, and the line secured tightly. What impressed me most though was his continuous improvement mindset. He had determined the most efficient paths to walk through the bush to minimize walking, placement of the tractor in proximity to where we would need to reload with taps while minimizing the walking distance to/from the tractor to do so. He established working zones for each helper to maximize coverage while eliminating any duplication or cross over. He had nail pouches to hold the taps, harnesses for the drills so they were easy to carry and to set aside when not drilling, while eliminating the risk of setting them down in the snow and then leaving them behind. All these things make sense, but what struck me most was his mindset. He was very focused on making the process as efficient as he could to both reduce the burden on the tappers and make them more efficient, while also improving the process to reduce defective tap holes, taps, and hose line connections that could impact vacuum pressure and reduce sap yield. At one point I complimented him on all the improvements he had made and for his mindset. Kevin’s response as he trekked off into the snow covered bush to put in more taps was,

“When you’re the little guy, you have to be efficient!“

It is true smaller companies need to be efficient, but so do larger companies! Unfortunately, sometimes larger companies lose focus and forget the importance of the team’s mindset by hammering out new tools while insisting the team find a “problem” to apply them. Tools are important, but it’s the mindset that is most important because mindset is what creates the drive for continuous improvement. After all, not everything needs a tool to improve. Sometimes, just pure observation, common sense, and know how is all that is needed. Mindset coupled with tools can be powerful, but when you have a bunch of tools without mindset, everything looks like a nail waiting to be hammered!

Maple Weekend – 4th & 5th April 2020

If you are near the Kitchener-Waterloo area, Snyder Heritage Farms hosts “Maple Weekend” on 4th & 5th April from 10:00am – 4:00pm where you can bring your family out to their farm for an instructional tour of the sugar shack and how maple syrup is made, take a tractor ride to visit the maple bush, and enjoy freshly made pancakes and sausages. It’s a fun couple of hours for the family on a nice spring day, and of course, there’s lots of fresh maple syrup!

Snyder Heritage Farm

1213 Maple Bend Rd.
Bloomingdale, Ontario

Contact me:

For additional information on High Performance Leaders Inc., click here. Or follow on LinkedIn or on Twitter at @hp_leaders.

You can email me with any questions at glennsommerville@hotmail.com, find me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/glennsommervilleL2R/, or on Twitter at https://twitter.com/gsommervilleL2R.

If you are enjoying my posts and find the information useful, please “Follow” me by entering your email in the follow box on the right-hand menu of my website www.glennsommerville.com

Visual Controls

A Benchmarking Gemba To Demystify Visual Control Boards

February 17, 2020March 7, 2020 Glenn Sommerville

Visual control boards may not look overly complex, but establishing an effective board and establishing a robust review cadence can be more challenging than initially anticipated. The benefits, however, can be phenomenal! We learned first hand what some of these benefits are during a recent visual control benchmarking gemba.

On 12 and 13 February, High Performance Leaders Inc. (HPL) facilitated a visual control board workshop for the Technology Team lead by Travis Vokey, VP and Head of Technology at Dream Unlimited. The first day was a workshop focused on the key attributes of visual control boards, and a working session to begin defining the team’s value proposition and key performance metrics. On the second day, there was a benchmarking gemba to Crystal Fountains, Baylis Medical, and Bell Mobility to see and learn first hand from their experiences and existing visual control boards.

Our focus during the benchmarking gemba was to see non-manufacturing areas. Since there can be a stigma that visual control boards are only for manufacturing, we wanted to see how different businesses, industries, and non-manufacturing teams set-up their boards and use them. We saw boards used by Sales & Marketing, Product Design, Process Engineering, Equipment Engineering, Project Management, and yes one from Manufacturing. We reviewed boards at the tier 1, 2, 3, and 4 levels, with tier 1 being at the working staff level and level 4 the organizational level. Each host company had a representative appropriate for each level of board explain how their boards work and how they are used.

The Dream team was able to participate in a regular daily huddle in action while at Crystal Fountains. It was fantastic to see and hear the enthusiasm and see the high level of engagement from each of the host company staff members. They were all believers in visual boards. However, that was not always the case. When we asked an engineering team who was the biggest skeptic when they first introduced the boards, an engineer stepped forward and boldly said “Oh, that would have been me!” He went on to explain that he first thought it would just be more work and a waste of time. However, now he admits, the board and the daily huddle has improved communication and work distribution. He’s now a believer!

It was motivational to listen to each of the host company staff members talk about what they like about the boards and how they have made their jobs easier, improved team work, and driven solid improvements. Here’s some of benefits and results they shared with the Dream team:

The boards and huddle have improved our cross-functional communications

We have much better visibility to unplanned work

Saves so much time and there’s less stress

Made us care about each others work, and we want to help each other

I know what’s going on now

It’s not about not being successful (when a target is missed), but rather what do you need to be successful

People feel empowered to get things done

When properly established, visual control boards add value to both the teams and the leaders. Laura Conquergood, VP of Operations at Baylis Medical said, “when I want an update on a project, we just go to the board. We don’t schedule a meeting.” Jongmu Lee, Director Creative Operations at Crystal Fountains said, “whether I’m in the building or not, I know the team is coming together and discussing important topics.” Many of the team members and leaders at all 3 host companies similarly stated, that communications had improved and wasteful meetings had been dramatically reduced.

At Bell Mobility, the Regional Operations team is involved in over 2,000 projects across the country. Approximately 8 years ago they started tracking key aspects of their projects using typical white board style visual control boards. Then about 3 years ago they implemented digital boards (D-boards) to track and coordinate these massive projects between all stakeholders across the company.

According to Nitin Gautam, Network Access Manager and Robert Dillenbeck, Senior Manager, Territory Operations at Bell Mobility, the D-boards provided certain advantages over the traditional visual control boards including:

Reduced cycle times to update the boards and get information
Staff working remotely can keep informed through the D-boards and have better engagement and participation in meetings
Quicker access to graphs and all data
Easier to roll up information and data from tier 1 to tier 4 levels
Executives can retrieve updates and information without requiring meetings to obtain project status

In my opinion, D-boards should be implemented with extreme caution. As discussed in a previous article Should Smart Screens Replace Pen & Paper on the Shop Floor?, D-boards can be problematic with potentially lowering visibility if they are not frequently and routinely interacted with becoming nothing more than a information board that over time can become virtually invisible. The most concerning problem though, is that changes to what is tracked and displayed can be slow and costly to revise and continuously improve. So, if D-boards are going to be implemented, be sure to anticipate these problems had have a solid plan to address and overcome them. No doubt they can be powerful and do offer some great benefits, but do watch out for the pitfalls.

The Dream team learned a lot and received some good advice from the 3 host companies. A few of the key points they were advised on included:

Just start, don’t wait for perfection
Encourage rapid cycles of improvement to the boards as you go
Make the boards easy to change quickly and easily
Use habit changing challenges to motivate and create new disciplines around the board cadence and routines
The staff or team members own the tier 1 boards meaning they update them and report out on status, not the managers

The two day workshop concluded with a Dream debrief where each of the Dream leaders identified the biggest thing that they had learned, and each making a commitment as to what they were going to do when they returned to their office. With the mystery of visual control boards revealed, they are excited to embark on this exciting journey.

Contact me:

For additional information on High Performance Leaders Inc., click here. Or follow on LinkedIn.

You can email me with any questions at glennsommerville@hotmail.com, find me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/glennsommervilleL2R/, or on Twitter at https://twitter.com/gsommervilleL2R.

If you are enjoying my posts and find the information useful, please “Follow” me by entering your email in the follow box on the right-hand menu of my website www.glennsommerville.com

Leadership, Personal Development, The Leader

Want To Get Organized? Free Personal Planner & Leader Standardized Work Templates

January 15, 2020January 6, 2021 Glenn Sommerville

Do you want to get yourself better organized this year so you are ready to lead more effectively? Then these two tools will help you! Yes you!

At High Performance Leaders Inc., we help develop leaders to be more effective, everyday! Although there are many important aspects to being an effective leader included in our program, one straight forward but critical way is to get and stay organized.

Unfortunately, too many leaders say they want to spend more quality time with their teams, have more focus on their top priorities, and feel less overwhelmed. Sound somewhat familiar? Two vital tools that can dramatically assist with these far too common issues is Leader Standard Work (LSW) and a personal planning sheet and routine.

To assist in these areas, download these free basic LSW and personal planning templates and start off the year more organized!

Download tool here

Leader Standard Work

If you think LSW doesn’t apply to you or your position, you are missing out on a very helpful tool. LSW is not only for first line manufacturing supervisors. It’s a powerful tool for any leader in any business at all levels. Another myth is that a leader’s job is not standard, so therefore LSW will not work. Absolutely there are aspects of a leader’s responsibilities that are not standard, however, there are likely many responsibilities and actions that are standard when you step back and evaluate what needs to be accomplished.

LSW is simply an organized list of the most important responsibilities, actions, or tasks that a leader needs or wants to accomplish, and the frequency with which they need to be completed. This list then is used to remind the leader what they need to get done. When integrated into a robust scheduling and personal planning routine, it will result in improved results, accomplishments, and feeling of accomplishment. It will also avoid important things from falling off the radar over time or when things get hectic.

Download template here

Personal Planning

Surprisingly many leaders also only use their calendar and maybe a note book for personal planning purposes. This can lead to losing control of your time and schedule, and not having time to get to those things that are most important to get completed. Important tasks or follow-up items may get buried within the notebook and get overlooked or forgotten.

A regular personal planning routine of reviewing your LSW, scheduled and new meetings, your priorities, outstanding actions and follow-up, is critical to being an effective leader. Coupling the routine with a single page weekly planner can have a dramatic impact on a leader’s effectiveness.

Update and revise your personal planner once per week, print it out and then keep it up-to-date throughout the week using the old pen and pencil method, or maintain it live on your computer. Your choice. Add tabs to keep a log of actions or tasks that need to be completed at some point in the future, but that you don’t need on the current week’s planner. Categorize the tabs based on key areas of your life such as, “Follow-up”, “Actions”, “@Computer”, “Errands” etc.

If this sounds basic to you, great! You should be all set and maybe already effective in this regard. However, indications are that many leaders lack a robust planning and organizing routine. A 20 minute weekly planning routine is all that is required to get organized and stay on top of the important things.

Leader Standard Work & Hitting Targets

November 4, 2019November 3, 2019 Glenn Sommerville

Combining a robust leader standard work routine with setting and hitting targets can be a powerhouse that delivers results! It’s not just a shot in the dark!

If you have followed my posts, you’ll know that I’ve been a strong proponent of leader standard work (LSW) for a long time, however, I was reminded recently of the power of combining standard work and the setting and hitting of targets.

Each month I reset my standard work for the new month. It starts by reviewing the previous month and reflecting on what worked, didn’t work and why, and identifying any new priorities. Then the baseline is revised by making some adjustments, adding or deleting tasks, or changing the frequency of some tasks. I also include certain non-work items within my LSW. These are things that are for personal or professional development, important family responsibilities, or when I’m trying to create a new habit.

Although this is a personal example, it still shows the power of combining LSW and targets. At the beginning of last month when I was doing my LSW review I found that I was not happy with my daily exercise results. It had been very inconsistent. Although I was running, the frequency was very intermittent and inconsistent. There were always reasons why for each miss, but when seeing the results for the month, none of them mattered, the result was the result and it wasn’t what I wanted. So, I decided I needed to do something about it! First, I added a “Daily Exercise” task to my LSW, and second, I set a distance target for the month.

The month started off well. I was exercising more regularly and I was well on my way to achieve my distance target. It was working! Then, by conscious choice, I missed about a week. With about a week to go in the month, even if I got back to my routine, I wouldn’t make my distance target. At least, not doing what I had been doing before the break in the routine. I couldn’t make up for the days I didn’t exercise, but I could do something different for the days remaining in the month.

I changed the time of day when I would exercise. This helped overcome some of the challenges (a.k.a excuses) that were creating barriers to my daily exercise. Then, I started running further than I had been before to make up some of the distance. Some may consider running further than usual was somewhat cheating, and perhaps it was since the intent was not the distance per se, but rather to exercise regularly. However, on more than one occasion in that final week of the month, I exercised when I probably wouldn’t have. I had a strong desire to hit and exceed my distance target, AND, I wanted to check off my LSW each day indicating that I had exercised. It worked, I exceeded my distance target with a day to spare, but I ran the last day of the month anyway so that I would have exercised every single day for that last week.

Maybe a simple personal example, but combining LSW and targets is a powerful tool and is equally effective in a business environment. The target will give you the motivation to keep working at it and to find ways to achieve it, while the LSW will give you the reminder and sometimes push to take the necessary steps, or to complete the appropriate tasks, necessary to achieve the target.

In summary, here’s a few key points:

Reflect on your LSW each month and reset it based on lessons learned and new priorities.
LSW can include personal and professional items. It’s yours, so make it work for you!
Set challenging targets, then look at how to combine with LSW to assist in achieving the targets.
Don’t beat yourself up for missing some LSW items when looking back, but rather figure out why you missed them and implement mitigation actions to achieve them going forward.

For more information on setting up and using leader standard work, check out this other post “Leader Standard Work is for, well, EVERYONE!”

Contact me:

You can email me with any questions at glennsommerville@hotmail.com, find me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/glennsommervilleL2R/, or on Twitter at https://twitter.com/gsommervilleL2R.

If you are enjoying my posts and find the information useful, please “Follow” me by entering your email in the follow box on the right-hand menu of my website www.glennsommerville.com.

Lean and Continuous Improvement, Visual Controls

Do Your Operational Abnormalities Go Undetected Too Long? Maybe It’s Your Escalation Process?

September 23, 2019October 7, 2019 Glenn Sommerville

If you are finding that your operational abnormalities go undetected too long, perhaps you need to take a deeper look at your escalation process. If you haven’t reviewed your escalation process, tested knowledge and understanding of it, or don’t have them at all, perhaps this is a good starting point.

Clear and specific escalation criteria is a key element of an effective abnormality management system. Abnormality management and escalation criteria is NOT a manufacturing thing only! Abnormalities can and do occur in any operation. What’s important is what we do when they occur.

There are 3 main elements of a abnormality management system which are discussed below. In this post, we’ll focus more on the escalation element.

1.) Defined standards in place that specify what is normal and what is abnormal.

Examples:

a) Maximum number of work in process (WIP) units is 20.

b) Maximum customer wait time is 15 minutes.

c) When not in use, equipment XYZ is stored at location ABC-01.

d) The line is to operate at greater than 90% operational availability (OA).

2.) Visual controls that quickly and efficiently identify an abnormal condition or situation.

Examples:

a) 20 squares taped on the floor, each depicting where 1 unit of WIP can be placed. 15 squares taped in blue tape, and the last 5 in yellow.

b) If customer wait time is electronic, change the font colour and/or size of the customer’s name, or flash the name on the computer screen if the customer is not assisted within 15 minutes. If a manual system is in place, mark with a pen the time after which 15 minutes will have passed. Once the 15 minutes has elapsed highlight the time to differentiate from other customer orders.

c) Tape the floor in which equipment XYZ will fit. Post a picture at ABC-01 and add text indicating this is the home position of equipment XYZ. Or, draw a shadow outline of equipment XYZ which will quickly indicate if it is there or not. An equipment sign-out sheet is posted at the location indicating who signed out the equipment last.

d) Install a coloured light and/or audible sound connected to the line controls that indicates when the line is down or not operating. Have a downtime counter on the line indicating the cumulative downtime within the shift. Alternatively, have a manual tracking system that is updated by a designated person that displays the cumulative downtime within the shift.

3.) Escalation processes are documented standards and instructions that define what action is required to be taken by whom, at what point, and how they are to escalate the issue. The more descriptive the escalation process is, the better.

Examples:

a) When there are 15 units in WIP (all 15 blue taped locations) immediately call the team leader by activating their andon and advise them of the situation. The team leader will assess the situation and make a determination as the appropriate response (i.e./ add or remove resources, resolve productivity issue, etc). When there are 20 units in WIP (all 15 blue and 5 yellow tape locations) immediately call the team leader and advise them of the situation. The team leader is to shutdown the line and assign team members alternative work. The team leader is to phone the manager within 10 minutes of the line down.

b) When a customer has been waiting 15 minutes, prioritize their order by following up and confirming their order and assessing when it will be completed. Advise the customer of delay and expected resolution. When two or more customers have been waiting more than 15 minutes, notify the supervisor immediately. The supervisor is to assign additional resources to assist with the customer orders. If any one customer has been waiting more than 25 minutes, the supervisor is to be immediately notified. The supervisor will resolve the issue with the customer’s order and make a determination (based on customer service policy) as to a discount to be offered to the customer.

c) If the equipment is found in an abnormal location and not in use, it is to be returned to the designated location immediately and the supervisor advised. The supervisor is to check the sign-out sheet and follow-up with the person responsible for not returning the equipment.

d) If the line is down more than 10 consecutive minutes, the team leader is to phone the maintenance manager to advise them of the situation. If the line is down more than 30 consecutive minutes, the maintenance manager is to phone the Production Director and advise them of the situation. The Production Director will assess the situation and determine what course of action for the employees i.e./ send for early break/lunch, send home, etc. When downtime exceeds 30 consecutive minutes and/or OA is less than 85% in a shift, the maintenance manager will complete a root cause analysis and provide a report to the Production Director the findings and actions within 24 hours.

Once you have these 3 elements in place, you need to periodically audit and confirm each of them. This means auditing that the standards are documented and all who use them are knowledgeable of the standards, know where to find them, and are following them. Confirm that the standards are documented, are in good condition, and revise them if anything has changed, or needs to change. Confirm the visual controls are in place, in good condition, being used and followed. If not, determine why not and correct. Also confirm that the escalation process is in place, being utilized, and is effective. Confirm for each of the elements that new hires are trained on them, and know what they are responsible for.

Your abnormality management system will only be as strong as your weakest of the 3 elements; Standards, Visual Controls, and Escalation. Audit them today!

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Contact me:

You can email me with any questions at glennsommerville@hotmail.com, find me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/glennsommervilleL2R/, or on Twitter at https://twitter.com/gsommervilleL2R.

If you are enjoying my posts and find the information useful, please “Follow” me by entering your email in the follow box on the right-hand menu of my website www.glennsommerville.com

Tag: Continuous Improvement

Continuous Improvement Is Not About The Tools, It’s A Mindset!

“When you’re the little guy, you have to be efficient!“

Maple Weekend – 4th & 5th April 2020

Snyder Heritage Farm

1213 Maple Bend Rd.
Bloomingdale, Ontario

Contact me:

A Benchmarking Gemba To Demystify Visual Control Boards

Want To Get Organized? Free Personal Planner & Leader Standardized Work Templates

Leader Standard Work & Hitting Targets

Related Posts:

Contact me:

Do Your Operational Abnormalities Go Undetected Too Long? Maybe It’s Your Escalation Process?

Related Posts:

“When you’re the little guy, you have to be efficient!“

Maple Weekend – 4th & 5th April 2020

Snyder Heritage Farm

1213 Maple Bend Rd. Bloomingdale, Ontario

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1213 Maple Bend Rd.
Bloomingdale, Ontario