Ever wonder how much time technicians spend walking around the shop? Trips to get a tool, to get some supplies, to look for and retrieve parts. Trips for any number of reasons.
How long does each of these trips take? One minute? Two? Five or more?
Consider how many times each day each technician makes all of the aforementioned trips. Multiply the number of trips by the time required and it adds up quickly.
Is your shop making any money during any of these trips? Unless technician hands are actually “on the vehicle” repairing it, probably not.
To maximize the use of valuable technician time, shops need to figure out ways to keep their technicians’ hands on the vehicle, says David Knapp, senior manager business, solutions, for PPG Industries (www.ppg.com), a global supplier of paints, coatings, optical products, specialty materials, glass and fiberglass.
“One way of doing this is through incorporating Point of Use (POU) throughout the workplace,” he explains. “Just think of this as having all the right stuff where technicians need it. If it is something used frequently for a task or repair project, there is never a need to walk very far, if walking is even required.”
SEVEN DEADLY WASTES
Point of Use is a targeted application of the 5S workplace organization methodology to have the right tools and supplies in the right place – as close to the work area as possible – for the right job, Knapp says. The methodology “helps to eliminate some of the Seven Deadly Wastes – Defects, Inventory, Overproduction, Waiting, Motion, Transportation and Overprocessing – especially wasted time, transportation and motion, while making work easier to do.”
Developed in Japan by Toyota, 5S workplace organization is a way to reduce waste and optimize productivity by creating a quality work environment that is arranged in a clean, efficient and safe manner and uses visual management to achieve more consistent operational results. A key element of Toyota’s philosophy of Kaizen, a Japanese word meaning continuous improvement, 5S involves five steps, all of which begin with the letter S.
Knapp recommends this step-by-step POU process based on the 5S principles:
1. Sort – Determine what is needed and what isn’t. Remove what is not needed from the work area.
2. Simplify – Have a place for everything, taking into account workflow, and be sure everything is in its place. This should be visual and obvious.
3. Systematic Clean – This should be done daily for equipment, tools and the workplace, and needs to include an inspection of these items so any defects can be dealt with.
4. Standardize – Turn the process into a system, document methods, define accountabilities, audit and measure. Simple to use and understand organizational standards must be established in order to enable the fifth S.
5. Sustain – Train workers to be sure they are following the procedures and processes. Work to continually improve them using the previous four steps.
IN THE SHOWER
POU can be applied anywhere that work is regularly done, says Knapp, and uses the shower as an example to demonstrate the concept of Point of Use. “In your shower at home, you most likely have soap, shampoo and maybe some other hair care products. You don’t get out of the shower after getting wet and walk to get shampoo. You keep it right there where you’re going to use it.
“You don’t keep multiple bottles of shampoo in the shower, but you might bring in a new bottle once the old one is really low just so you don’t run out mid-shower,” he continues. “POU is that simple.”
The hard part, observes Knapp, is determining “how many times can you apply POU at work to keep technicians from ‘getting out while dripping wet’ to go fetch something you already knew they would need.”
He cites hand tools as a for instance. Do technicians use all of them all the time? Or, are a few of the tools used over and over again while some get used just once a month or so? Are the ones used all the time stored in the same place – distance from the place of work – as the tools rarely used?
“Maybe the common tools should be on a mobile cart or work stand,” suggests Knapp. “That would be application of POU.
“Smart technicians already do some of this. They have small carts or even tool bags that go with them to the job which carry their essential tools – the ones that get used over and over all the time.”
EXECUTION
To implement POU, there are 10 steps, says PPG’s Knapp:
1. Identify the need or problem for removing waste and creating improved work efficiency.
2. Go to Gemba – a Japanese word that literally means the “real place.” When used in the context of business process improvement, Gemba refers to the place where value is added. In the case of vehicle shops, that is the work areas.
3. Define and document work requirements. Identify the tools and materials required, including how close or far away they are and their frequency of use.
4. Educate workers on why changes are being made and on how to implement and follow the changes.
5. Determine what resources and supplies are needed before starting and who should be involved in the POU process.
6. Develop, with the workers, a prototype. Keep the most frequently used tools and material the easiest to access. Standardize – through diagrams, labels, shadow boards, etc. – where these should be stored to eliminate time wasted searching for items and difficulty in returning them.
7. Test and confirm that the prototype works. Have workers use the POU “station” for several days to see if the arrangement works effectively. Challenge them to make it better. Meet and discuss any additional items needed and potential improvements to functionality.
8. Rework, if necessary, to get it right.
9. Assign accountability. Define when and how often to reassess for continual improvement.
10. Move to the next area of need or improvement.
THE WHY
To capsulize the benefits of the improvements that can be realized by Point of Use, Knapp quotes Shigeo Shingo, a Japanese industrial engineer who helped develop Toyota’s culture of Kaizen: “There are four purposes of improvement: easier, better, faster, cheaper. These four goals appear in the order of priority.”
Knapp says “work is going to be easier if we don’t have to walk around to look for tools, materials, supplies and information. Take time to make work easier so it can be done better, faster and cheaper. POU is one way to achieve this in your work environment.”
POU doesn’t have to be expensive, notes Knapp. Solutions can be “home grown” and can be applied about anywhere in a vehicle shop to eliminate as many wastes as possible and optimize where necessary.
