2018Case14 BreedonCement

56 L EAN C ONSTRUCTION I RELAND A NNUAL B OOK OF C ASES 2018 management team and frontline team leaders. Tiered Morning Meetings Cascaded morning meetings empowered team members to solve problems at their level and to escalate issues to the next management level where additional support could be provided. This has had the softer benefits of improved cooperation between trades and breaking down of the traditional silo-based mentality. The meetings are 15-minute focused stand-ups in front of the visual KPI cubes, and they help to drive daily problem resolution. Yellow Belts Lagan has 15 Staff certified to Lean Management Yellow Belt level, and this group has worked on four yellow belt projects to attain their certifications. Additionally, 10 staff in the warehouse have completed White Belt Certification training and delivered improvement projects on the back of this also. The plan is to train others to White, Yellow, and Green Belt level and deliver additional A3 improvement projects on the back of that capability development. 5S 5S workplace organisation was piloted first in the warehouse. S1: Sort – removed all clutter and obsolete stock and spares; S2: Set-in-Order – arranged the workplace so that everything could be found visually within 30 seconds; S3: Shine – cleaned and inspected; S4: Standardise – embedded new habits of “clean on the go”; S5: Sustain – conduct weekly audits to sustain the gains. The benef its of 5S include reduced workplace risk, less search time and motion in the warehouse, better workflow, and enhanced employee engagement due to an improved work environment. The plan is to deploy 5S across the site as the Be Even Better journey continues. A3 Problem Solving A3 problem solving has been used to get to the root of recurring issues and is now the standard way that the business addresses trouble-shooting, and indeed project management. On one sheet of A3 paper the company covers the business case for making a particular change, how things stand today, our targets, root cause analysis, and action planning along with sustaining controls. Mindset Thinking is everything, and ensuring the company has the correct thinking is a constant at Lagan Cement. For the correct mindset to be established in the business, rigour and routine are vital to set the mind free. The Be Even Better Lean journey has allowed the company to create the correct environment to put systems and procedures in place to enable the correct thinking. Creating a safe environment is also very important, because if employees don’t feel safe in highlighting problems then problems will never be reported. This comes down to Leadership and how managers show up for their people and the impact they have on the attitude, mood, and behaviour of the individual. The company works hard on developing its Leadership capabilities based on the John Maxwell 5 Levels of Leadership Model and the Lencioni Model for Teamwork. Theoretical models are all well and good, but the difference is in making things happen and one of Lagan’s core principles is to “make it happen”, which helps with the mindset. The most important element of “make it happen” is to start with the end in mind and have urgency over perfection. This thinking, or mindset, comes from Leadership, and the Lean rigour and routine has allowed the company Be Even Better. LEAN INITIATIVE IMPROVEMENTS & IMPACT The intangible benefits to date of Be Even Better are greater teamwork and collaboration across departments due to increased awareness that value is created horizontally across the business as opposed to specifically within everyone’s own department. There are now higher levels of employee involvement through the decentralised company idea boards. People are encouraged to come forward with one small change every month and take the initiative to implement this change themselves with the support of their local area supervisor. Employee recognition is achieved through people seeing their ideas adopted, and implemented ideas are put forward to monthly raffles in each department for vouchers from local businesses. Exceptional ideas are awarded bigger pr izes at the company’s monthly al l staf f town hal l communication coffee morning. Safety Concern sheets are now also managed visually through the idea boards, and they move swiftly across Kanban type boards with columns for concerns raised, actioned, and completed. Communication is now more transparent through daily stand-up meetings in each area and via improved visual management across the site through, for example, live LCD screens with metrics and the company newsletter. Root Cause Analysis has improved any recurring issues, and employees now have a standardised approach to tackling complex problems. 5S workplace organisation allows the company to master the basics and ensure that the workplace condition is conducive to safe working. Non- conformances now stand-out due to visual management principles that highlight problems. Key learnings on the journey to date are: • People support what they create – involve people and build buy-in from the start. • Start small – adopt the inch-wide mile-deep approach and build on the ripple effect as improvement ability develops. • Count the improvements and advertise your wins – this creates momentum. • Recognise people for be even better behaviours and results. • Encourage small ideas from all levels – small improvements have enormous compounding effect over time and can be copied dozens of times across the company. • Keep score – people like to know how they are doing and the impact that their work has (LCD screens show the benefits of its products and the impact of its local work to the greater whole). • Structure is important – create a system for improvement including, for example, dai ly stand-ups , roles and responsibilities, waste walks to visual cubes, and weekly lean steering meeting reviews of projects. Some key initiative outcomes include: • No lost time accidents reported in 2017. • Increase in HS leading indicators, safety concerns, near misses, behavioural safety reports (called “Step In”). • 10% improvements on process time on bagging line. • Significant reduction in quarry overtime provided cash benefits. • Quantifiable improvements in energy consumption provided cash benefits. • Quantifiable quality improvements and better customer feedback. • Employee engagement increased by 3% from an already high baseline.