Lean Construction Ireland Annual Book of Cases 2021 64 l f 2 Lean Initiative Undertaken – Lean Thinking, Tools, Techniques The concept of ‘Lean’ is still very much in its infancy across the construction industry and is often seen as a way of working that is only relevant to traditional line manufacturing operations.With that in mind, from the outset of the business transformation process in Horizon, it was important to use language and terminology that was relatable to the people within the organisation, and any tools or techniques deployed linked directly to the solving of accepted challenges and areas for improvement within the business. From the outset, it was made clear by the senior leadership in the organisation, that significant change in the organisation was imperative, to continue to meet the growing customer demands for the Horizon LGS system.With expansion into larger premises not feasible in the short term, the need to optimise the existing Cahir premises to extract maximum output capacity was a core objective. The Horizon Steering committee was established in the business to develop a project framework and structure through which any improvement initiatives and projects could be discussed and approved ahead of any rollout. Following an initial business diagnostic and gap analysis carried out by Clerkin Consulting using operational excellence benchmarks, a continuous improvement program for Horizon was agreed upon, that focused on the following four key pillars that are grounded in Lean thinking and principles: 1.Workplace and Factory optimisation The following are the key objectives: • Reduce the Health and Safety risk profile of theManufacturing operations. • Increase available manufacturing space in the Cahir Manufacturing site. • Realign the raw material storage,Work in Progress (WIP) flow and finished goods work areas, to eliminate excessive material handling, movement of staff and transport of tools and equipment. 2. Performance tracking and data visualisation The following are the key objectives: • Accurately measure and track daily,weekly, and monthly Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) across design, manufacturing and site operations. • Report and review departmental performance against its target, to understand variances in output and key drivers impacting same. • Increase awareness across all levels of the organisation of the nominal output capacities of each department, thus understanding bottlenecks that could impact overall outputs. Systems and processes to accurately measure and track key performance metrics across the manufacturing and design departments were introduced, to provide management with detailed insights on performance capacities. In manufacturing, simple check sheets that monitored area output were introduced to the shop floor that then fed into a master spreadsheet database that would combine information to calculate productivity and trend outputs,on a daily basis. Shop floorVisual Management boards titled CPM (Continuous Performance Management) were introduced that provide both a location and focus for daily factory huddles, to review day-to-day issues, and promote problem-solving at the factory level. In addition, the design department implemented a measurement system that tracked the output rates of individual technicians to measure and track both individual and team outputs. Figure 2: Visual Management Board Figure 3: Individual Framer outputs (linear metre) by month 3. Non-Conformance tracking, Problem-solving and Root cause analysis The following are the key objectives: • Identify and log major non-conformance instances relating to either Health and Safety,Quality, Production or Cost. • Report and review performance against target, to understand variances in output and key drivers impacting same. • Fully investigate non-conformance issues to identify the root cause, implement corrective and preventative actions and avoid repeat occurrences. Prior to introducing new systems and tools to both track and follow up on non-conformance issues, a review of existing workplace practices (as per Figure 4) was carried out to identify opportunities for improvement and provide a platform from which the Horizon team could begin implementing new ways of working. Training workshops were held with the Horizon teammembers to outline best practices around problem-solving techniques and root cause analysis. Following this, a new non-conformance tracker and Root Cause Analysis (RCA) log was set up through which major and recurring design, manufacturing and site issues were both logged and followed up on, with effective RCA and corrective and preventative actions. Case 15
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