Highlights of Winning
Teams
Blitzing for the Bronze
How do you tackle a tough issue as quickly as
possible? The Hardware Assembly Kaizen Team of
Solectron Technology will tell you: It’s easy,
bombard it with a blitz. The team effectively used
the Kaizen blitz process to address hardware assembly
problems they were experiencing. In a one-week
period, they redefined the process and layout for a
printed circuit board hardware assembly area,
improving productivity by 46 percent, reducing floor
space needs by two thirds and reducing the incidence
of rejects by 50 percent.
Tools You Can Use
Solectron began receiving complaints from their
external customer, Lucent Technologies, about defects
they were finding in shipments mostly related to the
assembly of printed circuit board hardware. “We
were asked by the director of operations what we
could do and we said that we’d love to come
down and use this new methodology we were working
on,” says Jeff Porada, the team’s
facilitator. “Basically the Kaizen blitz is a
one-week event using a lean manufacturing tool to try
and reduce waste and improve quality.”
Before any project takes off, a project
charter is developed to narrow in on the scope.
“If we’re going to go in there with a
team we can’t just take on the entire value
stream,” says Porada. “We’ve got to
break it down. We need to make sure that the area we
select makes improvements to the bottom line and to
the customer.”
The Hardware Assembly Kaizen Team, a team of
15 people representing different levels and different
operations in the organization, used their limited
time to research problems and take action. Using
several tools, from spaghetti diagrams and process
mapping to gripe interviews, the team uncovered root
causes, areas to reduce waste and opportunities to
begin improvements. The team followed the flow of
materials and information, and listened to a flood of
ideas and suggestions. “This gave everyone an
opportunity to go out there. Even though somebody on
the manufacturing floor wasn’t asked to be part
of the team, they were fully involved with our
approach because they were providing input,”
says Porada. “We spent about 50 percent of our
time on the manufacturing floor and we implemented
several things very quickly.”
All in a Week’s Time?
“Yes and no,” says Porada.
“It’s a full week when we have the Kaizen
blitz. The team is operating 8-10 hours a day for a
week and they are fully committed to the team
project. It’s great because the fact that we
have people fully committed for a full week prevents
us from the need to go back and review what happened
before.
“What we don’t finish in that
first week we put on the 30-day action plan. The team
meets on a weekly basis to go over the things
we’ve done and what we need to follow up
on.”
Like the other winning teams, their efforts
would not be possible without the total support and
commitment that begins at the top and flows down to
every person in the organization.
Now if there were only more hours in a
day.
Porada says his biggest frustration is the
lack of time. One way the team addresses time
constraints is by spending fewer hours in meetings.
“If we sat in a conference room and just talked
about improvement, our energy level would be
devastating. But if we get the people out on the
floor and start taking action—and people see
their ideas actually being done—everything
comes to life,” emphasizes Porada.
Life After
Once a new methodology to Solectron, the Kaizen blitz
has proved its credibility and is now being promoted
and encouraged to other managers and teams in the
company. “The team is now able to do twice as
much work with the same amount of workforce.
Additionally the process addressed 100 percent of all
safety concerns. The biggest gain was the involvement
and motivation of the employees. “It takes more
than one to make a difference,” says team
member and process engineer, Jenny Porter. Fellow
team member and manufacturing manager Winifred Taylor
adds, “We are more confident and enthusiastic
about making change in the
workplace.”
Bronze Winner: Hardware Assembly Kaizen
Team, Solectron Technology, Charlotte,
N.C.
Members: Barry Bickley, Lavonia
Bradley, Ray Hanson, Dee Masterson, Jeff Porada,
Jenny Porter, Winifred Taylor, William
Vanover
Project: Redefine the process and
layout for a printed-circuit board hardware
assembly area
Bottom line: A 46% productivity
improvement, reduced floor space needs by
two-thirds and reduced the incidence of rejects by
50%.
Gold winners
Silver
winners
May
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