|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Lean - the scientific application of common sense....
For the past 4 years, Todd Pacific Shipyards has worked towards integrating a Lean Manufacturing
philosophy into its approach to business. We are learning to effectively apply the principles of
Lean Manufacturing to the business of ship repair. We call this Lean Ship Repair (LSR).
What is a Lean Ship Repair (LSR)?
It is repair activity that embraces the principles of Lean Manufacturing. Lean is a system
of principles and practices designed to:
- Reduce cycle time,
- Reduce cost, and
- Deliver quality to our customer.
The primary focus of Lean Manufacturing is on relentless, deliberate, and planned
elimination of waste and activities that do not add value for the customer. Applied
to our business, Lean drives simplification of all business and ship repair processes
with the goal of delivering service with reliable quality, at lowest cost, in the least
possible time. We are looking at critical processes beginning with early project planning
right through execution of production services on-board, in our shop, and in our work
management processes.
How Did We Get Started?
Initially, there were no "Lean Manufacturing applications" in the ship repair industry. Our
journey first started with benchmarking various Japanese and American shipbuilding and
manufacturing companies. In 1995, Todd became part of the National Shipbuilding Research
Program (NSRP). NSRP is a collaboration of U.S. shipyards established to provide a collaborative
framework to improve ship-related technical and business processes that will reduce the cost of
ships to the U.S. Navy and other National Security Customers. As an active participant in the
NSRP Lean Ship Repair initiatives, Todd is applying industry-proven Lean concepts and methods to
every process we do. With our link to the NSRP, Todd has become the national leader in full
implementation of Lean processes in a ship repair facility.
|
|
|
Our initial efforts involved application of fundamental Lean tools: identification of our
major Value Streams by using the value stream mapping process techniques identified by the
Lean Enterprise Institute, 5S, cycle time reduction, standard work, error proofing, and
setup reduction. This has helped tremendously to create a Continuous Process Improvement
philosophy that is changing the face of our shipyard and greatly affecting our productivity.
|
Where applicable, process improvement teams have been formed along the customer's value streams
to create immediate improvements and momentum toward one-piece flow. Surrounding all of this effort
is the establishment of a Lean Measurement system aimed at making time visible by exposing
waste in our daily processes and allowing us to focus on the value added portion of the process.
Deck Plate Ownership
As a Lean Ship Repair enterprise, Todd empowers our onsite managers and craft supervisors
to monitor processes and resolve potential issues quickly and efficiently. This approach
has proven to be the most effective way to implement, monitor, and continually improve Lean
processes. We have embedded Lean experts directly in our production organizations, so they
are immediately available to meet the demands for improvement that arise from within those
organizations. One tool is the Lean Event.
Our Lean Events are producing exciting process improvements, eliminating waste, and
reducing cycle time. They are taking place in every corner of the shipyard, in the shops,
on the piers, in planning, accounting, engineering, human resources, security, engineering,
and in the executive offices as well.
We have conducted numerous Lean Events in all areas of operations (specific process
improvement areas) and will continue to do so as we move forward into the future. As a
result of these activities, we expect to continue to improve performance year by year.
Examples include overhauling sea valves, bottom blast and paint, dry dock block building,
and many similar production processes.
One Lean event example: Transportation recently held a successful Value Stream Mapping
event which measured the Current State of the movement of one pallet of material. It
demonstrated the critical need for planning
|
|
efficiency if Transportation is to aid, not restrict, efficient shipyard repair activities. The Future State of a transportation move
was dramatically improved by insuring transportation was included in project team planning.
Standard work instructions and a prioritized system for movement of materials were
implemented. Cycle time (the time to move of one pallet from initial phone call to delivery
at point of use) was reduced by 80%.
Our Business Office has also completed many Lean Events, addressing subjects such as
project planning, work management, and change control. A particularly interesting
improvement centered on customizing quality processes according to customer needs with
our 5-tiered Customer Expected Quality Levels (CEQL) system. Small commercial customers
do not need or want the horsepower, and expense, of a Navy QA system. So we developed an
adaptive, flexible system to meet the needs of those customers, while retaining the
ability to apply a more robust system for customers who seek those features.
Moving Forward
By challenging traditional processes and we have created new ways of producing value.
Ship Repair processes tend to have higher variation than many manufacturing environments.
We have embraced the 3P (production, preparation, process) approach to meet this challenge.
By introducing 3P and 'skunk works' into our ship repair environment and using techniques
to push innovation outside the box, we have achieved initial results that are very encouraging.
We are on a journey to create a culture in our shipyard that emphasizes value to our
customers from their perspective, while focusing on the elimination of waste (non value added
activities), improved quality and safety, reduced cost and cycle time.
With ongoing change management, and in partnership with our employees, we are well on our
way to achieving our Vision of being the "Best Shipyard on the West Coast of North America".
|
|
|
