When it comes to Lean Manufacturing and in particular Six Sigma we can all see how it applies to high volume, low product mix production. However for a Production Manager like myself who operates in a low volume environment where we sometimes have multiple machine change-overs in the same shift and products which are only ever manufactured once in their current configuration it can be a challenging environment.

Knowing where to start was a challenge. We chose to implement 5S first into a pilot area of the factory. We chose the 'engine room' of our business, our automated machine areas which generate work for the rest of the factory. We looked for lots of little 'wins' or Kaizen events to start with and after training the whole team in what 5S was all about and how they could influence their own working environment we started to see some subtle improvements in layout, work flow, standardisation and visual management within the pilot area.

We used signage, colour and location to ensure items/tooling were always in the right place and available for use, we introduced daily/shift handover checklists for machine operators (the operators actually developed the content) to ensure our plant was always clean and tidy and we set up change-over tool kits per machine to help simplify and speed up product change-overs.

Perhaps the most striking change was the 'psychological' effect it made to the area. We found that we had created the environment where ideas were forthcoming from all staff and that the confidence levels of individuals improved to such an extent that they were starting to lead projects, sometimes with the involvement from other departments to resolve long standing problems.

We intend to introduce other lean tools such as Single Minute Exchange of Dies (SMED) and Poka Yoke in the next 12 months whilst rolling out the 5S programme to the other factory areas.

www.axis-electronics.com