The Manufacturing Game --- Untitled

WHAT IS AN ACTION TEAM?

A small, cross-functional group that works on a project focusing on bottom line results in a short period of time (60-90 days). Projects are carried out in a way that promotes learning new skills and behaviors. Once a project is completed, the team disbands or targets a new project.

EXAMPLE: Butane Action Team

2 operators
2 mechanics
1 engineer

Problem:
In the summer, butane spheres got overheated and approached their pressure limits. For safety reasons, operators had been flaring the product for years.

Project:
Reduce the pressure built up in the butane spheres.

Results:
With only a $5,000 investment in increased cooler capacity, the team was able to eliminate all loses to the flare from the vessels saving over $1.5 million annually.

Other Successful Action Teams

TEAM PRINCIPLES

Be action oriented
Focus on eliminating defects
Create ownership of the project by the people
Concentrate in a narrow area
Implement easy items first
Save more manpower than used to run the project
Track the team's performance

ROLES

Two roles that need to be filled at each meeting of the action team:

The Facilitator: Takes notes on the flip chart, helps ensure everyone gets a chance to participate and keeps the team on time and on topic
The Recorder: Takes the team notes, fills out team forms, collects a team copy of any analysis or data and facilitates the next team meeting

Additionally, it may be helpful for the team to fill the following roles. It is possible for one person to play more than one role and for more than one person to play a single role.

The Champion: The agent for change in the area - the champion monitors communications and promotes the need for change from a position of authority or with the influence of a strong personality
Information System Know-How Provider: Provides the knowledge of current and proposed information systems that provide the team with historical information and tools to institutionalize any change
Process Know-How Provider: Familiar with the area's current operations and maintenance practices, identifies areas of opportunity, frequent contact with other process specialists is very important
Procurement Know-How Provider: Familiar with the area's procurement system, determines where information is incomplete or ambiguous, seeks solutions for supply problems

THE ACTION TEAM PROCESS BEGINS BY DEFINING AND REFINING THE TEAM'S GOAL

Brainstorm possible goals and agree on an appropriate goal
Review the example action team goal below. Brainstorm a goal for the action team's project. Example areas for team goals include:
- Increase MTBF (MTTF)
- Increase throughput
- Decrease work orders
- Reduce operating variability
Choose an appropriate goal based on the following criteria
1. If the goal is met, it will have an impact.
2. The team is excited to achieve the goal.
3. Success is clear and measurable.
4. The goal is achievable by this team (with a minimum of outside help).
5. The work to accomplish this goal can be done in 3 months or less. (Note that achieving the goal itself may take longer. If the goal is to increase MTTF from 12 to 24 weeks, it will take at least 3 to 6 months to see this difference.)
Example Team Goal
Increase the mean time to failure (MTTF) of the drive system on the main elevator from 12 weeks to 24 weeks in the next 3 months.

THEN DEFECT ELIMINATION TARGETS ARE SET

The means to achieve the team's goal, as in The Manufacturing Game^®, is defect elimination.

What Exactly is a Defect?
For our purposes a defect is:
- Any attribute that is not within the tolerance needed for the current operation.
- A source of a defect is then any activity, event or process that causes something to get out of tolerance for the current operation.
Recording Defects
The team records the defects and the sources of defects that will be eliminated or reduced. For each item you need to:
1. Describe the defect
2. Determine the source of the defect
3. Establish the tolerance or standard that is required (This can come from the team, an engineer, the equipment manual, the vendor or some other source)
4. Determine the current measure of performance
5. Establish the target that the team wishes to set
6. Agree on the date by which the team will hit the target
7. Track the status of the defect elimination effort

FINALLY AN ACTION PLAN IS CREATED

Action Team meetings will result in a list of things for the team to do to eliminate the targeted defects. This is the team's action plan. As the project progresses, the team should cross off items completed and add or modify action items to move toward completion.

Action items will usually be things like:

Collect data on pump downtime.
Review operating specs with manufacturer.
Run trial with 1/4 inch thicker shaft to see if bending is eliminated.

But they can also be things like:

Recruit Joe Smith for the team because he is the expert in vibration analysis.
Schedule a two day training session with corporate maintenance on using infrared-red analysis to detect wear.

ACTION TEAM MEETING APPROACH

Team meetings should be short (30-60 minutes)
The purpose is to cross off completed action items, review progress and add new action items if necessary.
Action items that aren't getting done should be eliminated if they are no longer important.

Example Agenda

Review open action items (cross off items completed).
Review any new defects or sources that have been identified by the team - determine if they should be added to the list of targets.
Review progress towards defect elimination targets (and the team goal if appropriate).
Add action items if necessary.
Schedule next meeting if necessary.