Quick Lean Engineering: Increasing the Efficiency of a Research & Innovation Department
Reported within the scope of R&D, a Lean engineering project commonly aims to eliminate waste from the upstream design of a solution, until its mass production. The fast-track approach proposed here by KEPLER aims to reduce the time it takes to realize the gains, focusing from the outset on the areas where teams waste the most time and resources. Quick Lean Engineering is obtained through a work-flow approach, addressing process after process the main stress points identified during a rapid diagnosis and immediately implementing simplification solutions.
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Lean Sprint: An Agile and Efficient Approach and Methodology With a View to Generating Very Short-Term Gains.
A Concentrated Methodology
Initiated by a Flash Diagnosis stage setting the field of the possible and the constraint for improvement, the Quick Lean Engineering approach promoted by KEPLER is made up of Workshops (VSM) organized as soon as the diagnosis is made and allowing in the same week from:
Describe the existing,
Identify the main pain-points,
Formalize, in the form of objectives, the areas for improvement sought,
Map a simplified target process,
Detail the operational optimization solution and its implementation.
An Iterative Implementation
From the following week (Sprint approach), in an implementation logic, the customer teams are invited to immediately implement the solutions devised during the VSM and to update all the procedures that will be approved by Quality before proceeding. attack the following workflow.
If there is a new Workflow to optimize, the operation will be repeated with the implementation of a new VSM and an implementation on a new perimeter.
Lean, an Approach From the World of Operations
An organization engages in a Lean process when the latter wishes to eliminate the waste produced within it. The abundant literature on the subject recalls that there are eight types of potential waste, ranging from overproduction to the underutilization of human capital. In a context of performance research, Lean asserts itself as a means of:
Meeting demand exactly: the right items at the right time and in the right proportions as defined by the customer’s needs. No overdelivery or overdelivery.
Respond to it the first time: Quality as defined by the customer: by determining the root causes of non-quality, by encouraging suppliers to adhere to the process, by optimizing the design to avoid errors. We are talking about Quality Attitude.
Seek value (as defined by the client) in all actions taken:
Find better ways to deliver,
Train, coach, encourage teams,
Reward ideas,
Facilitate the implementation of improvements
An approach Made Possible by:
Typical Customer Context
Whether in complex industries or in the world of start-ups, Lean approaches are acclaimed for their ability to quickly and comprehensively approach and optimize the design and development processes of R&D teams.
The company ε has a fairly comprehensive set of processes and procedures, contributing to robust design, industrialization and project management.
Like many industrial organizations in different sectors, the company ε faces challenges of “development competitiveness”. It has decided to focus its short-term efforts on a specific lever – “lean processes”.
Workflow X is a key, complex workflow that interfaces with many other processes.
This X workflow presents opportunities for improvement, which makes it a good pilot application for a value chain mapping exercise.
Quick Lean Engineering R&D responses
Production of a Value Stream Mapping analysis on the X workflow,
Identification and quantification of potential savings and other improvement opportunities in the short and long term:
What can I stop doing?
What can I outsource?
What can I automate?
What can I simplify or do differently to be faster?
etc …
Definition of a simplified or optimized X process and recommendations for changes or organizational developments in order to sustain the gains obtained,
Implementation of recommendations on existing and future projects and management of transformation: resistance to change,
An Accelerated Process in Three Phases
A suite of workflows optimized in a few weeks.
Flash Diagnosis to understand the main sources of inefficiency,
Design of improvement solutions and simplified workflow VSMs sessions and Kaizens,
Implementation of solutions and “live” deployment on all projects in development
It is important not to proceed with an “in-room” Lean Engineering process. Co-construction with operational staff and the involvement of management is key to success.
Six Must-Do for a successful Quick Lean Engineering R&D project
1) Define an Ambitious Top-Down Target: The Constraint
To succeed in a Lean Engineering process, you need a strong element of constraint. The message delivered to the teams must be unambiguous. Competitiveness issues: explicit.
“We must deliver not in 12 months but in 8”
3) Adopt the Accountability Mindset: Questioning Current Practices
To be successful with a Lean Engineering type approach, you have to know how to get out of the common shortcut or common practice and put the functions in a position where they are responsible for the paradigm shift.
4) Act as a Multi-Function and Not as a Single-Function
It is very beneficial for a company to make a Lean Engineering R&D project a business initiative and not something just focused on a function.
It comes down to pointing fingers: to say it will be you engineering who will do Lean Engineering because you are inefficient. We recommend making it a cross-company approach.
5) Distinguish the Preventive From the Structural and the Workflow From the Non-Workflow
6) Secure the Notching and Application of the New Benchmark by Rapid Implementation
