IBM Mobiles Kaizen

Background

In IBM they spent several months understanding the potential and possible fit of Kaizen Blitz Weeks into their culture. Several visits to Polaroid (with people from various levels) and attendance at two Quality Scotland Executive Experience Exchange sessions convinced them to try a "Pilot" Kaizen event.

Kaizen was seen by all to fit with and compliment their existing Continuous Improvement Initiative. Kaizen events provided a "kick start" (showing significant results in a week) and formed a focus for the establishment of local improvement cells charged with maintaining and further improving their process.

This initial exposure created a demand for further Kaizen activity from all of the Brands and within six months of the original pilot they were running Kaizen events at an average of one event per month with half of them being facilitated by their own internally developed expert.

Kaizen 1 - Mobiles Country Pack area

The team of 8 was made up of 5 IBM people (Mobiles area, Industrial Engineering and the CI core team) and 3 from the sub-contractor manning the area. Facilitation was by Stuart Ross of Ross International.

The goal of always having the right box at the right place at the right time was met by establishing a new trigger point for kit release and establishing a start of shift meeting to track changing requirements.

The right parts performance improved 69% comparing the month after Kaizen with the previous month and after 5 months led to an unsolicited memo from an engineering manager sharing the fact that quality performance in the field was already half of the target set for the whole year.

Key areas of waste were defined and a new standardised process introduced across all 4 shifts. The 5S audit score improved 300% over the first month.

The initial increase in throughput was 37% (with the same resources) against the 40% target set.

The "work in process" inventory in the Mobiles area was cut by 50% , safety issues were surfaced and rectified and the overall morale in the area has improved.

Kaizen 2 - Desktop Country pack area

The challenge was to improve quality. For this there had to be a clearly defined process, designed to reduce opportunities for error, and a high standard of housekeeping - a key part of the Continuous Improvement Initiative - after all, it's hard to maintain excellent quality in an untidy working area.

Underpinning the whole week was the drive to get rid of everything that was Non Value Add. The team were given training in the principals of Kaizen then on the third day they had to turn all their ideas into a process that could be implemented. This was the most important stage and everyone's participation was vital. It looked great on paper but trying to put things into practice did not always work out right first time. By end of play on Wednesday the team were absolutely exhausted.

On the Thursday the process had to be "run in". Modifications were made and attention to detail here ensured effective implementation later. Getting total employee participation from the people who worked in the area was vital. This was not the end of the road for the team. A Consolidation Plan was prepared and all action items identified to be closed out over the following 30 days.

Bottom Line

• Work in progress Reduced by 73%
• Cycle Time Reduced by 20%
• Quality - Customer Satisfaction Zero fails - 100% Satisfaction
• Distance walked 53% reduction
• 5S score (Area controls) Improved by 150%