Lean Dynamics LLC                                                                            

This five-day workshop engages the participant in presentations of concepts and methods, classroom discussion, and group exercises designed to teach and give practical experience in applying Lean to process operations.

Why you need this workshop

The workshop is based on an understanding that manufacturing operations producing paints, salad dressings, synthetic fibers, plastics, ceramics, and pharmaceuticals are quite different from operations that assemble refrigerators, automobiles, cell phones, lawn mowers, and medical instruments.  The differences are significant enough that manufacturing engineers working in a process environment face challenges unique to those operations, and must adapt traditional Lean tools to apply them successfully.  The workshop clarifies the differences and teaches tools and approaches that have proven to be successful in process environments.

Who should take this workshop

• Process engineers, manufacturing engineers, industrial engineers, and continuous improvement specialists working in process plants

• First line supervisors, area managers, and plant managers responsible for process operations

• Production planners and schedulers with responsibility for process lines.

What you will learn

• What Lean is, and why it has become such a powerful force for manufacturing improvement

• Why process industry operations some times require a different approach to Lean, and modifications to Lean concepts and tools to fit the situation

• How to see the waste in operations where the material being processed is not within sight, but is contained in tanks, vessels, silos, ovens, and reactors.

• Specific adaptations of traditional Lean tools to fit the process environment

COURSE SCHEDULE

Workshop benefits

Workshop participants will leave with an understanding of practical methods and proven techniques to

• Reduce waste

• Improve flow

• Shorten lead times

• Reduce inventory

• And improve customer service

They will also get experience in applying them to a real life problem.

Increased learning through exercises

The workshop includes a number of problems and exercises to  reinforce the concepts  discussed in the class, provide a deeper level of understanding, and lead to sustained learning.  Approximately half the classroom time will be spent in small groups working through the various exercises.  The exercises will build skill and give experience in:

• Generating a Value Stream Map for an actual process plant

• Reading and analyzing the VSM to see waste and find opportunities to improve flow

• Level and optimize flow by designing a Product Wheel

• Develop concepts for a Pull Replenishment System

• Calculate the inventory required to enable smooth  Pull flow while meeting business objectives

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