As the manufacturing industry leans more and more on machinery to reduce risks and errors, what does the future of continuous improvement look like?
What is lean methodology?
Lean methodology focuses on continuous improvement and respect for people. Manufacturing led on this for many years, and employed human creativity to analyse and improve work, develop physical automation solutions and drive significant improvements in productivity and quality. Dangerous, repetitive or laborious tasks, where human involvement can introduce risk or error, are now routinely performed by machines, allowing people to focus on more value-adding aspects of their jobs. Physical systems (e.g. Kanban cards) have evolved into software that runs semi-autonomously.
Looking forward
We’re moving from an age in which people are supported
by processes that are run by technology, to an era in which
processes are run by technology with augmented support
from people.
In the past, improvement ideas have come from people’s
analysis and creativity. Often, the improvements have
looked for physical automation to increase productivity,
improve flow, reduce waste and eliminate human error
(poka-yoke).
This has allowed significant improvements in the
gathering of data for analysis. For example, an out-of-tolerance
torque reading from a drill used to assemble
components can, in real-time, trigger an alarm, allowing
engineers to compare the data from previous issues.
This in turn allows them to assess the risk and determine
if, for example, the line should be stopped, or the product
should be removed from the line, or reworked at the end
of the line. As your data pool (from across your network
of plants) increases, your ability to deploy artificial
intelligence (AI) to support those human decisions also
increases.
We’re now in an era where improvement ideas come
from both humans and technology. Non-physical
improvements, such as data-cleansing and algorithm fixes,
are sources of competitive advantage.
Guided by an unwavering focus on adding value to
customers, Industry 4.0 (connected assets) allows supply
chains and business models to evolve. Rather than
sequential, tiered supply base structures, manufacturers are increasing parts of ecosystems that share demand
information in real-time and collaborate to respond
effectively. Harnessing the power of data, businesses
are migrating from selling products to services – using
performance data to drive predictive maintenance, for
example, and allowing clients to buy uptime, not assets.
This allows them to focus on the real value-add part of
their business model.
Improved productivity
Moreover, productivity gains (often in excess of 50%)
and error-proofing in non-physical, ‘Extract – Transform
– Load’ administrative functions are being realised
through a combination of automation, AI and end-to-end
process simplification. If a decision can be made
in less than one second, it can easily be automated. AI
solutions (such as IBM Watson) can analyse documents,
images, verbal/written conversations and so forth, and
either make decisions that automation will then execute,
or summarise to support human decisions. This allows
everyone to perform with ‘full’ knowledge, reducing the
impact of attrition on the labour force. Aiming for the
minimum required human intervention, businesses should focus their people on adding value for customers and
protecting their enterprise by collaboratively seeing and
solving problems (continuous improvement), rather than
working in sequenced silos. The robotic process sector is
growing rapidly, and whilst research shows that many
businesses are investigating the technology and rolling out
some early proof-of-concepts, few are employing this
so-called Next Generation Lean methodology to overhaul
and future-proof their processes. As a result, many risk
embalming 20th Century business procedures and missing
the opportunity to create a 21st Century, digitally-enabled
front/back-office.
A world in which the human workforce innovates freely,
and exercises judgment, empathy and creativity, and
the digital workforce executes flawlessly and improves
iteratively.
This is the world of Next Generation Lean.
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