With seven productivity newbies spread out around a conference room, productivity consultant Gary Loblick is running through a PowerPoint presentation on basic lean principles. There are some nervous sideways glances amongst the staff when Loblick starts talking about things like single piece flow, spaghetti diagrams and work balancing. However, it all comes together a couple of hours later, when the group participates in an activity that demonstrates everything that he’s been talking about. Called a lean simulation, it’s an important productivity education tool.
This particular simulation happened on a quiet, cold fall morning in Edmonton at the Edmonton Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) building, but Loblick has done dozens and dozens of similar events. Here at BBBS they’re simulating a piece of paper going from first contact with a customer to final processing. They’re all playing roles, from customers to sales reps to managers and estimators – all make believe but all with a goal in mind. And while the exercise with BBBS was grounded in an actual work process, there are also manufacturing lean simulations where the people involved build a model airplane out of LEGO.
“They produce five airplanes by batch in the first round and by the time they get to the fourth round where they’re doing single piece flow the average is around 30 airplanes. We’ve had teams that have built well over 40,” says Loblick.
One of the key takeaways from these lean simulations is the realization that if a team thinks and plans through the process together, everyone can do less work. You can see the light bulbs come on.
Aura Acevedo is a front-line worker at Edmonton Big Brothers Big Sisters. She is the point of first contact for volunteers.
“When I first started off here there was a lot of extra processes that were being done and when you look back all of it was extra work and unnecessary,” says Acevedo.
While you might not think of a non-profit as a typical candidate for learning lean principles they’ve used lean to improve at acquiring, training, and retaining volunteers, the lifeblood of their organization.
The one process that Loblick hammers home is the idea of single piece flow. Single piece flow is the ideal state where parts are manufactured one at a time, and flow throughout the manufacturing and supply chain as single unit.
“It shows that if they work in flow instead of in batches that they actually get more done faster, even though it looks less efficient,” says Loblick.
In the beginning of the simulation, the various processes that need to be done are scattered all over the place. As they progress through the various iterations of the simulation, the people involved use less space and get more done.
After the simulation Acevedo had nothing but good things to say about the process.
“The hands-on experience was a definite eye opener, she says. “To actually do it and to think about different ways of being more effective and brainstorming different ideas with colleagues, I felt like I learned a lot.”
Productivity Alberta offers a variety of productivity improvement workshops and seminars to organizations across Alberta. Visit Productivity Improvement Services for more information, or contact us if you would like to arrange for a process improvement simulation workshop at your workplace.
