Whether it is supplier review, customer or peer factory visit, acquisition target evaluation, or internal on-site management, a lot of on-site observation is involved. However, due to time constraints, on-site observation often requires relevant personnel to have a good eye for quick assessment and judgment in a very short time.
1. The importance of on-site observation
Field observation is the basis for continuous improvement. Toyota’s Niichi Ono has made the best of the on-site observation. Even on the factory’s day off, he will take the management personnel to the site and let them stand in the workshop quietly to observe for half an hour, and then point out the areas that need improvement. Only in this way can we truly achieve endless improvement and PDCA cycle.
Our staff often ignore many problems, or think it is harmless, or that it cannot be changed. There are also many managers who tend to turn a blind eye to intuitive information and prefer only digital information. As a result, you may fail to understand the real situation of the enterprise, ignoring some key clues.
As a customer, we should go to the supplier’s site to understand its cost composition, production efficiency and quality control. As a supplier, we should go to the customer’s site to understand its production process, so as to better serve customers. As a colleague, if you have the opportunity to visit other factories, it is also a very good opportunity to learn, compare and reference.
Enterprise operation is a large system, and all links are closely related and affect each other. For a production enterprise, we can see it through any details on the site. The root cause of any major problem can be found on the spot. Even in a limited time, as long as we grasp the key points, we can fully grasp the key information of the factory operation. The following discusses how to conduct on-site observation in combination with macro system and management details.
2. Site atmosphere
First of all, you can intuitively see the most authentic employees’ mental outlook on the site. Employees with high morale will form a sharp contrast with those who are sloppy and indifferent. Talk with the on-site workers for a few words, and you can also get an important first impression from the workers’ facial expressions and body language, because these directly reflect the workers’ emotions and satisfaction with the factory. In a factory I visited, most of the workshops are playing happy music. At first glance, the workers are very enthusiastic about their work. Working in such a relaxed and pleasant environment, the efficiency is relatively high, and the quality of products will make people more confident.
When walking around the workshop, you can observe whether there is an imbalance between busy and idle. For example, when the machine is in automatic processing, workers are idle for a long time, or some workers are waiting for materials for a long time. This phenomenon indicates that the factory lacks lean management, and the utilization rate of personnel is low. Idle employees will also affect the working atmosphere of others. The overall working efficiency is low, and the cost is bound to be higher.
Attention should be paid to whether the light in the workshop is sufficient, whether the air circulation is smooth, whether the site has peculiar smell, whether the noise is too loud, and whether the workshop is clean, because these will also directly affect the mood of workers, and thus affect the production efficiency and product quality. It is hard to imagine that a factory with a lazy, low and indifferent atmosphere on the site, and its employees or those who are angry or have nothing to do can do well in products and create benefits.
3. Space utilization and layout
Many factories in China enjoy great success. The bigger the production workshop, the better. As a result, the utilization rate is often low, and the layout of equipment and processes is scattered. In addition to wasting space, materials are also being transported in large quantities in the factory. While most factories in developed countries look less spectacular, even a little cramped, but the space utilization rate is high and the circulation efficiency is also high.
Transportation tools not only occupy space and have high operating costs, but also encourage unnecessary material movement. I saw a lot of electric forklifts and manual forklifts in a customer’s factory, but there was a lot of unnecessary handling. For example, the same batch of parts are moved from Area A to Area B for processing, then moved back to Area A for subsequent processing, then moved to Area C for processing, and finally moved back to Area B. The waste of handling is simply extreme.
In principle, the production materials used on the day should be stored along the production line rather than in several storage areas. Tools and tooling should be placed as close to the machine as possible. The factory layout shall ensure the smooth flow of products and avoid any partition as far as possible. If you see long material handling distance, repeated handling routes, or many times of handling in a factory, it indicates that the layout is unreasonable, the space utilization is not ideal, and the production line is not as concentrated as possible.
4. Site standardization
Standards are the best status and unified implementation reference. Without standards, there is no way to implement and no focus for improvement. There should be many standards on the production site, including operation and quality standards, 5S and safety standards, operation and maintenance standards, process and rework standards, safety stock standards, etc.
Many factories have SOPs (standardized operation procedures) on the site. We can observe whether these standards have omissions, are easy to implement, and whether there are breakpoints in the middle. Check whether the writing, speaking and doing are consistent, and whether the quality control points are highlighted with eye-catching signs or colors.
By observing the specific operation process of different employees in the same process, we can find out whether there are differences, including the sequence of actions, operation strength, and whether there are omissions. The difference indicates that employees lack standardized operation training, and the possibility of product variation is greatly increased. When I visited a supplier’s factory, I found that different workers lock four screws in different order, and there is no standard torque reference. Based on their feelings, some workers lock the screws twice, and some workers lock the screws only once. No wonder the screws fall off, or the quality complaint that one side is locked too tightly, causing the other side to tilt up.
5. Quality control
On site observation should pay attention to the way the workshop handles defective products. Good factories will expose problems rather than cover up defective products and waste products. For example, focus the waste with a light or use a red label to highlight it, so that you can immediately know whether the waste is increasing or whether a section of the production process is producing defective products.
I saw a lot of defective products in the corner of a factory. It can be seen from the dust on them that they had accumulated for a long time, but there was no sign to explain the cause and problem of the defective products. Asked the workers on the site, they said that they had been working on those things for several months. No one knew what the problem was, and no one dealt with it. When asked how to deal with the defective products, the answer was that there was a specially assigned person to rework, and no one went to investigate the causes of the defective products. Who dares to cooperate with factories with such chaotic quality management?
The traceability of in-process products and semi-finished products can also be easily seen on site. In a good factory, each part has a card or a document that follows the flow, indicating the source, the person who handled the processing, the equipment used, and other information. Problems found in any process can be easily traced back to the source and improved.
On site, the fineness of quality management can be judged by the degree of protection of workers for parts. I saw in an electric motor factory that the rotor was placed on the cement floor at will without any protective measures, so the quality of the finished motor can be imagined. On the other hand, the stator is placed vertically on the wooden workbench, and the workers reshape the upper part. The enamelled copper wire at the lower part is easy to damage the insulating paint due to friction, which also causes potential quality problems.
By observing the quantity and proportion of defective products, we can also preliminarily judge whether the quality control process of a factory is qualified. When I visited a supplier, I found that there were more than 20 unqualified products at the end of the finished product line around noon. After asking the workers, the average daily output of this assembly line is 1000 pieces. According to this estimate, the daily defective products are about 50 pieces, and the defective rate of finished products is as high as 5%. This shows that a large number of quality problems have not been found in the previous processes, and the defective products have been flowing to the end. The quality control is weak, and the cost of manufacturing defective products must be high.
6. Visualization
Visual management is the basis of many advanced management tools, and it is a visual communication of the management level of a production enterprise. Visual tools can be found everywhere in a well managed factory. Including the organization and standardization of the workplace, visualization of outcome indicators, visualization of standard operations, visualization of control indicators, visualization of automatic error prevention and correction, alarm mechanism, etc. During the visit, pay attention to looking for various visual tools.
Visual management kanban can be divided into static and dynamic management kanban. The static kanban mainly conveys the long-term management concept of the organization, while the dynamic kanban is the management information that managers need to grasp at any time, which can better reflect the management level and ability of a factory.
5S is the embodiment of on-site organization and standardization, and the underlying application of visualization. However, due to various reasons, in reality, most Chinese enterprises have gone into a misunderstanding in 5S management. In a large motor manufacturer, the production workshop was almost spotless at a glance, all the floors were painted with beautiful paint, and all kinds of visual lines and signs were very similar, but there was only a lack of safety warning signs. Too smooth road surface has insufficient friction, people will slip when walking on it carelessly, and handcarts and forklifts may also slip. Such superficial efforts are well done, but there are still many potential safety hazards.
7. Status of tools and equipment
In a good factory, the equipment is clean and well maintained, and the equipment related information is clear at a glance and updated immediately. In the machining workshop of a foundry, although all kinds of lathes are not very advanced, or even have a long history, they operate in good condition. I saw a card on the side of each machine, which recorded the model, purchase date, price, supplier, maintenance record, maintenance record, etc. of the equipment. In addition, the daily spot check sheet is also very complete. Some spot check sheets clearly record the hidden dangers found by operators, as well as the signature and handling plan of the equipment department. This shows that a sound system has been formed for equipment management and maintenance.
In another factory, I saw a large vacuum impregnating machine waiting for repair. It is said that the sealing rubber ring is aging and needs to be replaced, but the parts will not be in place until a month later. There is no maintenance record on this equipment. Although there is a daily spot check table, such vulnerable parts are not found until they are seriously aged and cannot be used, which indicates that the spot check is not in place or is perfunctory. The failure of this equipment could have given early warning and made corresponding preparations, so as not to cause a shutdown for one month and seriously affect the production and delivery.
On site, you can also ask the staff whether the operators and product developers have participated in the purchase decision of equipment. Front line workers and personnel involved in product development and production know the advantages and disadvantages of the new equipment best, and also know the actual needs of the production line best. In many factories, the purchase of equipment is decided by the senior management or the equipment department, and the opinions of front-line personnel are rarely sought, resulting in a large number of subsequent problems.
8. Precautions for on-site observation
On site observation is the most direct way to find problems. Most problems will show up on site, which can quickly make a preliminary assessment of the factory, so as to trace the source and reduce the blindness of many works. This article only discusses a small part of the many contents of on-site observation. There are many ways and methods of on-site observation and different starting points, but the basic principles and matters needing attention are consistent.
First of all, you should not look at the scene with colored glasses, and you should not go to the scene with conclusions to find evidence, which is often biased.
Secondly, we should not just look at the surface at the scene. We need to check whether what we say, write and do is consistent. We need to ask more why.
Third, both macro and micro perspectives should be used, focusing on details in a narrow way and looking at the whole in an open way.
Fourth, try not to take notes, which will affect the continuity of observation and thinking, and also make field personnel nervous.