Lean Process Design Program

Location: Arizona State University, Tempe Arizona or at client site
Program Length: 5 days
Course Fee: Pricing based on custom offering per client group

Program Sections:

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Overview

Over 80% of cost sources are committed in the upstream product and process-design phases of the product life cycle. Yet the majority of our lean manufacturing activities has been focused on improvement at the downstream production point.

Continuously improving your existing processes is important, but that alone comes too late and concentrates on the lowest impact cost control point in the life cycle. A more significant reduction in total cost can be made upstream in process design.

This advanced, week long, custom course for your organization teaches a step-by-step method - based on Toyota practices - on how to design leaner production processes. The process design method provides the basis for a standard method in your organization and represents skills that engineers and leaders should learn through hands on practice. Participants in this course learn by applying the method to a real manufacturing process at a factory site.

Participants will be able to:

  • Understand why many cells and lines do not flow and generate excessive cost
  • Design more effective processes from the start
  • Train others in the process design method
  • Ensure that process design occurs in a standardized fashion

Course Instructor

Mike Rother is an engineer, researcher, and teacher who has been researching Toyota's production since 1989, and experiments with the application of Toyota concepts and methods at many small and large manufacturing facilities. He is highly experienced in the application of line and cell design methodology, and is the developer of the method taught in this workshop. Mike is a leading expert for the Lean programs at ASU in partnership with Arizona Sate University. He began his career at Thyssen AG in Germany, and is the lead author of two books, Learning to See, and Creating Continuous Flow, both of which received the Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing Research. Mike is also an associate of the University of Michigan's Japan Technology Program and the Lean Management Institute in Aachen, Germany.

Who Should Attend

  • Engineering managers, manufacturing engineers, plant managers, industrial engineers, product family managers, value stream managers, lean specialists, and lean engineers.
  • Due to the hands on nature of this training course, participation is limited to 18 people per course.

Course Schedule

Day 1: Section A - First Steps

  • Initial calculations
  • Draw a tree diagram of the necessary processing steps
  • Evaluate alternative processing methods
  • Check machine capacity against cycle time(s)

Day 2: Section B - Operator Flow Analysis & Plan

  • Go and See: Observe the in cycle operator work & develop an operator flow vision. Initial mock up
  • Go and See: Time each planned operator work element and make a single stack
  • Calculate target number of operators for planned cycle time

Day 3: Section B Continued & Section C - Design The Physical Process

  • Go and See / Reflect: What are problems with our existing lines?
  • Sketch a block diagram line concept
  • Design in-station process controls

Day 4: Section C Continued

  • Go and See: Plan material presentation at the point of use
  • Draw initial detailed layout to scale
  • Develop an initial work distribution and operator balance chart

Day 5: Section D - Mock Up

  • Prepare a mock up
  • Teams present their work

Contact Us

This custom program is available at ASU, at the client site, or a remote location.

For more information contact:

Octavio Heredia
Associate Director, Extended Education
asu.cpd@asu.edu