Factory Redesign Using the Principles of Lean RFS and Value Stream Design in Medical Device Manufacturing

Outcomes & Results Achieved:

Complete redesign of ‘1 Piece’ Value Stream based on Cellular design and lean principles. Resulting in a reduction in lead time of 35%, a significant improvement in customer service levels, a reduction in the piece part cost in excess of the target level of 20% reduction, an improvement in cycle time of the bottleneck process in excess of 60 minutes, and finally a reduction in the ‘long tail’ of Red stream SKUs.

Consultancy & Coaching Support on:

• Lean RFS (Repetitive Flexible Supply) & The Glenday Sieve
• Value Stream Mapping
• Lean Factory Design Principles

Project Description:

The Challenge facing this client was to be able to improve customer service levels whilst also identifying a series of cost improvement activities to enable a reduced piece part cost of 20% by the end of the next financial year.

Initial Analysis and Problem Definition Phase included use of Lean RFS (the Repetitive Flexible Supply tool incorporating the Glenday Sieve analysis method) to show the volumes and demand patterns of the Sales Order Book.

This identified significant opportunity to separate high volume, stable demand from lower volume, very volatile demand.

The next stage of improvement was a facilitated 1 week long, Value Stream Mapping workshop, including Line Walks, Current State Analysis, Future State design and Action Planning. Lean FSL worked with a multi-functional team from Sales, Operations, Planning, Engineering, Projects and CI departments to develop a clear Target Condition state for the first round of improvements and developed detailed actions to support this. Final afternoon was the present findings and proposed improvements to Senior Leadership team.

Final stage of support from us, was to coach and mentor the team through the execution of the action plan, and to develop new shopfloor standards for the new factory design, including local Performance indicators and 5S standards. 

Skills and Knowledge Transfer:

Throughout this project we coached and advised local CI leader and the Senior Team on Value Stream Mapping facilitation, the use of RFS tools and methods for analysis and Future State Design, building Project A3 structures and Project governance.

Want to Know More?

Interested to discover how ‘Levelled Production’ and the use of the Lean RFS approach can help you stabilise your production and provide a foundation for lead time reduction and cost improvement? Contact us for a free 1-hour online awareness and taster session on the use of this powerful method.