A plant visit is sometimes followed by a strategic decision to acquire a plant for instance or a tactical decision about resumption of working with a new supplier or pending the business with a current one. It may be an opportunity to know a lot about the visited facility and may be as well a waste of time. In this presentation, we will simply give ideas about how to benefit from a visit and make it a successful one. The presentation show some tools to help the visitor assessing his visit and give him tips about what to do and what to avoid doing and how should he plans his visit framework.
2. Content
• Benefits of a successful Plant tour
• Reasons & types of plant tours
• The Visit framework
• Effective tools used in the plant tours
• Additional tips
• Conclusion & Recommendations
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3. “ALMOST EVERYONEWHO LEADS,WORK,OR
INTERACTSWITHA MANUFACTURINGCO. CAN
BENEFITFROM SEEINGA FACTORY
FIRSTHAND”
David M. Upton
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“TO THE TRAINEDEYE,EVENA QUICKPLANT
TOUR CAN REVEALA LOT ABOUT A COMPANY”
Eugene Goodson
4. Benefits of a Plant Tour
Senior Executives
• Assess competitors
• Company performance &
Strategy
• Understand a Site
Performance
Managers
• Review Suppliers’
qualifications
• Benchmark performance &
Practices
• Share Practices
Operators
• See other plants & Learn
• Application of learned lessons
Consultants
• Increase knowledge about the
clients
• Enhance experience
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5. Types of a Plant Tour
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To Learn
To
Teach
To
Assess
6. Learning Tour
• Focus on Practice
• Workflow
• Work-In-Process levels
• Keep an Open Mind
• Most learning is un-expected
• Visit plants unlike yours
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7. Teaching Tour
• When you go to bring knowledge to the visited party
• E.g. Supplier development
• Teaching in a different way
• Teaching by asking & challenging
• Raising the Morale of employees
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8. Assessment Tour
• Not to acquire knowledge but to evaluate a plant
• Supplier evaluation / plant acquisition
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10. Visit Framework
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Strategic Role
• Competitive Advantage
• Plant /Company Strategy
Structural Alignment
• Right Equipment
• Hardware vs. Software
• ERP System
Day-to-Day Management
Improvement Path
Community
•Caretakers vs. Craftspeople
Systems
•WIP Level
•Machines Availability
Processes
•Scrap / Rework
•Products / Process Variability
11. Mini Case:
Textile Industry Strategy
Strategy: To Be
Responsive to
Customers’ needs KPI: Tons of Fibers
Produced / day
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KPI: Key Performance Indicators
13. Rapid Assessment Process
Assign the
team
Train the team
•Training about Lean
•Training about RPA
Tools
•Plant tour in own
plant
Familiarize
with visited
plant
•Financial Report
•Website
•Industry Review
Use RPA Tools
•Tools Usage
•Data Presentation
& Visit reporting
•Recommendations
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18. Customer Satisfaction
• Does Workers know their customers?
• How are they dealing with visitors?
• Ask Them: “Where does your product go next?”
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19. RPA Results Presentation
RPA Radar Chart
0
2
4
6
8
10
Customer Satisfaction
Safety, environment, cleanliness, &
order
Visual Management Deployment
Scheduling system
Product flow, space use & material
movement means
Inventory & WIP Levels
People teamwork, skill level, &
motivation
Equipment & tooling state &
maintenance
Ability to Manage Complexity &
Variability
Supply Chain Integration
Quality System Deployment
Series1
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20. Tips for a Successful RPA
• NEVER take notes during the tour
• Assign responsibilities among team members during the visit
RPA categories
• Right down your notes immediately after the visit
• Team should meet immediately after the tour
• The tour provides visual information not in the documents.
• Wear a watch with a stopwatch.
• Assessing Waste = Improvement Opportunities
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21. Other Tools
• Material Control / Pull System Assessment Questionnaire
• Seven Waste Matrix
• Value Stream Mapping
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23. What to wear?
• Weather
• Customs and Traditions
• Safety equipment at plant / Special shoes
• Dress Code
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26. What after the tour?
• Send a thank you letter.
• Share photos & Media coverage.
• Report your experience
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27. Conclusion
• A plant tour can result in great benefit to the visitors
regardless its duration
• The reason(s) and the target of the visit must be
predetermined
• A visit framework should assess different managerial levels
• There are different effective supporting tools for Rapid
Assessment
• Training the visitors on RPA tools will result in maximized tour
benefits and consistent results
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28. Recommendations
• Preparing a 2-days workshop to train EZDK employees on
Rapid Plant Assessments (RPA) Tools
• Workshop can be customized according to managerial level
and/or function
• Prepare a booklet about plant tour and visits tips and
guidance
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29. References
• R. Eugene Goodson, TOOL KIT Read a Plant – Fast, Harvard
Business Review, May 2002.
• Upton D. & Macadam S., Why (and How) to take a Plant Tour,
EBSCO Publishing, 2003
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