The 30-Inch View®

Is yours a House of Pain?

   Yesterday in Got Boondoggle, Mike raises an issue that is near and dear to The 30-Inch View and that is the risk of injury from bending and lifting. As he points out, this isn't just a manufacturing issue, its a problem anywhere people and work come together.

Humantech VP, James Mallon comment on Mike's post was worth posting here as well:

"This topic is worth much consideration – thanks for bringing it forward. The injury is not the only outcome of poorly designed manual handling tasks, it just happens to be the most tangible – funny how pain manages to bring work design issues to light and the one that requires action.
Another unspoken concept is that repetitive bending to pick up items requires more effort (placing unnecessary burden on worker), creates less engagement (I have yet to see someone rush to complete tasks which cause them discomfort or pain) and, here’s the big one; bending takes more time!! A good rule of thumb is that every 6” a human moves requires about 0.2 seconds. Doesn’t seem like a lot, but it adds up."

Does your company look at this issue as a safety issue or more broadly as an operational issue?

Photo credit: roybos69

Check out the latest from Pharmaceutical Technology Magazine

While most of you aren't in the Pharmaceutical sector, Josh Kerst's recent article in Pharmaceutical Technology's online newsletter speaks broadly to anyone interested in Lean.

Manufacturing Improvements Begin with the Operator

By Josh Kerst

When seeking to increase productivity, companies must consider worker–machine and worker–materials interactions. These factors are easy to overlook, but they affect workers’ performance and health and a company’s bottom line.

Click here for the full text.

TSA and the Double-Diamond Lane: Are Behavioral Solutions Enough?

Recently, the TSA announced that it would be trying a new system to speed up the security check-in process at airports. The process will use different lines for travelers with varying degrees of travel expertise; similar to the labeling of ski runs. So, if you are an experienced business traveler that has already designed a system to  pull your laptop out with one hand while simultaneously kicking off your slip-on shoes, flipping them into the air and catching them in a bin with the other hand, and then adding your baggie of 3 ounce toiletries, you can enter the double diamond line. This will free you from having to sit on line behind the family vacationers who cannot fold their stroller to fit through the x-ray machine and whose children are afraid to walk alone towards the friendly screener (many of you have fit both of these profiles at one time or another).

Everyone in our company travels a lot, so this is a welcome improvement, if it works. I say IF because this strategy has a flaw as it will depend solely on people's choices and behaviors to speed things up.

If you travel as much as we do, you've had a lot of opportunities to observe the security process and have probably come to the same conclusion as I have; the lines aren't caused by behavior - they are a product of the poorly designed equipment that screeners and travelers have at their disposal.

Since the flow of people through that system is no different than products through a manufacturing plant, the application of ergonomic and industrial engineering principles could help immensely to minimize the cycle time required for each traveler and screener to complete their duties.

• Have a post-screen assembly area - how many times have you had to wait until someone finishes getting dressed before you can grab your bag and go? Removing assembly from processing (screening) allows those that need less assembly (dressing/bagging/etc.) to get through in real time.
• Have a pre-screen prep area that has a constantly replenished supply of bins - how often do you find yourself rushing to get all your stuff into bins because the table in front of the screener is too short? How easy is it to forget to remove something in that short period of time and therefore needing a rescreen (rework)?

Any other improvement thoughts?

More Brain!

"If you wish to enjoy even a small percentage of the success that technology has brought us in agriculture and industry, or a tiny fraction of Toyota’s economic strength, then you must appreciate that muscle is good but brain is better."   -Franz Schneider, CEO, Humantech

More on this subject from the Lean Blog: Skill Development Critical to Success

Are we preparing our kids for success?

Are you really aware?

Thanks to Frank at Focused Performance for this video, it only takes a little over a minute -

More on "Safety and Lean Manufacturing"

Great post today on The Lean Thinker. Mark points out the strong link between safety and kaizen, and potential reasons why these two groups clash within some companies. One point that we'd like to add is that within TPS (Toyota Production System, the basis of lean thinking), the priorities are very clearly laid out as SQDC - safety, quality, delivery, cost. Former President of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Mikio Kitano described it well:

"Standardized work encourages the close, one-by-one examination of:
First, Ergonomics and Safety Issues
Second, Quality Issues
Third, Productivity, and
Fourth, Cost Benefits"

To Toyota, good workstation design (ergonomics) is a starting point for TPS. They understand that you can't expect a manufacturing cell or production line to be stable and productive if the individual workstations aren't optimized for human operators. A way to illustrate this is to consider the 4 M's of manufacturing - Materials, Methods, Machine, and Man. Each of these needs to be stabilized, and in addition, the man/materials and man/machine interfaces need to be optimized through workplace ergonomics.

In contrast, many if not most lean initiatives in North America focus on optimizing material flow while expecting a continuous improvement culture to just happen as a natural extension of kaizen events. We know this is not the way TPS/lean works - and according to another good post at Evolving Excellence, "The potential of lean has become sub-optimized by the focus on waste elimination". Bob Chapman, the CEO of a $1billion capital good company went on to say, "Lean is about people, not about waste. Focus on the employees - all other benefits are just by-products."

Previously, we've discussed how a culture of continuous improvement arises when improving ergonomics is a starting point for you lean initiative. Basically, improving ergonomics will:

• Accelerate shop floor buy-in to the lean process since improvements benefit them by reducing daily pain and fatigue
• Sustain shop floor involvement by respectfully engaging operators in both finding and fixing barriers to safety and personal performance
• Reinforce the impact that continuous improvement has with quick and visible ergonomic improvements

Mark from The Lean Thinker sums up his post (and ours) this way:

Bottom line?You get perfect safety exactly the same way you get perfect quality.

The methods and approach for getting it, and the methods and approach for correction and countermeasure are exactly the same. Remember:The right process produces the right result.

If you aren’t getting the result you want, then take a look at the process.

Ford links good ergonomic job design to improved quality

A recent article in Industrial Engineer magazine highlighted that Ford has found a tremendous impact of good ergonomics job design on quality performance - 11% improvement versus an industry average of 2%.

Ford used human modeling software in the virtual manufacturing process to design jobs that are less physically stressful. The impact of ergonomic redesign at the project level has been documented many times, such as the case study from Corning Goose Creek, but this is a major finding on the impact good ergonomic job design can have at the enterprise level.

The link between good ergonomic job design - at the point where people, work, and environment intersect - is well understood but not well documented. We've compiled six ergonomic success stories that have resulted in quality impacts in What to Expect form a Successful Ergonomics Initiative - with an average impact of over $900,000. This is far higher than the average improvement project impact on either injury costs (nearly $200,000) or labor costs (over $300,000).

Average Dollar Impact of Ergonomics Improvement Projects

According to the article, Ford is the only North American automaker to use human modeling technology in this way. Sounds like it might be a great investment for companies that routinely replace their tooling as products are updated.

Nature vs. Nurture: Can you "behavior" your way out of a bad work environment?

Every year at the Applied Ergonomics Conference, we're treated to an overwhelming demonstration of the impact being made at leading companies through the application of good workplace design. This year's Ergo Cup competition - where companies share their efforts and results on specific ergonomics improvement projects - was no exception. 35 teams, representing 16 companies and 6 countries, shared their bottom-line impacts from improvements to productivity, quality, material costs, and employee health & safety.

Boeing employees had to install galleys weighing up to 1,000 pounds inside airplanes, requiring extremely high forces and awkward postures. Sure enough, people were getting hurt and product was getting damaged. Average annual injury costs and average annual damage costs were both over $200,000. The site came up with an innovative "commodity mover" that improved the work to the point that only 1 person is needed (previously, 5 were needed to wrestle the units in place). The annual bottom line impact on quality, productivity and injuries was reported at $427,000.

In previous posts we've mentioned similar success at GE, Honda of Canada, Honda of America and PPG Aerospace. The amazing thing about these bottom line improvements is that they were all made with minimal investments - generating better than a ten-to-one payback in the first year in each instance. These are great illustrations of the saying "people make productivity happen", and the idea that removing obstacles through workplace improvements pays off handsomely.

In contrast, there was an article in yesterday's New York Times blowing the lid off the idea that stretching can improve performance or prevent injuries. Dr. Charles Kenny, an orthopedist, was quoted as saying "if stretching was a drug, it would be recalled." He said that stretching weakens performance and makes injuries more likely. This is consistent with our review of published research on stretching to prevent work-related injuries - its simply a dead end solution.

Interestingly, none of the Ergo Cup examples above focused on teaching people proper lifting techniques, getting them to lose weight, or working on their flexibility through stretching. While these wellness agendas are noble (and often times needed), they are not a substitute for practical workplace improvements.

Right Sizing Equipment: Consider the Operator

In his blog Got Boondoggle, Mike Wroblewski talked the other day about right sizing equipment:

"One of the challenges in kaizen is getting people to see beyond their perceived boundaries to what is possible. One example is using right sized equipment. Many times we end up buying the best value of equipment for the money with as many bells and whistles possible, just in case we need them in the future. With this thought process, we end up with larger equipment with unused capabilities than what we actually need."

Another thing to think about: right sizing the footprint of equipment is essential for reducing waste (muda) of floor space. However, in the goal to right size equipment, many organizations and teams forget the operator and “right size” the working height to a lower level. In turn this can cause the operator (feeding lumber into the saw) to work in a bent and awkward posture; introducing ergonomic risk and waste (muda) of motion.

My point is to consider all elements of the workplace (floor space, flow, motion, ergonomic risk factors) to ensure the improvement of one issue does not introduce another exposure (safety, ergonomic, etc.).

Live from AEC: And the winners are...

The buzz at the morning's concurrent sessions reflected varied opinions about potential winners of the ErgoCup team categories. Before awarding the cup this morning, the student design competition was spotlighted. Six college teams had 48 hours to assess a grocery store and deliver recommended designs to address the identified problems. The winning team from the University of Memphis did a nice job prototyping a checkout workstation and delivering new concepts in stock shelving.

University of Memphis: Feels Good Ergonomics

Chanda Murphy, David Earnest, Jonathan Burlison & Shardae Dawkins

Congratulations!!

Winners of the ErgoCup:

Training & Education: Honda of America - Marysville, OH, Hands-on ergonomics training for engineers through a series of workstation simulations.

Ergonomist Led Workplace Improvements: Honda of America - Marysville, OH, A compact power assist device was integrated within their material carts to significantly reduce the initial push force requirements

Team Led Workplace Improvements: PPG Aerospace - Huntsville AL, A clamp assist tool was designed to eliminate the repetitive manual clamping of Pony springs to hold parts together while bonding.

Congratulations to all the teams for great work!! See you next year for the 12th edition in Reno.