Many factories invest massive resources in Lean Manufacturing projects, organizing widespread training classes on 5S, Kaizen, and Six Sigma. However, after only a few months, everything falls back to the old ways. The reason behind this failure usually stems from the lack of a solid operating foundation.
6 Typical Pain Points
A factory lacking an operating system frequently faces 6 persistent pain points:
- Constant firefighting: Management is always in a state of resolving unexpected incidents, with no time for strategic continuous improvement.
- Over-reliance on individuals: Knowledge and experience are held in the minds of a few outstanding individuals; when they leave, the system falters.
- Communication gaps: Information is disconnected between departments, from sales to planning, and from planning down to the shop floor.
- Data blindness: There are many reports but no real-time data to make decisions right on the shop floor.
- Superficial improvement campaigns: Kaizen ideas are only proposed during campaign drives, then fall into oblivion.
- Standardization on paper: SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) are beautifully written and carefully stored in filing cabinets, but no one actually follows them.
"Improvement is not a project with a start and end date. Improvement is a capability that must be embedded into the daily operating system."
Solutions from INVAMAX
At INVAMAX, we do not view Lean as merely a toolkit to "apply". Lean must be tightly integrated with FOS (Factory Management Operating System). Instead of starting by teaching Lean tools, we start by identifying the problems within the current system, and use Lean thinking to resolve them at their root.