Genoa Lean Update

A lot has happened since the last blog post way back in October, so here are brief updates on some of the things that have been going on:

International Trade Shows - We've attended both the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME) Maritime Technology Concference and Expo in Fort Lauderdale and the International Work Boat Show in New Orleans. Leonard and I presented at both shows innovation sessions on how a company can get lean started. Both sessions were well attended. We also had a lot of interest at our booth in what we were doing in lean and how our pursuit of lean is helping clients success. Besides rising our lean profile, the new business from the shows is impressive and will keep us busy back at the shop for a while, OK maybe a little longer than a while.

Congratulations to Genoa's employees on the excellent reputation you've established in the industry as evidenced by feedback we were getting at the booth. Also, the Kirby 90ft Towboat won a "Boat of the Year Award"...production lofting work done here.


Training and Development Team - I discussed this a few blogs back and I'm pleased to report that we are moving ahead most excellently. Brian Newhook, Chad Mercer, Angela Porter, and Dimitry Kapiturov are the team members focused on improving the skill level of employees at Genoa and have already begun the work by completing the scope and identifying the year 1 milestones of the initiative. This is in keeping with our five year plan of sorting out the skills of our people and improving our production processes through training and development. They've been meeting regularly and right now are in the process of verifying the information we've collected and determining skill level requirements.


Lean Level 1 Certification - Six employees have been selected to complete the Lean certification program offered by the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters. In addition to Brian, Chad, and Dimitry; Penny George, Kyran Pennell, and Dean Noseworthy will attend six days of training and complete three lean projects over four months to attain certification Level 1.


Search for Takt Time - Allison Kennedy is heading into the final term of her Bachelor of Naval Architecture program at Memorial University and is writing her workterm paper on Lean Principles in a Marine Engineering Environment. She's done a fabulous job of analyzing and summarizing the data that's been collected. So much so that we will be using it to bid some potential projects (we'll test it the old way of course). If you want to learn more on our search for takt time read blogs of May 10, June 14, and Sept 5.

On a related topic, Angela Porter has been assigned some responsibility for the bid process so she'll be working with Allison and Leonard over the next weeks to understand the data and use it to work up the bids. When Allison leaves we'll be looking for a "champion of the data"!! Angela???

Lean and Project Visuals - Cheri-Lynn Chafe is back with us and has been assigned the new role of Planner and Projects Administrator. She is currently completing the Project Management Masters Certificate at Memorial University's Center for Management Development and learning Microsoft Project. We want to get better at managing projects and this role at Genoa will accelerate that process. Picture every ongoing project accurately set up, updated, and visually displayed using Microsoft Project. We'll visually represent project completion status, deliverables, milestones at risk, etc.. We will eventually set-up projects using our production rate data to set the pace. "Big job" Cheri Lynn....good luck with it.

First Christmas gift arrives at Genoa - As I write here, several employees are playing with the new toy that arrived today. Genoa's gift to employees. Nintendo Wii, 32 inch flat screen, and leather couch. Nice!!

Ken Hogan

Lean Guy at Genoa

So you want to be LEAN when you grow up?

I wrote a draft of this blog last week but didn't post it because I wanted to give more thought to getting my message across to those who may be thinking about, or have begun, implementing lean. I have to admit that upon reviewing my draft from last week, I framed the prospect of going lean as a rather frightening proposition. Even the title, "So you want to be LEAN when you grow up?" is, I admit, a little daunting.



Since last week I attended a presentation delivered by Dave Hogg of High Performance Solutions on World Class Fundamentals. His presentation focused on what it takes to become a world class organization and how companies can get there.



So here's what I wrote last week:


When you explain the merits of lean to companies who are considering implementation it's an easy sell on the benefits of reduced lead times, improved work in process(WIP), adding value for customers and the obvious benefits of continuous improvement.




What's most difficult to impress upon company leaders is the level of leadership required to move away from the status quo and take on a different approach to business. In particular a change from traditional production methods to lean systems that create flow and value from the customers perspective.




The Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters surveyed companies implementing lean, asking them to name the obstacles to lean implementation. Amongst the leading obstacles is middle managements inability to sustain lean systems.




Of course this is not unique to lean as it applies to all types of business initiatives, but this is a lean blog so I'll focus there.




This blog's title, "So you want to be LEAN when you grow up?" is a serious question to senior leaders in companies about what it is you're really in for when you say you want to be a lean company. More so; do you really know what it will look like when you get to what you said you wanted?




When people ask what I do, I ask if they know what lean is. Almost all the time they say they do not. Two types of people ask the question. Those who are being polite and really could not care less what I do and those I meet through business networking who might be interested. For the first group I tell them it's process improvement stuff; for the latter group I try to simplify what it is by what it looks like in my mind. Here's what I say: "Did you ever see a bucket brigade in action? (everyone says yes)...... well, it's creating that kind of materials flow in a production environment and I help companies do that."




Lean is a bucket brigade in a production environment. It's about level production and reducing lead time. That's a simplified version but it is the true essence of lean on the floor and every lean effort must be about getting there. I will say that you can make tremendous operational improvements by focusing on lean without ever building the operation to takt time but, in my view, it's the pursuit of operating to takt time and getting there that defines the true lean companies.




So, that's what I wrote last week. Having spent the day with Dave Hogg I realize I missed one very important point that I sort of made, but didn't stress enough. His main point throughout the day; "Lean is a people system". It was a recurring theme during the day and he's 100% right. So, back to the question, "So you want to be LEAN when you grow up?" If you do it most importantly means operating a system that relies heavily on the involvement of people and committment of leaders in the company to achieve a world class status. It also means pursuit of operating to takt time with production steps operating at the same rate, continually removing waste and adjusting the process to maintain flow.



So, is starting with lean frightening? It doesn't have to be at all. Learn as much as you can by reading first, talk to those who have started, seek advice, join a consortium of lean companies, and when you start....begin with the end in mind.


For more on Dave Hogg and High Performance Solutions go to http://www.hpsic.ca/.


Ken Hogan

Lean Guy at Genoa

Genoa Skills Assessment

One of objectives in the first year of our lean plan is to sort out (from 5S) where we are with lean, sort data we've collected, and among other things sort our people. By this I mean assessing where we stand from a skill perspective across the company.


This assessment tool is used in various formats and is generally formatted to fit the needs of the company. However, the intention is to assess skill level, identify training needs, set priorities, and track progress. It will also identify operational risk by highlighting areas where few employees are proficient in critical tasks.


So far, we have the major task required to assess the skill level completed. We recently sent to every employee a categorized list of skill requirements for the fields of design, human resources, lean, and software. We used excel and inserted a comment with a detailed description of each skill requirement and employees assessed themselves on a scale of 1 - 5, with 1 being completely unaware and 5 being at a proficiency level where the employee could train others in the particular skill.


Additionally, each employee identified their interest level in upgrading skills or the need for skill in each particular category. For example: administrative assistants would have no requirement to train in design work and, structural designers expressed interest in piping design. Employees indicated their interest or need with a simple A B C scale with A representing high priority, proficiency essential. Simple colour coding gives a visual representation of the results for both skill level and training requirements. There is also an area to capture employee comments.


Now that we have all of this information, what do we do with it and how can it improve our company?

1.) Time has to be taken by management to review each of the completed assessments for accuracy and ensure management is aware of the actual skill level within the company. It is often different from their perception, both from an individual perspective and overall.
2.) Each skill needs analysis to determine the overall company proficiency level, and a determination of whether or not it's satisfactory is required.
3.) From this analysis, deficiencies need to be prioritized and an overall plan to improve proficiency developed through training, workshops, or mentoring.
4.) Employees who have expressed interest in achieving proficiency in areas outside their normal work need to be identified and development decisions and plans undertaken.

In any case, once the assessment is analyzed and the plans are set in motion, the company begins to improve, remove waste, and offer value to the customer.

Every company can obviously benefit from this type of analysis and it is not difficult to achieve. The key though is actually setting out to get it done. Assign a champion, and begin. The results can be astounding.

Ken Hogan
Lean Guy at Genoa

Survey Results - Lean Diagnostic

The Lean Diagnostic is a tool used to measure lean performance across a number of categories. It enables a company to benchmark lean performance, set goals for improvement, and compare performance against other lean organizations. It's a scorecard based assessment and when completed assigns a percentage of lean implementation in each category as well as an overall score. For more detail see blog “We Changed our Goal” July 12, 2007.

In April, we completed an assessment based on Genoa’s performance to date and scored 32%. Scores across categories ranged from 0% in categories such as Lean Lean Product and Process Design and Lean Accounting and 60% in Value Stream Mapping and Total Productive Maintenance.

Following this initial assessment, we compiled a survey in July based on the category criteria and sent it to all of Genoa’s employees asking them to rate performance in each category based on their current knowledge. We did not alter the criteria language because it is our intent to ask these same questions annually improving employee knowledge through training and teamwork as we execute our plan.


We also added two categories that were included in older versions of the diagnostic; Safety, and Mistake Proofing. We included a feedback section and some other general questions on lean knowledge and how Genoa communicates with employees about the company.


The results of the survey were pretty much as expected with the group scoring 43% and higher than the lean consultant in most categories. This was probably due to a lack of complete understanding of the lean tool scored.

The good news is that the category scores, as well as the communication and lean knowledge scores will be improved with the implementation of the five-year plan. As well, the issues raised in the employee comments sections will be addressed through various parts of the plan.

This is a good baseline measure as we progress toward our goal of 38% at the end of year 1 and 80% at the end of five years. The complete results of the survey will be shared with employees soon.

Ken Hogan
Lean Guy at Genoa

The Team...

Notes on trying to run the company and also stay tapped into the Lean project at hand.

It is so easy to become engrossed in day to day activities, marketing, human resource issues, fires, emergencies, floods, requests, proposals, hiring, planning, strategic sessions, and all the other "stuff" that seems to interfere with running a business. Let alone trying to grow and develop a business under the umbrella of Lean principles.

As an infant might cry... "wah wah wah".

This emphasizes the importance of a Lean Champion. Someone who's primary mission in life is to push ahead with Lean improvements.

Thank goodness for "The Lean Guy at Genoa".

Thank goodness for our VP Operations, Darren, who works closely with Ken to get the right data, analyze it in the right context, identify the opportunities and help Ken push.

Thank goodness for a staff who care and are open to a shift in culture.

Thank goodness for the plan and action to bring the shift in culture about.

But to bring it full circle...one loose spoke, and the wheel fails.

I have learned that one person can only do so much. The answer is bringing the right team together.

I believe I have said this before...but it's worth repeating.

Testing continues…

Posted by Leonard...

Written by The Lean Guy at Genoa...

When we set up this blog we had a couple of purposes in mind; document our journey and share our successes, failures, and lessons learned with others. As I mentioned previously we’ve collected reams of data from past projects and loaded all of it to an excel file knowing that somewhere in there was the path to establishing takt time in our design world.

Well, I’ve just completed a high level analysis of the data and have worked out some basic production averages including parts per hour and parts per volume. This is broken out by ship part regardless of type of ship and all project hours are used. There were some obvious outliers in the data so one standard deviation was used to establish upper and lower control limits to arrive at a more “reliable” average.

The data looked great in scatter diagrams with some obvious patterns emerging.

Remember, one of our goals is to use historical data to calculate project hours based on volume or weight or some other parametric. That said, we took the rates and tested them against a project that had already been completed, calculating parts based on the known volume of each unit, and calculating hours based on the calculated parts.

The results were a little disappointing with calculated parts off by as high as 85% but on average 20%. Calculated hours were off on average 33% but as high as 70% for one unit. I thought they would be better but have to keep reminding myself that this is data from all types of ships applied against one particular type.

A positive result of our analysis, which has shown to be consistent across all ship types and unit types, is the percentage of total project hours that can be applied against modeling, assembly, nesting etc.

Lean Product and Process Design at Genoa

A couple of blogs back we shared the categories from the Lean Diagnostic Tool that will be used to measure the progress of Genoa's lean journey. An updated version of the diagnostic has categories added and some dropped. One of the categories added is Lean Product and Process Design.

Without detailing all of the steps or elements of this strategy, I'll attempt to describe how our path to Lean Product and Process Design (LPPD) will bring value to Genoa but more importantly to Genoa's customers.

We need to view the total effort of the work through to the actual fabrication of the ship in the yard and break out the effort in value streams:

1.) The Development Value Stream - The work Genoa does
2.) The Operational Value Stream - The fabrication work the customer does

Operational Value Streams are the result of Development Value Streams!!

Inherent in the Development Value Stream there are Operational Value Streams as well; that is, the steps Genoa does to provide deliverables to the customer. In order to ensure value for the customer, this value stream requires analysis to remove waste, improve lead times and quality, and add value for the customer. Most important in this analysis is to determine what value can be provided to the customer so that waste can be removed from the operational value stream before fabrication during the development and design phase. Remember the second line of Genoas mission statement ..."deliver waste-cutting work packs to clients". Genoa needs to ask itself, how can this be achieved.

Genoa can do this by ensuring that a number of events occur in the development phase;
- develop employee knowledge and sharing
- problem solve immediately, share results, and sustain improvements
- manage design flow by eliminating waste and variability
- standardize the design process
- design with assembly front of mind

Genoa needs to ensure that items within their control and influence make the customers operational value stream consistently profitable!!

In most manufacturing cases the owner of the development stream is the same as the owner of the operational stream. At Genoa the operational value stream owner is the customer. More importantly viewed as the partner in the effort. Everyone involved in the effort must work toward the success of the operational value stream which is the profit making stream.

I look forward to the day when we form a team with a partner towards this end. Right now it would be unfair to state that Genoa and it's clients operate independently because I see a lot of examples of cooperation and teamwork. I will say, that to achieve true excellence, there needs to be an effort where both value streams are viewed as one.

Ken Hogan
Lean Guy at Genoa

Before signing off, I'd like to introduce one of our designers..Brian Newhook. Brian is in his fourth year with Genoa and is responsible for most of the pictures of Newfoundland scenery on Genoas website http://www.genoadesign.com . Brian loves to kayak and his weekend activities have taken him to some spectacular places including very close to some amazing icebergs. Check this out. http://www.newfoundlandseakayaking.blogspot.com/

Fluent Consortium Meeting Last Week

Last week Genoa hosted the Fluent Consortium meeting to share our experience and gain valuable feedback from members on our lean journey. The consortium meets reqularly and consists of a number of companies that pursue lean as a means to improve and offer customer value. The meeting was well attended and consisted of information on Genoa, our lean strategy, a shop tour, and lots of feedback.

Hats off to our Project Managers, Chad, Dean, and Kyran for speaking to Genoas background, processes, and view of lean. A very good job.

Leonard and Darren presented the five year plan and how we are pursuing takt time at Genoa. We alowed a lot of time for feedback and got great advice from all participants. We are already including that advice in the plan. Thanks to the consortium members for their input.

My contribution was minimal besides set up and the odd comment during discussion. To me, this is an great indicator of our progress to date. I'm hired help; employees and guests need to hear about lean from the people who have a long-term stake in the company, the senior management and project managers. The people who have a stake in the company need to be current and able to talk about the lean direction and the lean methods used to achieve the goal. If the hired help does the communication then there is no need for the leaders to learn, remain current, and progress along the change curve. This approach is essential to success.

On another topic, we met with Dave Haire of the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters (CME) to discuss Lean Certification for key stakeholders at Genoa. We are trying to determine what the CME has to offer and whether it meets Genoas needs. We have a very good idea of what we require based on the 5 year plan. We have some specific unique needs because of our type of work and we have to ensure that the training addresses those. We have a framework for a cirriculum from CME and are awaiting details on each module so we can see if it's what we'll need.

Ken Hogan
Lean Guy at Genoa

We Changed our Goal???

That's right, we have changed the goal!

In the last blog I outlined the goal, the principles, and deliverables. Our goal was to "embed the lean culture at Genoa". Since then, we've met to discuss an upcoming consortium meeting and to review a lean poster we are working on which includes the goal. Gina thought the goal was vague so for some time we discussed what it should say, debating the key ingredients of a goal.

The goal needed to be specific, measureable against standard criteria, and attainable. "Embed the lean culture at Genoa" just didn't stand the test. Another importantant characteristic of our goal was that employees could form a "mental image" of what the goal looked and felt like as we were moving forward and when we got there.

So, after much discussion and numerous lessons from Gina on english languge sentence structure, such as you can't end sentences with prepositions, verb tenses, and something about linkages, we changed the goal (I'm sure Gina is cringing at my sentence structure as she reads this). We finally caught on to what Gina was getting at.

So the new, improved goal is; "Attain an 80% World Class Rating as Measured by Lean Diagnostics".

A couple of things to note here:
1.) Most of our employees will not have a "mental image" right now of what that will look like or feel like when we get there!
2.) How do we measure where we are right now?

We do know that the goal is specific, measureable against standard criteria, and attainable. It's up to us to ensure that our employees become aware of what 80% looks and feels like. They plan is to have employees, through communication and training, become informed and be involved in working toward the 80%.

So how do we measure? A lean diagnostic in December 2003 scored 37% and in April this year, when I arrived, I scored another diagnostic around the same. Does that mean Genoa hasn't improved in 3 1/2 years? Not at all. It is more likely that I was tougher with the diagnostic because of my mental image of what lean looks and feels like or those who scored in 2003 were more generous.

The lean diagnostic tool, which measures performance in 13 categories related to lean, is available for employee viewing on Genoas network in the lean folder (Lean Diagnostic Tool.xls), for those outside Genoa you can contact HPM at http://www.hpmconsortium.com for information on viewing or acquiring this tool.

What we will do next is survey our employees using the same criteria on the diagnostic asking them to score based on their understanding of the criteria. Does it matter that they may not even remotely understand what the questions are asking? Not at all. We will ask them the same questions every year and adjust the communication and training plan to ensure they are getting the "mental image" needed to understand what lean at Genoa looks and feels like at 80%.

We are currently discussing modifying the criteria on the diagnostic to represent Genoa's production environment because it differs from traditional production. I'm pushing for not doing that. My logic: We use the same criteria as everyone else, that way we can measure our World Classness against our competitors and others on the lean journey. It'll be up to us to figure out and show how each of the criteria relates to Genoa's world.

That's enough for now.

Here's the 13 categories on the Lean Diagnostic if you want to review them; Management Support, Culture, 5S, Value Stream Mapping, Set-up Reduction, Total Productive Maintenance, Pull Systems, Production Flow, Plant Layout, Standard Work, Mistake Proofing, Continuous Improvement, Safety.

Ken Hogan
Lean Guy at Genoa

Genoa's 5 Year Plan

If you've been following this blog or go back through past posts you'll recall discussions about having a five year plan to embed lean in the culture here at Genoa Design. Last Friday we used one of our Fluent Consortium days and invited David Haire, Vice President Best Practices and Lean Management, Atlantic Canada for the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters Association to assist us in finalizing the plan. We also invited Project Managers at Genoa for input. Darren, our VP Operations took a break from enjoying his new RV at Gushues Pond Park to join us also.

We strayed from the agenda often (we need to establish some rules around conducting meetings) but finally managed to clear up some items and confirm through the team that we were on the right track. During a meeting with Leonard on Monday we finalized key items including our goal, the project charter, deliverables, principles, and how all of the "to do's" would fit in our five year plan which you may recall are named from the five s's.

Here's the goal, deliverables, and principles:

Lean Project Goal

Genoa’s mission statement has as its primary objective, to “apply lean principles to projects”. A strategic plan to embed lean in Genoa’s culture is necessary to achieve this company commitment to employees and customers. The goal then, is to embed the lean culture in the company to meet and sustain the mission statement.

Project Deliverables

-Strategic plan for lean progression and sustainability
-Employee training and lean skills development plan
-Improved communications throughout Genoa Design
-Employee teams that are empowered to drive improvement
-Visual display of lean strategy and measurable project performance


Project Principles (our version of the lean principles you'll find in any of the lean literature)

-A business approach that defines value from the perspective of the customer
-Manage the business by defining value streams and continuously improve their performance
-Develop a production process that creates flow
-Determine a rate of production that will allow management of projects based on takt time
-Pursue perfection

On another note, we also finalized our date to host the next Fluent Consortium meeting which will take place in a couple of weeks. Leonard and I have held many discussions on how to get maximum value out of the consortium. Both from the 10 consulting days that comes with membership and value from the members themselves and the relationships built through the group. In my previous life, I represented Canada Post as a consortium member and was always an advocate of specific lean projects and reporting on and learning from lean project progress. That is, tools used, methods, solutions, mistakes, etc.

Following much discussion on this subject, Leonard and I agreed that at the meeting we host we will share these things with our guests so that it's more about them learning than us receiving feedback. That way every member benefits equally rather than the host gaining the most benefit. Our feedback will be from members who will help us build on what we've done and what we're doing and how we can help them build.

That all said, this weekend marks Canada Day. For those of you outside our country, July 1st, 1867 is when British Colonies north of the USA united under the British North America Act to become the Dominion of Canada. It was called Dominion Day until 1982. Not all of the current provinces joined in 1867, there were a few stragglers, the last being our province of Newfoundland joining in 1949.

So, on Sunday, hoist a glass of your favorite tipple and join Canadians in celebrating our 140th year.


Ken Hogan
Lean Guy at Genoa

Lean Lessons at Nor-Shipping 2007

I have just finished a week in Oslo, Norway, attending Nor-Shipping 2007. I have always known that "Lean" has global significance and relevance, but I learned this week that it also faces the same casual disregard from many companies, as it does in North America. My take-aways from the show:

Competitive Advantage
As I explained our service to exhibiting companies at the show (our service - providing production design and manufacturing deliverables to shipyards) I found myself wanting to speak about the one point which may separate us from the typical marine design office, of which there are many around the world. My focal point, other than the fact that we specialize in production design and not initial design, was Lean. I explained that by being a subscriber to the philosophy of Lean, and trying to operate our business by these principles, we not only seek to continually improve our process and strip waste, but we can also pass this knowledge onto customers, which can result in savings for them.

Value-Added Service
As we make headway with improvements, we are anxious to share our results and lessons with customers. There is always something to learn, especially through failure, but we are all anxious to avoid mistakes. A great way to avoid mistakes is to learn through someone else's. When we learn these lessons vicariously, we eliminate the risk. Of course, this means that by adopting successful processes as proven by another party, we can experience success with minimal investment in addition to minimal risk. To be honest, Genoa has willingly volunteered to be a guinea pig. The risk, by our own measure, is minimal since we adopt new processes and measures under carefully planned execution, using the principles of Lean. However, not everyone understands and has faith in Lean principles like we do, and certainly not everyone is willing to change without a proven track record. It is the "Devil-you-know, vs the Devil-you-don't" syndrome. With this perspective, we have a lot to offer in added-value. I would also add, that the best lessons learned are through our own mistakes. It hurts, but it sticks.

Ice-Breaker
This week I often talked about Lean, rather than stick to a "sales pitch". Not only was I more comfortable myself in this approach, but all parties involved in the conversation were more comfortable and sometimes opened up into a sincere chat about business, process, troubles and success. These types of conversation are always valuable and enjoyable, and sometimes lead to valuable insight and market intelligence. One just has to be careful not to waste peoples' time at a busy trade fair....in other words keep the trade fair a Lean process within itself.

Casual Disregard
My last comment concerns people's awareness of Lean. After a couple of days at Nor-Shipping, it was evident that I was doing more sharing about Lean than receiving. I was not annoyed with this, but I was concerned. Third day into the show, and while walking out of the hotel, I saw one of the hotel conference rooms in use, with little kits of lego scattered around the room and throughout the tables. I then noticed the title on the white board "Using TPS To Increase Shareholder Value". It was Ernst and Young; obviously undergoing an introductory Lean course. I was thrilled! I felt like barging into the room and asking them a thousand questions! It occurred to me that Lean must be about sharing in both directions. This empahasized for me the importance of our Lean Consortium, where the environment is all about mutual sharing and helping one another. The only way to ensure this continues is to work on increasing awareness. Trying to practice Lean by oneself will not work. Lean involves analysis and specific measures and tools to achive results, but one of the most important aspects of it all is communal brainstorming and sharing of ideas. Whether internally within the company, or externally between companies, the tools and ideas we bring back from any session of facilitated and careful brainstorming and problem solving, are of tremendous value. Without sharing and communication, Lean is nothing more than micro-management. Just to bring it back to the top....when people ask me if I am concerned about sharing and talking about Lean, whether I may be giving away a competitive advantage, I can now respond unquestionably that it is the communication and sharing that will help us continue. If we don't share and communicate internally and externally, Lean will die at Genoa.

I think I had a good show!

It's Testing Time!

I've mentioned a few times over the past weeks that we've been collecting data for the purpose of establishing an efficient bidding process as well as determining a production pace. Well, I've just finished the collection and assembly of all of the data in an excel file. (For those of you in the office it can be viewed on Genoa's network in the lean folder - I'll email the path to you).

To give you an idea of how much data that is, we've entered data from 18 projects dating back several years. That's data from every unit from each of these projects, roughly 200 units. There were also entrys not associated with units such as quality control and overall project management. Here's a summary of the data entered for each unit:

Project name and number
Unit description or number
Unit type (Bow, midbody, strn etc)
Number of Parts ( 5 categories)
Weight of parts (2 categories)
Unit Volume (3 -4 categories; l, w, h, area)
Hours worked per unit ( regular and overtime)
Hours worked by design function (modelling, assembly, nesting etc.)

Hours worked came from financial reports that Leonard and Darren had the foresight to set up, collecting hours by unit by design function. Parts and weight came out of reports ran from Ship Constructor. Volume information was calculated by opening up each individual unit in Ship Constructor and calculating volume. This volume information isn't readily availble just by opening a drawing so getting it was tedious to say the least. Much less tedious though because of the highly skilled Darren Letto.

Without counting them all that's over 3000 data entries not including the formulas. Very exiting stuff. After it was all entered, it had to be whittled down to manageable levels for analysis, so some combining of units was necessary and some data had to be thrown out because of it's questionable reliability.

So, what now? Well, I think we're ready for a test. Leonard is in Norway (maybe we'll see a blog post from there) so we haven't discussed this but the next step is to run a project bid using the data collected and compare it to what he comes up with using his current method. For now, we'll also use the data to run a project bid on a project that's already been completed to see how it compares to the actual hours worked.

More to come on that later but now I must mention that I'll be attending a dinner tonight where Genoa is being honored as the provincial recipient of the CBDC Business "Award of Distinction" for 2007 by the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Community Business Development Corporations. Leonard doesn't boast about these things so I won't either but I thought you all should know.

Congratulations Genoa, add it to your list of distinctions...and Darren, good luck with the speech.

Ken Hogan
Lean Guy at Genoa

Genoa's Lean Plan and Lord Stanley's Cup!!

During my last few days here we've spent a lot of time talking about our long term objectives related to lean and how they fit with an overall plan. A few blogs back I talked about our decision to name the five successive years of this journey and introduced the committment Genoa is making here. Let me tell you that this is a significant step and a very patient vision of the company's long term confidence in the power of lean. For me, this is a WOW!!

Because the 115 year old Stanley Cup was won last night by the Anaheim Ducks I can't help but use a hockey analogy to describe how significant this vision is:...... Anaheim Ducks GM Brian Burke, and, ironically Brian Murray who is the runner-up Ottawa Senators head coach, put together a plan a number of years ago to draft tough, big, skilled, Canadian hockey players (19 Canadians on their roster). They believed this was the formula to a Stanley Cup. For those readers outside Canada who don't know waht the Stanley Cup is; it's the holy grail of the hockey world. http://www.legendsofhockey.net/html/silver_vrtro.htm In Canada, hoisting the Stanley Cup is akin to ...well nothing really...but I did watch many men grin uncontrollably, giggle, and cry last night when they lifted it above their heads. For the lesser sports ... please forgive me for that, I'm Canadian... it's golfs Masters (Green Jacket), baseballs World Series (The Commissioners Trophy), footballs Super Bowl (Vince Lombardi Trophy), soccers World Cup (FIFA World Cup), ...you get the picture.

The formula for Burke and his team was a long term, patient approach, that involved many components including, leadership, a system of plays to execute, teamwork, training and development, a long term plan, discipline, and specific goals.

So why is Genoas long term plan a WOW! For me, as a lean professional, this vision is a company that "gets it". Too many companies approach lean with a view to get out cost as the only objective. Lean is not a quick fix, it's a way of running the business.

This past week we discussed value from customers perspective, training and development plans, communication strategy, production rates, human resource strategy, improvement teams, among other topics. Out of this discussion, we have brainstormed a list of the to do's necessary to piece together the five year plan. Incidently, lean is such a broad discipline, there is a lean tool that organizes the approach to all of these topics.

Now we need to meet to categorize this list, break up the to do's in an overall strategy and spread them out over the five year plan.

At the end, will there be a Stanley Cup. I doubt it because nothing fits in that category in terms of accomplishments, but there will be a few Green Jackets and Commisioners Trophies along the way. Please forgive me for that too.

Ken Hogan
Lean Guy at Genoa

Project Plan - Project Charter - Project Scope - Communications Plan

I'm going to steal some other ideas from Ken, "The Lean Guy", and comment on them.
Ken has been working here at Genoa for approximately six or eight weeks now, and the focus for the last six of those weeks has been on an analysis of our historical data, in order to try to draw a relationship between our efforts and the particulars of the vessels we complete. The first couple of weeks were spent on some high level planning, determining that we would develop a five year program, and then communicating this intention to the everyone here at Genoa. I believe everyone was pleased that we were starting over in our Lean journey, and intending to change to approach as a more gradual and planned and step by step process, rather that the Tasmanian Devil Kaizen "All Hell Breaks Loose" approach, which tended to lack a plan for sustainment.
Ken mentioned yesterday evening that if he were staff here at Genoa, he would perceive Ken's efforts as hiding in a hole and doing detailed analysis and research, with no results or action to show to date. In order words, from staff perspective here at Genoa..."Here we go again".
This is a wakeup call.
I believe its time for some communication.
I believe its time for some action.
Ken has made progress with his analysis and determination of relationships between parts and volume and vessel type and hours and labour and takt time. I have made progress with a plan, and have a better idea how I would like to see the first two years of our 5 Year Lean program, and specifically the first year (being Genoa Seiri) will map out and what progress we can expect.
We have also finished some Kick-Off type project meetings, and the emphasis was on communications. Lessons Learned centred around poor communications plans.
I also recently attended the Annual International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) awards banquet in St. John's and listened to numerous communicators speak. Also listened to the "Communicator of the Year" speak...and guess what they talked about?
We have not communicatoed our intent to the staff lately. We have not communicated our most recent plan. In fact, we do not have a communications plan for our Lean Project?
I had to ask myself again why I have not handled this project like every other technical project that enters our shop?
Where was the Kick-Off?
Where is the scope document?
The Charter?
The Comm Plan?
In Scope? Out of Scope?
Project Goal? Can I define it clearly?
Time to regroup quickly and pull this all together before we launch into this project too fast, too far and too half-hazardly.
A meeting with Ken yesterday reinforced the need for all this.
Lets bring the goals forward into a visual format where everyone can see whats next, whats coming next year, and what the final expectation is. Lets draw up the charter, the scope document, the communications plan. Lets handle this project like every other that we start.
Refer to PIMBOK.
Refer to IABC for a perspective on communications.
Plan to follow....

Data Analysis - When enough data is enough?

An old boss of mine once referred to the pace of a project as "glacial speed". Sometimes I feel that's how were moving with this data collection process.

When is enough data enough? Well this is something I've always struggled with on improvement projects. The perfectionist in me says get every bit of data you can and keep getting it until you feel you have the answers to all the questions. One project I worked on, we analyzed a full year of machine throughput numbers and the distribution of each piece across a couple of thousand possible outputs. Millions of points of data (thank God for excel and import files). The lazy side of me says "it's good enough, move on". I have to recheck my patience when that happens.

The answer to the question of how much data is enough is really a method or approach. First, you need a data collection plan before you start. You have to answer a few simple questions starting with how your data will be displayed when you get it all. This basic question really helps you focus before completing the rest of the plan. In our case we decided to display the data we discussed previously in dot plots showing variation from the mean. That way we could explain away data outliers and come to a reasonable conclusion of what the rate of production capability really is.

Other questions to ask is what data is available and in what format. Old data may not be in the same format as is newer data. This was the case with our data collection, having several different collection formats that we needed to adjust for. You will aslo need to know where to get the data and if you plan to have others collect data you must be very clear in your requirements and maybe even run some test collection to ensure everyone is clear. You also need to address conditions that introduce variability in data such as proficiency of operators or process performance at the time. For example, in our case, some of the data we're using was collected before Kyran and others created lisp routines cutting out many key strokes.

The answer to the question then is.....develop a complete data collection plan and execute it. You will be sure to get the data you need in the right amounts. Don't skip steps and be patient in getting the right data you set out to get. It is the foundation for creating the future state map. Try creating the future state with bad data and see what you'll get.

Search some six sigma and lean sites to find more information on data collection planning and how to lay out a plan.

Lean Guy at Genoa

Takt Time vs. Production Capability

The concept of takt time is important to understand. People use the word incorrectly all the time. Not particularly here at Genoa because it's hard to relate to takt in a project management environment so there hasn't been much talk of it, but it's used to describe everything from rate of production to cycle time to lead time. Takt will be used at Genoa eventually but first we need to determine production capability.

First it's important to realize that takt time is a measure of pace based on customer demand. In other words, at which rate is it necessary to produce in order to deliver on time to the customer.

Takt Time = Available working time / customer demand.

What we are currently seeking is the actual rate, or production capability, at which Genoa can produce. Using historical data we will know that we can model, assemble, nest and stiffen midbody's in a barge at a rate of 3.5 parts per hour (if that's the rate it turns out to be when the data is analyzed and verified). This is not sufficient if the customer needs Genoa to do this work at a faster rate.

When we first understand the production capability a customer will tell us what they want ie: A 160 ft boat that is 140 thousand cubic feet in volume has 8,600 parts. We can do this boat in 1700 hours all work included. That's roughly 5 parts per hour worked for everything. Now, if the client tells us they want all deliverables complete in 100 days we know we need to produce at a rate of 86 parts per day. We work 10 hour days so we we need two people, the second one only needs to produce at 36 parts per day in order to maintain pace and deliver on time. We can asign this second person to other work.

How can we do this and maintain visual indicators of pace? We already use MS Project to lay out the project tasks. We can calculate production rates by ship type, unit type, and volume. We can use these production rates to populate the project data in MS Project based on customer demand and the visual indicator of pace is simply whether or not we are on time using the project network diagram in MS Project. If everything is running as scheduled we are on pace if we are behind we know immediately and have to react to get back on track.

I was going to attach a file with data but I couldn't seem to attach it here.


Ken Hogan
Lean Guy at Genoa

Consortium Value and Presentations

I recently missed another consortium meeting, and am kicking myself for wasting company money and being a stereotypical non-committing male.

In our Newfoundland Consortium - Fluent- there are approximately 10 companies that meet on a monthly basis and share everything Lean.

Typically we spend time on presenting a status report of each company, from a Lean perspective, and spend time on a trouble-shooting exercise at the location of the meeting. This can involve a process evaluation, a 5S problem, a Takt time problem, or simply applying outside eyes to a new implementation to pick apart potential problems. This trouble shooting exercise may also be replaced with an informative tour.

Recently, our Consortium has welcomed a new member; a mining company.

By not attending, I have lost focus on Lean, I have not shared some of our minor successes so far, and I have not received any "outside eyes" on our strategy. I also had no idea we had an exciting new member!

The Consortium, any Consortium, possesses great potential for value and insight, networking, varied and extensive expertise, and by missing the meetings, I have thrown away any value that could have been gotten from the past two meetings.

Shame on me.

Note to self...make the committment, make attendance mandatory for myself and ideally another person from Genoa, and apply 110% like I should.

This reminds me of one of the biggest difficulties with Lean application - Sustain.

If there is any Lesson I should have learned by now, it is this. Committ. Sustain.

There...my confession is public.

Next time you see me, slap me. At the same time slap yourself. Remember that any efforts, gains and successes in Lean can be lost in a heartbeat if there is no committment to sustain.

Just like this blog. If I do not committ, and do not sustain, what will happen?

Need I say more?

Leonard

Lean Guy at Genoa back from vacation

Since my April 19th post I've only spent a day or so at Genoa, poring over heaps of data and starting to actually do some analysis and put together tables grouping information. That was before a 10 day vacation trip to Alberta far from the environment of sea and ships.
Going back a few weeks, we met with all employees and gave a brief outline of where we wanted to go and what they could expect. At the time, Leonard asked everyone to suggest a name for our lean undertaking and was flooded with responses and suggestions, everything from........sorry, no suggestions..no surprise though, what do you name something you can't really visualize.
Leave it to creative Leonard though, he put some serious thought into the matter and revisited one of the lean foundations, that in my opinion, encompasses all lean principles and objectives, which is 5S. No detail on 5S here, google it. But seriously, you can link every lean tool and basic principle to one of the 5 "esses".
Being even more creative and adding some intrigue we have decided to use the Japanese "esses" and have so chosen our project name to be Genoa Seiri (pronounced say-ree). Seiri's english equivalent is Tidiness or Proper arrangement. The others S's are: Seiton (Orderly), Seiso (Clean), Seiketsu (Standardize), and Shitsuke (Self-Discipline).
Choosing Seiri represents something even more significant though. Genoa Seiri is year one of Genoa's long term commitment to lean with each of the 5 S's representing another year and level of commitment in the pursuit of lean.
Next post we'll share some results of our data analysis.

Ken Hogan
Lean Guy at Genoa

The Lean Guy's First Post

This is the first blog posting for us at Genoa Design so let's start with a very brief history of our lean journey. We've been working towards creating a lean operation for a number of years now and have many successes to boast of for our efforts. We have created value for our customer by removing waste from our processes. We've been committed to getting there (pursuit of perfection) and have recently been able to begin some analysis that we've been wanting to do for a long time.

At Genoa, we believe ..scratch that...we know that there are relationships between type of ship, type of unit (bow, stern, midbody, superstructure etc.), number of parts, weight, volume of unit, and hours required to model, assemble, etc..

Knowing that these relationships exist, we've been able to collect data from previous and ongoing projects that will help us analyze how they are related. We have 16 projects under analysis with others to add, and we're capturing information on volume, no. of parts, projects hours, type of unit etc. Thousands and thousands of points of data to analyze.

What to do with all of this data? Let's get back to lean...the first question in developing a lean future state in a production environment is ..What is the takt time? ...ie: the relationship between customer demand and available working time. This information will help us get toward establishing customer demand in our environment...no small feat I assure you because in our world, you can't see widgets go down the production line, but we still want to be able to establish a sense of "flow of product" and visual indicators of pace of production.

What we will know for example, is that to model a part in a midbody on a barge it will take (on average) a certain amount of time...as it will also take a certain amount of time to do other types of units for other types of ships. This will bring us ever closer to the establishing the elusive takt time for our operation.

What else will this give us? Among other known and yet to be determined benefits this data will give us;

• the ability to accelerate the bidding process by using models to estimate cost
  improvements in project management
• a basis to create a visual tracking system for projects based on takt time
  and a base to build upon and add to as we move ahead.

This is not rocket science ( or as Don Cherry says "rocket surgery" ) but it's tedious and necessary to achieve our end. Later we'll share the results of our analysis.

Ken Hogan
Lean guy at Genoa

The First Post - The Background

Welcome to the new blog.

This is a blog about Lean and Genoa Design International Ltd.

I plan to post my thoughts, insights, failures, successes, frustrations and celebrations surrounding the implementation of Lean in our company.

I will not bore you with a definition of Lean. Go look it up. www.google.com

I will not bore you with what Genoa Design does. Go look it up. www.genoadesign.com

I will, however, bore you with a brief history of Genoa and Lean as the intro to this whole blogging exercise.

I believe that Genoa Design is one of the first companies in Canada, and possibly the United States, that is trying to implement Lean in a marine and shipbuilding engineering service environment. Dave Hogg has mentioned to us that we are generally the first ones to try to tackle engineering activites.....we'll see.

We started this whole Lean stuff in 2002 with a simple introduction to Lean. This was through one, then another, then another, workshop and conference and industry conference. I believe one of the first was the Ship Production Symposium held in Ann Arbor, Michigan. CME also provided a number of workshops here in Newfoundland that introduced me to Lean. Basically, I was the only person from Genoa Design to attend and learn at this point. This was mostly a financial restriction.

In 2003, I attended a Technology visit program in Toronto, where a number of individuals representing different companies and industries in Newfoundland, visited a series of companies in the greater Toronto area, all of who were members of the HPM Consortium. I also attended various other workshops, which were mostly sponsored by the local CME branch, and attended the "Measure Up For Success" conference in Toronto...a major annual Lean conference held in Canada.

Within Genoa Design, we formed a Continuous Improvement Team, and loaded all staff on "Lean 101". We joined CME (Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters) and helped to form a brand new Lean Consortium in Newfoundland and Labrador. The Fluent Consortium.

Since then, we have been through numerous Kaizens and internal continuous improvement intiatives. We have tried to sustain our lean improvements, and have failed. However, we keep trying.

I think we have the right formula to start again and properly sustain this time.

We have not abandoned our improvements to date. We have not started over completely. But we have made one major change, and that change is....we have hired a Lean Consultant. Ken Hogan used to be a part of our Consortium as an employee of Canada Post until his position was terminated. (A not-so-nice and short-sighted effect of Lean implemented by companies that don't quite have the concepts of Lean straight). We met with Ken shortly after his departure from Canada Post, and now Ken has decided to operate as a consultant. He spends two days per week in our shop.

Ken has been working on analyzing gobs of data we have been collecting for years, concerning all the hours we spend toward the various tasks required to complete our projects. So far it has managed to cross his eyes and keep him awake at night, however he is getting close to understanding what might constitute a TAKT Time. Ken believes that TAKT time is the secret to our success. But TAKT time has eluded us through the years.

Good place for the cliff-hanger....stay tuned for the next entry.

I think that about does it for the first entry.

I am also going to have Ken post entries.

Together, we may be able to provide some insight into our efforts and how confused we manage to get when trying to Lean out our complicated little process...

Good night all,

Leonard