Delta Team
Analysts: Darian Tucker, John Costa, Morgan Lemis, Rajshree Singh, William Périco Neto
Process Owner: Toyota Motors
TOYOTA
Start Date: 06/17/2013
Approval Date: 07/01/2013
Countermeasure
Purpose of Analysis: to develop a plan of action capable of identifying and fixing waste and inefficiencies involving the rear seat manufacturing and assembling in order to save costs and increase profits. Current Conditions: Plant location: Georgetown, Kentucky. TPS: applied for everything but seat installation, because: 1) Assembly knew problem; 2) Seat not required for final assembly; 3) Stopping line is too expensive. Problem Identification (on line): Pull Andon Cord, Team Leader Assesses, car moves through line as is, is taken off-line to Clinic 1, if not fixed here then taken to overflow parking. Annual capacity: 200,000 Expected capacity: 240,000 (due to 20% sales increase) Reasons for high plant utilization: 1) supplies both sedan and station wagon to US and Europe market; 2) Running overtime to compensate utilization rate below projected target; 3) Defective or missing seats correction. 1992 Product Variation Sole seat supplier: Kentucky Framed Seat (KFS) - selected because of proximity, capacity and ease to work with. Run Ratio: 85% (down from 95%), resulting in 45 less cars per shift (90 cars per day). Demands 90 min. of overtime. Sedans and Wagons Models 23 Seat Problems: refer to Core Seat Defects chart on Root Cause Analysis. Hook Problem: Increased breakage during installation (11% of total defects) at US plant. Exterior Colors 11 Potential Hook Improvement: Investment of $50,000 by KFS; Japan does not have this issue. Paint Process: Cars requiring re-painting do not inform KFS about change in cars order. Interior Variations 29 New seat arrival: From KFS within shift or by next shift. Other Options 29 Overflow parking: Currently 18 cars; current max stay 4 days.
Countermeasures & Benefits Benefit
Improve Seat Reordering Form
Application of Jishuken. Proper documentation allows TMM to identify the source of seat defects.
Add seat installation point at the end of the line solely for replacement seats
Allows problem solving while cars are still in the line. Eliminates need to drive cars to overflow parking lot while waiting for replacement seat.
Scan Kanban only after final coat of paint
Application of Pokayoke. Ensures proper communication between TMM and KFS. Reinforce JIT. Ensures that vehicle and its are synchronized.
Set an engineer specifically to identify seat problem
Allows for proper identification of the source of seat problems while cars are still on-line. Ensures proper and timely communication with both KFS and internal management.
Standardize Work for seat installation according to japanese method
Reduces Takt-time; clarifies Working Sequence; and improves Standard In-Process Stock. Increases efficiency. Decreases human error (hook breakage) during installation. Reduces cost and waste.
Stop installing defective seats
Eliminate time to remove defective seat. Apply the principle of Jidoka. Reduces both processing Muda.
Make engineering department responsible for acknowledging, investigating and responding to improvement request forms at the source
Ensures accountability and efficiency in resolving engineering change requests.
Effect Confirmation:
TNM Seat Order Form Name:
Goal Statement: Reduce waste and inefficiencies in order to increase Run Ratio.
Time:
Date:
Improved Final Assembly Area
Shift:
Seq#:
Body#:
Kanban:
Part:
Component Description: Ordered By: Date Received:
Repaired By:
Target Conditions: To increase Productivity and Run Ratio to 95%, by fully implementing the TPS.
Andom Cord Seat not installed Pulled. Seat not Engineer installed. Engineer investigates problem investigates source problem source
Defect Assembly:
KFS:
Material Flaw: _________________
Other:
Missing Part : ______________________
YES
Final Assembly Area
Root Cause Analysis:
Hourly overtime costs Employees Total Team members
Seat Variation Model \ Year
1991
1992
Camry
12
15
Wagon
0
36
Total
12
51
Hourly Wage
Wage Cost
4,000.00
Team leaders
3,200.00
$25.50
$81,600.00
800.00
$27.54
$22,032.00
Total Cost
Daily Cost
$103,632
Annual Cost
$37,618,416
Daily Cost
KFS
2. Why?
TMM
Too many defective seats
12
Wrong Part
3. Why?
14
Seat Bolster Broke
KFS sending wrong or defective seats
4. Why?
31
Missing Part
TMM has inefficiencies in their communication system
44
Material Flaw 0
5 Why Analysis:
Too many cars in overflow parking lot
10
Seat Backrest Broke
10
20
30
40
5. Why? 50
Poor Quality:
Description: _____________________________________
Missing Part:
Description: _____________________________________
TMM Abandoned TPS by opening exception to seats problem
Core Problem Statement: By abandoning TPS in the installation of car seats, TMM has incurred inefficiencies and overtime costs that threaten the entire production system. Development of CPS: Current seat problems can be solved with low investments and simple adjustments. In total, five recommendations will be combined in order to better identify the source of the problem and adjust the production process by fully implementing the TPS. As a result, higher productivity and efficiency lead to the elimination of waste, therefore lowering cost for TMM.
Seat Problem? NO
Seat Installation Point for cars without seat due to defective/wrong part
Car follows in-line
Engineer stays at station
Why Investing $50,000 to fix Hook Problem is not necessary
Improvement Request Form Procedure Action
Maximum Time
Acknowledge receipt of form
24 hours
Investigate problem source
48 hours
Recommendations
Variable
Follow-up after implementation
1 week
$56,427,624.00
1. Why? 6
No op
Description: ______________________________________
Comments:
$155,448.00
Annual Cost
4
Broken Part:
$103,632.00
Assuming 90 Minutes Overtime
Headrest Built Wrong
Description: ______________________________________
Who was notified? :
Annual Overtime Costs (1 hr per day, 363 Days a year)
Core Seat Defects
Wrong Part:
Although changing the hook material from plastic to metal potentially solves the problem of broken hooks, this investment represents a poor economic decision. The reason for that is because 1) Toyota’s Japanese plant also uses plastic hooks and faces no breakage problems; 2) TMM’s hook breakage frequency has decreased over time; and 3) Hook problems represent only 11% of all seat defects. This indicates that the problem is most probably caused by human error during seat installation at TMM. These breakages due to human error indicate a lack of training and/ or standardized work sequence at TMM. This can be easily solved through appropriate training and standardization programs for employees, which reduces motion Muda.
Implementation Scheme: Since no significant investment is required by the recommendations, all of them should be implemented immediately: 1) Since the improved Seat Reordering Form is already completed, it should be implemented immediately; 2) Since the location for the seat installation point at the end of the line has been determined, it should also be immediately implemented; 3) The Yes/No scan at the painting stage should be developed and installed instantly in order to improve and speed up communication between TMM and KFS; 4) Assign two underutilized engineers (1 per shift) to study and identify seat problems while cars are in-line; they should also be responsible for reordering defective seats from KFS and ensuring their arrival while cars are still on-line; 5) Ask Japan for a report on the standardized work-process used at TMC to implement at TMM/Bring engineer and team leaders from Japan to train TMM staff; 6) Stop installing defective seats immediately in order to avoid excess work due to removing seats later Evaluation and Debrief State: Meet again in 2 months to evaluate each of the recommendations, and how they contributed to solving the Core Problem Statement. Conclusions: The combined recommendations allow TMM to 1)precisely identify the source of seat problems, 2) eliminate waste and inefficiencies in the seat assembling station, 3) solve seat problems before cars come off-line, eliminating the need for moving cars to the overflow parking lot, and 4) increase Run Ration back to 95%. In short, these seven measures not only allow for proper identification of the seat problem, but also allow TMM to eliminate its exception and fully implement the TPS.