Often referred to as the 5S method of organising the workplace, the fundamental drive with Key 1 is to clean up the workplace and to organise, or dispose of parts, materials and tools and any other clutter which may exist. The basic, well proven premise is that a tidy and organised workplace engenders pride in workmanship and provides for an efficient quality focused operation.

Key 2 - Rationalising the System/Management of Objectives

The basic, well proven, premise of Key 2 and a core principle of Total Quality Management ( TQM ) is that the business needs a clear plan and direction and that this must be broken down into departmental and organisational objectives and KPI’s to ensure alignment of all business activities. Staff, regardless of their position and responsibilities within the business, need to understand how they contribute to the overall strategy and how they will be measured against their respective objectives and KPI’s which are all aligned toward the Business Strategy and Business Plan.

Key 3 - Small Group Activities or Kaizen Groups

The single largest issue in managing change in a business and one voiced time and time again by employers is the acceptance of change by the staff. What better way to get them to accept change and take ownership, than to let them manage it, although carefully ensuring change meets business objectives.

Key 3 is all about applying the full expertise and strength of a combined workforce driving your continuous improvement project/s. As you will realise, the staff best qualified and who know your business best with a practical understanding of the repercussions of change, are those that work in the business and this literally means at all levels and in all areas.

Key 4 - Reducing Inventory (Work in Progress)

Lean Manufacturing or Lean Services introduce the concept of reducing ‘waste’ and reducing or eliminating it from your business, identifying seven types of 'waste:'

• Overproduction (manufacturing) or Wasted Effort (Services)

• Waiting

• Transport

• Extra Processing

• Inventory (Raw Materials, WIP and Finished Goods)

• Motion

• Defects

Modern practitioners have added additional waste categories including, for instance, under utilisation of staff and applying the full weight of their skills and experiences in the business (Key 3).

Waste is defined as any non value add activities or processes that the customer would not be happy to pay for, so in the case of Key 4, the customer would not expect to pay for your business to waste business space storing unnecessary levels of WIP inventory or to pay for the cost of carrying such inventory.

Key 4 is focused on reduction of WIP stock i.e. all stock between the stage where raw materials and sub assemblies are delivered to the business from external sources and completion of finished goods/stock.

In the case of service related businesses, Key 4 will relate to similarly reducing work in progress, concentrating on one job at a time, ensuring internal communications are suitable and completing one job before moving on to the next task. The concept is of course to handle one piece of paper or task only once.

Key 5 - Quick Changeover ( SMED )

Modern manufacturing has to be flexible and able to produce many product variants or models using the same equipment or production line/s. Even large businesses are now faced with smaller customers batches and orders. The dilemma is of course that changes in production incur real costs in money and time.

Lean Manufacturing calls for production to match the rate of customer pull and therefore eliminating waste. To achieve this and regardless of industry, whether producing injection moulded parts, sheetmetal body pressings for automotive use or product assembly on multi stage assembly lines, industry is faced with investing in quick changeover or Single Minute Exchange of Die ( SMED ) as identified within 'Lean' and there are many examples in industry now where this has become an art in itself. Of course there will always be a balance between batch sizes and inventory reduction and there are tools available to help in making these calculations and decisions.

Key 6 - Value Analysis

Value Analysis, also known as Value Stream Mapping, is another ‘Lean’ principle that in essence looks at each step or motion required within the business to bring a product or service to the customer. The process can be applied equally effectively in any business, whether it is logistics, IT, healthcare, manufacturing or service industries. The objective is again to eliminate any waste (non value add processes or steps) within that process and to reduce delivery lead times to the customer.

Key 7 - Zero Monitoring

Key 7 aims to reduce and eliminate the need for human intervention (waste) in operations conducted by machinery and equipment. The concept is that if plant or machinery, or any form of process must be monitored to ensure product quality within specification, to ensure it does not run out of raw materials, or to program in adjustments part way through the cycle, then this is waste and the need for such monitoring must be eliminated. The equipment and machinery should be maintained on a planned basis (Key 9) to prevent breakdown and operation outside limits and tooling and equipment developed to support no monitoring.

In the case of service related businesses, this key will focus on staff resources and eliminating the need to check and monitor staff in their work, the aim being to ensure staff are adequatelty trained, skilled and experienced in whatever tasks they are expected to perform. (Key 15)

Key 8 - Coupled Processing

Key 8 introduces the concept of coupling points between manufacturing processes, regardless if they are physically linked or not. The linkage between the processes introduced here is through communication and function but there may be a physical linkage also.

The concept is essentially that the Coupling point is the supply point to which the customer from the next step in the process comes to collect his parts and materials. Coupling points are filled by the supplier or process before that point and the arrangement ensures that the supplier only supplies parts and materials at the rate they are drawn or pulled by the customer (internal or external to the business), eliminating excess inventory stock piles between processes.

In the case of service related businesses, this key will focus on information flow in the business and managing the supply of data on a Just in Time ( JIT ) basis.

Key 9 - Maintaining Machines & Equipment

The concept of Planned Maintenance or to take it a stage further, Total Productive Maintenance ( TPM ), are well documented and proven practices, that without doubt pay dividends. Where businesses are run without care for equipment and machinery, inevitably the business will suffer from a breakdown and loss of productivity or equipment running out of specification and quality suffering as a result, or perhaps more importantly from health and safety related issues. Invariably breakdowns occur when least wanted, in the middle of an urgent order, or when staff or parts are not available to fix the issue, so managing maintenance on a preventative basis, at timing to suit the business is far more cost effective.

Key 9 seeks to establish a regime where planned maintenance is the norm and staff running the equipment take ownership and pride in their equipment.

Key 10 - Work Flow Time Policies

As you develop and grow your business productivity and efficiency, many policies and procedures will no doubt be formed including Human Resource policies. With modern employment laws and the like, it is a pre requisite that your staff have employment contracts and that these define basic parameters such as work hours. Contracts or policies will or should also define times allowed for things such as breaks, wash up times at shift ends etc.

The thrust of 20 Keys and Lean is of course to maximise use of resources and to ensure these are applied at the work cell or workplace to full effect and this must include your most important resource, your staff. While this key can, without doubt, be difficult to implement and can be highly emotive, it is one that in order to truly instill a culture of world class lean operations must be broached.

In essence Key 10 calls for staff to work efficiently and diligently for the number of hours they are paid for, at their workplace.

You will know best how and when to tackle this Key within your business and how best to approach it but we recommend a fully inclusive and consultative approach with Human Resources, Trade Unions, Staff representative etc and of course to manage this through an SGA (Key 3).

Key 11 – Quality Assurance

Perhaps two of the most respected modern concepts in quality circles have been, Total Quality Management (TQM) a philosophy based on Dr. Deming’s 14 Points or Principles of Management and Six Sigma, a management strategy devised by Motorola to eliminate defect causes and minimise variability in manufacturing and business processes. The Twenty Keys, seek to implement the fundamentals of both of these principles along with those from 'Lean' and to use some of the tools offered, each of the keys contributing in some way to the overall business quality goal. Specifically Key 11 provides a measurement tool for continuous quality improvement in your business.

Key 12 - Developing your Suppliers

Key 12 recognises and encourages you to treat suppliers as an extension of your own business. You may have made a deliberate decision to outsource work based on make/buy analysis, you may not have the skills and experience internally, you may not have the capacity, the products or services being purchased may simply be unique and unavailable elsewhere; whatever the reasons your suppliers performance will directly impact your own business performance. It is important then, that in the same way you are applying continuous improvement within your own business that your suppliers also do and Key 12 sets a path for this to take place with a win/win approach for both parties.

Key 13 – Eliminating Waste

Key 4, which dealt with reducing inventory waste in WIP, introduced the 'Lean' concept of reducing ‘waste’ and reducing or eliminating it from your business, identifying seven types of 'waste:'

Overproduction (in service industries wasted effort)

Waiting

Transport

Extra Processing

Inventory (Raw Materials, WIP (Key 4) and Finished Goods)

Motion

Defects

Waste is defined as any non value add activities or processes that the customer would not be happy to pay for and Key 13 focuses on eliminating the remaining wastes from your business and introduces the concept of a Treasure Map to assist in this task.

Key 14 – Empowering Staff

In line with the overall 20 Keys concept, Key 14 seeks to empower staff and for management to support them through SGA’s or Kaizen Groups (Key 3) to drive and own productivity, quality and cost reduction improvement processes in their workplace. Further Key 14 seeks to upskill (Key 15) staff in available modern tools, technologies (Key 20) and resources available, so they may make more complex improvement proposals and manage these also within company systems.

Key 15 – Skill Versatility & Training

Key 15 recognises that all areas in modern business need to be flexible in order to meet varying customer demands with smaller batches, more setups and shorter lead times and therefore its staff must be multi skilled and any reliance by the business on individual staff members eliminated. Staff are to be encouraged to train and upskill so they can be rotated within the business as required and skill levels are monitored in all areas to ensure the business remains adequately resourced with succession planning in place as the business grows and there is staff turnover.

Key 16 – Planning

In modern business, there are many industry specific and proprietary software packages available, including those collectively known as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, to assist with planning and managing the flow of information and product through the complete business process, from customer forecast or order to final delivery of product or service. There are also a range of packages available, with their own methodologies, to manage projects and the planning of these. Some of these software packages are highly complex and in some cases they set the business model and flow process but they are not appropriate for all businesses. It is however very likely that whatever your business, the use of some software to manage your planning, will be desirable. We do recognise that systems such as ERP packages have a place in modern business but do bear in mind that they are primarily push systems and not necessarily 'Lean' systems, although many ERP systems now cater for some degree of interface with 'Lean' systems.

Effective planning requires a high degree of constant communication within both your own business and that of suppliers and customers alike, to ensure that their systems and priorities match those of your business supply needs and delivery promises. In keeping with 'Lean' principles, plans need to be highly visible and accessible by ALL staff.

There is a common fallacy that by implementing software solutions, all your planning and business management woes will be taken care of, where Key 16 recognises that the achievement of excellence depends on a range of factors throughout the business and that a level 4 achievement in all keys will be necessary. We recommend you do not implement complex software solutions, without first addressing the more fundamental 'Lean' issues in your business.

Other valuable planning tools or associated tools available are covered in our Tools, Terms & Acronyms web page and include Every Part Every Interval ( EPEI ), Heijunka, Kanban, Sales/Operations & Financial Planning Sheet, Standard work and Value Stream Mapping.

Key 17 – Efficiency Reporting & Improvement

The 20 Keys system is designed to address overall business efficiency on a number of fronts but it also recognises that staff working in the process, at a detail level need to be able to see and measure the improvements that their own efforts make at a working level and Key 17 seeks to address this issue.

For staff working in the process, efficiency needs to be measured in a meaningful way, that they can actually influence. Usually the best way to achieve this is to measure throughput of jobs, or production of products within specific areas against time. Key 17 therefore can be applied individually to each department or work cell and if appropriate these can be rolled up or aggregated to create a higher level picture. Dependent on the internal systems and complexity of the business, it may be difficult to measure detail times and achievements for every product or job, in which case for practical purposes grouping products or jobs and applying average times may be best.

Discuss the issue through your SGA’s and agree on suitable criteria for product or process groups that staff feel comfortable with and also agree how you are going to derive standard times as your efficiency benchmark.

Key 18 – Information Technology

The application of Information Technology (IT) in modern business is without doubt an essential ingredient in managing an efficient and co-ordinated business but there are basic controls and procedures for access and use, which need to applied carefully, to ensure system and data protection.

Business needs to be actively researching its IT usage in all areas of the business and training its staff to ensure they make efficient use of IT.

The Internet is a valuable resource and should be used for collecting information pertinent to the business and its future development.

Key 18 seeks to encourage use of IT and to ensure it is appropriately managed and to encourage business to ensure information is not seen as ‘power’ and hidden away on computers. 'Lean' principles must be applied in business and information made as visual and available as possible to aid communication and focus on improvement.

Key 19 – Environmental

In today’s world the use of terms such as carbon credits or carbon neutral, organic, energy efficiency, climate control, recycling, sustainability, greenhouse gases and hybrid vehicles, to name but a few are common place and becoming socially embedded. This is driving a growing customer focus and demand for products and companies to be environmentally sensitive and socially responsible in how they run their businesses.

As well as the many standards and guidelines available, such as ISO 14000 which is gaining popularity, legislation is also starting to drive business and economies down this path and there are a growing number of companies using triple bottom line (TBL or 3BL) reporting, which expands their formal business accounts reporting with a third tier report on ecological and social performance.

Many businesses now recognise that this kind of focus not only provides new challenges for them in their business but also provides new opportunities and markets. Key 19 seeks to highlight the changing culture business faces and encourage acceptance of this, adapting business practices, products and services to suit.

Key 20 – Technology & Knowledge Base

Building a business knowledge and technology base can take a lot of time and expense and it is important, that having accumulated this, that your business maintains and protects it adequately and indeed builds upon it, to ensure its ongoing market competitiveness.

Some knowledge, designs, processes etc are worthy of protection through patents, design registrations and trademarks etc but it is not our intention to dwell on these here. We will concern ourselves more with technology and knowledge outside these bounds, which is accumulated over time in the normal course of conducting business. This experience, information and know how can be locked inside individual staff members heads and/or scattered throughout your business.

Key 20 seeks to ensure that knowledge and experience are accessible at all times within the business and it is not lost through staff attrition or misadventure of any kind. Some larger companies go so far as to build technology and knowledge databases or Intranets, where such information is searchable in free text form, reducing or eliminating repeated research, eliminating making the same mistakes again, ensuring customers are serviced correctly etc….Staff input to the database on a constant basis through various structured means including structured on line interview techniques etc. Of course such database approaches may be well beyond the bounds of smaller companies but the principles should not be i.e. encourage staff to share knowledge and information (Key 15), ensure computer files are saved in a structured manner (Key 18) and generally make sure documentation such as customer reports, quality reports, projects reports etc are all accessible and thorough.

Visit our other web site pages Twenty Keys Detail and 'Lean' for further information and pointers on how to apply the 20 Keys in your business, or contact Business Engineering.