Question: DW Windsor is a service-led manufacturer
DW Windsor is a service-led manufacturer of exterior lighting that delivers road and street lighting products and design services to clients globally from their world-class production facility. The business was established in the late 1970’s and has continued to flourish through innovation and investing in its people. Within the assembly department of DW Windsor there are two very different sections and processes, reflecting the characteristics of the products they are manufacturing. The low- volume, high-variety agile area assembles bespoke lighting items tailored to specific client needs. The highervolume, lower-variety lean section manufactures products which are more standardised in terms of components, assembly processes and material flows. Operating within and providing leadership of these two distinct areas is an everyday challenge for DW Windsor assembly management.
Lean and agile assembly areas
The high-volume, low-variety lean area requires employees to conduct repetitive tasks for the duration of their shift while working at a constant tempo and maintaining consistent attention to detail. The ability to produce high quality at a constant rate is critical for the productivity and delivery performance of the area. Any deviation from the standard processes could result in re-work or a customer receiving a product that does not meet the required quality standard. Failure of the assembly line to work at the constant tempo will not only result in an unbalanced line, it could potentially cause larger-scale problems with regard to logistics. Customer delivery failures and interruptions to material flows from suppliers delivering through JIT will occur if the assembly line does not adhere to its planned schedule.
The low-volume, high-variety agile assembly area operates with standard operating procedures (SOPs) similar to the lean area as both are required to manufacture highquality and tested lighting products. However, the processes used to assemble MTO bespoke items are extremely varied requiring highly skilled individuals which can work independently while remaining aware of assembly times and customer deadlines.
Operating in the agile area requires employees to have multiple skills, a methodical manner and the ability to adapt to sudden changes in what is required of them. Lean and agile manufacturing approaches each require a significantly different skill and personality profile in employees. Chris Gucci, production manager, encapsulates the differences as follows:
The skill set is not so much about training and more about the personality of the individual. An individual who had previously worked in an agile manufacturing system would potentially struggle to adapt to the lean working conditions due to the repetitive nature of the tasks. In contrast, an individual who enjoys the lean approach to working may find the agile area challenging due to the apparent ‘unstructured’ way people have to self-organize their assembly tasks.
The skill requirements of the team members operating in the two areas is shown in Table 7.7.
Table 7.7
Lean vs agile skills matrix
Lean and agile leaders
Each of the two assembly areas in DW Windsor has different team leaders to oversee and support the operators and processes in delivering quality products and service. The team leaders of lean and agile assembly areas have similarities as well as differences in their skills sets that reflect the characteristics of the product and process they manage. All leaders are required to be self-motivated and organised, and have the ability to assess and transfer knowledge and lead change. They are also expected to have a knowledge of lean principles to aid them in driving improvements through identifying what is value added and what is waste. Having the ability to identify problems and resolve them before they occur is another very important aspect of their roles. If a problem can be identified and resolved before reaching the respective lines this will eliminate or reduce any downtime that might have otherwise occurred.
Within the lean environment the team leader is expected to have a knowledge of every aspect of the assembly process and be able to communicate and demonstrate this to his or her team members in a way that allows the operator to then carry out the task to the desired quality level and within the allotted time. Agile team leaders must also have the ability to flexibly move resources within their area to meet changes in demand or process complexity while maintaining performance. In order to achieve this, they must have a knowledge of all aspects of the process and be able to match team members’ skills to the tasks required or to source skills from outside their teams to enable them to deliver an on-time customizable solution.
Questions
1. Why might someone operating in the agile assembly area of DW Windsor struggle to work in the lean area and how could these issues be addressed by the team leaders?
2. Combining lean and agile operations within DW Windsor has been successful. What type of relationship would you expect the supply base that supports both areas to have with each of them?
3. What inventory management approaches would you suggest for the two areas?
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