What are Observational studies

Before making changes to any process, we need to collect data based on the ‘current state’ which is used in the VSM later. Observational studies are exactly like what it sounds, a reasonable period of time where the engineer watches or even performs the task within the process/stage to gain a better understanding of what’s involved. This allows them to take notes and eventually ask meaningful questions with the experience of knowing the process to gain deeper understanding from those that work that stage every day.

Remember observational studies are a fact gathering activity so don’t take in what people tell you what the process does, go see it for yourself and document everything! – this in my view is different to the traditional Gemba walks which from my point of view is more watching then actually getting involved, and for an engineer to make any meaningful change / understand the process and assess the actual gains then roll up your sleeves and jump in!

In the example image below you will see the information that we are obtaining from the observational studies link the data in the boxes under the processes, but also for lean we’re understanding the wastes involved.

How to go about performing observational studies

To collect data, I have employed these various methods in the past and even though they are in no particular order, I tend to go top to bottom in this list.

1. Gemba walks – Daily
2. Conduct an audit of existing SOP’s or WI’s
3. Spent time with the most experienced operator in the department to learn from them, doing their job and once you have enough from them, go choose the next process. Follow this pattern until you’ve experienced the entire production line, when improving later you can come back and focus on specific stages.
4. Rewrite the SOP’s or WI’s with the help of each operator who practises the stage every day, and get them to prove read the SOP before putting it into general use
5. Conduct Activity studies
6. Conduct Time studies
7. Create a Spaghetti diagram of the production line (WBS or Work breakdown structure are used later for SMED and Line balancing).
8. Create a Machine – part matrix
9. Conduct SIPOC
10. Create a Swim lane diagram
11. Interview operators
12. Understand the ratio between NVA and VA for each stage and whole process
13. Learn the route of all parts in the department and record it
14. Learn the information routes in the department – what types of information devices are used
15. Learn how operators move around when conducting process steps
16. Understand the tooling / jigs/ fixtures/ gauges/ measuring equipment used
17. Understand the IT systems employed and what their use it (what benefits do they have)
18. Understand each part within the department – size / weight/ family it belongs to/ locations stored at
19. Take photos of current setups
20. Understand Demand for family parts so we can do a 80/20 analysis
21. Understand the level of standardisation within the department, from produce / jigs/ training/ information and skills
22. Note down any current data capturing systems
23. If you haven’t already, then a layout of the factory/department and current benches / equipment and stock locations with dimensions
24. Inventory levels

Why all this?

All this information will help us create new layouts / kanbans / VSM / Line balances / TPM and use other tools, so the more data collected up front the better we will understand the level of interactions between people the process, the level of complexity and the amount of variation we have to deal with before flow can happen.

When we come to monitor the processes, we’ll be able to measure the mistakes that happen due to the complexity and variation.

Thoughts on observational studies

When conducting these studies it’s best to discuss with all operators what you are doing and what the benefits are to them, as unfortunately Lean can have a bad name within some companies where it has been tried before and failed or worst been tried and succeeded which lead to a headcount reduction. (Lean isn’t about reduction in headcount, it’s an educational tool and those people where time has been saved are redeployed as Lean operatives to help engineers improve other aspects of the business, until demand increases because of savings being past to customers, that they go back to the line).

It’s also important to note, that we are only concerned about learning the current process and are not there to study the individuals, because they have had to adapt their habits to accommodate the practises, we need to understand why and what we can do to fix this. Remember that people will self-optimise themselves and not the whole system, as Production engineers we look at the systems with a view on its constituents and optimise the whole.

Deming spoke about the 94/6 rule  94% of problems can be traced to the process, but only 6% to the person. But often it is the person who is measured, not the process. Start with the assumption that it is the process that is broken and most times you will be right. Almost everyone has experienced negative measurement – errors, cost overruns, lateness – and almost everyone has responded by negative emotions – blame, threats, defensiveness. Most of this can be avoided if you start with the process not the person – so the manager, not the subordinate, needs to correct the process.

This is the view I have to remind myself to take, but it’s true that the people have to ‘use’ the process we put in place and if it’s not sufficient, they will make it so to the best of their abilities.

Conclusion

This stage will need to be revisited multiple times during the change process and creating flow, mainly to assess the changes and see if they are working, however keeping the operators informed as the changes progress is the other reason to visit often apart from double checking the original data was accurate (since some situations will be few and far between to show themselves).

We should also be collecting data on the original seven wastes : TIM WOODS, so by the end of this collection we would have data to describe the production area in terms of current state and current wastes, this will need to be prioritised so that the quick win wastes are removed first. This means reviewing the Activity study and Times study to understand the current efficient vs the ideal.

It is an undergoing to take on this stage conducting observational studies and the time taken will depend on the number of process steps, but the work up front will pay off in later activities.

References

As always, I have added Amazon links to these references so you can investigate and get your own copy of their works for you to enjoy and develop yourself with, these links have no cost to you but I will gain a small commission, should you decide to purchase.

• The Lean Toolbox – Bicheno & Holweg
• The Lean six sigma pocket toolbox – George, Rowlands, Price & Maxey
• The Goal – Eliyahu M. Goldratt
• Lean six sigma 36 hour course – Shaffie and Shahbazi
• The Machine that changed the world – Womack, Jones and Roos
• The Essential Deming – Orsini

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