The Numbers Game

For our first action, we are going to implement 5S in this area. The first step of this is “Sort” and so we have removed from the area everything that is not needed. Same rule apply. Strike out numbers 1 to 49 in sequence during a 20 second shift.

48 45 30 33 3 27 21 24 18 9 6 36 12 15 42 39 2 29 5 41 20 23 32 35 44 8 47 26 11 17 38 14 31 49 34 28 7 40 16 10 22 1 4 43 25 37 13 19 46

Having achieved some improvement, we now need to move onto the next step ”Set In Order”. We have installed some racking, and we have organized the items so that with Number 3 in the top right hand corner, the numbers are located from left to right and top to bottom - examples 1 in the top left, 2 in the top middle, and 3 in the top right. Same rules apply 20 second shift, lowest individual score equals team score etc…

48 45 30 33 3 27 21 24 18 9 6 36 12 15 42 39 2 29 5 41 20 23 32 35 44 8 47 26 11 17 38 14 31 49 34 28 7 40 16 10 22 1 4 43 25 37 13 19 46

We’re going to ignore “Shine” for this exercise. Let’s assume for this task that we were not disciplined enough to maintain our behaviors and that we lost the gains we had made. We will be returning to our original work area and for this assignment we have a quality problem, two numbers are missing. We cannot complete our process without these numbers - so first we have to find them. Start a clock running and every 20 seconds, tell them how many “shifts” they have been “down” looking for the appropriate numbers.

48 87 45 30 33 72 3 27 69 51 21 24 75 57 9 6 78 54 36 60 63 12 15 81 39 66 84 90 2 53 68 80 74 77 86 62 29 65 5 41 20 23 56 32 35 44 89 8 83 50 47 26 11 17 38 14 59 71 31 64 49 61 34 28 54 7 40 16 52 58 76 10 22 88 73 1 85 82 4 43 25 37 13 19 67 79 46 70

Now let’s go back and assume we have the discipline to implement “Standardize”. Since we are dealing with numbers 1 to 49 in sequence, it seems logical to re-organize them in a standard way that makes the completion of the work task as easy as possible. This should ensure that everyone is able to complete the task (and therefore produce a team score of 49.)

Numbers from 1 to 49 2 4 7 10 3 5 6 8 1 9 16 20 11 15 17 18 19 12 13 14 21 22 24 25 26 27 28 23 30 29 32 31 33 36 37 34 39 35 38 40 41 43 44 47 45 49 42 48 46

Now how much easier is it to find the quality problems?

Numbers from 1 to 49 2 4 7 10 3 5 6 8 1 9 16 20 11 15 17 18 19 12 14 21 22 24 25 26 27 28 23 30 29 32 31 33 36 34 39 35 38 40 41 44 47 43 45 48 49 42 46