1. P.I.T. EVENTS PROCESS IMPROVEMENT TEAMby
Tom Umek
February 11-14, 2014 ACPA
Spring Short Course School

2. The object is to continually seek perfection and to remove waste.
Kaizen:   A Japanese term that has been adopted into English over the past few decades. It refers to a philosophy or practices focusing on continuous improvement in manufacturing activities, business activities in general, and even life in general.
The object is to continually seek perfection and to remove waste.

3. A cross-functional team is created for a three- to five-day period.
PIT Event: Copied in part after a kaizen event, it is a focused effort to “make a leap” with a major change rather than a gradual improvement over time.
A cross-functional team is created for a three- to five-day period.
Team members focus on improving a specific process in the areas of safety, efficiency, best practice and quality.

5. Defining a PIT Event
Identifying an area or process that is not performing to its potential or has a history of inconsistent best practice.
A group (4-8) of employees, not necessarily from the same plant or department , that are familiar with the process will spend 3-5 days on the event. They first study the process for a day or two and then make immediate adjustments to equipment, safety issues or efficiency deficiencies.

6. This plan is to be clear and decisive in order to stay focused.
There MUST be a Plan!
Management will define the scope and the objective of the PIT Event and choose the attendees.
This plan is to be clear and decisive in order to stay focused.
Complete buy in by all employees is paramount to the success of the event.

7. There are no BAD ideas and all observations should be considered.
Open and Honest
There are no BAD ideas and all observations should be considered.
One conversation at a time during meetings so every hears every comment.
Everyone in the group NEEDS to participate and make suggestions or verbalize observations.

8. We will start with some Handouts
How to Organize
the
PIT Event
We will start with some Handouts

10. OBJECTIVES vs
DELIVERABLES

11. OBJECTIVE….
An objective or a goal is about what you want to achieve. It is a performance improvement and it can be charted or graphed but you can’t get your hands on it!

12. It is
WHAT
and
How

13. To improve the quality of the 36” pipe
An Objective would be…..
To improve the quality of the 36” pipe
To increase the number turns per day
To decrease the number of rejects
If you can put it on a chart it is probably an objective

14. A Deliverable would be….. Repair the 36” pipe form and clean it
Eliminate wasted time by having tools available to the operators
Review and improve the fill times
Fix the cages and headers for better quality

17. Before

18. After
Outside of new trailer
Inside of new trailer

21. Header Cleaner Brush Installed Pipe Before Pipe After21 21 21

22. AN EXAMPLE PROJECT Divide into groups by rows and turn chairs
Look at the sheet that is being handed out
Discuss the plan of attack and the specific problem you want to resolve.
What are the solutions you came up with?
Were there safety issues that needed correction?

23. The Wrap Up and Report out
What were the goals and were they met?
What were the deliverables?
Did you find at least three safety issues?

24. REPORT OUT
Gather all of the employees and explain how the goals and deliverables were accomplished and what to expect going forward.