Paper Airplane Exercise

Provided to NWLEAN by Tim Leach of Northrup Grumman, May 98

Paper Airplane Exercise

3 Simulations

(50 minutes)

6pc Batch (Push) 3pc Batch (Push) Single Piece Flow

Measure

(Pull)

Completed Units Throughput (Regular and Hot Production) Work-In-Process Observations (Worker Environment)
2

Materials Required
200 Sheets of Paper (Approx.)

To make Paper Airplanes 50 Paper Clips To Use as Carts for Transporting W.I.P. & Planes Masking Tape To Mark-Off Queue Boxes and Work Areas for Exercise Dry Erase Markers For White Board or Flip Chart Tracking of Exercise Activities One or More of: White Board / Chalk Board / Flip Chart Paper Airplane Mfg., Co. Tracking Sheet To Record Exercise Results and Participants Stop Watch or Watch with a Second Hand

Simulation Physical Layout

Eight Participants
- Material Identification - Wing Fold - Fuselage Fold - Shipping - Nose Fold #1 - Customer (Boeing) - Nose Fold #2 - Material Handler Clearly identify Queue boxes between each station Work in designated work area No work to be done within Queue boxes Only Material Handler moves material in 6pc & 3 pc simulations

Everyone Else Observes

6 Minutes per Simulation -- Stop ALL Activity at 6 Minutes

Introduce Hot Plane at 2 - 3 - 4 Minute Marks Record Measurables and Observations After Each 6 Minute Simulation

Simulation Physical Layout

Raw Material Queue Fuselage Queue Nose #1 Fold Queue Nose #2 Fold Queue

Material Identification

Fuselage Fold

Nose Fold #1

PAPER AIRPLANE, CO.

6 QTY PROD UNITS / MIN W.I.P. HOT Observations
6:

Material Handler: 6pc & 3pc Simulations (Moves all Material)

Nose Fold #2

Facilitator
Wing Fold Queue

Customer

Customer Receiving

Shipping

Shipping Queue

Wing Fold

3:
1:

Pre-Exercise Preparation
Visual Aids
The Exercise Will have 5 Stations Requiring Visual Aids See Work Station Examples

Tape Off Queue Boxes With the Masking Tape

(Re: Simulation Physical Layout) Write on the Taped Queue Box What Queue Box It Represents Make Sure to Spread the Seats Apart for Clear Separation of Work Stations Between the Queue Boxes

Identify Work Areas With One Strip of Tape and Label

Them
6

Pre-Exercise Preparation
Line Primed or System Filled
If the Exercise is Produced With the Line Primed (a Batch Set in Each Queue Box Prior to Starting Each Simulation), the Facilitator Will Need to Have These Ready Prior to the Exercise (This Saves Time During the Exercise) Line Empty If the Exercise is Produced With the Line Empty (No Parts in the Line at the Start of Each Simulation), then No Pre-Folding of Planes is Required The Exercise can be Produced Either Way However all Three Simulations in the Exercise Must be Produced the Same Way (Primed or Empty)
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Work Station Examples

MATERIAL IDENTIFICATION
Paper Clip Cart

NOSE FOLD #2

04/10/98 Lot #1

04/10/98 Lot #1 04/10/98 Lot #1 04/10/98 Lot #1 04/10/98 Lot #1 04/10/98 Lot #1 04/10/98 Lot #1

04/10/98 Lot #1 04/10/98 Lot #1 04/10/98 Lot #1 04/10/98 Lot #1 04/10/98 Lot 04/10/98 Lot#1 #1

FUSELAGE FOLD

WING FOLD

04/10/98 Lot #1

NOSE FOLD #1

Notes
This exhibits the 6pc Batch

The same would done for the 3pc Batch

04/10/98 Lot #1

No Paper Clips Required for 1pc Flow

Facilitator Instructions

Recruit Eight (8) Participants Material Identification: To Identify Material Batches and Place them on Carts (Paper Clip them Together, 6 each for the 6pc Batch Simulation and 3 each for the 3pc Simulation. Leave the Cart in the Work Area for the Material Handler to Transport) Batches will be identified by Date & Lot: Lot #1, Lot #2, Lot #3, Lot #4, etc... Fuselage Fold: See Work Station Examples Nose Fold #1: See Work Station Examples Nose Fold #2: See Work Station Examples Wing Fold: See Work Station Instructions Material Handler: Only Person to Move Material Batches from Work Areas to Next Customers Queue Box

Facilitator Instructions

(Continued)

Recruit One of the Observers as a Time Keeper The Time Keeper will start and stop the simulations In addition, the Time Keeper will alert the Facilitator at 2 - 3 - & 4 minutes This is so the Facilitator can introduce a Hot Plane to the process Give a Minimum of Instruction to each Participant as to Their Required Activity for the 6pc Batch simulation This allows their true experiences with Batch Production to be exhibited Tell the participants that they are being evaluated by their individual output Quality is not a critical element here - Use your discretion You may give more detailed instructions/training for the 3pc Batch Simulation

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Facilitator Instructions

(Continued)

Start the Time Keeper and Introduce a Hot Plane at 2 - 3 - & 4 Minutes Mark the next sheet the Material Identification operator will process with a large X on each side of the sheet Take your time. Remember this role is as a person who only cares that he /she identified the Hot material. This person does not care about output A Hot Plane is a new style or engineering change. It must travel with the Batch in which it was identified. All the old style planes have been ordered by the customer so they must be built as the customer order states. Think of this as flushing the system of the old style. DO NOT EXPEDITE THE HOT PLANES

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Facilitator Instructions

(Continued)

Stop the Simulations at 6 Minutes Record the data listed on the Paper Airplane Mfg., Co. tracking sheet The Facilitator needs to report this information on a white board or flip chart for the group to see and talk to during the simulations The information needs to be recorded directly on tracking sheet after the exercise for the and continuous improvement purposes

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Facilitator Instructions

(Continued)

Calculate Cash Flow as Follows $2 Million per Plane shipped to the customer (+) $1 Million per every piece of W.I.P. (-) This is an excellent tool to exhibit the financial burden on a company for carrying excessive inventories (Results Sharing & Continuous Improvement Drain)

Conduct the 3pc Batch Simulation the Same as the 6pc Batch Simulation Explain that there will be no changes to the processes. Clearer instructions/training can be given addressing how to perform a specific job and to clarify quality expectations

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Facilitator Instructions

(Continued)

1pc Flow The paper clips will no longer be used The participants must completely understand that they can perform work ONLY when their Customer Queue box is empty - Giving them their VISUAL TRIGGER to produce another product to replenish their Customers DEMAND (the Cradle of Takt Time) To make this point clear: If the Customers Queue box has a part in it, that operator CANNOT be working on a new part ....... Period

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Facilitator Instructions

(Continued)

Make it very clear that the Customer pulling a shipset out of their Receiving Area is the TRIGGER for Shipping to ship another ship-set Shipping then pulls a ship-set out of their Queue box from Wing Fold - This then Triggers wing Fold to replenish this ship-set And on down the line The facilitator has to pay very close attention during the 1pc simulation to maintain the integrity of the Customers Visual Trigger to produce - Whether the customer is outside the organization or within the organization Q & A Session for 1pc and Entire Exercise
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