Introduction to 2P Process
Preparation
 2P Process Preparation - What is it?
One central theme that I work on with clients, is the idea of
looking forward rather than backward.
What do I mean by that. Often Continuous
Improvement is applied to an existing process that has hysterically, sorry,
historically been developed. 2P is all about planning in lean principles to
a new process from day one.
2P, Process Preparation is all about creating a
just in time system that delivers:
What the CUSTOMER needs, in the correct way, when
the CUSTOMER wants it, whilst using minimal resources.
Typically a well designed process will have the
following characteristics:
 |
Function in order of process |
|
One piece information flow paced to customer demand |
|
Ergonomically correct operations |
|
Multi-skilling |
|
Standard operations defined |
A Just In Time system is intolerant of abnormality
and as such, has the following features:
|
Minimal waste in processes |
|
Excess equipment eliminated |
|
Freed up resources |
|
Reduced excess process steps |
|
Reduced lead times |
The 2p system helps us to develop a new process
that satisfies the following requirements:
 |
Staffing |
|
Quality |
|
Cost |
|
Volume |
|
Turnaround times |
2P, Process Preparation - Who is it for?
Primarily it works well for a team of between 8-12 people
who are creating a new process.
All key stakeholders should be represented.
2P, Process Preparation - Why use 2p?
The main reason to use 2P is to help consider different ways
of working, different designs and
different
layouts prior to committing money and resources. The 2P process represents
an opportunity to build in
"lean thinking" to the design of the process, product or service. It can serve
as a mental checklist to
ensure that the following "best practice" characteristic items
have been considered in the design:
|
Quality is built in ? |
|
Designed for one piece flow |
|
Takt time |
|
JIT Principles |
|
Pull |
|
Poka Yoke where possible |
|
Guarantee a process capable of meeting customer demand |
|
Elimination of waste and unevenness |
2P, Process Preparation - When should you use
it?
There are three major reasons to carry out 2P
activities.
These
are:
|
New process introduction |
|
Major volume changes (>15% change) in demand |
|
Relocation of the Process |
2P, Process Preparation - How do I use it?
In my experience the 2P process works best using a
Kaizen breakthrough methodology typically
over a 3-5 day period. The team should have a clear scope and objectives with
a tight focus on
time. They should be encouraged to think about creativity before capital, in all that they do.
The Kaizen group needs to be set up several months
ahead of the requirement for the new process
to be fully operational. The team needs to be flexible and realise that
compromises will be needed
along the way.
Initially the team should think about the customer
demand profile, quality, turnaround times and
expansion / contraction in demand
Typically the team should be thinking about ;
eliminating waste, creating pull, creating flow; getting
things right first time;smoothing workloads; create Standards and doing tasks
'just-in-time'.
The overall 2p tasks that the team need to work on
are as follows:
 Gain an overall understanding of the customer requirement
This is sometimes referred to as the " voice
of the customer". The team need to ask the question "What
does the customer really want?" e.g. the customer doesn't actually want
a spade, they want a hole in the
ground .
The team should also ask themselves "What is the best way to achieve it
".They need to get to grips with
the question "What is the actual product or service that we are going to
provide and how? "
 Identify critical items
Having gained an understanding of what it is
that the customer actually wants, then the team need to
consider what are the critical components to make the product or service
successful.
 The team then need to brainstorm alternative solutions to meet the
requirement (at least Seven).For a
new process this would entail designing seven alternative layouts on paper. For a new product this
would entail designing seven alternative concepts again on
paper.
The secret is not to critique the designs at this stage.
 4. Evaluate alternatives
Once the team has come up with seven
alternatives then the paper designs need to be evaluated against
pre-
defined criteria. The evaluation criteria will vary from project to
project. You may even decide that there
should be some degree of weighting for each of the evaluation elements.
Here are some examples of
criteria headings you may wish to use to
evaluate the different designs:
|
Meets Takt Time |
|
One Piece Flow |
|
Minimal Capital |
|
Poka Yoke |
|
Minimum Time to Develop |
|
Flow |
|
Pull |
|
Ergonomics and Safety |
|
Reliability |
|
Environmental |
Obviously you may want to come up with your
own criteria that fits precisely with the particular
project.
I tend to find that using a scoring system of
1,3 or 9 works best than using 1 to 10.
The team should then score each design against
the criteria and total up the scores. The three designs
with the highest score should be taken forward for further evaluation.
Common sense needs to come into
play when choosing the final designs.
 Model three best alternatives and refine
The next stage is to model the best 3 designs
in some way. If for instance you are evaluating a new layout ,
then creating a 3D model out of cardboard can be a great next step.
Equally products can be mocked up
using everyday materials. Once you have created your models then further
evaluation can take place
to further test the designs against your evaluation criteria.
http://www.leankaizen.co.uk/cardboard-mock-up.html
 Evaluate alternatives
Once the models are created then you can
further test each concept and then re-evaluate each design
until you decide which is best.
 Review and refine (go back to step 5 if required)
At this stage further ideas and refinements to
the original concept often occur. Use the models to bring
these ideas to life. At this stage the team will have arrived at their
chosen best concept.
 8. Develop implementation plan for implementing the design
The team then need to develop an action plan
to make the concept a reality.
Summary
This is very much an introduction to the 2P
Process Preparation technique. If you
would like to find out more
then please contact Graham Ross at 0044(0)1698308309 or e-mail me
at
Hope this helps
Best regards,
Graham Ross
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