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 t
hat 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:

A Just In Time system is intolerant of abnormality and as such, has the following features:

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The 2p system helps us to develop a new process that satisfies the following requirements: 

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:

2P, Process Preparation - When should you use it?

There are three major reasons to carry out 2P activities.

These are:

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:

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