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Document Reality Why Document Reality? Reducing changeover time depends on understanding the current process. We need to study it to learn how it works. As such, in order to be able to do this we must have an excellent understanding of exactly what happens during a changeover. Additionally, if we don’t know where we’re starting from we’ll have no way of knowing how much, if any, improvement we’ve made. Finally, the abilities to document reality and to “go see” which enables us to then manage by facts are important guiding principles of lean.

How to Document Reality There are a number of ways to go about documenting this reality. We could simply ask others to explain the process to us and this is always useful for getting to know the experts or those who work at the process and know it best. We also need to show respect for people by consulting with the people who will be affected by the change especially since they will often know much more from experience than we could ever document by observation in a few days. Next, we can go and see things for ourselves while doing our best to document what we’re seeing. Or, we can use one of the most powerful tools in the quick changeover toolbox to help us out – the video camera. The reason using a video camera can be so useful is it captures everything and allows us to scroll back through the setup slowly and consistently. We can fast forward, rewind, and pause to discuss what’s happening. In short, used correctly, the video camera can be one of the best weapons you have at your disposal to radically reduce changeover times.

2. Document Reality

The “dos” of Video Taping First of all, we must be safe. Having a video camera in the work area is not normal so care should be taken that everything is done safely. Next, we must always ask management’s permission before video taping anyone and thus gaining the proverbial green light. And depending on the country you live in this could get tricky due to things like work councils so please take care with this step. We also need to speak directly to the operator or operators that’ll be video taped. The key thing to stress is that we’re not video taping THEM per se. Instead, we’re video taping the PROCESS. We also want to stress the fact that we’d like the operator to work as naturally as possible. To be sure this is easier said than done. So, if the operator is obviously nervous and making unnatural mistakes during the changeover continue to record but set aside time to record a few more changeovers. After a few sessions the operator will likely begin to relax. Next, another powerful tip is to have one of the operators’ colleagues record the changeover instead of the continuous improvement practitioner. Since these people work together and know each other well anxiety levels are often decreased when colleagues record one another. This can also be a lot of fun for the operators to do so give them a little training on how to use the camera and turn them loose. Additionally, if there won’t be a lot of movement you might decide to use a tripod to hold the camera. But if there is a lot of movement involved it might be best to have a person hold the camera. And to avoid a lot of jerky movement it’s important for the person holding the camera to move slowly and smoothly. Next, the position of the camera during the recording session is very important. And while it’s impossible to give accurate instructions on how to do this since every process is different… generally speaking you want to be close enough to really see what’s happening but not so close that the person doing the taping is in the way. Additionally, if there won’t be a lot of movement you might decide to use a tripod to hold the camera. But if there is a lot of movement involved it might be best to have a person hold the camera. And to avoid a lot of jerky movement it’s important for the person holding the camera to move slowly and smoothly. Lastly, a few technical tips, be sure you have enough room on your camera’s hard disk or tape to capture the entire changeover and be sure your battery will last if you won’t be able to plug the camera in. Lastly, make sure you have enough room on your camera’s hard disk or tape to capture the entire changeover and be sure your battery will last if you’re not planning to use a power source. 2. Document Reality

The “don’ts” of Video Taping First, don’t video tape in a dimly lit area as it’ll make it difficult to see what’s happening. In areas where lighting is poor a few flood lights from a hardware store can be used to brighten things up. Just be careful as these lights get extremely hot and can be a fire hazard. Next, don’t attempt what I refer to as the mezzanine shot, or a shot from an extremely high elevation, with the idea that you’ll get this great bird’s eye view since while you’ll likely get a great shot of the whole process you’ll probably be so far away you won’t see enough detail as to what’s actually happening. Now it’s OK to shoot at a 45 degree angle from a slightly raised platform. But just make sure you’re not too far from the action. Another don’t is pressing the pause button during the changeover. You see, once the changeover has started the stop or pause button should only be pressed once the entire changeover is complete. If the operator has to leave his or her work area to get some tools or parts go ahead and capture this since this is most definitely part of the changeover process. There’s always a tendency for people to say a particular action rarely happens so it should be ignored… but if pressed the person will likely admit this thing has happened before and could happen in the future. So, be sure to video tape the entire changeover from start to finish. Lastly, in some cases video taping others may not be allowed for a variety of reasons. If this is the case don’t worry as you can still improve the situation by observing a changeover in person and carefully documenting what you see. This method may take a little longer but can be done. After all, I am not sure Dr. Shingo was sporting a new Canon HD video camera back in the day!

The SMED Analysis Template Please download the MS Excel template in the resources section. This template is setup with formulas to speed things up for you and your team enabling you to analyze changeovers in an efficient and accurate manner. If you have questions for how to use the template please refer to the Document Reality Part 2 video or email me us [email protected].

2. Document Reality