Imagine you are starting your new role as the “Vice President of Lean Manufacturing Systems” at your Corporation (you may choose the corporation – choose anyone except Toyota). As the VP of Lean Manufacturing Systems, you will be responsible for the implementation of Lean Manufacturing Methodology and the associated tools across the Corporation, so having a good plan of action to really engage the company in lean manufacturing methodology is mission critical Take a few hours and do a little research to see if lean manufacturing methodology and in particular Just in Time Inventory Management (JIT) is in use at your corporation. Consider that JIT is “the production of goods to meet customer demand exactly, in time, quality and quantity, whether the “customer” is the final purchaser of the product or another process further along the production line?” Using the A3 methodology tool, (along with study tools which are well laid out in Study net, the online library and other UH resources) layout simplistically where the company is in terms of engagement in Just in Time Inventory Management Methodology and draw up a simple plan with real, tangible actions to improve the company’s usage of Just in Time Inventory Management and to implement the methodology in the optimum manner When you lay out your A3 imagine that you will be sharing this with the Board of Directors so that they can understand and Approve your plan – so explaining what it will do and why we need to do this is important. For this assignment you are to: • Develop a simple Report Out A3 using the appropriate headings to Share with the Board of Directors (Introduction /Current Situation/Proposal/Action Plan/ Follow Up Activities). See Guide 1 below. • Introduction – what is your chosen company and a little background – what is the A3 about. • Perform a full Current Situation Status and Analysis on why JIT is important and lay it out on the A3, note if the company is already using JIT to some level consider how much more it could benefit from implementing it fully. Most companies will do JIT Inventory Management to some degree, this is about getting to Toyota levels. • Produce a Proposal to share what JIT Inventory Management will do for the company and what the result should be. • Then lay out a full Action Plan to implement your Proposal considering the effect on the organisation • Show how you will track your progress on the Action Plan and consider Follow Up Activities. To gain a basic understanding of your chosen company’s Manufacturing and Productivity Continuous Improvement Process and its engagement in Lean Manufacturing Methodology (TPS) research online for articles related to TPS adoption by Corporations, look at prior year’s annual reports or on the company websites or use your own methodology to research. Note to help when searching these are often similar acronyms • Ford is FPS (Ford Production System • Boeing is BPS (Boeing Production System). IMPORTANT – The key purpose of making this A3 is for you to – 1. Portray your understanding of an A3 and how to create one 2. Show an understanding of the JIT Inventory Management Tool and how it might apply in industry chosen. You have access to many sources on TPS, JIT and Lean Manufacturing in industry as you might need.
