5S TPM-i - A New Approach to Lean

Your only competitive advantage is to be smarter, leaner and faster than your competitors. You have no control over the price of raw materials and your customers will only pay so much for your product, whatever it is. Having leaner processes, being more innovative in problem solving and having equipment functioning efficiently at capacity in real time is your only way to create profit.

The 5S technique is a lean quality improvement process that provides a systematic approach for safety, productivity, and quality improvement in all types of businesses. TPM is a method for improved efficiency through better utilization of maintenance and production resources. The ‘I’ stands for innovation and integration. The integration of production and maintenance working together using the problem solving and change management tools places both people and the organization in a position for success.

Combining mindset shift with 5S and TPM means giving you a competitive edge through sustainable improvement.

Click here to find out more about the 5 Phase Comprehensive 5S-TPMi Lean Initiative

3 Up/Freeze Tag

Exercise

• Pick 2 participants
• The three of you should move around
• When you clap, all of you freeze in your exact physical position
• Start a scene with the others then joining in
• After a few moments, clap and freeze everybody
• Pick another participant to take your exact physical position and start an entirely different scene
• Add in directions to the group like 'do the scene just speaking gibberish' or 'what if the three of you were the Village People just before a concert?' or if one of the three is fluent in another language have them do that scene in that language with another in English and the third in gibberish
• After a few moments, clap and freeze the group in their position
• Take another participant, let them choose the person they want to replace, and start an entirely different scene
• Continue until everybody has done at least one scene

Debrief

• How were you able to deal with change?
• What happened to communication when everybody was speaking the same language, even if it was all gibberish?  What happened when people were each using a different language?
• Who lead the scenes?  Who followed?  What does that say about leadership?
• Was there any such thing as 1 or 2 people succeeding and the other(s) failing?  You all had to either succeed together or fail together.
• How were you able to adapt your own idea about the scene?
• What happened when you gave somebody strong choices?  What happened when somebody did not jump?