Rick Ruzga, Lean Engagement Manager, Brady Corp.
Since 1990 when world-leading manufacturing company Kimberly-Clark Corp. opened its doors, it has experienced tremendous growth and advancement due to its focus on productivity improvements and continuous capital investment. In order to solidify and sustain its continuous improvement initiative, Kimberly-Clark turned to Brady to improve its visual management system.
Visual Solution
Kimberly-Clark (KC) selected Brady's Visual Management Lean Workshop Service with Brady's Lean expert and consulting team to facilitate a standardized visual system. The Lean Visual Management Workshops are customized to the client's specific Lean journey, providing the team with an understanding of how embedding critical information in the physical environment benefits both the team and the entire organization.
Brady's team met with Kimberly-Clark's total productive maintenance coordinator and continuous improvement leader to discuss the scope of the project, identify key business issues, and set up focus areas.
The workshop consists of 6 days of engagement, including 3 days on-site. It started with an interactive classroom session to introduce KC team members to the basic principles of visual management. This session also included activities to learn how to identify visual gaps between the current state of the facility and the ideal state.
Putting Learnings Into Practice
Following the classroom instruction, KC teams were challenged to identify visual abnormalities throughout the focus areas, which included a routine maintenance audit route, a chemical processing area, and a quality assurance lab. If abnormalities were detected, team members would take photos to document the current state.
While the team members were searching for abnormalities, Brady set up a "visual output workstation" in the center of the focus area, which was fully stocked with a printer and extensive variety of label and signage materials. When team members returned to the workstation, they were able to create labels and signs and affix them to the areas with abnormalities. The workshop ended with a presentation of "before" and "after" photos and placing of large visuals identifying chemicals and safety standards.
Every Kimberly Clark team member was able to understand and explain the transformation and realize the importance of sustaining their Lean TPM and visual management initiatives in the value-streams and facility.
About the author: Rick Ruzga is Brady's Lean engagement manager, with more than 15 years of experience implementing continuous improvement approaches in both manufacturing and transactional settings. He conducts Lean visual management workshops for Brady and authors Brady's Lean Visual Blog.
