THE BENEFIT OF CI CHAMPIONS

‘SEE, TRY, DO’ WORKSHOPS

In order for any improvement programme to be sustainable it needs to be owned and led from within the management team. One of the ways in which we ensure this happens is by knowledge and skills transfer of our improvement and sustainability tools to a Continuous Improvement (CI) Champion. A CI Champion may already be in place on a site, if not we always work with the management team to ensure one is recruited. Historically, this has come from internal FLM’s as well as operators whose skills and potential have been identified in an impact workshop.

Nine months into an improvement project at a biscuit factory, four Improvement Workshops had taken place with shopfloor teams and a suitable CI Champion was identified and released into the role.

Once the CI Champion was in place, he was trained using a proven methodology called “SEE, TRY, DO”.

The “SEE” Workshop provided the new CI Champion with insight into how to deliver an Improvement Workshop. He was then given a licenced copy of the Improvement Tools manual, and supported with significant 1-1 time to help practice delivery of the training material. The aim was to ensure the CI Champion had the confidence to deliver as much of the initial training of the improvement tools as possible by the time of the next workshop. The CI Champion then delivered the “TRY” Workshop, and some further 1-1 time was provided. By this point, the facilitation of the Workshop process required minimal development, but further practice on the tools training was recommended to ensure the CI Champion could deliver the “DO” Workshop with no intervention.

Three CI Champions were provided with training so they could support this Biscuit Factory’s 18 month Improvement Programme that delivered £960k annualised benefit.

METHODOLOGY:“SEE” - the CI Champion is part of the workshop team along with operators and engineers so they can understand the format of the workshop, see how training is delivered, and understand techniques that engage the team in order to lead them on the path of discovery towards making a difference using the improvement tools.

“TRY” - the CI Champion’s first attempt in leading elements of the workshop. They deliver the training in the tools and facilitation of the daily activities for the duration of the workshop. The workshop is still supported by Lauras International Practitioners who fulfill the sections of the workshop in which the CI Champion needed further support and development.

“DO” - the workshop is fully led by the CI Champion with Lauras International providing minimal intervention where required.

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CASE STUDY

Champions in Training‘See,Try, Do’: Improvement Training

THE TRAINING JOURNEY

The key benefit of training an Improvement Champion is to ensure the long term sustainability of an improvement programme. So following the completion of the “SEE, TRY, DO” workshops, the CI Champion was introduced to the sustainability tools - ‘Meeting Audits’ and the ‘Sustainable Improvement Model’ (SIM).

MEETING AUDITS TO DRIVE ACTIONS

“Effective Meetings” training and coaching was given to the CI Champion to help make his daily and weekly meetings more effective.

This was further reinforced by the Factory General Manager, who saw the importance of these meetings to deliver improvement, and who requested a weekly update of progress.

The graphs are examples from the actual ‘Meeting Audits’ and ‘Action Completion Trackers’.

‘Action raised’ and ‘Closed’ lines become steeper once audits and reporting began. This indicated that actions were being generated and closed out at a higher rate.

The Meeting Audit Tracker (see below) also became more green, showing that meetings became more effective in the 6 weeks following the audits. The CI Champion achieved this by coaching the Manufacturing Managers and FLMs in meeting effectiveness. As a result, more actions were closed and more financial benefit was delivered.

EMBEDDING SUSTAINABLITY

SIM AUDIT AND PROGRESSION

In May 2015, we began by taking the CI Champions through the Sustainable Improvement Model (SIM) and then spent time with the management team from each plant department and completed an initial SIM review.

Following this review, we worked with the CI Champions to build an action plan to close the gaps on the SIM.

The charts below demonstrate the site’s actual journey through the Sustainable Improvement Model over 18 months.

July 2014-Feb 2015: Little progress (no CI Champions).

Feb 2015-July 2015: Significant progress (two CI Champions in place and trained in tools). SIM plan created for 2016.

July 2015-Nov 2015: Three CI Champions in place and SIM Action plan reviewed periodically within internal management teams. New SIM scored quarterly with management teams. 2016 Plan also created.

Six months after recruiting the first CI Champion, a total of three were trained and in place. The biscuit factory’s leadership team believed the level of resource was necessary to ensure the ongoing sustainable improvement of the site.

This presence also supported the transfer of ownership of the improvement plan. It was no longer seen as the ‘Lauras International Improvement Project’, but the site’s own ‘Manufacturing Excellence Programme’.

PROGRESS FROM JULY 2014 ---> FEBRUARY 2015

PROGRESS FROM JULY 2015 ---> NOVEMBER 2015

PROJECT FINANCIAL IMPROVEMENT

The graph below shows that cumulatively, since the start of the 18 month project, £960k of benefit was achieved. Furthermore, the last 3 periods achieved a run rate of £1.25m.

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The new SIM was audited in November 2015 and the Action Plan reviewed to establish the priority areas for focus in 2016 (circled in red). The improved financial delivery the site demonstrated from September onwards showed that the new robust SIM was driving the right, sustainable improvement.

The site’s three CI Champions built their own Continuous Improvement plan for 2016 to complement the business strategy of cost base reduction.

Through regular engagement with the biscuit factory’s leadership team, the CI Champions ensured their teams were fully engaged to support the delivery of those plans for the coming year. Their plan included further workshops to complete the training of other CI Champions using the “SEE, TRY, DO” methodology.