The Next Step in Lean at the City of Grand Rapids
A new tool has been added to our Lean toolbox. Training in the use of A3’s for problem solving is allowing staff to work through less complex problems and processes, involve the necessary stakeholders and staff, and get results without the need to pull a large number of staff away from their work for a full three-day Value Stream Workshop. Our first few attempts at using A3’s have had good results in both improved customer service and cost savings. Workshops will still be used for more complex, cross departmental work.
Five problem areas were identified by the Lean Team, and a staff person was assigned to each to receive training and champion the A3 work (see list below). A one-day training session was held with our consultant, Tom Shuker, on June 4, to assist these five “Problem Owners” in working through these problem areas. Problem Owners are now continuing to work through their A3’s to come up with a counter measure(s) to implement. Preliminary work has been done in preparing two additional problem areas that are now ready for the more extensive training. The plan is to add additional departments/divisions into the training throughout the coming year to spread the use of the A3 and the A3 way of thinking and problem solving throughout the organization.
What is an “A3”?
“A3” is just a paper size (international 11 x 17). A3 planning began in the 1960’s as the quality Circle problem-solving format. At Toyota, it evolved to become the standard format for problem-solving, proposals, plans, and status reviews. What is important is not the format, but the process and thinking behind it.
An A3 lays out an entire plan, large or small, on one sheet of paper. It should be visual, extremely concise, and should tell a story, laid out from the upper left-hand side to the lower right, which anyone can understand.
The A3 structures effective and efficient dialogue and enables mentoring, problem analysis, and more. Its use fosters understanding followed by agreement through engaging the hearts and minds of everyone in the organization.--from Lean Transformation Group, LLC
The A3 Thinking Steps
1. What is the problem?
2. Who owns the problem?
3. What is the root cause of the problem?
4. What are some possible countermeasures?
5. How will you choose which countermeasure to propose?
6. How will you get agreement among everyone concerned?
7. What is your implementation plan? What timetable?
8. How will you know if your countermeasure works?
9. What follow-up issues can you anticipate?
10. How will you ensure learning and continuous improvement?
--from Lean Transformation Group, LLC
Enterprise Services Leads the Way With A3 Training
Enterprise Services has engaged EMA to lead their four divisions (Water System; Environmental Services; Signals, Lighting & Signs; and Parking Services) through a multi-week business process improvement training following the A3 methodology. The intent is to redesign the service request or work order processes within all four divisions to integrate with Cityworks' Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS). This work is being done as part of the Customer Information System (CIS) upgrade and installation in Water Customer Service and is also designed to build business process improvement expertise among departmental staff.
Twelve staff will be going through the training and working together on one process for the Water System (service request/work order for main break repair) and one for the Lighting, Signals and Signs Division (service request/work order for street light outage). Even though they are focusing on just two processes, representatives from each of the four divisions will be included in the training. Staff from other divisions will be assigned to work on separate processes, such as parking meter hoods, signal outages, and sewer back up calls, outside of the training sessions with the intent that once the first two processes are complete it will then be easier and less expensive to integrate these additional service requests and work orders with Cityworks.
The hope is to be able to take additional groups through this training in the future. The next areas that could be worked on include how work gets done in the field and how billing gets done for work.