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Q & A with the Lean Manager
(See entire article in The Periscope, Volume 63, No. 1, January 2005)
Since the inception of Lean at the Shipyard, the Periscope staff has reported on a number of areas that have successfully adopted these processes. It is now time to get an assessment from Mike Desjardins on how the Shipyard progressed over this three-year period and what can be expected in the future.
Q: What were your thoughts when the Shipyard Commander asked you to take on the responsibility of developing the Lean Department?
A: I knew it would be a challenge....Lean forces us to eliminate the impact of variations that are associated with repair. Implementing this discipline will help us make a positive transformational change on repair.
Q: Since Lean was developed to assist with manufacturing, why are we trying to adopt it in a repair world?
A: ....The power of Lean is engaging a large group of people - the workers, who perform the tasks, review everything they do, looking for ways to eliminate waste. Since Lean focuses on the worker, the bottom line is, "what can we do to make the worker’s job more efficient and easier?"
Q: What’s next on the Lean horizon?
A: We have been building a {Time Wise Value Stream Management System} Value Stream Map emphasizing the efficient flow of work eliminating bottlenecks.