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Talk Before You Sweep!
By Greg Mattson, RTPO  Welcome to the first installment in a series of
articles presenting real-world solutions to production problems in
the O&P fabrication lab. As insurance reimbursements shrink and
the cost of doing business grows, it's hard to ignore the potential
profits hiding in simple ways of fixing production issues.
The overall focus of this series is the implementation of "lean
manufacturing" (zero defects, completing one job at a time, and
just-in-time inventory) as it relates to components and methods of
lab organization, such as improved company communication, tool
organization, inventory functionality, and efficient workspaces.
Lean manufacturing can produce improved profit and cost savings,
more production with less effort, higher-quality patient care, and
better employee teamwork.
We all probably agree that solving production problems in the
lab starts with getting organized. Seems simple enough, right?
Organize one area of the shop, apply some rules to keep it clean
and functioningand your job is done. However, when organizing the
fabrication lab, some changes can actually hinder employees not
associated with fabrication. For example, changes made in the
fabrication job flow process can affect the whole company.
First, Communicate!
So before you pick up that broom and order those storage bins,
be aware that cleaning up is not the first place to start in the
organization processcommunication is. So let's start talking about
improved company communication.
Step back and look at the business we're in. There are three
distinctive parts: patient care, front office, and fabrication. All
three groups need to communicate efficiently so that all affected
employees understand the organizational changes. The most important
element to remember is that every change, no matter how small,
affects every employee to some degree. This is why
inter-departmental communication is so important. Everyone needs to
understand where, why, how, and when the change will be
implemented.
Since meeting as a whole company may be impossible for some
businesses, departmental meetings can be more effective. When
starting the organizational meeting, the primary mission is to
figure out what your overall goal is. This is much harder than it
soundsand is unique to each company.
Standardizing and organizing the process of communication
between departments is a good place to start. I recommend meeting
once a week at the same time and for the same scheduled amount of
time. If meetings are not structured this way, they are a waste of
time and your employees won't take them seriously.
Here is an example of a fabrication meeting structure. Keep in
mind, however, that you should develop your own meeting structure
to satisfy the needs of your company. At my company, meetings are
held every Friday morning for one hour. All fabrication employees
are expected to meet on time in the designated meeting area. The
first 15 minutes are spent going over old business, and the second
15 minutes are spent on new business. The last half-hour is spent
on organizational issues and developing quick solutions to any
problems. All meeting minutes are recorded in a notebook. This is
crucial to your lab organizational success because, as a company,
this is your tracking device for answering the where, why, how,
and when questions. These minutes also enable you to track where
your organizational plan started from and where you plan to go with
it in the organizational process.
Each employee is expected to voice an opinion. If issues get
heated and the meeting starts to lose focus, stick to this
important rule: Attack the problem, not the person. This simple
edict can save valuable time and keep meetings on track.
Guidelines for Problem-Solving
When solving organization problems, my group also follows ten
strict guidelines of organization:
- Abandon fixed ideas. Get creative. Don't be afraid to change
the way you think about a particular problem or way of doing
something.
- Think of ways to make your changes possible. If you decide it
can't be done, abandon that roadblock and find a way.
- No excuses. Be accountable, make it happen.
- Go for the simple solution, not the perfect one. Don't waste
time seeking the perfect solutionit doesn't exist. Let the simple
solutions evolve.
- Correct mistakes immediately. Do it now, not later. If you
wait, chances are it will never get done.
- Use your wits, not your wallet. The best solutions are simple
and don't require money. Remember, there is no perfect solution:
you may be changing something again and again.
- Problems are opportunities. Once you see the value in trying
to solve problems, you won't look at them the same way ever
again.
- Say "why" five times. Asking "why" will help when breaking a
problem down into its various aspects.
- Seek ideas from many people. No one person has all the
solutions.
- There is no end to improvement. One thing in life you can
count on is that there will always be problems that need solutions
and areas that need improvement.
Our meetings are fast. We solve problems and get to the point.
At the end of each meeting, any organizational change that needs to
be implemented gets written on a work order and scheduled. This
enforces rule number five.
Total company communication is where the organizational culture
will start to grow. When people are kept updated and understand why
things are being changed, they get involved and become educated in
the process. All efforts to organize processes or just clean up
make each employee's job easier and more enjoyable.
Good communication is the hardest part of the organizational
process, so take your time, learn from your mistakes, and keep it
alive.
Stay tuned for the next article in this series, where we will
tackle the problem of all that hard-to-get-rid-of clutter in your
fabrication lab, so you can start sweeping! 
Table Of Contents - November 2002
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