Lean Design - Lean Design Workshop description

Overview –

This workshop describes a comprehensive set of practical, easily applied techniques for reducing the manufacturing cost of any product. Students will learn how to apply these powerful tools to real products, in real time, with high efficiency. The product development process represents the most complex, challenging, and, sad to say, poorly understood activity in business. However, reducing manufacturing cost is the fastest and surest way to achieve a measurable increase in profits. The practical lean design tools presented in this workshop can be applied to both new product opportunities and existing successful products, require minimal organizational change, and can yield immediate bottom-line results. Slashing costs is a great place to begin your journey toward lean design excellence.
The tools and methods discussed in this workshop are organized into an “itinerary” that follows the timeline of a typical product development project, from initial idea generation to product qualification and launch. Examples, exercises, and guidelines are provided for each tool to help the student decide whether that solution would be applicable to their situation. In this way, attendees can quickly craft an integrated cost-reduction strategy that is optimal for their products and markets, and gain enough understanding and confidence to get immediate results.

Upon Completing this Workshop, Students Should Be Able to –

1. Understand the true cost buildup of any product.
2. Utilize twenty "cost levers" to perform cost-reduction tradeoffs.
3. Improve customer communication and value capture.
4. Identify synergy across product lines through flexible platform strategies.
5. Eliminate design waste through Value Engineering.
6. Implement a simplified version of Toyota’s 3P process.
7. Use basic Six-Sigma tools to reduce variability and scrap.
8. Reduce touch labor and materials through Design for Manufacture and Assembly.

Who Should Attend -

Product designers, manufacturing engineers, product-line managers, team leaders, task managers, functional managers, six-sigma blackbelts / greenbelts, improvement champions, operations managers, process owners, and all others with product development responsibilities.

Course Outline –

Note: A series of practical workshop exercises accompanies the following lecture agenda. The output of the workshop is a prioritized action list for immediate improvement. This workshop uses The Lean Design Guidebook, by Ron Mascitelli, as its textbook.

Part I. The Business of Lean Design
        • When is a Product Profitable?
        • Screening for Profitable Products
        • Defining a Target Cost
        • The “Twenty Levers” for Product Cost

Part II. Capturing the Voice of the Customer
        • Testing for Value
        • The “Lean QFD”
        • Prioritizing Customer Requirements

Part III. Platform-Based Cost Reduction
        • The Product Line as a “System”
        • The Platform Hierarchy
        • The Product-Line Optimization Team
        • Developing a Product-line Roadmap
        • Microplatform Strategies
        • Modular / Scalable Design
        • Mass Customization

Part IV. Value Engineering
        • Basics of Value Engineering and Analysis
        • Considering Alternative Designs
        • Identifying Points of High Cost Leverage
        • The “Quick-Look Value Engineering” Event
        • The “Pugh Method” for Concept Selection

Part V. Production Process Preparation (3P)
        • Overview of Toyota’s 3P Process
        • The “How’s it Built?” Review
        • The “Seven-Alternatives” Process
        • Make vs. Buy Tradeoffs

Part VI. Six-Sigma and DFMA Methodologies
        • Overview of Six-Sigma / Robust Design
        • Design Rules and Standardization Tools
        • Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DFMA)
        • Achieving Continuous Cost Improvement

Part VII. Lean Self-Assessment and Kaizen Tools