M4E #23: Lucy and the chocolate factory
Today we are going to try and apply some concepts we have learned in previous M4E entries by watching a funny video from the classic 50s sitcom “I love Lucy”. In this chapter, Lucy and her friend Ethel start to work in a chocolate factory, what could happen to them?
Try to identify the cause of some of the problems that can be seen in the video and how to solve them. As usual, some insights will be provided after the video. You may want to review the following past M4E entries:
Time for Insights
In the video you can only see one station of the process: the chocolate wrapping step. Do you think that cycle times are correctly balanced between the different steps in the process?
The manufacturing process is fully push-based. There is no demand sensing and Lucy and her friend are clearly acting as a bottleneck because the previous step generates goods faster than they can wrap them. A pull-based process would help balance the work through the process.
Chocolates that are not wrapped are considered a defect in the next step in the process. If Jidoka were applied the manufacturing line would be stopped. Of course some continuous improvement actions should be applied in order to determine how to optimize the process and avoid stopping the line every time (see previous insights).
Do you think that the manager performs Gemba walks? We can clearly see that she doesn’t really know what happens in the shop floor.
Can you identify some of the 7 wastes in the video?
Feel free to leave your opinion in the comments!