Aebi Schmidt chooses Symbol to increase Lean knowledge and Lean awareness
A tip for organizations with similar issues Leferink also has. “1) You need to think carefully before you start about where you are in Lean development, and 2) You must really want this as an organization, or everything will ebb away in no time. Fortunately, Symbol guided us well in this.
“Aebi Schmidt Nederland – part of the Aebi Schmidt Group – develops, produces and sells equipment for ice control under the Nido and Schmidt brand names, such as gritting machines for roads and sprayers for airports. This gives us a leading position in the European market,” says Continuous Improvement Engineer Bart Leferink. “To maintain this position, customer satisfaction, cooperation, own initiative and continuous improvement are important concepts within our organization. Not only in the Netherlands, by the way, because these points are also high on the agenda in other branches. With this in mind, Fit For Tomorrow was also established, a unique Lean program for all employees at the Aebi Schmidt plants.”
Support for Lean
At the facility in the Netherlands, Lean was first raised in a small group. “But now we are becoming more and more professional at it and the number of projects is rising significantly,” Leferink says. “For these projects, my colleagues do need to have the skills. But more importantly, there must be broad support for Lean among the employees. What exactly is it, why are we doing this, what is the philosophy behind it. That understanding is not yet there with everyone, and we wanted to do something about that. Symbol’s trainings ensure that the Lean knowledge and Lean awareness of all our employees is increased – from the office staff to the production workers.”
Lean throughout the organization
So while many organizations still see Lean as a top-down method, Aebi Schmidt actually chooses to deploy it throughout the entire organization. Leferink: “For example, Symbol trained the group leaders and employees of logistics and assembly (twenty people in total) at Yellow Belt level. Very nice, because they now signal improvements on the shop floor. We are reaping the benefits, for example, with the Andon system, a (visual) signaling system where employees indicate problems or malfunctions within our production process which are then also immediately registered.”
Green Belts: a rough start
In addition to the Yellow Belt training, 11 Aebi Schmidt employees took the Green Belt training this year and 7 took a Green Belt “refresher course. In total, the process with Symbol produced 15 certified Yellow Belts and 10 (theoretically) certified Green Belts. Of the 125 permanent employees, 30 percent are now trained and 17 percent certified. “For the Green Belts, the process did have a somewhat rough start,” says Leferink. “We thought we had communicated well about what the training entails, how much is involved and what is expected of someone. However, the Green Belts were surprised by the number of class days and the combination of theory and real-life projects. Further down the road, the interest and recognition of the course material grew and they were enthusiastic again.”
A contagious effect
“We kept the exams (deliberately) non-committal in consultation with Symbol,” Leferink continued. “I think this has reduced pressure and increased motivation. In the end, what matters is that the majority understand the material, can apply it and are also motivated to apply it. Another success factor was not making the additional projects mandatory. Doing a project in parallel with the training is powerful, but also difficult. It takes a lot of time, the project has to fit well with the training, and in addition, managers have to know their responsibilities. You don’t make everyone happy with a project for these reasons, and we find it much more effective and fun to put energy into the enthusiasts. That in turn has a contagious effect on others as well.”
HR: a successful Lean project
An example of a successful project is one from HR. “From June to December is high season for us. During that period we work a lot with temporary workers, to cope with the peaks. Previously, those temps arrived on site unprepared on their first day of work, and that created quite a few challenges on the shop floor. We have now set up a demo room where temporary workers get an explanation of what to expect before their first day on the job. For example, they learn how some machines work and how to read a work order. Symbol helped us choose the right training methods, including TWI Job Instruction, so that new employees are well prepared for the job. An important side effect: this project held up a mirror to our organization. Some work processes turned out to be not at all as clear as we thought. Work to do!”
Continuing to roll out Lean internationally
A tip for organizations with similar issues Leferink also has. “1) You need to think carefully before you start about where you are in Lean development, and 2) You must really want this as an organization, or everything will ebb away in no time. Fortunately, Symbol guided us well in this. Our next step is to start another series of training courses next year and to work with Symbol to see how we can further roll out Fit For Tomorrow internationally. Our ideal is that employees anywhere in the world are trained to the same level, so that we can work together even better and we speak the same language in terms of Lean everywhere.”