The Lean Experience Made SMART

Every year, hundreds of people gain knowledge and experience of Lean principles and techniques at the Lean Experience Center in Amersfoort, the largest Lean game in the Netherlands. Would you also like to experience what you can achieve with the Lean design of processes? And thereby see how you can easily take concrete improvement steps based on automatic process data? Then come to this Lean Experience Center (LEC) from Symbol. Here you are challenged as a team to run a “factory” as logistically and financially efficient as possible using real-time data. You and your team will experience firsthand the benefits of working Lean and how real-time process data can help. By working on the design of processes themselves in this Center, participants will experience what Lean can actually bring to the organization and themselves. As the Chinese sage Confucius noted 2,000 years ago, “I remember 10% of what I hear, but 90% of what I hear, see AND do.” Through “serious gaming,” a learning technique in which participants learn by doing, key Lean methodologies are transferred and put into practice step by step.  

Industry 4.0

Where other Lean games stop, in Symbol’s Lean Experience Center you go one step further. After all, this is where Industry 4.0 made its appearance. Each workstation has digital work instructions and each product has a unique RFID tag. Various Apps and software generate data that provide insight into the process, real-time! So there is immediate visibility into wastes such as high intermediate stocks, long waiting times and transportation. For example, the logistical and financial performance of the process is visualized on a large touch-screen. Using Process Mining, the logistical flow of products is visualized. Just like in real life, in the Lean Experience Center we have different departments with different functions that need to be fulfilled along with a very realistic simulation of processes. Partial and final assembly activities take place and a warehouse of semi-finished products is present, requiring picking and transportation activities. The output of the process are bicycles and scooters. In all, there are more than 50 variants. Because we assemble all these variants, we also have to deal with aspects such as changeover times and different lead times. The bicycle is just an example. During the training, the link is made to other types of processes, both technical processes and office processes.  

For whom

Any employee directly or indirectly involved in process improvement or working more efficiently.  

Objective

Through an interactive program, participants will gain an understanding of the basic concepts of Lean. We do this by letting them experience for themselves what the results are when Lean principles are used. When finally the eyes of the participants are opened, everyone is able to name what this means for their own work and work environment. Also ideally suited for “Team Building.  

Organization & duration

1 day lasts for this Smart experience.  

Level

No requirements. The video at the bottom of this page gives an impression of a training session at the Lean Experience Centre with 4.0 Industry elements. Getting acquainted? If so, please contact us. For anyone who wants to know what can be achieved with the ‘Lean’ and ‘Smart’ design of organizational processes!  

What does The Lean experience entail?

The Lean game simulates a manufacturing process, in this case a bicycle factory. We will play several rounds, with theory and directions in between. The first round will not lead to the desired result and the plant is running at a loss. After a few tips, teams are given time to properly analyze their own process and practices, including using the digital process data. This boils down to “Don’t make mistakes,” “Collaborate and communicate well,” “Balancing work,” “One-Piece-Flow,” “Pull,” and “Controlling work in progress. Good preparation, cooperation and proper data-based steering (Process Mining) will eventually lead to amazing results in the third round!

• The 5 Lean principles and the 8 types of waste
• Value: Determine what is value to the customer
• Value stream: identify the value stream
• Pull: Produce/deliver based on demand
• Flow: Allow products to flow smoothly through the process
• Identify and eliminate waste
• The Kaizen improvement culture
• Perfection: continuous improvement (PDCA)
• First Time Right principle
• Roles and responsibilities
• Working together as a team
• Digital work instructions
• Real-time data collection for an ongoing process
• Real time performance cockpit (using Lean Forms)
• Process Mining (using Disco)