Shigeo Shingo~ Inspiring Industrial Engineer :D

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            Shigeo Shingo was a Japanese industrial engineer who is considered as the world’s leading expert on manufacturing practices and the Toyota Production System. Dr. Shigeo’s expertise was a result of his wide experience and knowledge in what can be called modern day industrial engineering.

BIOGRAPHY

·         About 1930 => His first major accomplishment came when he introduced scientific management to Taipei Railway Company in order to reduce cost of operations.

·         1943=> Shingo was transferred to the Amano Manufacturing Plant in Yokohama.As Manufacturing Section Chief, he raised productivity 100%.

·         1945 and 1946 => Shingo worked for several manufacturers and also began a long association with the Japanese Management Association (JMA) in Tokyo, becoming a consultant focused on the improvement of factory management.

·         1947 => Shingō had been involved all over Japan in the training of thousands of people, who joined his courses on the fundamental techniques of analysis and improvement of the operational activities in factories (among which the P-Course^®, or Production Course)

·         1948-1950 => Shingo had many assignments, delivered several important papers and crystallized his ideas on process and plant layout.

·         1950 => Shingo gathered tips from the improvement experiences in the field he had in 1950 at Toyo Ind. (nowadays Mazda)

·         1951 => when he first encountered the concept of “statistical quality control”. In view of this new concept, he immersed himself into researching close to 300 companies to gain a better understanding of the subject.

·         In 1955 => Dr. Shingo began another long association, this time with Toyota. In addition to his many consulting assignments in other industries. It is during this period that he first started work on setups by doubling the output of an engine bed planer at Mitsubishi’s shipyard. Shingō, who as an external consultant had been teaching Industrial engineering courses at Toyota

·         1956 to 1958 => One highlight of his approach towards efficient manufacturing can be shown in his work with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Hiroshima.

While working with Mitsubishi, he was able to reduce the setup time of the hull assembly on a 65,000-ton super tanker from 4 months to 2 months, setting a new record in shipbuilding

·         By 1959 => Dr. Shingo left JMA to start his own consulting company. Dr. Shingo had gained notable fame as an “engineering genius” from his work in developing Just-In-Time (JIT), and consequently the Toyota Production System.

In addition, by focusing on production rather than management alone, he was able to establish himself as a reputable Industrial Engineer.

·         Early 1960’s => as an outgrowth of work with Matsushita, he developed his concepts of “ Mistake-Proofing.

·         1961 => Dr. Shigeo incorporated his knowledge of quality control to develop the ‘Defects=0’ concept. This concept is also commonly known as poka-yoke or mistake proofing. This concept was successfully applied to various plants and set records of over two years of totally defect free production in some operations.

·         1969, SMED was originated when he cut the setup time on a 1000 ton press at Toyota from 4.0 hours to 3.0 minutes.

·         By 1970 => Dr. Shigeo developed perhaps the most revolutionary concept in manufacturing called “Single Minute Exchange of Dies”. This concept was integrated into the JIT/ Toyota Production System with a significant reduction in operating costs.

·         1970′s => Shingo traveled in Europe and North America on many lectures, visits and assignments. He began to see Toyota’s efforts as an integrated system and began to assist several U.S. and European firms in implementation.

Up to the time leading to Dr.Shigeo’s demise in 1990, many industries worldwide adopted his principles to successfully improve productivity and reduce both part defects and work in process inventory.

KEY TEACHING

During his lifetime, Dr. Shingo Shigeo acted as an international consultant to some of the world’s largest companies such as: Toyota, Bridgestone, Peugeot, AT&T.

The greatest impact of Dr. Shingo Shigeo’s teachings can be classified into the three concepts listed as follows:

· Just In Time (JIT).

· Single Minute Exchange of Dies (SMED).

· Zero Quality Control

o   Just In Time (JIT)

Just in Time manufacturing concept was founded in part due to the contribution of Dr. Shingo Shigeo and Mr. Taichii Ohno of Toyota Motor Co. from 1949 to 1975. The essential element in developing JIT was the use of the Ford System along with the realization that factory workers had more to contribute than just muscle power

According to the American Production and Inventory Control Society (APICS), JIT can be defined as:

"A philosophy of manufacturing based on planned elimination of all waste and continuous improvement of productivity. It encompasses the successful execution of all manufacturing activities required to produce a final product, from design engineering to delivery and including all stages of conversion from raw material onward. The primary elements include

1.      having only the required inventory when needed;

2.      to improve quality to zero defects;

3.      to reduce lead time by reducing setup times, queue lengths and lot sizes;

4.      to incrementally revise the operations themselves; and

5.      to accomplish these things at minimum cost."

The basic essence of JIT has been implemented to the new “continuous improvement” or “lean manufacturing” wave in the industry today. The primary objective in implementing JIT to a production facility is to obtain a competitive advantage and increased productivity by eliminating the following seven types of wastes:

Waste from overproduction Excess Transportation Excess Inventory Waiting Time Processing Waste Wasted Motion Waste from Production Defects

            In applying these simple concepts, a company can realize monetary savings. The use of statistical process control helps assure that the outcome of production is consistently met with desired results.

o   Single Minute Exchange of Dies (SMED)

SMED was developed in order : ‘to reduce the fixed cost associated with the setup and changeover of dies”. It provides a rapid and efficient way of converting a manufacturing process from running the current product to running the next product. This rapid changeover is key to reducing production lot sizes and thereby improving flow. This concept is especially beneficial as it allows the manufacturing system to quickly adjust to engineering design changes with very little costs. In addition, SMED allows for higher machine utilization and in turn results in higher productivity.

Dr. Shigeo’s approach to developing the SMED concept was to isolate and identify the setup time as two entities: internal setup time and external setup time. According to him,

a simple approach to achieving a quick setup and changeover of the dies can be done in

the following steps:

Ø  Separating internal and external setup as it is existing

Ø  Converting internal to external setup

Ø  Streamlining all aspects of the setup operation

*Internal setup is activity which is done when machine has to be off

*External setup is activity that can be done when machine is on and producing.

Many companies that conduct stamping operations in a manufacturing environment have found success by implementing this principle into their existing improvement programs.

o   Zero Quality Control (poka yoke)

Dr. Shigeo Shingo’s Zero Quality Control (ZQC) techniques make use of the following engineering principles:

ü  100 percent inspections done at the source instead of sampling inspections

ü  Immediate feedback from successive quality checks and self checks

ü  Poka-yoke designed manufacturing devices

The Zero Quality Control concepts are based on a theoretically ideal scenario. However, by using these principles and concepts, quality improvements can be made. Dr. Shigeo’s basic idea was to implement mistake-proofing devices in the assembly line to eliminate the possibility of defective operations. In addition, his emphasis on targeting the root cause of defect (source defect) whenever a defect occurs, virtually eliminates the need for statistical process control.

Although Dr. Shigeo realized that statistical quality control could aid in elimination of defects, he argued that by using sound manufacturing and process engineering practices, defects could be removed from processes without the use of many statistical tools used in most quality control techniques

Dr. Shigeo Shingo Quotes :

ü  “The most dangerous kind of waste is the waste we do not recognize.”

ü  “We have to grasp not only the Know-How but also ‘Know Why’”, if we want to master the Toyota Production System”

ü  “When you buy bananas all you want is the fruit not the skin, but you have to pay for the skin also. It is a waste. And you the customer should not have to pay for the waste”

ü  “A relentless barrage of ‘why’s’ is the best way to prepare your mind to pierce the clouded veil of thinking caused by the status quo. Use it often”

ü   “Improvement usually means doing something that we have never done before”

ü  “The best approach is to dig out and eliminate problems where they are assumed not to exist.”

ü  “Are you too busy for improvement? Frequently, I am rebuffed by people who say they are too busy and have no time for such activities. I make it a point to respond by telling people, look, you’ll stop being busy either when you die or when the company goes bankrupt.”

Conclusion

Dr. Shingo Shigeo was perhaps the greatest contributor to modern manufacturing practices.