Six Sigma Conference

October 20, 2000

Hari Agarwal
President
25416 CRG, #104
Elkhart, IN 46514

Dear Hari:
On behalf of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers and its Board of Directors, I want to sincerely thank you for presenting at Six Sigma Conference held October 11-12, 2000, in Detroit, MI. Your commitment and contribution made this event very informative for the attendees and the Society.

Six Sigma Conference received an overall rating of 3.5 out of a possible 5.0 and your individual ratings 4.5 for content, 4.6 for delivery and 4.3 for visual.

It is through the hard work of individuals such as yourself that this event occured. Thank you for all your time and effort! Enclosed is a full address attendee roster for your use and comments from the evaluations that the attendees filled out.

If the Society can ever be of service to you, please don't hesitate to contact me at (313)271-1500, extension 2106. I enjoyed working with you and look forward to doing so again.

Sincerely,
Colleen Wallace
Program Administrator
Conferencing Division

Below is an Evaluation Example from the conference.

LEAN DEPLOYMENT TRAINING
10-Mar-00

What did you learn?

1. That it takes more than running parts to make a successful company to advance thought process. Not to let old preconceived ideas cloud the way I look at a particular problem or task
2. That Lean training is a must for companies to be competitive in the market
3. A new way to look at our processes. So many things we take for granted because we have always done them one way.
4. For example: all non-value added steps in a job, 5S system-how to organize the extra stuff we have in area and weed through a lot of it.
5. I didn't realize how much waste there was on so many different parts that we manufacture.
6. To look at things different. The process flow chart really taught me the most. I had no idea how many steps was in some of our routines. But after laying it out on paper (visual management) it's easy to see.
7. Flow chart. Never realized how much went into on part (32AA) to get job from dock to dock
8. Mapping material movement, eliminating non-value steps (cards)
9. Overall equipment effectiveness (dock to dock)
10. Identify waste - prepare process M&P, Reduce waste - 5S operational equipment efficiency, Visual Management
11. How wasteful we can be and not know it. Ways to help & teach others to work as a team
12. Alternative ways to approach issues
13. Tools and ideas that produce though process about how & why we do the things everyday in our business
14. The value of tools and how they can help identify waste and inefficiencies
15. I learned different tools to use to help me identify different problem areas. Dock to dock, OEE, 5S, waste
16. How to eliminate waste and how to look at overall efficiency of operations using OEE
17. How to look at our operations to see what needs & could be improved
18. We have a lot of waste. We also have to many processes.
19. How to map a process & determine what is value-added vs. non-value added. How to identify waste utilizing 5S as a tool. What a Kaizen event is & how to utilize. What Visual Management is & how to apply.

How would you apply what you have learned?

1. New jobs, and how we can improve our current operation to make us a front runner in business.
2. Observation of production processes & information gained from workers & supervisors on the floor will lead me to areas which can best benefit from skills learned.
3. To inform other employees about positives about Lean training & how it makes their job easier & better.
4. In my area the 5S system needs to be used.
5. Get more people involved in groups and discuss the different problems that we have.
6. I have already started applying. I had a meeting this past Monday with all of my operators and asked them for their input on making changeovers more efficient. We have also started 5S on my presses.
7. First do it myself, then explain to others
8. Mistake proofing, incorporate reliability in processes, improve setup times, eliminate waste, improve OEE
9. Show my department what I think could be done. Less moves, do things right first time.
10. Select process with potential for savings due to waste & inefficiency - Perform the appropriate studies and implement the tools for improvement.
11. Go out on the floor and implement the procedures & teach others
12. I am going to gather people that has or have not had this training to give me different angles of how to approach issues.
13. Helping others to look at operations with lean functions being priority - then working or improvement
14. By applying 5S to make workspace and parts inventory I will be able to control my inventory and minimize the amount on-hand. I will refine my Visual Management system to keep my department/company productive and efficient.
15. These tools will help me and my assistants on what areas to focus on.
16. By gathering the necessary tools and showing where the company can eliminate waste
17. Cut out non-value added steps, cut out waste and always be looking for a better, more efficient way to do our processes.
18. I would have to talk with people that would be involved and explain what the goals are and the best way to achieve them.
19. Could make a matrix of jobs & put teams in-place to systematically map processes. Use computer to keep track. Identify areas in need of improvement in my area and eliminate waste. Use cross-functional teams & video tapes to improve die changes. Standardize Visual Management needs with one press & apply to the rest.

What did you like?

1. The hands-on training, and the open attitude of class
2. Your information was usually backing up with real life experiences, you were able to give substance to the information you were teaching.
3. I didn't realize how we was doing the right things wrong for so long.
4. I felt it was very interesting and enjoyed the class. The book "Joe's Garage" was good.
5. I liked discussing problems that I think we have and getting other people's ideas.
6. I really enjoyed most of the material. Hari is a good instructor, and over the past few weeks I have gained a lot of respect for him.
7. Visual aids. Sense of humor in class & trainer.
8. Everything
9. I thought the training was effecting because you kept it light and informal - moved fast
10. The food
11. I liked being able to hear of different and easier ways to accomplish the same thing that I may be struggling with now.
12. Learning ways to analyze situations
13. The open discussions and the knowledgeable responses to our problem areas
14. Showing how to identify areas of waste, improper methods, better ways of doing things.
15. Hands-on involvement
16. To be able to see how the whole operation works from start to finish
17. The presentation
18. Presentation was good. Real life examples

What can I do to improve the training?

1. Involve a larger cross section of people
2. Not sure. Thought you did a good job.
3. Not much
4. We need to make sure we follow-up on our projects that we started
5. More work out on the floor. Let Hari point things to us, the day we spent out on the floor was very interesting.
6. Give to all Group Leaders and A.G.L.'s
7. Good job, informative and made interesting
8. No problem with the presentation as is.
9. More in-class time to do the projects
10. Lengthen duration of training, but shorten the daily class times
11. Training was very good. More donuts.
12. More hands-on involvement.
13. Take a tour and see where these improvements have been done so you have visible proof it can be done
14. Make it longer
15. Training sessions were allowed to trail off on tangents too often

What are the barriers to implement what we have learned?

1. Having approval and endorsement, or commitment from upper management, that this is what we want to do, at the start of training session.
2. Making people on the floor, as well as, middle management understand the necessity of doing these projects associated with Lean.
3. Education of the people so they know that you are trying to help them not pointing fingers at them
4. understanding from our management where they want us to go with this. Time.
5. Trying to get upper management to listen to ideas that we have from our groups.
6. Everyone has to do it, people can make it or break it.
7. Time. Convincing upper management.
8. Once you start implementing changes, you have to plan, do, CHECK things. Seem to go back to the old way. The help you need to make change cannot be put off. We need 100% support in timely manner. Allotted time to focus on Lean projects.
9. Management
10. Unwillingness or resistance to change
11. Being aloud to take the time to communicate and be listened to and not just heard. Getting people to FOLLOW-UP on suggestions.
12. Time.
13. Lack of "Buy IN" to program. Look at attendance sheets. This was stated as all or none when we were asked to participate.
14. Time and old habits
15. Having enough time and overcoming old habits.
16. Time and support
17. Power and cooperation and others not being educated none that cannot be resolved.
18. Some of supervision have not been through the training and still want things done the way it has always been, also motivating the employees to do this and follow through with it.
19. Working the time into normal schedule to properly utilize tools.