White paper for IIE 2008 Minneapolis conference

1. Methodology and Tools Supporting
a Continuous Improvement Culture
Didier Rabino
Enterprise Manufacturing Support Manager
Andersen Enterprise
Bayport, Minnesota USA
Abstract
A leader in the window and door industry, Andersen has embarked on establishing a Continuous Improvement
culture. This paper seeks to impart key principles and tools that are being used successfully at Andersen as a guide
for other companies seeking to travel down the same path.
1. Introduction
Continually improving and making things better is a fairly easy concept to grasp but creating a corporate culture that
embodies the discipline and intellectual curiosity necessary for a Continuous Improvement culture takes
commitment and skills to achieve. In this paper an overview of key principles and tools that are being used at
Andersen to drive continuous improvement and make continuous improvement part of the culture will be presented.
2. The Andersen Enterprise
The Andersen Enterprise was created in 1903 by Hans Andersen, a Danish immigrant, who saw an opportunity to
improve the window industry by standardizing the frames of the windows. Since its creation, the company has been
committed to product quality and innovation. In 1904, Andersen was using the assembly line concept to
manufacture windows. That was 9 years before Henry Ford put the automobile on an assembly line in Michigan.
Today, Andersen has 14,000 employees, 16 facilities in the United States and Canada, and manufactures 12 million
windows and doors annually.
The ambition today, like it was at the beginning of the last century, is to continue to provide an exceptional customer
experience. The Andersen Manufacturing System (AMS) has been developed to fulfill this ambition. The AMS is an
adaptation of the Toyota Production System. It is based on a continuous improvement philosophy that always
provides an exceptional customer experience and supports the employees, who are adding value to products and
services.
3. The Andersen Manufacturing System
The philosophy of the Andersen Manufacturing System rests on 4 main elements:
1. Customers always come first. They are the reason for the business. The desire to satisfy their changing needs
is what drives the continuous improvement culture. Every promise to the customer is upheld, whether it is
delivery, quality, or service and, consequently, keeps providing exceptional customer experiences.
2. Continuous improvement is a way of life. An ideal state that consists of zero defects, one piece flow and
100% value added is the driving motivation at the Andersen Enterprise. Continuous Improvement is a principle
that touches everybody everyday. Running the business and improving the business need to be one and the same
thing. In a continuous improvement culture, no distinctions should be made between the two.

2. 3. Our people are our number one resource. For a leader, saying that people are the number one resource
translates into a different way to lead. The people--the number one resource--need to be fully utilized, supported
and, more importantly, developed to reach a higher level of effectiveness. If people are the number one resource
their skills and problem solving capabilities should be continually developed.
4. Everything is grounded back to the floor. There are countless situations where people spend hours in meeting
rooms making hypothesis and decisions when they could have just gone to the floor to observe what is really
happening and make faster and wiser decisions. The secret is to put your self-esteem aside, admit that you do
not know everything that is happening on the floor and go see for yourself.
4. The Recipe for Continuous Improvement
A number of ingredients are essential to the success of a continuous improvement environment. The first step is to
achieve a level of stability. In order to be able to define a standardized way to do the work, stability is needed.
Having standardized work means that the operator is able to repeat the defined set of work elements cycle after
cycle. Only when the process has been stabilized and a standardized way to do the work has been defined, can the
standard be improved. If the standard does not exit, it cannot be improved upon.
In three words, the recipe is Stabilize, then Standardize, and finally Simplify.
4.1 Stabilize
Stabilizing the work process means eliminating interruptions in the work cycle. Every interruption is a problem that
is worth eliminating. Interruptions are the bane of stability. There are 3 types of interruptions that can be highlighted
from the manufacturing floor. They are abnormalities, process design interruptions, and product design variations.
The objective is to eliminate or mitigate as many of these as possible in order to stabilize work processes and
provide a climate for continuous improvement.
Abnormalities. These interruptions are conditions that are unpredictable. They usually happen without warning like
a pothole that suddenly appears in the road. We experience abnormalities through machines, materials, training, and
feedback. Unexpected machine failures and non-conforming materials interrupt the work cycle. Occasionally, and
probably more often than anyone would like to admit, skills or knowledge have not been correctly provided to the
operator. It is easy to understand that, when training is not properly provided, abnormalities can occur. Additionally,
if there is no feedback system in place, the operator may not even know that there was a problem.
Process Design Interruptions. These interruptions are non-cyclical tasks that are designed into the process yet
impede the flow of cyclical work. When operators have to bring components to the station, move finished goods
carts off the line, stop the line to do a changeover, or perform a non-cyclical computer transaction like recording
scrap or closing an order, their work flow has effectively been hindered.
Product Design Variations. The third type of interruption relates to product designs. Customers not only expect
quality but they also want to have choices. In order to satisfy the customer, processes need to accommodate this fact
of life. If the design and development group is very creative, there may be an opportunity to change the design to
minimize or eliminate the variations in work element and work content driven by the product options. That course of
action would be the ideal solution and should always be pursued first.
If the design cannot be changed, there are still a few options available that can minimize the impact of these
variations. Variations could be leveled across the day. That’s what is called mix model leveling. Another alternative
is to balance the multiple design variations across multiple workstations or isolate these variations to a different line
or workbench. Another option is to isolate the variations to a specific station where an additional person is floated
on demand. Stabilizing the work on each and every station is the goal. If this is not possible, accomplishing it on as
many stations as possible would be the next best thing.
Some ways to eliminate interruptions include:

3. Direct Observation. Take the time to watch the process and get in tune with the cycle in order to identify the
interruptions. Remember that “everything is grounded to the floor” and in order to eliminate a problem, you need to
see it.
5 Why. Use the problem solving tool to identify root causes and eliminate them. Do not be satisfied in addressing
only symptoms. Eliminate assumptions and seek to truly understand the problem one step at a time.
Start solving a problem. Problems should be eliminated one at a time. There is no need to waste time prioritizing
which problem should be eliminated first. Instead of overanalyzing which problem should be solved, use direct
observation to identify a problem and then work to eliminate it immediately. Then follow that with another, then
another, and another.
Validate your solutions. It is essential to validate with data that your countermeasure is permanent and that the
problem will never ever happen again.
4.2 Standardize
After some stability has been brought to the work by eliminating, minimizing, or isolating interruptions,
standardizing the work can commence.
Standardized Work is an agreed-upon set of tasks resulting in the best sequence of human motion and machine
achieving the best quality output in the safest manner with the least labor, space, inventory and equipment that is
continually improved. Standardized work is about agreement, achieving better results and continuously challenging
the way the work is done.
At Andersen, a four step approach is followed to implement standardized work.
Develop. The development step comes first. Most of the time, video recordings are used. Two or three operators are
videotaped performing at the same station. These operators analyze the videos and define the sequence of tasks they
think is the best at that given time. Then engineers validate the work so that quality and safety are not compromised.
This sequence is transferred to a Standardized Work document.
Implement. To implement standardized work, the crew is informed and the standardized work document is posted
at the work station.
Monitor. As soon as the document is posted the monitoring process starts. The operators are expected to monitor
their process during each cycle. The leader of the area monitors each station at least once a week. The objective of
monitoring standardized work is to identify and eliminate abnormal conditions preventing the operator from
following standardized work. As stated earlier in this paper, these abnormal conditions include equipment, material,
training, and feedback issues.
Improve. The last step is to continuously challenge the current standardized work and find a better way to do that
work.
Standardized Work is not only a concept but also a means to identify, reduce, and eliminate variation. There are a
number of misconceptions surrounding Standardized Work.
Sometimes, Standardized Work is confused with the Standardized Work document that is posted. Standardized
Work is the repeatable, cyclical process performed by the operator. The Standardized Work document is an auditing
tool for the monitoring of obstacles that impede the operator’s ability to freely do the cyclical process. To have
Standardized Work is to have an agreed-upon set of tasks resulting in the best sequence of human motion and
machine. If you mistakenly think that you have succeeded in accomplishing Standardized Work by posting the
document and doing nothing else, you will have shortchanged the continuous improvement process and merely
installed expensive wallpaper.

4. Another misconception about Standardized Work is that an employee can study a Standardized Work document and
then do the job. Standardized Work documentation is not intended to be a cure-all training tool. Again, it is intended
as a high-level auditing tool for monitoring Standardized Work adherence and eliminating interruptions.
While the document is used to monitor adherence, Standardized Work is not a policing tool that’s used to hold
people accountable. It is a concept used to identify and eliminate variations and to continuously strive for perfection
(zero defect, 100% value added work and one piece flow).
The monitoring of Standardized Work is primarily accomplished by the plant leadership. Standardized work brings
a lot of accountability regarding leadership. The posting of this document means that the leader fully intends to
support the operator who is doing the work. In other words, the leader will help the operators by removing the
abnormal conditions. If the plant leadership is not ready to do that, they should not take this step. Moving forward
would only undermine their credibility and waste people’s time in useless paperwork.
4.3 Simplify
The 4th Rule described by Steve Spear and Kent Bowen in their white paper, Decoding the DNA of the Toyota
Production System [1], says, “Any improvement must be made in accordance with the scientific method, under the
guidance of a teacher, at the lowest possible level in the organization.” This rule is very powerful. Three elements
are mentioned in this rule regarding continuous improvement.
The guidance of the teacher. One of the roles of the leader is as a teacher. If the operators are the number one
resource, the leader should make sure he or she is fully developing and making use of this resource. The leaders are
improving the operators’ skills, developing their capability to resolve problems, and finding opportunities for
improvement.
The lowest possible level of the organization. If the operator on the floor is able to make an improvement, this
improvement needs to be made by the operator. This is how ownership is transferred to the operators and how
people continue to be developed.
The use of the scientific method to make improvement. The scientific method consists of stating a hypothesis,
testing it, and confirming or disapproving that hypothesis. Testing a hypothesis is called experimentation. Change
should always be structured as a set of experiments. The problem solving method used at Andersen that follows the
scientific method approach is Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA).
PDCA is a very powerful methodology inherited from Deming. It is very easy to apply, but unfortunately it is not
frequently utilized. Instead, people often take shortcuts in problem solving and miss an opportunity to eliminate a
problem and learn from their experience. It is important when conducting a PDCA to have a deep understanding of
what is happening. The best way to do that is to personally witness the situation or the problem. Make sure that your
perceived knowledge does not make you skip this step and again pass over an opportunity to improve the process
and learn. Once, and only when, you deeply understand the situation you can start developing some ideas and their
expected results. Follow up by testing the ideas and measuring the results. This measurement is what will distinguish
a change from an improvement. Check the gap between the expected and actual results and identify where the gaps
are originating. Based on what you learned, the last step is to decide to conduct another experiment or adopt the
change and modify the standardized work.
5. Tools of Continuous Improvement
A few practical tools used at Andersen to support the continuous improvement culture are Continuous Improvement
Boards and Focus Boards. These two tools use the scientific method and have PDCA built into them.
It is expedient to use these tools within your organization, but more importantly to follow these principles that
support the tools:
• Improve what the internal and external customers value.

5. • Make the tools part of the daily routine. Show commitment in supporting their utilization.
• Start by using these tools to develop employees’ problem solving capabilities.
• Use shop floor evidence and data to validate improvements.
5.1 Continuous Improvement Board
This tool is designed to support quick and easy continuous improvement activities. These are improvement ideas
generated by shop floor employees and implemented by shop floor employees. This activity should be done on a
daily basis. Those areas that have adopted this tool and have a supportive leader achieve a minimum of one idea
implemented per month per employee for every month of the year.
5.2 Focus Board
While the Continuous Improvement board is used for quick and easy improvements, the Focus Board is used for
more complex issues and recurring problems. Based on data, which could be OEE, First Time Quality or lost time,
the employees select one of the biggest issues of the work area. They form a team of 3 or 4 employees and meet
regularly for 15-20 minutes on the shop floor to understand the problem, analyze data that they collect, and to start
experimenting with some ideas. These ideas are tracked on the action plan, along with the expected results.
Progressively, a run chart shows the effectiveness of the ideas and the problem is reduced or eliminated.
6. Conclusions
Once running the business and improving the business become one and the same, we will have achieved a
Continuous Improvement culture. In this paper, key principles of the Continuous Improvement process have been
outlined in three phases. We stabilize by getting chaos out of the process, standardize by agreeing on the best way to
do the work, and, simplify by continuously improving the process using the scientific method with PDCA. Two
tools used in the continuous improvement process are Continuous Improvement Boards and Focus Boards.
Understanding and adhering to the underlying principles:
Improve what the internal and external customers value.
Make the tools part of the daily routine and show commitment in supporting their utilization.
Start by using these tools to develop employees’ problem solving capabilities.
Use shop floor evidence and data to validate improvements.
are primary in importance in the use of the tools. The tools bring visibility in the problem solving methodology and
activity. They allow engagement and discussion of the issues by employees and, therefore, contribute to the
sustainability of the continuous improvement culture.
References
1. Spear, Steven and H. Kent Bowen, September—October, 1999, “Decoding the DNA of the Toyota Production
System,” Harvard Business Review, Reprint 99509.
Biographical Sketch
Didier Rabino is the Manufacturing Services Manager at Andersen Enterprise, Bayport, Minnesota USA where he is
supporting the company through its lean and TPM journey. He has worked in Europe and in the United States for
over 15 years leading and supporting lean transformations and new process implementations. He has attained his
lean experience through working in office furniture, and window and door industries.