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Russia (bbabo.net), - Now 129 Sverdlovsk enterprises participate in the national project "Labor Productivity". There are only 11 from the construction industry so far, all the more valuable is their experience. Director of Izomax RUS Albert Gainulin, expert of the Regional Competence Center (RCC) Ksenia Shmeleva and General Director of the Fund for Technological Development of Industry of the Sverdlovsk Region Alexander Kazakov spoke about the specifics of introducing lean technologies in the construction industry.

The housing market has been booming for the past two years. At the same time, selling prices for building materials rose by 10-60 percent. Why optimize something if the revenue is already so high?

Albert Gainulin: Rising prices for building materials depend not only on the desire of manufacturers to increase profits. The fact is that we partially use imported raw materials, which have risen in price a lot. Domestic too - suppliers refer to additional costs, logistics that have become more complicated due to the pandemic. Today we have to maneuver between the increase in the cost of our products and the growth in demand for it. It is better to increase the output with the available forces by training the staff. In addition, then the employees themselves will be able to train newcomers through mentoring. This helps the national project.

Why do representatives of the construction industry participate in it less than machine builders?

Ksenia Shmeleva: There is a certain prejudice: lean manufacturing is about conveyors, factories, assembly operations. And everyone forgets that this is a universal set of tools. They can be used even in a bakery, even in the manufacture of building materials. On the other hand, it is impossible to mechanically implement the same solutions even at enterprises of the same industry. You need to have intuition and experience in order to find bottlenecks in a particular production.

Alexander Kazakov: Due to the specifics of the Ural region, most of the participants in the national project are industrialists. Representatives of other industries, including construction, are gradually involved. So, now we are discussing the idea of ​​involving builders in the national project - representatives of the entire technological chain, from manufacturers of materials to developers and distributors of finished housing, because the processes are often end-to-end and cyclical. Previously, we could not cover 5-6 enterprises with the project at once, but now the RCC has 19 certified experts, and by the end of summer there will be 26 of them. The goal is to pass 60 pilot streams per year and train 2,000 people. So a comprehensive solution is within our power.

Albert Gainulin: Personally, I learned about the national project from the media. I went to the site, filled out an application - the very next day they called from the RCC. Another three months were spent on preliminary consultations. The staff of the center inspected the site and assured that it is possible to increase productivity by at least 20 percent.

Did you believe it?

Albert Gainulin: Any director thinks he knows everything about his enterprise (laughs), but there is no limit to perfection.

On what basis was the reference site chosen?

Albert Gainulin: There was a low output on the fiberglass production line. It was necessary to reduce downtime, because the longer the client waits, the greater the risk of losing him. To solve this problem, a project team was assembled, which included six people. A whole range of tools was introduced at the site: 5C, information center, autonomous maintenance (separation of the functionality of operators and repairmen), hourly production analysis.

Have all the goals been achieved?

Ksenia Shmeleva: Production was increased by 20 percent, from 339 to 407 square meters of mesh per person per day. The volume of work in progress was reduced from 11 to 9.5 thousand square meters, and the process time - from 68 to 54 hours. Equipment utilization efficiency increased by 17 percent.

What ideas came "from below"?

Ksenia Shmeleva: There were a lot of them. So, when we were timing the working time, we saw that the operators do not have time to stop the line in time when unwinding the slurry in order to sew the ends of the rolls. I had to climb up, get the "escaped" edge - it took up to an hour and a half. And then the chief mechanic says: "Let's install sensors that will signal when there are 20 minutes left until the web is completely unwound."

Another idea suggested by the shift foreman is a laser sensor that helps to apply the label perfectly evenly. Previously, this was done by eye, which is wrong from the point of view of attractiveness and standardization of products.

But it never occurred to anyone before?

Albert Gainulin: When you do routine work every day, your eyes blur and you miss the moments of possible improvements. And then people came from outside and helped to refresh the perception.

Are ordinary employees satisfied that they got into the experiment, or, conversely, did they think that they were being forced to work more for the same salary?

Results are always better when both management and employees are involved in the projectAlbert Gainulin: We must pay tribute to the specialists of the RCC, they start small so as not to cause psychological rejection, and as the first results are obtained, the degree of skepticism decreases. At first, we paid a stimulating salary bonus of up to 15 percent, now we have included it in the salary part. Non-material motivation is also important: they were praised for the initiative, they were awarded certificates, and a competition was held for the best team. The visualization of the results achieved works very well, photos: for example, how it was at the workplace, but how it became when they put things in order.

Thanks to the national project, have you looked at the staff in a new way?

Albert Gainulin: Yes, there are several people in the team who are able to optimize processes on their own.

Ksenia Shmeleva: For example, one operator first quit, but returned two months later and said: "I also want to be a project manager." He has a creative mind, we implemented some ideas just at his suggestion.

Why do you think he came back?

Ksenia Shmeleva: Most likely, he was impressed by how the site and the warehouse have changed, how the transfer of shifts is now taking place, how the attitude of colleagues has changed.

Are there any other ingredients for success?

Ksenia Shmeleva: In my practice, there was one enterprise where the general director did not particularly believe in success, but the team believed. They wanted to prove to management that lean really works. They proved that in fact the results are always higher if both employees and the first person are interested and involved, as at Izomax.

Big business has finally begun to join the national project. Why did he wait two years?

Alexander Kazakov: Medium-sized companies immediately saw this as a way to increase their competitiveness. The larger the business, the more established the market and the less willing to take risks. Now the base has been developed: in the Sverdlovsk region, 76 pilot streams have been implemented in various industries, and this has become a decisive factor for those who have doubts. Moreover, at large enterprises, experts can take not one, but two streams at once, in addition, analyze marketing or logistics as a bonus. The first such project will be completed in the spring in Rezh. I think 2-4 more applications will be approved this year.

In 2021, the RCC implemented a pilot flow in the office for the first time. In what area?

Alexander Kazakov: In transport logistics - transportation of containers from China.

Previously, they sent an application abroad, two days later they received an answer "accepted", then another 14 days they waited - bookings (advance booking. - Approx. ed.) on the ship. The analysis showed that the bottleneck is just the queue for booking. We found a way out - renting a vessel. It's cheaper than buying a booking. In addition, there was no need to take an additional two specialists. The expected effect is about eight million rubles. We are going to replicate the experience gained.

Let's say a lot of warehouse logistics and office activities in trade. This industry got into the national project only a year ago, now the RCC has 6-7 such enterprises in operation - these are not chains, but rather shops with their own mini-workshop. We are also negotiating with one of the retailers.

Why do companies join the national project?

Alexander Kazakov: Motivation is different. There are those who come for free targeted expert support. Someone needs a preferential loan from the Industrial Development Fund at one percent per annum, but already in the course of joint work, top management understands that lean production is not so much a purchase of new equipment as a competent organization.

Help

To join the national project, you must submit an application on the website www.productivity.rf. Representatives of manufacturing industries, agro-industrial complex, transport, construction, trade with an annual revenue of 400 million rubles and a share of foreign capital of no more than 50 percent are considered. Members commit themselves to increasing productivity by five percent per year. At those Sverdlovsk enterprises that have already implemented pilot flows, the output increased by an average of 1.5 times, the speed of the processes - by 40 percent. Stocks of work-in-progress decreased by the same amount. Nine enterprises received concessional loans from the IDF in the amount of 1.3 billion rubles, including those with co-financing from the region.

Russia - Team and creativity