Lean Engineering Center at Rybnik: Status After 2 Years - Part 2

The Rybnik Eng Center was reactivated at the beginning of 2008. One of the objectives of this new center is to develop the lean spirit and to directly apply it to the new center. Two years have now passed and these 2 papers give the opportunity to review the current status and to reflect on the lessons learned so far on our lean journey. The 2 papers are structured around people, processes and tools. The first paper focuses on the people, the second one on the processes and the tools. Some great progress has been made in the different areas of application including: - Processes: Some key engineering processes in Testing, CAD, CAE and prototype shop were thoroughly investigated and improved. Especially the quality of the outputs and significant reductions in lead times have been achieved. - Tools and Technologies: Tenneco worked on both aspects, the soft and hard tools. Soft tools are covering visual management which allows a better alignment. This feature was reinforced by a compass system which has been implemented for several years at Tenneco. Organizational learning helped to collect the explicit knowledge in the form of a structured data base and to map it in an intelligent CAD tool, called Knowledge Based Engineering(KBME). A systematic standardization of products reinforced this best practice and is directly imbedded in the KBME CAD models. Tacit knowledge is being transferred by several techniques of on the job training. The 2 years experience will be illustrated by some selected examples. It will be shown that the combination of the appropriate people systems, the right processes and the adequate tools lead to the right results. Measurement of efficiency for complex engineering processes like CAE will be presented. Finally some reflections on the impacts of the downturn and the lessons learned from the crisis will be shared.