Assignment 2-ARD Success/Failure

Systems - Fa16

IndM5222 Princ Pract of Lean

Kartheek Mareboina
IndM 5222 14142

Steelcase Inc. Uses Lean Techniques to Improve Product

and Quality

Data Management

Keywords: Heijunka, Keizen, Value Stream Mapping.

Reference:
Bell, S, C., & Orzen, M, A. (2011). Steelcase Inc. Uses Lean Techniques to Improve Product
Data Management and Quality. International Association for Information and Data Quality,
vol.7 Issue 1. Retrieved from: http://iaidq.org/publications/doc2/bell-2011-01.shtml
Summary:
Steelcase Inc., headquartered in Grand Rapids, Michigan, leads the world in office
furniture sales and manufacturing with over US$3 billion in annual revenue. One element of
their success is a wide offering of products, options, and finishes. Supporting this large variety of
selections in the companys portfolio (estimated at over 22 quadrillion variations) creates many
challenges throughout the development cycle. The Product Data Management (PDM) group is
charged with maintaining all of the product information within SAP and other supporting
systems. The challenges became critical when new development projects were delayed because
the data could not be built fast enough PDM had become a product development bottleneck.
In 2002, the chief information officer (CIO) appointed a new leadership team that
recognized the potential to apply Lean concepts from manufacturing to solve problems in the
PDM office processes. The product data responsibilities were originally fragmented across
several departments which reported to separate leaders. Then, during a Lean workshop in the
spring of 2003, steps of the new product development process were posted on a large conference
room wall. The wall, littered with hundreds of supporting documents, showed the complexity of
the current state, evidence of rework estimated at 50 percent, and numerous handoffs resulting in
delays while people waited for information.
One initial kaizen quickly improved the data building of customer service parts, and
another addressed the speed and efficiency of creating data for a new product that was being
designed. Initial kaizen experiments were designed to avoid batch processing by creating crossfunctional teams, enabling work to flow across functional boundaries. Using the value stream
map, handoffs were analyzed, and many were eliminated by changing work responsibilities or
placing workers in closer proximity. In May 2004, the PDM group restructured to better support
the business, dividing into five teams to align with the business categories of seating, furniture,
work tools, wood, and small business furniture. These new PDM teams each supported the entire
product development process for their category, and management accepted new roles in
managing across functions instead of by expertise.
Application Of LSS

Assignment 2-ARD Success/Failure

Systems - Fa16

IndM5222 Princ Pract of Lean

Additional kaizens focused on data quality at their source. The teams created a checklist
for data readiness, determining the point in the product development life cycle when data should
be loaded into the system based on the accuracy of the information provided by the business
category. A new role, titled the information funnel, now exists on each of the five category data
teams. Initially, all product development projects were scheduled in batch mode, and the
recurring three-month deadline created a predictable and dreaded pinch point. Now the team
creates data as soon as they are ready, and downstream processes, such as catalog creation and
planning symbols (used by architects to place furniture in office layouts), naturally flow in
sequence afterward, leveling the demand and workload. PDM has reduced their cycle time by 33
percent, delivering updates at a frequency of two months instead of three.
In 2008, the teams turned their attention to the process of building the catalog data. The
Steelcase product offering is cataloged in over 40 documents, each several hundred pages in
length. Imagine a shelf of encyclopedias from A to Z; this resembles the row of catalogs. They
exist in both paper (printed annually) and electronic media (updated bimonthly). The large
quantities of furniture images, product descriptions, and pricing in these catalogs are updated and
manually synchronized with several other data sources, such as enterprise resource planning
(ERP), catalog data, and a catalog-authoring tool (manual integration waste is on the list for a
future kaizen).
To streamline this process, the teams borrowed the concept of a visual heijunka schedule
from the manufacturing plants, tracking the progression of work through catalog building and
releasing catalog sections to printing only when they are ready. With the
perfected heijunka board in place, the catalog production process flows more smoothly, speed
and efficiency have increased dramatically, and all of the external work has returned in-house,
bringing savings to the bottom line.
Critique:
From the above Case study I came to know the actual success period and implementation
process of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) in the practical world. Especially the application of the tools of
LSS in a big company like Steelcase Inc. is very important and it gives confidence for future
developers too. The successive application of tools are explained theoretically and a total
bottom-line savings of over US$3 million just within the PDM group is an initiatives. Also the
PDM bottleneck removal leads to new product development. Besides these savings, all key
performance scaled the team to become a model for Lean Transformation in their Information
Technology and overall Steelcase.

Application Of LSS