Winning the 6s Plug Game
Recently the team at Parvalux took part in the 6S Plug Game, a lean manufacturing simulation game which demonstrates how organization of the workspace and components can speed up any process and therefore increase productivity.
This exercise was designed to prepare the team for the roll-out of the 6S Lean Management System which will utilize a collection of tools and techniques to shorten the timeline between the placing of a customer order and the delivery by the elimination of waste.
It is estimated that as much as 80% of the waste within a manufacturing organization can be found on the factory floor and comprises seven key areas:
- Unnecessary and excessive movement of goods and information.
- Inefficiencies being hidden by increased inventory.
- Poor layout leading to unnecessary staff movement.
- Time delay between finishing one process and the next.
- Overproduction as a result of a ‘just in case’ mindset.
- A lack of optimization of the process leading to over-processing, double handling and inefficiencies.
- Lack of planning leading to resource issues, late deliveries and therefore a poor customer experience.
- Lack of training or a misuse of skills.
The 6S Plug Game is designed to highlight these seven areas of waste and how they can affect teamwork and productivity.
The team didn’t really know what to expect from the experience and Jamie Matthews, Production Operative at Parvalux believed, ‘the expectations were quite high as a company and employee, working as a team with different people from different units I had never met before.’
Kirsty Harding, Inspection Coordinator at Parvalux was excited to get started as she had, ‘heard that it was a fun game and wanted to know more about 6S.’
What is the 6S Plug Game?
So, what is the 6S plug game? It is essentially building a plug as a team in five repetitive steps:
- Insert the three pins into the correct slots
- Fit the fuse into the plug
- Screw the cable grip into place
- Screw the top onto the plug
- Put the cardboard instruction in place
The game is played in teams of five, with each operator in charge of one task and when they are finished they pass their batch of plugs over to the next member of the team. The game was played in three rounds, with the first round starting with a batch of five completed and passed on, then in round two, one plug is completed and passed to the next operator.
During February and March, the Parvalux team took part in The Plug Game, and split into teams. The session was 90 minutes long and started with a presentation on the benefits of 6S Lean Management before we played the game.
The winning team, Plugs R Us, completed the task in the fastest time of three minutes nine seconds.
What We Learned
After the game Kirsty said she thought it ‘was an informative and fun game to play to understand and learn about 6S which will definitely improve the efficiency in the new factory and help to improve morale in a less stressful environment.’
Jamie went away with new skills and he felt he had improved ‘time management which would help in my particular job role. It was a really good, fun experience and I would like to see more things like this happening.’
Working as a team and optimizing the workspace ensured that the five elements of putting a plug together were completed quickly and efficiently and as an overarching benefit to Parvalux Jamie added, ‘it will help massively to achieve goals and improve time management.’
With the team on board, the rollout of the 6S Lean Management System will be easier and will lead to a much-improved manufacturing process. If you would like to be part of the Parvalux team at this exciting time then head over to our careers page.
