The large group exercises should be held in a training room with sufficient space to hold the tables and chairs for the hands-on participants, and allow room for the conveyance material movers to easily get from table to table. Additional participants may form an observation team, and stand near and around the tables behind the seated operators. Their job is to make observations about the process, the material flow, the occurrence of value-adding and non value-adding activities, and in general work with the facilitator to gather information to be used after the simulation for further discussion of key points. Each of the exercise events is intended to be run in sequence, and the facilitator’s notes key off each other in that sequence. The transition from Taylor’s division of labor principles as demonstrated in the Batch ‘n Queue event, the Work Cell concepts explored in the 1-pc Push followed by the Continuous Flow 1-pc Pull, and the final Lean Flow event are a representation of how the implementation of Lean principles tends to follow these same steps as company’s take small incremental improvement in their design of operations.
The facilitator’s talking points are things to look for, and point out as they happen during the simulation exercise. The facilitator should move about the class room and talk about each process type as it is being simulated, and again after each simulation. The talking points are not all inclusive, but are a start. Adlib your own comments about what is happening, and try to inject humor.
The observers should be taking notes for later discussion. After each event the team should discuss the observed notes and the participant’s learned reactions.
The placemats for each hands-on participant and the kanban squares should be printed and located at the participant tables. They will greatly aide the timing of the exercise and provide a level of comfort for hesitant participants. Do not run the exercise without them. Feel free to edit them with your company’s own logo. And of course, you should customize the exercises to include any of your company’s process methods you wish to emphasize.
The Deluxe Kit comes with the Lean Principles Training Guide: Learning to See the Waste. On it you will find forms and instruction for the 10-Second Test and the 15-Minute Observation. They provide an excellent method for teaching your employees to develop lean eyes, and work well with the simulation exercises.