Lean Engineering - Best Practice in the Automotive Industry

Working Paper n6, Projet Lean Entreprise

Dr. Patrick Garcia, Tenneco Inc., Germany
Dr. John Drogosz, Optiprise-University of Michigan




This is a working paper.
Please do not not quote, duplicate or distribute without the authors permission.





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Lean Engineering Best Practice in the automotive
industry.
Dr. Patrick Garcia, Tenneco Inc., Germany
Dr. J ohn Drogosz, Optiprise-University of Michigan


1. What is Lean Engineering?

The Toyota Production System (TPS) was developed in the automotive industry over several
decades by Taiichi Ohno (Ohno 1988). Womack, J ones & Roos (1991) benchmarked Toyota
against other automotive manufacturers and found that they were the industry leader in
virtually measure. The successes of companies applying these lean techniques in a
manufacturing environment have been well documented in Becoming Lean (Liker, 1997).
Lead time, quality and productivity improvements on the order of 25-75% are common place
when lean systems are aggressively implemented in traditional manufacturing environments.
More recent studies on Toyotas Product Development System (Morgan 2001) demonstrate
that one of the key enablers of a Lean Production System is a Lean Product & Process
Development System.

Lean Product Development (or Lean Engineering) affects many organizations within an
enterprise including Purchasing, Sales, Finance and Manufacturing. At the center of Product
Development is clearly the Engineering organization. Morgan & Liker (2006) have shown
that 3 elements must be integrated to create a high-performance Product & Process
Development (PPD) System.











Fig. 1: Lean Engineering Principles (Lean product process development)

To create a Lean Product Development System, we must start by creating a Lean process.
Once a Lean process is well defined, we can then implement the correct Lean Tools &
Technology to support the process and develop the skilled people needed to work in the
process. In their book, Morgan & Liker present in detail the techniques used by Toyota to
form a Lean Product & Process System. This paper demonstrates the application of some of
these Lean tools & processes and a methodology to implement a Lean PPD System.
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Fig. 2: Product Development Lead Time

When starting with a typical product development process, the added value part is only a
small percentage of the whole process time, typically less than 10 %. This is due to some
numerous steps which do not bring any value to the process. This waste is what slows
down the development process and uses up key engineering resources. It has been shown that
the lead time of a process is directly related to the part of waste. The longer the lead time is
the more waste there is in the process.
Traditional improvement efforts to reduce the lead time have been to optimize the added
value part by adding or refining some tools like
- high performance CAD systems
- Computation Aided Engineering, etc

Inversely the lean thinking consists of detecting and eliminating the waste. Typical wastes
found in product development include: hand-offs, waiting, external quality enforcement,
reinvention, non-value added transactions, lack of system discipline, arrival & process
variation, system over-utilization, large batches, redundant tasks, stop & go tasks and
unsynchronized concurrent engineering. Continuously attacking these wastes are at the heart
of creating a Lean PPD System; the following sections provide examples of applying Lean
tools & techniques to systematically eliminate waste.




Value Added Time is only a very
small percentage of the Leadtime.
Traditional Cost Savings focused
on only Value Added Items.
LEAN FOCUSES ON NON-
VALUE ADDING ITEMS.
Time
Concept Launch
Waiting
Waiting Approval
Design
change
handoffs
= Non-Value
Added Time
(WASTE)
Packaging Approval
other areas
Job #1 build
Modification
waiting
Modification
Clay model
Define
Product
Design
product
= Value
Added Time
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2. Why Lean Engineering at Tenneco?

In 2004 Tenneco decided to expand the lean concept to the engineering world, especially in
development and advanced engineering activities.

The objectives were multiple. Firstly, Tenneco as a major exhaust system supplier to
automotive manufacturers, needed to face the ever growing demands from OEMs to take
over broader tasks and responsibilities in the development, especially in the fields of

- CAD
- CAE
- Testing

Secondly, Tenneco decided to invest more in the area of research and advanced engineering
in order to get more competitive and attract new customers. The emphasis was on the
development of new products, new methodologies and tools, like CAD, CAE and testing.
The main challenge was to meet these new requirements without getting any additional
resources.

Lean Engineering, also called Lean Product & Process Development was introduced to
solve these contradictory requirements. In a long-term strategy the introduction of Lean
Engineering aims at changing the company culture and finding a new way to make business.

Lean Engineering shows us how to improve our processes in the engineering field with the
aim to be more efficient by minimizing the existing waste in the current processes. Thanks to
the obtained efficiency Tenneco is now in a position to gain manpower from the current
process and finally to use it for high added value activities like research and advanced
engineering.



3. What does Lean Engineering cover at Tenneco?

Lean Engineering covers 4 main domains:

- Processes: engineering processes including CAD, CAE and testing
- Tools: Standardization of product components and norms, knowledge books
- Skilled People: emphasis on training and mentoring.
- Visual management: Obeya room for projects and status boards for support
functions



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4. How is Lean Engineering practiced at Tenneco?

A specific and original methodology has been developed to introduce, run and sustain the
lean activities. The goal is to transfer the lean thinking to the day-to-day work that is done in
each area of the enterprise. This process consists of:

4.1 The identification of key issues to be addressed in the engineering world

A steering committee has the task and responsibility to define the critical areas to improve in
the product development system. Members of this committee are senior managers, customer
team directors and key technical experts. In addition to providing guidance, the committee
reviews the progress on implementation on a monthly basis and if necessary triggers some
corrective actions to accelerate implementation.

4.2 The definition of the selected projects

For each proposed project, a champion and team leader create a scope sheet that details the
content, objectives, timing and resources required for the project. This sheet is submitted to
the steering committee for discussion and approval.

























Fig. 3: Scope Sheet

CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT EVENT SCOPE
Event Description:
3. Technical Reports by the Acoustics Center
Preliminary Objectives:
High level of standardisationand automatisation
Improvedqualityand overview
Link betweencustomer and teamrequirementsand report
topics
Link betweenCAE and acousticsdata
Report database
Customer Requirements (TAKT Time):
to react quicker, moreinformationon onepage
Process Information:
Esprit / ASLM FlowChart
Basic reports
Requirement sheet for reports
Templateoverview.
Event Dates:
Workshop: Oct 11 14 , 2004. Week 42
P. Garcias office, R+D build., room4.14
Champion: Patrick Garcia
Team Leader: D. W.
Co-Leader: B. S.
Team Members
AcousticsTechnicians
AcousticApplicationEngineers
System Integrators
Facilitator: J Drogosz
Consultant: U of M.
Current Situation and Problems:
Number of reportsper year
High effort to createa report
Qualityand informationof reports
critizised
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT EVENT SCOPE
Event Description:
3. Technical Reports by the Acoustics Center
Preliminary Objectives:
High level of standardisationand automatisation
Improvedqualityand overview
Link betweencustomer and teamrequirementsand report
topics
Link betweenCAE and acousticsdata
Report database
Customer Requirements (TAKT Time):
to react quicker, moreinformationon onepage
Process Information:
Esprit / ASLM FlowChart
Basic reports
Requirement sheet for reports
Templateoverview.
Event Dates:
Workshop: Oct 11 14 , 2004. Week 42
P. Garcias office, R+D build., room4.14
Champion: Patrick Garcia
Team Leader: D. W.
Co-Leader: B. S.
Team Members
AcousticsTechnicians
AcousticApplicationEngineers
System Integrators
Team Members
AcousticsTechnicians
AcousticApplicationEngineers
System Integrators
Facilitator: J Drogosz Facilitator: J Drogosz
Consultant: U of M. Consultant: U of M.
Current Situation and Problems:
Number of reportsper year
High effort to createa report
Qualityand informationof reports
critizised
Current Situation and Problems:
Number of reportsper year
High effort to createa report
Qualityand informationof reports
critizised
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Most projects consist of a cross-functional team of typically 5 7 persons led by the project
leader who reports to the champion.


4.3 Lean PPD-training program

An in-depth 5-day Lean PPD course was conducted by the University of Michigan for key
personnel who were tasked to drive implementation of Lean Engineering. In addition,
training and awareness was done at 2 additional levels:
- a 1-day-executive-program for managers
- a -day-program for all employees

More than 300 persons were trained within 15 months




Fig 4: photo; Training class




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4.4 Lean Implementation

Lean project implementation generally last between 6 months and not more than 9 months.
They are divided into 3 main phases:

Phase 1: Lean Event

Phase 1 starts with a 4-day-on-site-workshop (Lean Event) during which the participants go
to the place where the work is done, so called Gemba , to collect the required data on the
current process and identify the wastes by creating a current state map. In a second step they
define the future state map that incorporates lean tools and techniques to reduce the waste. In
the third step, an action plan is created to close the gap between the current and the future
state maps. The team then starts to work on implementation immediately during the
workshop for 1 2 days. By the end of the workshop, the new process is documented and
metrics are established that will be tracked in upcoming months as implementation is
completed. Several workshops are typically run in parallel and supported by a Lean Sensei to
help guide and challenge the groups through the process.
























Fig 5: Flow of Lean Event


At the end of these 4 introductory days the results are presented to the Senior Management.
Who is the Customer?
Current State
Future State
Implementation Plan
Do-It!
Boundaries of business process
What is value add to customer?
Measureable objectives?
Process steps
Process flow
Identify Value-Add and Non-Value Add
Eliminate Non-value Add(NVA)
Challenge NVA-R
Question VA? Why? Why? Why?
Creative Leap
Kaizen Bursts
What? When? Who?
Training & Communication Plan
Evaluate
Data
5 Why?
5S
Standard
Work, etc.
Divide group into teams & implement
as much as possible during week of event
Establish process metrics to track progress
Identify Sustaining Team
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Fig 6: photo; Presentation to the Senior Management



Phase 2: Further implementation.

Weekly team meetings are held by the team leader to ensure that the implementation plan is
properly running. Furthermore the progress and the results of each workshop are tracked
monthly in form of a report out. Senior Management and Lean Sensei are actively
participating in these monthly meetings, not only to get an update but also to support critical
issues of the implementation plan if needed.

The current state of the in parallel running workshops is documented and distributed to all
steering committee members. The implementation phase typically lasts between 3 and 6
months.











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Status: 01.09.2005
Nr. Title
Project
leader /
Champion Objectives Metrics
Project-
status % compl Comments
1
FEA Automation
Post processing
Hr.S.
Hr.F.
Optimisation of the computation phase
= reduce lead time
Standardization postprocessing phase
(report formats)
Automatization postprocessing phase
(process)
Computation and post
processing leadtime
Number of reports
80
not communicated
2
Design Process.
(Phase 2)
EDE and Rybnik
Hr.K.
Hr.H.
Building of a supermarket. ( Kanban)
BOS metrics monthly based on input data of
task delegation form
Establish a blueprint of electronical workflow
in SAP. Mapping of the Kanban System.
Value ratio
On-time delivery in %
80
not communicated
3
Standardization of
Products. Mufflers.
Cross sections
(Baffles/Endplate/ho
using) (OE & AM)
Hr.B.
Hr.W.
To obtain an high degree of product
standardization (OE/AM)
Clean up of the Cross sections catalog.
Documentation with plant nomination
Catalog transfer from Intranet to PDM ?
Current process to be described
AM involvement. Common catalog
no's of X-Section
80
not communicated
4
Preparation of
Quotation until CQA
/Gate2
Hr.S.
Hr.D.
Alignment Engineering CC/CS
Team/Manufacturing
Standardization of the whole process
Improvement of data for management decision
Alignment of process to DIN/ISO
On Time Achievement
of Tasks (OTAM)
Meeting Attendance
during Quotation Phase
80
not communicated
5
Optimization of
Quality Matrix for
Manifold Concept
Development
Hr.G.
Hr.S.
To involve less People in Process
To avoid Meetings
To improve Data Exchange and
Information Flow
To avoid useless Design Loops
To avoid non compliant Designs
Readiness of Input Data for KBE Methodology
To make sure that all Guide Lines are involved
Number of QM
100
not communicated
Lean Events Overview Wave2 Feb 05 - Sept 05


Fig 7: Overview of the Lean Activities.
Monthly report to track the progress of each Lean Event



Phase 3: Sustain phase

This is probably the most critical phase. It must be ensured that the new process, the so-
called future state map is actually being consistently used in the day-to-day work. The
metrics must show at least 3 months of consistent results at the targeted levels after the
implementation phase. Once this is achieved, the workshop is officially closed by the
steering committee. It is then the responsibility of the team leader and champion to start the
process all over again by creating a new scope sheet to propose to the steering committee
another project to continuously improve their area of responsibility.

The figure below summarizes the Lean Engineering implementation methodology.

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The following sections provide specific examples of the above process in action.








1. Steering committee for
- Guidance
- Review
- Selection of the key activities
2. Definition of the selected key activities in form of a
standardized Scope Sheet template
3. Training: 5-day course with the support of the University of
Michigan
5. Workshop closed once the metrics meet the targets during 3
months without interruption
Submission
and
approval
Fig 8: Process to identify, define, track and close the Lean Engineering activities
4. Lean Event Workshop
- Phase 1. Start: 4 days supported by the Lean Sensei and
the Senior Management
- Phase 2. Further execution of the implementation plan.
3-6 months with monthly tracking.
- Phase 3. Sustainable phase. 3 months
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5. Case 1: Acoustics Test Report

During the development of an exhaust system the first prototypes need to be tested and the
acoustic performance has to be documented in form of an acoustics report. Typically the tests
are run on a chassis dyno using a vehicle or on an engine dyno and the engineers need the
results as soon as possible so they may continue with their development efforts.

During the Lean Event, the team began with an analysis of the current process by
interviewing more than 15 key people involved throughout the whole process. Based on this
study it was discovered that:
- 2 reports were issued for the same test program. The acoustics engineers used their
own format which was again rewritten by the systems integrator
- For each customer a different format was used!
- High amount of work due to unclear tasks and objectives
- 2 local data supermarkets with redundant information

The current state map below shows these wastes.




Fig 9: Current State Map


Applying some of the lean tools to eliminate the wastes, the team ended up with a future state
map that included the following changes:

- One standardized report to cover the needs of acoustics engineers and the system
integrator. This was done to avoid unnecessary changes due to personnel
requirements.
- 11 -


- This format is to be applied to all the customers. Therefore the number of format
decreased from 7 reports to 1.
- One meeting of all involved people directly after the measurement to clarify all future
tasks. The acoustics engineer leading the meeting is guided by a check list and an
order analysis form to ensure that only needed tasks are performed.
- Central measurement order and measurement report files are stored in a data
supermarket to avoid local data stores
- Online data analysis.




Fig 10: Future State Map

To come to this future state map an implementation was done

The key improvement highlights are
- Alignment of objectives and tasks between the active participants,
acoustics engineers, system integrators and acoustics technicians
- Improved information flow by checklist and detailed measurement order
- Standardized report format
- Standardized test diagram format
- Central data base instead of multiple local databases
- Simultaneous data acquisition and pre-analysis

These improvements are tracked by 2 defined metrics (fig 11)
- the number of report templates from more than 7 to one standard template
- the speed of establishing a report from 19 days to 3 days
and are summarized in one sheet document (fig 12).



Future State Map
day 1 day 2 day 3 day 4 day 5 day 6 day 9 day 10 day 11
RATS: 120min
TIS: 2day
VR: 14%
Measurement Request
Measurement Order Measurement Program Data Revi ew
Addit ion: Timing f or Review
Online Review
RATS: 15min RATS: 290min RATS: 10min
TIS: 60min TIS: 2day TIS: 420min
VR: 25% VR: 35% VR: 2% RATS: 60min
TIS: 0,5day
VR: 29%
Test System Preparati on Measurement Pre-Report Wri ti ng Report 1
based on Checklist wit h
Onl ine Dat a Analysis Collecting Diagrams St andar d Templat es
RATS: 45min RATS: 40min RATS: 3min RATS: 100min
TIS: 60min TIS: 60min TIS: 60min TIS: 2day
VR: 75% VR: 67% VR: 5% VR: 12%
Total Rats 3h
Total TIS 35h
Total VR 8%
SI
day 7 day 8 day 12
AI
MT
1 Week
Report Request
Form
Proj ect-team-
Meeti ng
Def ine
Measurement
SI / AI
P/E/M
# Var iant s
Data
Revi ew wi th
Checkl i st
SI/AI / MT
Acoustic
Report
Database
Measurement
Request
Measurement
Timing
Notification via
E-mail
Acousti c
Revi ew
Def ine Next
Steps
SI / AI
Send Raw
Data as *.pdf
parallel to measurement
- 12 -








Fig 11: Metrics






















Fig 12. Results Summary




Amount of different report forms in use
7
6 6
4
2 2 2
1 1
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Okt 04 Nov04 Dez04 Jan05 Feb 05 Mrz05 Apr 05 Mai 05 Jun05
Target
# of different reports
Overview Report Lead Time / Measurements per Month
12 days
4 days
8 days
5 days
4 days 4 days 4 days
3 days
2 days
0days
5days
10days
15days
20days
25days
Sep04 Okt 04 Nov 04 Dez 04 Jan05 Feb05 Mrz 05 Apr 05 Mai 05 Jun05
0 Meas./Month
5 Meas./Month
10 Meas./Month
15 Meas./Month
20 Meas./Month
25 Meas./Month
30 Meas./Month
Report LeadTime/WorkingDays
Target
Measurement Orders
Reports inDatabase
Amount of different report forms in use
7
6 6
4
2 2 2
1 1
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Okt 04 Nov04 Dez04 Jan05 Feb 05 Mrz05 Apr 05 Mai 05 Jun05
Target
# of different reports
Overview Report Lead Time / Measurements per Month
12 days
4 days
8 days
5 days
4 days 4 days 4 days
3 days
2 days
0days
5days
10days
15days
20days
25days
Sep04 Okt 04 Nov 04 Dez 04 Jan05 Feb05 Mrz 05 Apr 05 Mai 05 Jun05
0 Meas./Month
5 Meas./Month
10 Meas./Month
15 Meas./Month
20 Meas./Month
25 Meas./Month
30 Meas./Month
Report LeadTime/WorkingDays
Target
Measurement Orders
Reports inDatabase
EVENT AREA: Techni cal Reports by the Acousti cs Center EVENT DATES: Oct 11-14, 2004
DRIVER MEASURE PRE-EVENT OBJECTIVE POST-EVENT % IMPROVED
IMPACT ACTIVITIES
(LEAN MFG COUNTERMEASURES)
# report types 7 1 1 86%
# of prel i mi nary report 3 0 0 100%
Data supermarket 7 local 1 central 1 86%
Producti vi ty: Work ti me to create reports 15 h 3 h 4 h 80%
Producti vi ty: Interpretati on ti me of report 3.5 h 60 min 60 min 71%
Lead Ti me: Measurement done to i nternal report done 19 days 3 days 4 days 84,0%
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT EVENT OBJECTIVES / RESULTS SUMMARY
- 13 -


6. Case 2: Standardization of Components

A typical component for exhaust systems is for the muffler cross section. There are several
parameters for a given cross section, they include:
- type: oval round, triangular
- dimensions
- material
- wall thickness

The current state was a non-uniform list of cross sections for original equipment (OEM)
applications and aftermarket (AM) applications.

During 3 workshops of nearly 6 months each we were very successful to

- create a new standard for cross sections for both, OEM and AM
- drastically limit the number of new cross sections by defining a check list and a
process to be fulfilled if a new cross section has to be created.
- set up a cross section database






















Fig 13: Screen Shot; Database





- 14 -


Through the lean workshops, the major improvement was the decrease of the number of
cross sections by 50 % in 3 steps. Some issues related to
- different cross section numeration system for OE and AM
- manufacturing capacity
- quality and ownership of tooling

were also solved. Clearly, by reducing the number of cross-section, the manufacturing plants
will be able to reduce the number of parts and quantities they need to hold in their
supermarkets. In addition, there is less chance of parts being accidentally mixed up by line
operators. Likewise, fewer parts will need to be tracked and warehoused for aftermarket
sales.























Fig 14: Spun Muffler Standardization; Reduction of Cross Sections




7. Conclusions

Lean Engineering has been introduced for nearly 2 years at Tenneco Europe Emission
Control. In total more than 20 workshops of duration of 9 months in average have been
conducted, 300 people educated and more than one third have already gained experience in
implementation.

0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
Q3 2004 Q1 2005 Q2 2005 Q3 2005 Q4 2005 Q1 2006 Q2 2006
preffered run out obsol ete
10
- 15 -


The collected experience shows that the success of such initiative is strongly dependant upon
the following key factors:
- Train and communicate. It is essential to bring the message that lean is about eliminating
the waste and not eliminating the number of heads. As expected the training gives the tools
and techniques necessary to solve problems and implement countermeasures. All people
within the organization need some level of training or at least awareness of lean principles
in order to understand and accept the changes from a traditional to a Lean culture.
Successes must also be communicated to the organization on a regular basis.
- Couple Lean training and workshop implementation. It ensures that what has been learnt
will be applied right away and as a result learning will be retained!
- Track progress and report out on a monthly basis. The sustain phase is the most critical
phase in the lean process. A robust review process with leadership helps to sustain the
gains and continuously improve
- Get support by a professional with great experience (Sensei) They will provide the
necessary guidance to senior management and provide a new perspective to your system.
- Active support of the Senior management. Senior Management must lead by example and
be consistent in their expectations. People will take lean thinking seriously if their
leadership are doing it themselves!
- Involve the people who do the work in the workshops and implementation. People are more
prone to buy-in if they have been part of the process.

After these first 2 years Tenneco-Europe has already seen the following:
- The motivation and moral of our engineering community are higher. The involved
engineers and technicians have the confirmation that they can act on their processes in a
simple and effective manner.
- Beyond the formal lean methodology some key persons are already taking the initiative of
changing the way of doing business and integrating stepwise this continuous improvement
spirit into their departments.
- Some free-up resources are now being used to conduct some additional lean events and
doing other value-added activities like product standardization, CAE and testing activities,
and Knowledge Based Engineering.

A lot of work has been done to date but there is still more before arriving to a truly Lean
Product and Process Development System. Continuing to use the methodology outlined in
this paper, there is no doubt that it will be achieved in the years to come.






- 16 -


REFERENCES
Liker, J . (Editor), 1998, Becoming Lean: Inside Stories of U.S. Manufacturers, Productivity
Press, Portland, Oregon
Morgan, J ., 2001,
Morgan, J ., Liker, J ., 2006, Lean Product and Process Development,
Ohno, T., 1988, The Toyota Production System: Beyond Large Scale Production,
Productivity Press, Oregon
Womack, J . P., Jones, D. and Roos, D., 1991, The Machine That Changed The World,
Harper Perennial.