The Implementation Stage (Kaizen)

The six to eight Situations-at-a-Glance are the feedstock for the “Implementation Stage.”

All teams selected to address each of the Situations-at-a-Glance and Purdue EPC^OM consultants meet to review the selected situations, receive training on advanced principles, means and methods. This meeting will be facilitated by executives and Purdue EPC^OM to help the teams to think big and beyond the present. Executives will confirm that each team has the authority to shape their future with appropriate consideration for circumstances and work processes that are driving their undesirable past performance.

Then, there will be a breakout into teams under Spine Team leadership to address the selected situations, with intermittent facilitation by Purdue EPC^OM consultants who may participate in or rotate among teams, helping them remove barriers and continue to think big.

Spine Team Leaders immerse their teams in the situation and “trystorm,” applying the principles, means and methods. (Trystorming is a combination of brainstorming melded with rapid prototyping to determine if ideas will work quickly or not.)

Teams will generate seven potential solutions before proceeding to select one, then combine best aspects and work the interfaces with systems not yet improved (past performance). Teams will prepare one or more solutions to be piloted, including what will be measured. Often, it is only when a team builds something that they are able to fully-conceive and convince others of what will work. Full skill and stakeholder teams will consider specific aspects of the project stages that are being addressed (Front End Engineering, EPC, Commissioning, Startup, Operations, etc.).

Initial focus of the teams will be to remove barriers to implement best practice work processes already validated by past experience of themselves or others. When best practice is in place (but the Situation-at-a-Glance suggest improvement in outcome is still needed and the team will apply principles and improve it. They may generate metrics and criteria for further applied innovation, proceed into rapid prototyping, trystorming and recommend piloting or define a research project to generate data, supporting IT solutions, etc.

Other supporting resources includes shop equipment, materials and broadly-experienced mechanics and software rapid prototype interface developers who are very useful to address a need and quickly derive the ability to demonstrate an effective solution, the full realization of which may require research and development with an academic consultant from Purdue EPC^OM.