Reflection -Visualization

Challenge  Having an environmentally friendly process is top priority for every modern production unit. In the iron  and steel industry, the operational context is extremely hard and aggressive with machinery and its  components. In this context, oil leakage from damaged dynamic oil systems turns out to be one of the  main problems that needs to be kept under control. To track the impact of each piece of equipment, it is  a common practice using a ratio that refers to total oil leakage over a period in relation to the total volume  of the circuit. Although the company has standardized procedures, the results over different the facilities  had a high and unacceptable dispersion. This is an issue that has a long history behind it, and corporate  leaders have failed to resolve so far. During the annual maintenance convention, as one of their work  sessions, I was appointed to coordinate a group of ten facilities maintenance managers to propose a plan  that fix the problem and improve the overall result.

Selection  During the convention planning process, maintenance leaders were invited to share their ideas on the  subject, with almost everyone blaming the corporate procedure as incomplete and too general. But this  was not the first procedure in use during all these years, and the results barely improved, making me think  it was more of an excuse than a fact. If this is the case, simply writing a more complete procedure will not  be enough.

The main challenge was to understand why having the same philosophy and maintenance procedures,  the result was so different. The first intuition was that probably there were some hidden and undeclared  problems. To make them emerge in a natural way, I put the visualization technique into practice, asking  each participant to map their actual situation, including relevant tasks, their interactions, key points,  major difficulties, necessary competencies, paperwork, and everything that will help to have a better  understanding of the current reality of each facility. Hopefully, describing the task in a visual and organized  way, it will stimulate their right brain to think creatively, finding nonobvious problems and new  improvement opportunities.

Application  Each participant was allowed twenty minutes to outline on an A3 piece of paper a map of the activities,  their interrelationships, the people and other resources involved, and every detail they considered  relevant, not as they should be, but how they were actually doing them. Subsequently, each participant  had five minutes to briefly explain it to the other team members. After a break, we use a whiteboard to  co-create a shared view of possible best practices and discuss possible ways to close the gap in each region  taking in consideration their peculiarities.

At the end of the day it was very clear that corporate procedures were designed from a purely theoretical  perspective of junior professionals whose limited field experience prevents them from understanding and  including implementation details, which were eventually resolved differently by each region, using their  own criteria and competencies. It was also noted that some appropriate requirements for plants located  in developed countries could not be fully applied in less developed regions. The procedures were  predominantly descriptive (no diagrams, no images) which led to some misunderstanding of scope and  sequence. Training in each region was not standardized.  Last but not least, in some regions environmental

friendly operation was declared as a value by the company, but in practice people do not always  understand how their task impacts the enterprise objective, on the contrary, they often prioritize the task  with an impact on more obvious and rapid problems, such as reliability or cost. The takeaway was a solid  vision of the process and critical aspects to form design criteria for the next step and a better commitment  from leaders in each region as they feel project owners as members of the design team.

Insight  As in The Good Kitchen Story, the customer's initial request was too focused on the management belief  of what the problem was. The visualization tool helped us broaden the definition of the problem and find  hidden issues to address, revealing also human and organizational issues in a more holistic and  comprehensive approach.

When we started the activity, everyone was convinced of their clear understanding of the process and its  key aspects, but this tool showed us that they only had a partial vision, biased by their background, beliefs  and resources. Everyone excelled in some respect, but everyone was missing something.

Having a complete and shared picture of the process, with the main activities, interrelationships and  constrains, make it clear all possible implementation alternatives  and established a common and shared  model to move forward safely and productively in the next design steps. Co-creation gives us not only the  most accurate model possible, but also improves design team engagement and ownership.

Approach  The approach was correct and successful considering the time and circumstances available. Reflecting  now on how it could be improved taking advantage of the concepts and tools learned in this course, I  would complement it using a mental mapping process. To do this, before representatives arrive at the  convention, they must collect additional information, such as images and/or video records of the facilities,  maintenance workshops and the status of hydraulic systems, as well as relevant training data from the  maintenance team and preventive task fulfillment. This will improve the overall understanding of each  region's problem. After having a clear map of the real situation, work with mind mapping, including  additional stakeholders, such as plant manager and environment manager to make sure all patterns and  information emerge. Using sticky notes and working in groups, identify the main clusters and their  relationships will contribute to achieving a better design criteria statement.


Reflection -Visualization Challenge Having an environmentally friendly process is top priority for every modern production unit . In the iron and steel industry , the operational context is extremely hard and aggressive with machinery and its components . In this context , oil leakage from damaged dynamic oil systems turns out to be one of the main problems that needs to be kept under control . To track the impact of each piece of equipment , it is a common practice using a ratio that refers to total oil leakage over a period in relation to the total volume of the circuit . Although the company has standardized procedures , the results over different the facilities had a high and unacceptable dispersion . This is an issue that has a long history behind it , and corporate leaders have failed to resolve so far . During the annual maintenance convention , as one of their work sessions , I was appointed to coordinate a group of ten facilities maintenance managers to propose a plan that fix the problem and improve the overall result . Selection During the convention planning process , maintenance leaders were invited to share their ideas on the subject , with almost everyone blaming the corporate procedure as incomplete and too general . But this was not the first procedure in use during all these years , and the results barely improved , making me think it was more of an excuse than a fact . If this is the case , simply writing a more complete procedure will not be enough . The main challenge was to understand why having the same philosophy and maintenance procedures , the result was so different . The first intuition was that probably there were some hidden and undeclared problems . To make them emerge in a natural way , I put the visualization technique into practice , asking each participant to map their actual situation , including relevant tasks , their interactions , key points , major difficulties , necessary competencies , paperwork , and everything that will help to have a better understanding of the current reality of each facility . Hopefully , describing the task in a visual and organized way , it will stimulate their right brain to think creatively , finding nonobvious problems and new improvement opportunities . Application Each participant was allowed twenty minutes to outline on an A3 piece of paper a map of the activities , their interrelationships , the people and other resources involved , and every detail they considered relevant , not as they should be , but how they were actually doing them . Subsequently , each participant had five minutes to briefly explain it to the other team members . After a break , we use a whiteboard to co - create a shared view of possible best practices and discuss possible ways to close the gap in each region taking in consideration their peculiarities . At the end of the day it was very clear that corporate procedures were designed from a purely theoretical perspective of junior professionals whose limited field experience prevents them from understanding and including implementation details , which were eventually resolved differently by each region , using their own criteria and competencies . It was also noted that some appropriate requirements for plants located in developed countries could not be fully applied in less developed regions . The procedures were predominantly descriptive ( no diagrams , no images ) which led to some misunderstanding of scope and sequence . Training in each region was not standardized . Last but not least , in some regions environmental friendly operation was declared as a value by the company , but in practice people do not always understand how their task impacts the enterprise objective , on the contrary , they often prioritize the task with an impact on more obvious and rapid problems , such as reliability or cost . The takeaway was a solid vision of the process and critical aspects to form design criteria for the next step and a better commitment from leaders in each region as they feel project owners as members of the design team . Insight As in The Good Kitchen Story , the customer 's initial request was too focused on the management belief of what the problem was . The visualization tool helped us broaden the definition of the problem and find hidden issues to address , revealing also human and organizational issues in a more holistic and comprehensive approach . When we started the activity , everyone was convinced of their clear understanding of the process and its key aspects , but this tool showed us that they only had a partial vision , biased by their background , beliefs and resources . Everyone excelled in some respect , but everyone was missing something . Having a complete and shared picture of the process , with the main activities , interrelationships and constrains , make it clear all possible implementation alternatives and established a common and shared model to move forward safely and productively in the next design steps . Co - creation gives us not only the most accurate model possible , but also improves design team engagement and ownership . Approach The approach was correct and successful considering the time and circumstances available . Reflecting now on how it could be improved taking advantage of the concepts and tools learned in this course , I would complement it using a mental mapping process . To do this , before representatives arrive at the convention , they must collect additional information , such as images and/or video records of the facilities , maintenance workshops and the status of hydraulic systems , as well as relevant training data from the maintenance team and preventive task fulfillment . This will improve the overall understanding of each region 's problem . After having a clear map of the real situation , work with mind mapping , including additional stakeholders , such as plant manager and environment manager to make sure all patterns and information emerge . Using sticky notes and working in groups , identify the main clusters and their relationships will contribute to achieving a better design criteria statement .