Program Description

Designed for managers of engineering, development, and manufacturing looking for radical improvement in the design of lean supply chains, facilities, value streams, right-sized equipment, processes, products and services.

Short for Production Preparation Process, 3P is all about rapidly designing product and production processes to ensure capability, built-in quality, reliability, and flow-takt-pull. Rather than modifying an existing process, 3P helps you to meet business and customer requirements by starting with a clean development slate.

3P often yields results that qualify as competitive advantages. It is not uncommon for 3P to help achieve 80-90% reduction in new product and process lead-time and overall capital costs while increasing productivity, delivery, performance, and financial returns by those same percentages.

3P brings together a cross-functional team, which can include employees, suppliers, customers, and third party technical resources, to experiment with design, mock-ups, and simulations. This process allows the team to develop new methods, products, and processes to meet new business case concepts and target costs. 3P is a dynamic methodology that allows you to achieve kaikaku — radical improvement.

You can leverage it in the design of Lean supply chains, facilities, value streams, right-sized equipment, processes, products, and services to help you achieve giant competitive leaps forward and become a game changer in your industry.

Created to teach a process for rapidly designing (or redesigning) product and production processes to ensure capability and build in quality, reliability, and flow-takt-pull.

Curriculum

In the program’s first day you will participate in presentations, discussions, and exercises that explain the 3P process. You will also meet with team members of a live 3P project.

By the end of this first day, you will have gained a solid conceptual understanding
of the underlying theory of 3P, why the methodology works, and the processes used.

With a solid grasp of the inner workings of the 3P process, days two through four will
have you assume the role of a 3P team member and take part in a simulated 3P project.

You will also visit a 3P project site, where you will see the process in action, tour the moonshine shop, and talk to 3P team leaders and members.

Hands-on application of the techniques covered in class will wrap up the week’s activities. You will leave this event with a deep understanding of the 3P process and be ready to support a 3P project in your company.

Tuesday 8am-5pm

  • 3P Scalability
  • Prerequisite skills overview
  • 3P Focus: Product/Process/Both –
  • 3P Mechanics
  • Design Innovation Tools & Techniques
  • 3P Project Management
  • Creating the Oobeya (War) room
  • 3P Roadmap
  • Discussion with RH Sheppard team members
  • Homework assignment

Wednesday 8am-5pm

  • 3P Case Study Homework Review
  • 3P Simulation Exercise
  • 3P Project Planning
  • Presentation

Thursday 8am-5pm

  • Tour & Facilitated Discussion with 3P Project team
  • Hands on application of 3P techniques

Friday 8am-12pm

  • Hands on application of 3P techniques (continued)

 

Note: All registrant applications will be evaluated for acceptance into the program.

In this program you will learn:

  • The concept of kaikaku
  • How 3P differs from kaizen and when to use each
  • The 3P project deployment model
  • 3P techniques such as the 7-ways, mind mapping, moonshining,
    rapid prototyping
  • How to conceptualize, develop, validate, and deploy radical improvement

“Well thought out, well organized, management stayed involved and encouraged the class.”
Brian Cessna – Area Supervisor – R.H. Sheppard Inc.

“Intense but fun learning experience. Host plant very accommodating and lots of scope
for 3P projects.”
Andrew Argent – CI Implementation Engineer – Carl Zeiss Microscopy

“Very good overview of 3P methodology with attention to progressive steps plus
hands-on exposure to current 3P projects.”
John Patram – Senior Industrial Engineer – Moen Inc.

“Very well-organized classroom activities. I clearly understood the verbal topics.
The host plant & people were great.”
Cary Brown – Advanced Mfg. Engineering Manager – Bretford Manufacturing

“The instruction was focused and very insightful. Our host plant was very accommodating and showed real commitment to the 3P process.”
Shane Mize – Manufacturing Engineer – Dentsply Intl.

“Very impressed with certification process and the plant. Event was very enlightening
and team oriented. The plant was very hospitable and educational.”
Chris Nichols – Continuous Improvement Industrial Engineer – Meggitt Polymers & Composites

PRODUCTIVITY INC.

Productivity Inc. is a leading consulting and training firm that helps organizations build new capabilities, save money, and grow. We focus on three progressive strategies: Operational Excellence, Innovation Systems and Leadership Development.

Working together, these strategies provide the means to continually refresh a company’s value proposition while making the organizational changes needed for daily improvement and sustainable growth.

We pioneered the implementation of Lean and TPM methodologies in manufacturing in the late 1970s. Since then, we have extended these methodologies across a wide range of industries, including healthcare, finance, and other service industries.

Today, our time-tested management system, motion™ provides organizations with:

  • a uniquely comprehensive approach to implementing Lean across an entire enterprise, incorporating assessment, leadership, and business renewal.
  • a robust process for innovation to develop an organization-wide capability to create new forms of value – reliably, predictably, repeatedly.

More than simply a Lean consulting firm, Productivity Inc. can provide you with a variety of methodologies to keep your enterprise in motion™.

CONTACT US TO BECOME A HOST!

Learn about a 3P Project of a past host, RH Sheppard

The R. H. Sheppard name is recognized around the world as the standard of excellence in the design and manufacture of a variety finely engineered products for the truck, bus, rail, construction, military and recreational vehicle industries.

In 2012, top managers faced a key decision on capital investment. Rather than buy new equipment and clone their current manufacturing line, they decided to innovate. They would design a radically new process that would provide distinct competitive advantage. And with that, a 3P project was born!

In just 16 weeks, a cross-functional team of production, maintenance, and engineering staff learned the 3P methodology, attacked the business problem, mocked up prototypes, ran trials, and made a final recommendation. That solution will allow R.H. Sheppard to manufacture with zero changeovers across 7 different part families, and a growing list of part numbers that currently stands at about 70. The benefits: same-day delivery on any part, 30% capacity increase, at least 50% scrap reduction, reduced future costs for new equipment, and a strong internal capability to perform future 3Ps and to implement advanced lean manufacturing techniques.

Click here to read more about R. H. Sheppard’s 3P project.