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Vol 31 - No 06 - September 2005 Branch news : London & Southern - Paper, Bricks, Balls and String Twenty five curious people filled the training room at the EEF South offices in Hook on 8th June for the second Business Games evening arranged by the London and Southern Branch. Once again Patrick Lee of EEF, this time ably assisted by David Caddle, took us through a range of games that can be used to graphically demonstrate the benefits of lean operations or to encourage creative thinking when problem solving. Trays of the ubiquitous Lego™ bricks spilled out across the room as the group tried and failed to ‘beat the clock’ in what was billed as the “chaos round”. This cleverly contrived game rapidly demonstrates the shortcomings of traditional manufacturing techniques. Work piled up in one place while elsewhere workers idled away their time waiting for something to do. One person doing more waiting than most was the customer, who vainly anticipated the first delivery of goods from the factory. Shortage of time prevented us from attempting more than two rounds of the game, so the gradual improvements that are normally made with each round were replaced by a complete restructuring of the factory and its operations. Gone at a stroke were many of the seven wastes. To be replaced by a slick, one piece flow, cell manufacturing process, which was totally under control. Result - a delighted customer who then placed additional orders, so we were able to employ all the staff who had found themselves as bystanders in this last round. If only real life was so easy! Patrick was at pains to stress that it is not just manufacturing processes that can gain from the techniques, but also many office activities as well. The group then paired up to be fitted with interlocking string ‘handcuffs’ which they had to un-tangle without letting go. The message this time was “if you can’t see the answer it doesn’t mean there isn’t one”. It required some lateral thinking to solve this (unless of course you knew the answer!) Juggling balls then appeared and the group tried to do some rapid problem solving to improve their performance on the task, which was to pass the juggling balls around the group in the fastest possible time without dropping them and ensuring that everyone made contact with them. Although some spectacular improvements were made, we failed to beat Patrick’s world record. Finally two teams attempted to get all their team members to put their feet on a sheet of paper. The paper was then halved, and halved again and again. There were some interesting poses and some pretty close networking needed to solve this one along with some crazy ideas! The group retired to enjoy the buffet supper provided by EEF South. A large number of business cards were seen changing hands as people took advantage of the chance to network – surely one of the real benefits of membership and of attending branch events. London and Southern has a busy programme planned throughout the year, including visit, talks and learning experiences. If you haven’t already joined us, please come along. If we have put on something you are interested in why not let the Committee know through HQ, or even better, host an event yourself. Thanks to Patrick and David and EEF South for a great evening. Frank Wright, FIOM Related Topics:
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