Flexpipe Blog

Now that you have determined the people most suited to building your Flexpipe structures, here's a list to help you choose the perfect candidate according to their primary personality traits.

The factor which will most influence the success of your project is the personality of the individual or the team who is assembling the structure. Please note that there's no precise order to this list. The more characteristics the chosen assembler has amongst it, the higher your project's success rate!

Haven't yet chosen the best people to assemble your modular system? First, take a moment to read our article on eight most likely people for an in-house assembly.

Estimated reading time: 3 min 20 sec.

 
1 - Be Creative
Customized modular structures; a significant asset for efficiency

Modular systems, such as Flexpipe, mainly need creative assemblers to be fully effective. This attribute is most useful during kaizen events, but also when creating custom-made structures.

Remember that tube and joint systems are used to build all kinds of structures suited to various needs. The goal is to create a structure that you couldn't find in a store.

 
2 - Have a clear and straightforward perspective
The design's simplicity is key!

Flexpipe structures need to be simple, economical, and easy to test before implementation. The best designs can solve complex problems thanks to their simplicity and flexibility. This is one of the modular system's most significant advantages.

We can, therefore, establish a parallel to the KISS principle, which means "Keep it simple, stupid." This principle aims to eliminate any unnecessary complexity whenever possible when designing the structures.

 
3 - Be skillful and resourceful
Think outside the box

Although Flexpipe parts are easy to cut and assemble, complex manipulations can be needed. That said, we recommend using the person with the best skill set for this job. The use of specific tools may be necessary.

We believe that most individuals can assemble the Flexpipe system, with the help of a single training session on which tools to use. To find out more, read our articles Top 4 tools for cutting and Top 5 tools for assembling to determine the most appropriate tool for your project.

 
4 - Be ingenious
Knowing how to push back the limits

The Flexpipe system offers a multitude of accessories to customize your structures and maximize their potential. A skilled assembler will find what he or she needs to complete his project.

You may need more than pipes and joints to complete a project, however. Whether you choose to use a whiteboard, foam protectors, fasteners, or supports of any kind, the possibilities are just about endless!

 
5 - Have a lean mindset
An adapted work environment designed to be effective and ergonomic

You don't need to be a six sigma black belt professional to have a lean mindset! Knowing the basic concepts of lean production will help you optimize the structures of your modular system.

An ideal assembler should have assimilated 5S techniques beforehand.

 
6 - Be constant and committed
A stable workforce with high potential for adaptability

The use of tubes and connectors is a gradual process and requires continuous improvement. It's also worth noting that there's a significant learning curve when it comes to designing and assembling various structures of the system. The assembly of each new type of structure is sure to make an assembler proud!

This person should also be able to adapt and improve the initial structures. Keep in mind that assembling structures should not be a temporary assignment that comes to an end when the training session is over nor when the assembler is called back to the production line.

 
The best of the best
Modular systems are simple, customizable, and progressive. The person responsible for the design and assembly should primarily reflect the same characteristics as the product itself. An engaged assembler will be more likely to design the best structures according to your project and improve them over time.

How to go from a good idea to a great idea? Or what’s the difference between a good idea and a great idea? Good ideas come along all the time and help people solve minor problems. Great ideas appear a little less frequently and require a bit more work to execute. 

Your first idea isn’t probably your best one. However, many of us suffer from “design fixation”, where we fall in love with our first idea, simply because it was first. This is a problem because it stops you from looking for a better one. Time is the most precious resource people have, and finding great ideas can take several days, even months. Our Seven-Ways Idea sheet can take you from a good idea to a great idea.

 
Who is using this Template?
At Flexpipe, we definitely use this sheet for our projects. However, we are not the inventors of this concept. Many of the companies we work with were already using this as standard practice.

Let's take the case of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Canada Aerospace (MHICA). They use the 7-Ways Idea sheet at the beginning of every Kaizen Moonshine Shop they do. The company knows that this technique reduces the risk of future problems within the design.

For more information:
Check out our article on the 10 steps for a successful project.
How does the template work?
The suggestion needs to be illustrated with at least seven solutions, and seven is a minimum, the more ideas you generate, the better solutions you can devise. Forcing employees to come with several ideas will:

   Push people to take more time and look at things from different angles.
   Force them to ask colleagues, develop teamwork, combine ideas, and bring a new perspective to the problem.
   Push ideas such as idea 5,6, and 7 to go beyond common sense and think outside the box.

 
Still not convinced?
You might think it's a luxury to come with multiple ideas and that it's going to take too much of your time and of the time of your team. However, our experience with this process has proved again and again that investing a little more time at the beginning of a project will save you time and money in the long run by:

   Revealing unknown obstacles and overcoming them before they occur.
   Limiting the number of corrections needed after the project is done.
   Making sure your allotted time is realistic and that you have the resources necessary to accomplish your goals before even starting the project.

 
What this process means for pipe and joint system users?
If you are using a industrial pipe racking system like Flexpipe, you know that possibilities are endless. This sheet will help you explore those ideas and build great structures that will lead to more productivity and less waste of your time and money.

 
Final thought on the 7-Ways-Idea process
Finally, we highly recommend that you download the template and that you implement it for your next project. Don't forget that you should always limit the time allotted to this process to allow the project to see the light of day.

Download the Excel version of the 7-Ways Idea Template.

One of the most frequent concerns we hear is  “I don't have the manpower to do it”. The answer to this depends on many factors but there're several options. However, it will vary based on your resources, budget, time, available space, location and how big your project is.

Here's a top 8  of the most likely people to build your structures. Most of them would do it in-house with greater access to the 4M; man, machine, methods, and material. Building the Flexpipe structures in-house allow a much better customization.

8 - The manufacturing contractor

This might be an individual or a small business you already have as a supplier. They already know your business and your facility because they’ve worked for you in the past or do so now.

These people are used to do manual labor. It may be a supplier who has integrated new production lines for you in the past. This is common in big manufacturing businesses like the Automotive industry. These individuals usually have knowledge of fifo rack principles and one-piece flow.

However, even if they have vast experience in manual labor, they are not necessarily experts in industrial pipe racking systems such as Flexpipe, and they may only see this as a one-time contract. If this is the case, your contractor may have to spend time learning the system, and you will lose the know-how they acquired during the project once it is done.

7 - The mechanical or industrial engineering intern

Hiring an engineering intern is an excellent way to bring fresh lean manufacturing knowledge into your business for a defined period. This is a good option if you have a project with a beginning and an end.

Some of these people have the manual skills necessary, especially mechanical engineers and technicians. Most of them will have design and 3D drawing skills, which is important if you want to standardize structures and keep track of the work once the intern leaves. If you are doing it right, they will merge with your business and bring a fresh and different perspective.

The risk of this option is the internship ending before your project is completed. Also, if this person is the only one with lean manufacturing experience in your company, you will lose this knowledge until you hire someone else with the same know-how. This isn’t optimal, since materials handling systems like Flexpipe are constantly evolving and demand continuous improvements to be optimal.

Before you go looking for an intern, make sure your business culture is adequate for this kind of solution. Interns are usually young people with vague ideas and not necessarily mature professionals. They require a little more supervision, so you need to be able to provide them time and a good integration. Depending on the perception of your current experienced employees, this new team member may also create resistance to changes in your organization.

6 -The lean manufacturing engineer

This is the experienced engineer with knowledge not only about lean manufacturing but also with experience in this field. These people may already have worked with a system similar to Flexpipe, and if they haven’t, they will usually learn the system quickly. Like the intern, these individuals usually have a manual, design, and technical drawing skills.

Keeping an engineer like this in your organization will improve your productivity dramatically in the long run. They will keep improving the system as your business evolves so that you can benefit from the optimal potential of the Flexpipe system.

The lean manufacturing engineer would have been our first choice if it was to define the best person to manage your modular system. The problems with these people is that they may soon tire of spending half or more of their time building structures. Some engineers prefer to design other improvements, while some like to manage the projects. They usually have limited manual skills.

5 - The Flexpipe team

We wouldn’t be experts in material handling systems if we didn’t construct structures ourselves. We have our team of assemblers which builds thousands of structures each year for some of our biggest clients. We also offer help with the designing stage so you can challenge your ideas and improve your concepts. Our team is ideal if you have a big Kaizen blitz coming, and if you lack the resources needed during the assembling stage.

This service is not available for small projects or for facilities too far from our sector. Other businesses who use our assembly team have their structures delivered via freight transporters to their facilities. This is also a less optimal option for facilities far away from Flexpipe since the shipping cost is much higher with complete structures than bulk materials. Furthermore, delays may be longer for our assembly service, plus your team will not have assimilated the knowledge of our assemblers.

4 - Pre-retirement worker

If you have a production worker in pre-retirement, it may be one the best options. Choosing someone with manual skills is preferred. This is an ideal situation for companies that don’t have enough assembly needs to hire a full-time employee. In addition, this existing employee already understands how the company operates.

If this is the first time you introduce a materials handling system like Flexpipe to your business, these people are going to be proud of being part of a new project at the end of their career. If these people are also long-time employees, it is even better because they already know every aspect of production practices that are not well designed and can be improved. They have probably already thought of some designs in the past and would be happy finally to build it to provide a better environment for their co-workers.

There are a few disadvantages to this option. First of all, this worker is probably not familiar with lean manufacturing principles. Secondly, this person will quit within a few years, so you will eventually lose the knowledge they had on the system. Lastly, the pre-retirement worker can have some difficulties with the data processing, which can be an issue on their competencies.

3 - The maintenance team

As far as we know, this option is the most popular in medium and large businesses. These people have the skills, the tools, and often the space needed to assemble structures. They usually have a good relationship with the production team, and they know their frustrations.

The members of this team know the facility equipment better than anyone and may be the best option for designing structures that support the production line. These teams usually love Flexpipe, because it allows them to build something instead of always fixing something. Some of the best concepts we have seen were built by maintenance workers.

The problem with using a team is usually that their primary goal is to make the maintenance of the facility and the equipment easier. This often means that materials handling systems come in second, which could hurt the productivity of the system. The maintenance team is overused most of the time, so tasking them with the assembly of Flexpipe and informing them about lean manufacturing principles could be the wrong decision.

2 - The production team

No one is better suited to building structures than the people who are going to use them. They already know all the little things that could mean improvements for their jobs. There are plenty of case studies out there that talk about how workers have changed even the smallest of steps in the production process and how those changes have saved millions of dollars over time.

A Japanese business allows their production workers to take the time to realize their improvement ideas in a room or place dedicated to building materials handling structures. These employees are supervised by a manager, who may be an engineer to verify that the structures are well built and respect security norms.

There are two major problems when using your production team to assemble Flexpipe structures: First, when they are building structures, they are not producing value at that particular moment. Every improvement they make will eventually pay off in the future, but this could disturb your production flow if not done correctly.

The second problem in making your production team assemble Flexpipe is that they usually don’t have a knowledge of lean manufacturing practices. So as you saw in the example above, you will need to involve an engineer to supervise their work.

1 - The dedicated lean manufacturing team (Moonshiners)

This team dedicates all its time to improving your productivity. This is a multidisciplinary team that will use the Lean Six Sigma principle and tools like Flexpipe to make the most out of your production line. These people probably have encountered a materials handling system before, and they are familiar with it.

Most of the time this team is a combination of the other seven types in this list. We call these people Moonshiners, because they will apply a technique known as the Kaizen Moonshine shop. This option is becoming an industry standard in fields such as Aerospace and Automotive manufacturing. We hope to see more of these teams in other industries in the near future.

The dedicated lean manufacturing team can be a significant investment. This investment will pay off with time. However, we don’t recommend this option for small businesses and if that’s you, we think you should begin with one of the other seven options.

 
Bonus for seasonal manufacturing companies
If you are a manufacturer with valleys and peaks in the annual production flow, you can use this trick. When the production decreases in the low season, take this time to have your floor workers and engineers work on Flexpipe projects and improve their work environment.

Ideally, those extra resources would only be used to support existing teams or individuals who work on Flexpipe year-round. This could be the right time to make that happen.

The Flexpipe Crib is a storage structure that requires assembly. The structure will allow you, among other things, to organize your various modular system parts, make the system far more intuitive to use. This equipment may appear to be somewhat costly to the uninitiated.

However, by reading below, you’ll get a comprehensive overview of the Crib’s potential and usefulness in your work environment.

 
An excellent example of 5S principles
The Flexpipe Crib was designed according to Lean Manufacturing
A place for everything and everything in its place is a crucial concept in 5S principles, and the Flexpipe Crib is an accurate reflection of this concept. This structure features three distinct sections: cutting workstation, centrally-located shelf unit, and tube storage cart.

The cutting workstation includes a platform to set up a saw, storage shelves for your tools, and a drawer with foam cutouts to store small tools.

The 5-tier central unit includes two shelves and three conveyor levels for optimal product storage.

The cart includes an 8’ section for tube storage as well as a section designated to manage scraps efficiently.

Each of these components is mounted on wheels making it easier to move each one around for quick configuration changes. Furthermore, you can quickly create a U-shaped cell to reduce movements during the assembly process. One can also choose to close off the Crib when not in use to save space.

The Flexpipe Crib was designed according to the Kanban “two-bin” system to facilitate the inventory of assembly parts at a glance. Two posters displaying all the possibilities of Flexpipe products grouped by category are also included in the Crib’s packaging. Why not do like our customer below and build lateral supports to display the posters clearly!

With these posters clearly visible, no matter who tries to build stuff, they can see what items are available

Michael Dumas - Manufacturing Manager at Barfield Inc.

Too often, structures are assembled directly on the floor or stacked pallets. This is probably the best way to lose parts and increase the risk of work-related accidents.

The Crib is an ergonomic and organized location specifically designed to assemble your modular structures.

Use it to show your team just what Lean Manufacturing standards are all about. In a best-case scenario, each of your facility’s departments should be organized in such a way that they are just as Lean as your Crib.

An excellent self-teaching opportunity
Fill two needs with one deed when learning about the modular system’s various uses
Each Crib comes with pre-cut parts, a detailed, step-by-step assembly plan, and two parts posters. The assembly instructions have been simplified to make the learning process more comfortable, regardless of your skill level.

It took us a while to begin assembling our Crib, but it turned out to be a training session in itself. When we got down to it, we discovered the modular system’s enormous potential. We also realized just how practical some parts were and put them in our structures. We should have taken it out of the box much sooner!

Jamie & Jamie - Maintenance workers at Robinson Innocations

More information:
How modular carts help this logistics company improve its efficiency

It is the most frequently used parts that will go into your Crib’s assembly.
When the time comes to assemble more complex structures, you will have already learned the modular system’s basics. It’s worthwhile to keep in mind that assembling the Crib enables you to understand each component’s usefulness in the overall system.

With over 150 different components, you’ll become familiar with certain parts that are often overlooked. Such as accessories (AO-CLIP, AC-STRAP, AI-CORNER, AS-REST), slide brackets (FL-COU), and two types of wheels: stem swivel caster (W-4ESB) and plate swivel casters (W-4PSB).

Here is the list of tools included in your Flexpipe Crib:

T-HANDLE;
T-BIT;
T-CUTTER;
T-REAMER;
T-DEBURR;
T-BCUT;
T-BDEB

Afterward, all you’ll need to do is equip yourself with cutting and assembly tools such as a saw, drill, driver, and measuring tape. Complete your lean manufacturing workstation’s setup with an assembly platform made of Flexpipe tubes! That said, you’ll be able to build it according to the size which meets your needs as well as the available floor space.

To determine which tools are best suited for your situation, please read our articles regarding the best tube and joint system cutting tools and assembly tools to get the job done.

Your mini moonshine shop
Where assembly and creativity go hand in hand
The location you choose to set up your Flexpipe Crib can be more than a mere assembly zone. Make it a place where creativity will fuel continuous improvement initiatives. This area should be accessible to all to encourage as many employees as possible to participate in the creative process.

To set up an efficient and productive moonshine shop, you need a dedicated space at the plant, equipped with basic tools and materials. For example, some companies have a moonshine shop right in the middle of their facility so that employees can see innovative work taking place in real-time.

You can also use your Crib as a storage unit for your 5S tools. Colored labels, floor marking stickers, visual learning tools, or any other 5S project-related items can all be kept in this location for quick and easy use.

As such, the Crib will become a purpose-driven location where 5S principles and Lean Manufacturing principles are highly visible for daily implementation.

More information:
9-step checklist for a Kaizen moonshine shop

Some even use the Crib as a meeting point to discuss essential topics and address urgent problems (Obeya) or for daily morning meetings (DMM).

In a nutshell, the Flexpipe Crib will be a valuable asset when integrating 5S in your facility.
On the one hand, it will help you become familiar with the modular material handling system. On the other hand, it will be an ergonomic and safe place for your continuous improvement projects.

Besides being an area dedicated to assembly and creativity, it can also be a designated gathering-point for Lean-themed meetings.

In lean manufacturing, the general rule of thumb is that anyone should be able to walk into a workplace and identify the flow of work being done within 60 seconds. One of the easiest and most effective ways to visually accomplish this goal is through the use of 5S floor marking.

The proper use of floor marking tape helps create order and a flow pattern of work in your facility, which eliminates searching and confusion within a work area. Floor marking also helps to define processes and cells in the value stream clearly.

Every industrial workplace is required by OSHA to mark aisles and passageways to guarantee that pedestrians have a designated walkway to pass safely. Forklift drivers must also be aware of their driving lane’s parameters. But 5S floor marking will do more than that.

In a parking lot, the lines make cars park in a certain way, optimizing the space available. Studies have shown that when a lot is covered in snow, 25% fewer vehicles can park.

The color scheme below complies with the OSHA 1910.144 standard, which purposefully limits the colors included to encourage natural learning and easy recognition of specific areas in the workplace. However, it can also be easily modified to suit the particular operational priorities, processes, and characteristics of individual facilities.

There are many pieces of equipment on wheels (machinery, carts, racks, workstations, boards, etc.), allowing flexibility. However, they can easily be moved, which potentially increases searches and confusion—floor marking with color codes and signage help to reduce this potential problem.
5S Floor Marking Color Scheme (Developed by Brady Corporation)
Yellow
Alleyway, traffic lanes, and work cells.
White
Equipment and fixtures (workstations, carts, floor stand, displays, racks, etc.) not otherwise color-coded.
Blue, green and/or black 
Materials and components, including raw materials, work-in-progress and finished goods.
Orange 
Materials or products held for inspection.
Red 
Defects, scrap, rework, and red tag areas.
Red and white 
Areas to be kept clear for safety/compliance reasons (e.g., areas in front of electrical panels, fire fighting equipment, and safety equipment such as eyewash stations, safety showers, and first aid cabinets).
Black and white 
Areas to be kept clear for operational purposes (not related to safety and compliance).
Black and yellow 
Areas that may expose employees to physical or health hazards (e.g., flammable or combustive material containers); Indicates that extra caution should be exercised when entering and working in the area.

Additional marking codes can be done for recycling, trash, and finished goods but use as few colors as possible. This will make it easier for employees to remember the intended meaning of each color.

Floor marking goes beyond simple line tape:

Arrows to create a flow.

Corner marker for temporary object placement such as pallets.

The footprint for foot traffic.

Dense traffic areas with extra protection.

Lean suggests the elimination of large packaging. The use of small lots often requires constant supply. Gravity flow racks help realize this approach with a continuous flow in the factory. Flow racks are usually supplied from behind, and parts are consumed on the other side. Gravity racks can be used on the assembly lines or in the storage areas. The pipe and joint system facilitate the building of these custom roller racks.

The idea is simple: swap the palette of large material containers next to the employee (often representing one or two days of production) for a flow rack, with small boxes representing several hours of production and keeping the presentation neat.

This idea can easily be included in your organization during the design of a lean manufacturing workstation. The flow racks are not new. They were first known for their use in supermarkets for perishable items such as milk. Then in distribution centers with first-in-first-out racking systems (FIFO), but they are now present on assembly lines, services, and even in the health system.

Using small lots and small containers give you the possibility to use parts in a flow mode to transport parts at low cost, to easily follow operation schedules, and adjust to possible changes. This will also allow you to save space on the production line, improve the part presentation, and organize better workstations. An increase in productivity and an increase in production line density (the production volume per unit area) will be quickly achieved.
What are the advantages of this change?
For several years, organizations using FIFO racks have seen the following benefits:

Supplies are more organized

Unlike a standard shelf, a flow rack requires a way to operate: Supplying from behind and consumption in front. This allows two people to accomplish their tasks without interference. Travel is also minimized because all products are found together in one place.

Merchandise is more organized

Some items may be more challenging to store because of their shape. The organization and preparation of components in a flow rack also eliminate wasted time searching for and unpacking parts.

More accessible

To facilitate the work of the operator, the flow rack can be integrated into a workstation. Some travel and unnecessary maneuvers could be eliminated. The ergonomics of the workstation must also be considered in the design of a position.

With clutter gone and the storage area organized, the next step is to properly and thoroughly clean and paint equipment and work areas. This step is critical as a way of sustaining the improvements begun in the Sort and Set phases.

Initial painting and cleaning require an extra task outside regular working hours, but after that, a daily routine should be established. The entire team should participate in cleaning, but make sure that every team has adequate cleaning supplies and equipment; this is not a task for a special janitorial crew.

Now that I work for an assembly plant, it is much easier to keep the work areas clean compared to my previous job, Martins Industries, a welding plant where cutting, welding, and painting resulted in dust, grease, and sometimes paint powder coating all the equipment. In 2010, Martins Industries was getting very involved in lean manufacturing/5S culture. Each employee had 10 minutes during every shift to clean their work area, including sweeping and washing equipment used. Lights were bright and often cleaned from dust; floors were marked with tape and polished, and the air system was in proper condition (very important in this industry!). Back then and still to this day, people (suppliers, employees, and clients) talk about how clean the factory is.

When I started to work for Martins Industries in 2006, we would do everything in our power to avoid a client’s visit. Even if our finished products were of good quality, a quick visit could wind up going bad. Four years later, we would do the exact opposite! A tour would help convince clients that we built good quality products and on time. Clean welding machines and shiny painting equipment gave a good impression. This was also a selling point when we would attract new welders, and good welders were hard to find! They would tour the plant and leave the interview, thinking it was a pleasant, safe, and well-run environment. (Again, it was not just perception!)

Shining will provide a more comfortable and pleasant environment.

Shining will keep a workplace safe and easy to work in.

Shining will encourage good quality production.

Shining will increase ownership of the organization’s goals and vision.

Shining will prevent machinery and equipment deterioration.

Shining will be used as inspection (leaks, vibrations, breakages, and misalignments).

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) estimates that there are 34 900 serious injuries, including 85 fatal accidents per year in the United States involving forklifts. 11% of all forklifts will be included in some type of accident each year, and the manufacturing industry is the most affected, with 42.5% of fatal accidents.

Many work-related factors can cause accidents with forklift trucks, such as lack of training, poor maintenance, blocked vision, improper reversing, speed, poorly stacked loads, inadequate communication, or workplace design. In assembly factories, poor floor layout is one of the main factors for forklift accidents.

Creating designated walkways to separate pedestrians and forklifts is a must in the industry. Still, poor workplace design also includes narrow, crowded, and cluttered aisles, working in the general area of forklift operations, and mainly forklift traffic in work areas.

Traffic in work areas occurs when forklifts are used to handle and transport input, work in progress, or output to work cells.  Most companies have limited workspace, increasing the risk of accidents. To reduce the risk of accidents, process engineers need to consider handling the material differently. Light materials (less than 2000lbs) can be handled by using jiggers, conveyors, kitting carts, tugger carts, or by redesigning the floor layout and redefining processes. The spaghetti diagram on the right is an excellent tool to review forklift congestion.

Safety is not the only concern for reducing forklift use; maintenance, congestion, flexibility, and productivity also benefit from this change; for example, instead of carrying one load of finished products at a time from a work area to a storage area with a forklift. Tugger carts can be used to carry multiple loads of finished products, including empty carts that can be left in work areas afterward.  Furthermore, tugger operators always have a clear view because the loading is done in the back.

Forklifts should be restricted to their designated work areas, where vertical storage is needed or for shipping purposes. This should contribute to the reduction of accidents involving forklifts.

Our employees are responsible for the team's success, and management is accountable for its failures; it is essential to optimize so you can do a better job tomorrow. In operations, we use standardized work, among other things, to always go further.

Here are nine tips from Benoit Chouinard on how to standardize your workplace.
1 - An organized mind in an organized workspace
There is nothing better than a well-organized space and a free mind to get a good job done. And this is true for all services.

Make sure that your teams can rely on optimized workspaces. In production and assembly, create workstations that are perfectly adapted to the job. In offices, make sure that piles of files are put away at the end of the day, and don't forget to keep everything tidy in the computer network by performing a regular cleanup.

Take pictures when everything is neat and tidy to use as a reference for future cleanups. Lead by example, as we usually require from ourselves what we want from others if you want to know more about keeping a clean work area.
2 - Bring work back to the basics
To always improve, one should ever question themselves. To that effect, your employees are your best allies. Involve them in the improvement of your work methods and discuss it with them!

You can follow these steps:

Break down work into steps and number them
Discuss each of these steps with your employees.
Think of ways to optimize each of these steps
Apply the improved work method together

Be thankful to all employees for their involvement and the expertise they acquire every day while working. Always remember that it is their work that your clients purchase.
3 - Set up the basics and make them grow   
Once the workload has been fractioned, the results must be put on paper. Ph.D. theses are very useful in college, but in the field, you need to prove yourself. Establish the bases of what has to be done. Even if it isn't perfect, it can always be improved over time. You will, therefore, create a place where you will make the most of your staff's experience. Experience is the sum of your mistakes…and to benefit from them, then you will have to consolidate the know-how. The market is continuously evolving, and improvement is necessary to remain competitive and to gain an advantage.
4 - Give meaning to work done by your team
To perform their duties well, employees need to understand them. Don't just show them the starting point and the finish line.

Explain to them the essential details of the job and the reasons why it is done that way. Thus, you will give meaning and importance to what they do.
5 - Standard time ≠ average time
Too often, we estimate the duration of a task. Task duration doesn't have anything to do with the time estimated that it will take to complete a task using various operators. Standard time is the time required to complete a specific task using the best-known methods. All in all, standard time is the result of the improvement of the technique used to complete the job.
6 - The devil is in the details!
Frequently, you think you are in full control of the situation. Then a client makes a complaint because of a detail that slipped through the cracks. Or you notice you're missing an essential tool on Tuesday night when there's a delivery planned for Wednesday morning. Being 99.9% good is not enough, because customers are more and more demanding, we need to be excellent at all times! In conclusion, get involved in all aspects with an attention to details.
7 - Down with paper!
Nowadays, mobile devices give employees direct access to information. Since Apple launched tablets in 2010, we can now get rid of the heavy burden of physically storing paper, illustrations, photos, and videos. Visit www.dozuki.com to learn more, and see Documentation Just Became Painless.
8 - Take control of task training
Work procedures are essential, but you need to make sure that they are passed along to the employees. You are responsible for the development of your team's operational skills and must offer them the necessary resources to progress. You act as the pivot between the apprentice and the trainer. Develop a detailed and rigorous training plan, set clear goals, and follow each employee's output every week.
9 - If the apprentice hasn't learned, the teacher hasn't taught.
This is a relatively simple rule that is easy to remember. Your trainers need to efficiently train the apprentices by teaching them the critical steps of their work, apply their teachings in practice, check that the job is well done, and proceed with adjustments if needed.

Ask your trainers to use the instructions they probably put together for themselves and don't let them teach using the "trial and error" method. So, when somebody tells you the new guy doesn't understand anything, refer them to tip #9…
Bonus - Measure, measure, measure
You already put this in practice. If the manager's responsibility is to generate results, his or her primary tools are indicators. Performance measuring is fundamental to managers as well as their employees.

It's simple, communicate yesterday's results to better present today's goals!
This post was made with the collaboration of
Benoit Chouinard, ing.
Main associate at Solutions vSmart, continual improvement and management infrastructure specialist.