Leanshift
Use Cases

Make Every Process Measurable

Whether production, administration or IT — Leanshift captures work steps where they happen. Every step can be broken down further: What appears as a single step at one level can be an entire process with its own measurable steps at the next.

The following examples show how the same method works at different levels — from the overall process down to the individual action at the workstation.

For changeover processes, a closer look pays off: The SMED method separates internal and external steps to drastically reduce changeover time.

Production

Screw manufacturing — from wire coil to packaging

The plant manager sees the entire lead time of a screw. Zoom into the "Roll thread" step and it becomes the production manager's process at the thread rolling machine. And the changeover of that machine is an entire process at operator level.

Level 1Plant Manager— Screw Lead Time

Process steps

  1. 1.Fetch wire coil from warehouse
  2. 2.Load coil into cold forming machine
  3. 3.Press screw blank (head + shaft)
  4. 4.Transport blank to thread rolling
  5. 5.Roll thread
  6. 6.Load screws into hardening furnace
  7. 7.Wait for hardening cycle
  8. 8.Surface treatment (zinc/galvanic)
  9. 9.Visual inspection + dimensional check
  10. 10.Fill into packaging unit
Level 2Production Manager— Thread Rolling

Process steps

  1. 1.Place crate of blanks at machine
  2. 2.Fill sorting chute
  3. 3.Start feed
  4. 4.Rolling dies grip blank
  5. 5.Roll thread (machine time)
  6. 6.Blank drops into collection bin
  7. 7.Take random sample
  8. 8.Check thread with go/no-go gauge
  9. 9.Swap bin when full
Level 3Operator— Thread Rolling Machine Changeover

Process steps

  1. 1.Stop machine + remove remaining parts
  2. 2.Open guard cover
  3. 3.Loosen old rolling dies (4 bolts)
  4. 4.Remove rolling dies
  5. 5.Insert new rolling dies
  6. 6.Align rolling dies (check gap)
  7. 7.Tighten bolts
  8. 8.Close guard cover
  9. 9.Roll 3 test pieces
  10. 10.Check thread with go/no-go gauge
  11. 11.Release machine

SMED tip: Steps 1-4 (external) can be prepared while the machine is still running.

Administration

Order processing — from customer inquiry to invoice

The department head tracks the entire order lifecycle. The "Have costing prepared" step is a full process for the team lead with 9 work steps. And entering the quote in the ERP is the clerk's own process.

Level 1Department Head— Order Processing

Process steps

  1. 1.Open customer inquiry from inbox
  2. 2.Forward inquiry to responsible clerk
  3. 3.Have costing prepared
  4. 4.Review and approve quote
  5. 5.Send order confirmation
  6. 6.Order materials
  7. 7.Create production order
  8. 8.Create delivery note
  9. 9.Write and send invoice
Level 2Team Lead— Create Costing

Process steps

  1. 1.Open technical drawing
  2. 2.Derive bill of materials from drawing
  3. 3.Look up material prices in ERP
  4. 4.Estimate production times per operation
  5. 5.Assign machine hour rates
  6. 6.Calculate overhead surcharges
  7. 7.Add profit margin
  8. 8.Calculate offer price
  9. 9.Enter costing into template
Level 3Clerk— Enter Quote in ERP

Process steps

  1. 1.Open ERP system, launch quote module
  2. 2.Search or create customer number
  3. 3.Enter header data (date, contact, reference)
  4. 4.Transfer line items from costing
  5. 5.Enter prices and quantities
  6. 6.Check and enter discounts per framework agreement
  7. 7.Enter delivery time and payment terms
  8. 8.Generate quote as PDF
  9. 9.Send PDF via email to customer

IT

Software release — from backlog to monitoring

The IT manager oversees the release cycle. The "Trigger production deployment" step is a full process for the DevOps lead with backup, migration and health checks. And a hotfix is the developer's own process.

Level 1IT Manager— Release Cycle

Process steps

  1. 1.Filter release tickets from backlog
  2. 2.Conduct sprint review with team
  3. 3.Compile release notes
  4. 4.Obtain QA approval
  5. 5.Update staging environment
  6. 6.Business department tests on staging
  7. 7.Make go/no-go decision
  8. 8.Trigger production deployment
  9. 9.Check monitoring dashboard (15 min)
  10. 10.Send release email to stakeholders
Level 2DevOps Lead— Production Deployment

Process steps

  1. 1.Open deployment checklist
  2. 2.Review pending DB migrations
  3. 3.Start production database backup
  4. 4.Wait for backup completion
  5. 5.Activate maintenance page
  6. 6.Pull new Docker image
  7. 7.Restart containers
  8. 8.Run DB migration
  9. 9.Call health check endpoint
  10. 10.Run smoke tests
  11. 11.Deactivate maintenance page
Level 3Developer— Deploy Hotfix

Process steps

  1. 1.Open and read issue in ticket system
  2. 2.Create branch from main
  3. 3.Locate bug in code
  4. 4.Implement fix
  5. 5.Run local tests
  6. 6.Commit + push
  7. 7.Create pull request
  8. 8.Wait for review comments
  9. 9.Address feedback
  10. 10.Merge PR

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