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UAFM lean-tour to Transcarpathia

And engaged in business, and found time for rest

At the end of the summer, the next UAFM lean tour to Transcarpathia came to an end. Another, because it is not the first for a long time and, judging by the positive feedback of the participants, not the last. Why did the Transcarpathian route become the most popular among the participants of such trips? Because in this picturesque region you can combine the pleasant with the most effective: the Transcarpathian region is traditionally woodworking and furniture, here has long been highly professionally furnished and exported a lot – so there are many efficient farmers who have something to learn, and here, long known great places for recreation and educational tours. Tasting of local cheeses and wines, rafting, trout fishing, thermal waters – is not a convincing argument that the participants of this year’s tour did not lack not only opportunities to learn effective lean-management, but also to relax, distract for a while and if you want to fill up invigorating adrenaline.

Each subsequent tour is better, more meaningful than the previous one. Of course, there were innovations this time as well – both organizational and program.

Tour innovations.

  • The participants of the tour visited not only woodworkers and furniture makers but also partners of their corporate events – at the enterprise where “Transcarpathian wild water” – “Krayna” is bottled, at Serhiy Stakhovsky’s wineries.
  • For the first time, the tour was accompanied by a professional lean consultant Grigory Baklanov.
  • For the first time, the organizers of the Design meet-up tour tried it in Transcarpathian to communicate with designers from the region in an informal, non-creating environment, to learn about their creative work and ideas, as well as opportunities for cooperation.

We were interested in the impressions and achievements of this multi-vector event, both those who hosted the participants of the lean-tour and those who visited them.

Roman Gargay, Blitzart Production, a company specializing in the production of downhill skis:

– The basis of our production is woodworking, a number of lean mechanisms have been introduced into production. The guests were particularly meticulous about how one of them works, such as the pull system (the so-called “pull-out” principle, which prevents such a common type of production loss as overproduction). The interest of the guests was strengthened by the fact that at the stage of improving this system by the method of its digitalization, we have already received electronic boards for this purpose. Another topic that was actively discussed in the communication process was the fight against marriage at work.

Receiving such lean-aware guests responsibly and usefully: mobilizes the desire to show that we do not stop there, but constantly, as required by lean, improve.

Nina Kobzar, Kraina mineral water plant:

– For us, the arrival of the UAFM delegation is a good opportunity to maintain and develop the partnership we have developed. Since our production is completely different from furniture, the guests, of course, we’re keenly interested in everything related to the extraction and bottling of mineral water. That is, communication was mainly cognitive. As for the lean theme, we are not here to share the experience, but the guests to adopt it, but for this, there was little time they spent with us. We hope that this will not be the first and last visit to us, that we will still have the opportunity and time to communicate more thoroughly on the topic of lean production. Especially since I will personally deal with this topic. 

Ivan Bodnar, the company “Mayr Holzvaren”, specializes in the manufacture of furniture, kitchen utensils and sports equipment from hardwood trees:

– For us, the arrival of the UAFM delegation, which included, of course, furniture, was desirable, because it is the furniture manufacturers and is our main customer. We hospitably received the participants of the tour, told in detail about the company, our products. Not only told but also demonstrated. Not only in terms of the range but also the quality of our furniture components and blanks, in order to interest our guests in them in a practical sense. Interested. We exchanged contacts, so we can talk about the mutual benefit of our communication.

Myroslav Koshun, Wood Pallet Express Service LLC:

– We really have what the participants of the lean tour went to Transcarpathia for. First of all, they demonstrated the advantages of abandoning traditional management in favour of its more technological form – visual management. This applies in particular to both planning and resource management. We are not poor in lean implementation, having a whole set of its components: “5C”, method (diagram) “spaghetti”, stock optimization, flow and quality management. In the near future plans to spread more widely in the company the same visual management. We started to change the mechanisms of staff motivation for better ones. And another important need for our company is to establish supplier management by involving them in our production management standards. Because if our suppliers lag behind us in the level of organization of their production processes, it slows us down, prevents us from improving further.

Joseph Pavlyk , furniture factory “Pavlyk”:

– The fact that such lean-tours have become traditional and it is to us, in Transcarpathia, I am pleased not only as a Transcarpathian but also as a member of the Furniture Association, because they unite our guild society, establish mutual benefit and partnership, exchange of experience. The fact that such trips are becoming more popular every year is evidenced by the growing number of their participants.

It is also nice that the organizers of such trips never miss our factory. This is evidence that we really have something to show those who are interested in lean production. And even if someone visits us again, they will be convinced that we are in something, but not as we were last year because we are not really satisfied with what we have achieved. This year, for example, a mechanism for planning production processes was launched, which makes it clear how many human resources need to be used to produce the projected required number of products. The modernization of the table production shop is nearing completion. As a result, in November it will produce twice as many products as before. If the participants of the next lean tour do not miss us again, I will be able to fully demonstrate our achievement. 

In the next post, we will share with you the feedback of the tour participants.

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