ReducedEffort Changeover develops standard best practice work.


“That's awesome,” an operator said after obtaining a 75-percent reduction in downtime with the ReducedEffort Changeover process.  In one week, the operator's team had lowered a 183-min changeover to 45 min. Danielle Hess Operations Manager, agreed: “For our plant, the biggest impact from the Reduced Effort Changeover (REC) process was beginning to see a change in culture where technicians are now engaged in the process and feel ownership for making the changeover as effortless as possible.”


Excitement about this principle increases exponentially after people discover that the techniques reduce the amount of effort and time spent switching machines from one product to another. Operators appreciate the reduced number of changeover tasks, while management appreciates the positive impact of reduced downtime.


“Companies hire good people to perform the changeovers, yet most individuals devise their own way of doing them” states Ron Heiskell, Founder of Reduced Effort Inc.  “Despite having a changeover procedures list, the operators perform the tasks differently and in varying sequence. All get the job done, yet the longer they do it their way, the greater the variation among operators.”  Ron says, “this is the reason standard work continues to be talked about, yet rarely is successfully implemented.”


The explanation involves paradigms. A paradigm is a method or way of doing something; paradigms form when people repeatedly perform a series of tasks. The longer they perform the tasks, the more the paradigms blind them to better methods. Paradigms make change more difficult. Ron continues, “After performing a series of tasks the same way for an extended time, People develop paradigm paralysis.  At this point they believe their way is the best way to do the job.  This is why people fight change, even when it can benefit them.”  


The good news is, achieving standard work is possible.  During an in-plant ReducedEffort Changeover event, a combination of lectures, videos and team activities engages and motivates operators to shift their paradigms.  They work in teams to choreograph a streamlined way of working that reduces their effort.  Ron states, “When the effort is reduced the changeover downtime is automatically reduced.”   At the conclusion of the week’s event, all the operators have shifted paradigms and agreed to perform the changeover the same way.  In one week’s time the changeover time is dramatically reduced, lean culture is implemented on the plant floor, and standardized changeover procedures are agreed upon.  Mike Standley, Technical Manager of a major beverage company stated, "This Reduced Effort Changeover process absolutely develops standard best practice work."


Reprinted from Packaging Industry News

In the News

The ReducedEffort Process

• Reduces change over downtime

• Establishes best practice standard operating procedures (SOP's)

• Promotes LEAN on plant floor

• Encourages continuous improvement

• Sustains achieved results