Person-Based Design: A Human-Centered Approach for Lean Factory Design

摘要

In a highly competitive and changing industrial environment, an organizational system that remains permanently aligned with the market is becoming a competitiveness factor. Consequently, industrial organizations face the challenge of building effective production systems that integrate the development of people, thus improving their capacities and skills for solving complex problems while respecting their needs and aspirations as individuals. This challenge is particularly relevant when intensive handwork is needed and, consequently, high pressure on labor (and space) productivity constitutes the main cost drivers. This paper proposes a method to design lean factories, thus fostering high productivity rates and respect-for-human.A holistic model for a system is developed as an integrated set of Principles, Tools and Methods in constant interaction with people. A specific human-centered method (Person-Based Design) is proposed to guide an effective lean factory design in a real industrial setting. The Person-Based Design method defines seven layers of sequential design starting by the central layer “respect for people” and progressing outward into broader layers which include packaging, tools, value flow, layout and supply flows. The presented method is then implemented in a real industrial context and compared with an existing design.The outcomes of this research provide a coherent mindset for managers facing an organizational change, and our structured method allows for the design of effective lean factories, which are particularly useful when space and/or labor productivity constitute the main factors of a firm’s competitiveness.