The Production Preparation Process (3P) -- A True "Game Changer"?

At a recent conference, I had the chance to speak with Drew Locher about the Production Preparation Process (3P), and how it is used. Drew recently co-authored a book titled Unleashing the Power of 3P: The Key to Breakthrough Improvement with Dan McDonnell. I asked Drew: "How does 3P provide a real breakthrough? And, how does it function within a Lean initiative?" Here is Drew's full response:

3P can provide breakthrough results since it is foremost a methodology for innovation.  First, one needs a clear problem statement of a problem that should be resolved.  This can be the function that a new or existing product is expected to perform. Then, two key principles are used to expand people's creative thought process. "Biomimicry" is where examples of that function are identified in nature.  Why nature?  Nature has already solved countless problems over millions of years. This principle also helps people "get out of their box" and expand their thought process. The next principle is "Seven Ways" -- Do not simply identify one possible solution, identify seven. This stretches the creative process. The creative process ceases when people converge too quickly on a possible solution, and perhaps overlook a better one. At some point, those examples from nature are translated to possible human-made solutions, and the best elements of the seven ways are combined to form a better solution.  A third principle is rapid simulation -- to make the "fuzzy" as tangible as possible, as early as possible.  This provides the means for rapid learning cycles, which improves the solution that results.

As for "fitting in" with Lean, think of 3P as kaizen on steroids.  Instead of making incremental improvements on existing products or processes, 3P is intended for major redesigns of either or both simultaneously.  Therefore it must be fully supported by leaders in terms of the commitment of appropriate resources to insure success.  It is not for the weak of heart!  The underlying principles, however, can still be applied in many business contexts.  Consider an example of a cellular/flow kaizen event on an existing process and where major change is not possible. A team should be encouraged to consider multiple alternative cell or flow line designs for the purpose of identify a better one.  And the team should rapidly simulate proposed designs using simple materials.  In this way, the "spirit" of 3P is maintained though the exact methodology is not necessarily followed.

What do you think of Drew's explanations? Have any of you used 3P at the front end of the design process? Do you believe 3P is key to designing market-changing products?

Here is a video of Drew speaking directly about his new book:

What is 3P and Why Should I Use It?

I recently spoke with Allan Coletta, who is the author of a new book titled The Lean 3P Advantage: A Practitioner's Guide to the Production Preparation Process, and asked him directly: "What is 3P and why should it be used when developing new products?" Here is Allan's full response:

Lean 3P (Production Preparation Process) is an event-driven process for developing a new product concurrently with the operation that will produce it. 3P is a game-changer that results in better products that require less initial capital investment and lower ongoing costs.

Previously, Lean had been largely relegated to fixing existing problems in our manufacturing plants. 3P takes Lean principles upstream into the new product development arena, and applies them liberally at the point in the process where they can have the most influence on both product and operation. Enormous advantages are created by deeply understanding customer needs and developing alternative designs that will create breakthrough benefits. Time is no longer spent trying to fix “baked-in” problems.

New products and new operations require many functional groups working together, but traditional development is typically a series of successive sub-optimizations and hand-offs. Time pressure and a passion to quickly reach a design decision squashes innovation.

Lean 3P brings stakeholders together and sequentially takes them through a process where products are developed alongside of the manufacturing operations. Design engineers interact with process engineers, marketing, and research & development team members; each declaring their preferences and capabilities and developing alternative options against agreed criteria. Manufacturing and maintenance teams weigh in with preferences for operability and maintainability, standardization, ergonomics and flow.

The Lean 3P advantage is about rapid learning, collaboration, and innovation, and it works with new or established products and on any sized project. Companies in virtually every industry are applying Lean 3P to drive competitive advantage.  

Why do you think of Allan's thoughts on 3P? Have any of you applied 3P when developing new products? What were the results?

3P at GE

According to this article posted on Business Wire portal, all major products manufactured by GE at its appliance and lighting facility in Louisville, Kentucky will be developed using Lean techniques. More specifically, the company is embracing a 3P (production, preparation and process) strategy.

It appears that Dirk Bowman, GE Appliances manufacturing leader, has the correct outlook and expectation because he states that "the journey will take several years to fully implement" and realizes that a Lean initiative is not merely a quick fix or a simple program to exploit short-term profits.

3P is a powerful tool that often results in the elimination of multiple process steps and dramatically reduces rework. Have you used 3P in the product development process?