- The document describes an exercise using a paper airplane assembly game to teach concepts of flow, line balancing, and Kaizen. - Over 4 rounds, participants take on roles in the assembly line such as operators, inspectors, team leaders. Metrics like productivity, lead times, and quality are measured to see improvements from round to round. - Changes between rounds include implementing pull systems, balancing workloads between operators, and introducing new tools and jigs to further optimize the line. The goal is to understand how standardized work and continuous improvement activities can enhance quality, safety, and productivity.

1. Air Plane Game Exercise
- Flow, Line balancing, Kaizen
Inseong Kim

2. Game
• Exercise objectives and purpose
 Create the Standardized work and understand why the STD work is critical to
Quality, Safety and productivity
 Understand how we can link the STD work with operator balancing and Kaizen
activities
• What
 Paper air plane game
• Where
 In the training room
• How
 4 rounds
 See detailed roles on next page
 Reflections by the teams
• Results
 KPIs evolution from round 1 to 4

3. Lay out and Preparations
Work station
4
Work station
3
Work station
2
Work station
1
Team
leader
Material
handler
- A4 Paper - White, Yellow
- Label – Buffer, Law material
- Waste basket (Paper cup)
- Scissors
- Jigs, Raw material to make jigs
- Stop watch
- Scale (30 cm)
- Marker pens
- STD work document templates
- Flip chart (Metrics print)
 Lay out
 Preparations
Finished
goods

4. Roles
 1 Material handler : Trainer can be a material handler
– Responsible to feed the line with raw material from the warehouse.
 4 Operators
– Responsible to assemble according to the assembly instruction on each station
– Responsible to improve SQDC at own work station through Idea suggestion & Kaizen
 1 Team leader / Supervisor
– Responsible to observe any difficulties and problems at the assembly stations
– Responsible to measure the cycle time by element each operator
– Responsible to drive Kaizen activity to improve SQDC
 1 PDI inspector : Trainer can be a material handler
– Responsible for inspect any quality problems before delivering the finished goods to
customer
– Count the # of good parts and defected parts

5. Folding Process
Job allocation
-Round1 & Round2
•Operator 1 : ①
•Operator 2 : ②~⑥
•Operator 3 : ⑦~⑩
•Operator 4 : ⑪~⑭
1 2 3 4 5
678910
11 12 13 14

6. Timings
Time Items Tasks
0:25 Game Introduction
0:10 Build Practice
0:10 Round 1 - Flow processing with Push
-Create STD work
-Measure the cycle time
0:20 Metrics & 1st Kaizen -Introduce pull
0:10 Round 2 - Flow processing with Pull
0:30 Metrics & 2nd Kaizen -Introduce operator balancing
0:15 Coffee
0:10
Round 3 - Flow processing with Pull &
operator balancing
0:40 Metrics & 3rd Kaizen -Introduce/improve tools/jigs
0:10
Round 4 - Flow processing with Pull,
operator balancing and improve tools/jigs
0:30 Metrics & Update STD work -Update STD work
0:30 Reflection by team Total productivity improvement
4:00 Tot End

7. Inspection specification
• Good visual quality
• Mismatch allowance : ± 2 mm
• Cutting tolerance : ± 2 mm
Width 15 mm ± 3 mm &
Height 15 mm ± 3 mm
20 ± 3 mm

8. Metrics
No Metrics
Round 1
-Push
Round 2
-Pull
Round 3
-Balancing
Round 4
-Tools/Jigs
1 Delivered Quantity
(Total trucks delivered)
2 Good Parts
(Total parts green OK)
3 % Green OK
4 Work In Process
(Raw material +Buffer + SWIP)
5 Lead Time (Sec)
6 # of operators 4 4 4 4
7 Time (Min) 8 8 8 8
8 Productivity
(Good parts/% of operator/Time)

9. Round 1 - Flow processing with Push
Work station 4 Work station 3 Work station 2 Work station 1
Team
leader
Material
handler
Finished
goods Law
material
Rule
• Material handler
- Feed the raw material (A4 paper-white) : 10 sheets for one delivery
- Feed the yellow A4 paper in 3 minutes to measure manufacturing lead time
• Operator
- Continue to work if there are materials available
- Possible to rest or play with smart phone if there are no WIPs
• Inspector : Check/count defected parts & feedback to team leader/operators
• Team leader
- Measure cycle time and Create Standardized work
- Evaluate team metrics results and communicate with operators
• FIFO : All materials should be kept the FIFO rule between processes
• 8 Min
• Use Scissors &
waste basket

10. Round 1 - Flow processing with Push
 Push system : Supplier push the customer to accept their product
 Inventory is unlimited
 Inventory is increasing
 Manufacturing lead time is too long
 Big bottle neck operation
 Other operator need to wait
 Waiting = Waste
 Unbalanced line between operators = Waste
 Something is not right = Waste
• Problems & Improvement opportunity

11. Round 2 - Flow processing with Pull
Work station 4 Work station 3 Work station 2 Work station 1
Team
leader
Material
handler
Finished
goods
Buffer Buffer Buffer
Mat’l
Bin 1
Mat’l
Bin 2
Rule
• Material handler
- Feed the raw material (A4 paper-white) with 2-bin concept
- Feed the yellow A4 paper in 3 minutes to measure manufacturing lead time
• Operator
- Work only if there is no WIP in buffer
- Possible to rest or play with smart phone if there are no WIPs
• Inspector : Check/count defected parts & feedback to team leader/operators
• Team leader
- Evaluate team metrics results and communicate with operators
• 8 Min
• Use buffer label

12. Round 2 - Flow processing with Pull
 Pull system : Customer pull the product from supplier when needed
 More control of inventory
 More organized work place
• Improvements
 But there is still lot to improve
 The product does not met the demand. Now where is the problem?
 The line is not balanced.
- Operator 2 and 4 are doing a lot more work than others
 But this time, the problem is because the line is not balanced. By balancing
it, it can solve the problem!
• Further Improvement opportunity

13. 0
5
10
15
20
25
30
1st Op 2nd Op 3rd Op 4th Op 1st Op 2nd Op 3rd Op 4th Op
Operator Balance Chart / Yamazumi chart

14. Round 3 - Flow processing with Pull & Operator balancing
Work station 4 Work station 3 Work station 2 Work station 1
Team
leader
Material
handler
Finished
goods
8 Min
Buffer Buffer Buffer
Mat’l
Bin 1
Mat’l
Bin 2
Rule – Same as Round 2
• But the workload is properly balanced / divided to stabilize process with balancing
• Material handler
- Feed the raw material (A4 paper-white) with 2-bin concept
- Feed the yellow A4 paper in 3 minutes to measure manufacturing lead time
• Operator
- Work only if there is no WIP in buffer
- Possible to rest or play with smart phone if there are no WIPs
• Inspector : Check/count defected parts & feedback to team leader/operators
• Team leader
- Evaluate team metrics results and communicate with operators

15. Round 3 - Flow processing with Pull & Operator balancing
 Operator balancing
- The workload is properly balanced and divided to stabilize process
 Shorter lead time with “QRPS” problem solving
• Improvements
 But there is still lot to improve
- need to improved the quality
- need to reduce the cycle time
• Further Improvement opportunity

16. Round 4
-Flow processing with Pull, operator balancing & tools/jigs
Work station 4 Work station 3 Work station 2 Work station 1
Team
leader
Material
handler
Finished
goods
8 Min
Buffer Buffer Buffer
Mat’l
Bin 1
Mat’l
Bin 2
Rule – Same as Round 3
• But new tools & jigs are used to improve quality & reduce cycle time
• Material handler
- Feed the raw material (A4 paper-white) with 2-bin concept
- Feed the yellow A4 paper in 3 minutes to measure manufacturing lead time
• Operator
- Work only if there is no WIP in buffer
- Possible to rest or play with smart phone if there are no WIPs
• Inspector : Check/count defected parts & feedback to team leader/operators
• Team leader
- Evaluate team metrics results and communicate with operators

17. Operator Balance Chart
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
1st Op 2nd Op 3rd Op 4th Op 1st Op 2nd Op 3rd Op 4th Op

18. Jigs
Reference
• Half folding jigs • Wing folding jigs
• Cutting jigs…

19. Metrics
No Metrics
Round 1
-Push
Round 2
-Pull
Round 3
-Balancing
Round 4
-Tools/Jigs
1 Delivered Quantity
(Total trucks delivered)
10 12 14 15
2 Good Parts
(Total parts green OK)
7 9 11 15
3 % Green OK 70% 75% 79% 100%
4 Work In Process
(Raw material +Buffer + SWIP)
57 9 9 9
5 Lead Time (Sec) 75 65 62 56
6 # of operators 4 4 4 4
7 Time (Sec) 8 8 8 8
8 Productivity
(Good parts/% of operator/Time)