A Lean approach to management
efficiency

Andreas Forsberg

Industrial and Materials Science
CHALMERS UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY
Gothenburg, Sweden 2018





Master’s thesis 2018:NN

A exploratory research of Preem Petroleum’s
production management operations

Andreas Forsberg

Industrial and Materials Science
Production Engineering

Chalmers University of Technology
Gothenburg, Sweden 2018



A exploratory research of Preem Petroleum’s production management operations
Andreas Forsberg

© Andreas Forsberg, 2018.

Supervisors:
Sofia Lagerkvist, Preem Petroleum
Dag Bergsjö, Chalmers University of Technology
Examiner:
Dag Bergsjö, Industrial and Materials Science at Chalmers University of Technology

Master’s Thesis 2018:NN
Industrial and Materials Science
Production Engineering
Chalmers University of Technology
SE-412 96 Gothenburg
Telephone +46 31 772 1000

Typeset in LATEX
Gothenburg, Sweden 2018

iv



A exploratory research of Preem Petroleum’s production management operations
Andreas Forsberg
Industrial and Materials Science
Chalmers University of Technology

Abstract
With the all more increasing efficiency challenges the energy business faces due to
the global export there is a lot of benefits to gain by evaluating the possibility to
reduce wastes both in production and development processes. This thesis aims to
identify and acknowledge possible improvements in line the Lean philosophy within a
production organization of a large fuel company, in order to do so the members of the
production management were studied with an active exploratory research approach
in order to get a clear overview of the organization branches and operations. Several
concepts of the Lean philosophy were regarded have a large potential within the
organization, although visualization and pulse methodologies were observed to be
of great need and easily applicable.

Keywords: Production, Lean, Management, Visualization, Pulse, Continuous Im-
provements, Key Performance Indicators.

v





Acknowledgements
First of all i want to give a special thank you to my supervisor at Preem AB, Sofia
Lagerkvist, for giving me the opportunity to study a production management at
first hand with near unlimited access, it has truly been a privilege. Secondly, i want
to address a thank you to Thomas Beillon, Joacim Calner, Leif Eriksson, Helena
Kristensson, Nicklas Mattsson and Fredrik Thell for allowing me to follow you and
sitting in on your meetings, you all possess tremendous amount of knowledge and
experience that has been incredible to take part of. Further i want to thank my
supervisor and examiner at Chalmers University of Technology, Dag Bergsjö, your
flexibility, input and guidance in this thesis has been very much appreciated.

Andreas Forsberg, Gothenburg, October 2018

vii





Contents

List of Figures xi

List of Tables xiii

1 Introduction 1
1.1 Purpose & Aim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2 Delimitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.3 Research Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

2 Methodology 5
2.1 Research Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

2.1.1 Flexible Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.1.2 Action Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

2.2 Research Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.3 Reliability & Validity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.4 Case Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.5 Frame of Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.6 Lean Experts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

3 Case Company 13
3.1 Production Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3.2 Production Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
3.3 Observations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

4 Frame of Reference 17
4.1 Visual Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

4.1.1 Visual Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
4.1.2 Pulse Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

4.2 Daily Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
4.3 Process Mapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
4.4 Key Performance Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
4.5 Policy Deployment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
4.6 Continuous Improvements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

4.6.1 Continuous Improvement Cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
4.7 Standardized Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
4.8 Value Added Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

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Contents

5 Results 33
5.1 Current operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

5.1.1 Daily Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
5.1.2 Key Performance Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
5.1.3 Standardized Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
5.1.4 Continuous Improvements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

5.2 Improvement areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
5.2.1 Visual Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
5.2.2 Process Mapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
5.2.3 Value Added Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

6 Discussion 41
6.1 Current operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

6.1.1 Daily Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
6.1.2 Key Performance Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
6.1.3 Standardized Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
6.1.4 Continuous Improvements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

6.2 Improvement areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
6.2.1 Visual Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
6.2.2 Process Mapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
6.2.3 Value Added Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

7 Conclusions 47
7.1 Research Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
7.2 Lean and Sustainability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Bibliography 49

x



List of Figures

2.1 Research Process Phases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

3.1 Production Department Organizational Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
3.2 Production Management Organizational Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

4.1 Visual Board Of A Short Term Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
4.2 Pulse Board Illustration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
4.3 Daily Management Meetings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
4.4 Recruitment Process Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
4.5 Policy Deployment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
4.6 Continuous Improvements Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
4.7 Continuous Improvements Cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
4.8 Illustration Of Standardized Work and Continuous Improvements Re-

lation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
4.9 Representation Of Value Brackets In A Process . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

xi



List of Figures

xii



List of Tables

3.1 Persons studied during the case company observations . . . . . . . . . 16

xiii



List of Tables

xiv



1
Introduction

The all more increasing global export of supplies has toughened the competition in
several industries, the Oil & Gas industry are also affected by the increased needs
of export and higher production rates. In an effort to cope with the need of
improving production and organizational efficiency many companies turns to the
Lean philosophy due to its extensive use to streamline operations, reduce costs and
increase revenues. At a oil refinery in Sweden the mindset is no different and
therefore they recently decided to move towards the Lean philosophy by starting
implementing the toolbox 5S in their production and now wants to further extend
their commitment by introducing the concepts of Lean to the management group in
an attempt to streamline their operations and increase the management efficiency.

Extensive research has been performed towards Lean in production but other
industries and organizational contexts has not been developed at the same rate.
The field of Lean in an organization setting is although steadily increasing and a
vast amount of studies are performed on an annual basis. Previously has Lean
been entirely associated with production but with the all more increasing focus on
management and organization the philosophy has begun to spread to
non-production industries as well which opens up more opportunities for research
within the field.

The concepts of Lean are now practiced and researched within development offices,
programming, emergency services and management all over the world. This has
caused a paradigm shift in how Lean is practiced and viewed by the public, the
focus on cycle-times, machine layouts and levelized production has been replaced
with information flows, process mapping and visual management. The ability to
reach out to all employees and inform objectives, strategical goals and progresses is
a all more increasing priority for companies in all branches. However, the research
in the subject is still limited outside of production settings.

Research suggests that in order for an organization to be efficient the management
needs to have clear objectives and a structured planning. Objectives, which should
cohere with the business plan and ensure its success, therefore it’s of great value to
visualize and track the status of the objectives. The Lean concept of visual
management has thereby proven to be of great use within many organizations due
to its capabilities to effectively visualize and inform strategic goals and progresses.
But it’s not only the concept of visual management that influences the efficiency of
a organization, several of the Lean philosophy’s mindsets and methods aims to do

1



1. Introduction

just that as increasing organizational efficiency and reduce all forms of wastes is a
main element within the philosophy.

With the exception of a production setting it’s arguable that the most valuable
tools is standardized processes in collaboration with visual management, as this
allows elimination of wastes in the organization and creates a gateway between the
work performed on a daily basis and the objectives of the business plan.

1.1 Purpose & Aim
The purpose of this thesis is to improve management efficiency by introducing
parts of the Lean Management philosophy and evaluate the current way of working
with a Lean perspective in mind. As the management requests a primary focus on
one or several of the following parts within process control, change management
and visual management the aim is to choose parts that best fits the company’s
need and is easily managed.

Process Control Change Management Visual Management
- Information Flow - Standardized Work Instructions - Visual Boards
- Process Mapping - Policy Deployment - Key Performance Indicators
- Daily Management - Continuous Improvements - Visual Planning

1.2 Delimitations
As the Lean philosophy contains a vast amount of toolboxes and methods to
streamline operations and increase efficiency only a handful can be considered to
be evaluated within the time frame of the project, considered parts will therefore
be limited to the ones requested by the management group. The management
group covers all departments related to the operation and maintenance of the
production as well as the lab and education departments, in order to produce
useful and valuable results to the company the project will focus more towards
departments that has obvious use of the tools and mindset of the Lean philosophy.
The results of the thesis should not be seen as an implementation of Lean but
rather qualified suggestions of improvement potentials during their transition
towards the philosophy and a evaluation of their current methods.

1.3 Research Questions
With a large interest in both managerial and production questions, together with
the fact that the case company recently started with implementing parts of Lean
the topic came quite automatic. However, due to the large subject that Lean is the
research had to be broken down into more specific questions. As stated by Booth,
Colomb, Williams, Bizup and FitzGerald (2016) one have to find a reason beyond

2



1. Introduction

devoting months of work towards a specific topic, in this case the strong interest in
both the topic itself and the case company became sources for motivation.

Booth et al. (2016) argues that while writing about a broad topic which include
several different aspects one might get intimidated by the idea of finding and
reading available sources. Although, if the topic is broad by nature it’s of great
help to narrow the scope of the project by first defining a research question and
then subject it into sub-questions (Booth et al., 2016). The project aims to answer
the main research question RQ0, but to answer this complex and broad question it
has been broken down into the two sub-questions RQ1 and RQ2 according to
Booth et al. (2016) principles.

RQ0: How can Lean be used to increase efficiency in a management
setting?
RQ1: How can barriers in information flow be countered with Lean?
RQ2: How can visualization systems affect efficiency?

3



1. Introduction

4



2
Methodology

The Methodology chapter describes the research’s aim, process, design and
execution. It contains detailed information on how the research aimed to produce
practical and useful findings supported by a theoretical framework that’s applicable
in a real working environment, as well as its execution of retrieving information
from the practical as well as the theoretical field.

2.1 Research Design
Research design refers to the choice of how data will be collected, analyzed and
evaluated during the research. There are several defined research designs but each
research tend to use different designs due to different topics and settings. However,
the designs can be divided into the two groups exploratory and conclusive
(Creswell, 2007).

The research will be exploratory conducted with a flexible research design in form
of a case study. Bell (2010) states “a case study approach is particularly
appropriate for individual researchers because it gives an opportunity for one
aspect of a problem to be studied in some depth within a limited time scale”. A
flexible research design allows for information to be collected from different sources
which aligns with the practical and theoretical aim of the study, the research
design will also be complemented with influences of action research which allows
participation and evaluation (Robson and McCartan, 2016).

Information from the practical field was received by interviewing experts and
evaluating methods from companies that continuously work with Lean as a part of
their operations. Theoretical information was gathered by performing literature
reviews which acquired the latest research within the field and provided a valuable
insight to different mindsets. To further support the legitimacy of the thesis
quantitative data was collected by acquiring data from published surveys in the
subject.

The use of both qualitative and quantitative methods is a all more common
practice in the research field as it allows for an expanded understanding about a
research problem. A research which includes both methods is termed a mixed
method research, the mixed method practice rise from the need to address complex
questions where the use of one method did not suffice to support its claims

5



2. Methodology

(Creswell, 2007).

A mixed method is characterized by the focus on research problems that requires
an examination of a real-life context, multi-level perspectives and cultural
influences (Tashakkori and Creswell, 2007; Burch and Heinrich, 2016). Tashakkori
and Creswell (2007) argues that the mixed method design ’encompasses more than
simply combining qualitative and quantitative methods, but rather reflects a new
epistemology paradigm that occupies the conceptual space between positivism and
interpretivism’.

2.1.1 Flexible Research
With a flexible research design the research is not limited to be conducted in a
specified way, the focus lies instead on the findings which allows the research
design to emerge during the progression of the research (Wentzel and Bertilsson,
2015). According to Wentzel and Bertilsson (2015) there is often a close
relationship between researcher and participants which risks to bias the research,
it’s therefore of great importance to be open minded, ask questions and verify the
authenticity of the collected data (Wentzel and Bertilsson, 2015).

The reason for using a flexible design in this research is because of it’s allowance of
case studies which enables the researcher to triangulate data from multiple sources
(Yin, 2018). A case study is described by Yin (2018) as an ’empirical inquiry that
investigates a contemporary phenomenon in depth and within its real-world
context’. With Yin (2018) views the contemporary phenomenon would in this case
be efficiency and the real-world context a management setting.

The design is most common in a qualitative setting where the variable of interest is
not quantitatively measurable, as the variable of interest in this research will not
indicate any changes over the short time period of this study the research can thus
be seen as qualitative. A key aspect in why this design has been used is its
allowance for research questions to be continuously improved during the
progression of the research (Robson and McCartan, 2016). Flexible research
requires a conceptual framework, purpose and methods where the conceptual
framework is the hypothesis which will be evaluated and researched with defined
methods to reach the goals stated in the purpose.

6



2. Methodology

2.1.2 Action Research
The design of a action research allows for the researcher participate and evaluate
the situation in collaboration with the practitioners. The design is particularly
appropriate when a new approach is grafted into an existing system (Bell, 2010).
The aim with a action research is described by Denscombe (2002) as ’to arrive at
recommendations for good practice that will tackle a problem or enhance the
performance of the organization and individuals through changes to the rules and
procedures within which they operate’ which aligns with the aim of this thesis.

Action research tends to be most effective while applied in a small circle, as with
larger interactions the design loses parts of it’s purpose as a researcher will be
unable to provide a change in either mindset or methods. A common practice
within action research is the cyclical process PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) which
purpose is to evaluate and implement changes in iterations. However, in this thesis
the action research will be mostly tilted towards its sub-design evaluation which
focuses on assessing the effects and effectiveness of a studied object (Robson and
McCartan, 2016).

7



2. Methodology

2.2 Research Process
The research was planned to consist of three main phases, case company, frame of
reference and reference companies which is visualized in Figure 2.1. The process
will start with the case company phase where observations will be made during a
limited time frame. When all departments have been a part of the observations the
research will progress to the frame of reference phase where research and
information of the field of study will be gathered and analyzed. After a frame of
reference had been created the research progress into the phase of reference
companies where other companies was be observed and interviewed in an effort to
gain inspiration to ideas that could be applicable to the case company.

The case company and frame of reference will be the most extensive phases in the
research as the reference companies will be just touched upon, this is due to the
time-frame of the research and the limited amount of companies that accept
outsiders to get an insight into their operations. The research has set a high goal
with its aim to increase management efficiency which might be unrealistic, but the
hope with the case study is to identify problems in the organization that might be
solved with thoughts from the Lean philosophy. The different phases will be
described in further detail in their separate sections 2.4 Case Company, 2.5 Frame
of Reference and 2.6 Lean Experts.

Dividing the research into different phases provides a more structured way of
performing the research. With a structured division the focus can be directed to
the phase of interest which allows for a better performance. However, a negative
aspect with phase division is that the information gathered by different phases was
be unable to interact before the final phase was concluded. As this research was
performed in an effort to provide a basis for efficiency increment according to the
Lean philosophy the negative sides of the phase division was limited and the
performance gains were seen as to large to neglect.

Figure 2.1: Research Process Phases

8



2. Methodology

2.3 Reliability & Validity
Reliablity and validity are acting as fundamental terms in a quantitative research,
although it has no confirmed translation towards a qualitative research. Bryman
(2016) argues that the term trustworthiness, consisting of four the criterias
confirmability, credability, dependability, and transferability can act as a
substitute for qualitative settings. The content and intentions of the criteras are
elaborated under their respective paragraphs according to Bryman (2016) thoughts
on trustworthiness in qualitative research.

Confirmability
Confirmatbility is concerned in ensuring that the researcher has shown to be
acting in good faith, it should be apparent that no personal values nor theoretical
liking has affected the conduct or findings derived from the research (Bryman,
2016). All statements made in the work has therefore been handed to the
stakeholders for confirmation in an effort to ensure the research’s objectivity.

Credibility
Credability relates to that the researchers interpretation of the studied social world
is confirmed and accepted by that social world (Bryman, 2016). Research were
therefore sent for confirmation by involved stakeholders, this method is a common
approach and often referred to as respondent validation.

Dependability
Dependability entails that a complete record are kept during all phases of the
research process, the record should be able to be provided to peers to perform an
audit at the end of the research as a method to establish that proper procedures
has been followed (Bryman, 2016). This method was followed during the research
even though Bryman (2016) mentions that auditing has not yet become a popular
approach to enhance dependability.

Transferability
Transferability relates to the research ability to be transferred to another context
or setting as qualitative research often is performed with a contextual uniqueness.
Researchers are therefore encouraged to provide rich details about the context so
others may be able to determine if the conclusions might be applicable during
their context as well (Bryman, 2016).

9



2. Methodology

2.4 Case Company
The research will be concluded within the production management group at
Preem’s oil refinery which is located in Lysekil, in order to get a insight and
perception of their daily operations the study will start with a period of
observations where the researcher will observe each member of the group. The
observation period will be concluded over a time frame of seven weeks where each
member of the production management group will be observed one week each.
However, after the observation period is completed the research will still be
observing the management group during their weekly meetings. The observation
phase made during the research aims to provide required information on how the
different departments are connected and how they interact.

Observations made during the phase also focuses on how the management group
distributes information and decisions made on a management level, and how they
handle the feedback loop from the ground floor. During each observation period
the aim is to acquire knowledge and identify possible improvements in the
departments operations. In the later stages of the research the project will return
to the case company phase where education of methods and concepts that was
learned and studied at the frame of reference and reference companies phases will
be made during a lecture hold at the case company.

This research has relied heavily on the case company phase to find situations at
the case company where parts of the Lean concept can be used to ease or improve
their operations as the research aims to conclude findings that could be used in a
real world setting. Although the research has been conducted almost entirely at
the case company a thoroughly frame of reference has been created to support the
argument of using the Lean concept in different problematic situations noted
during the case company phase.

All research at the case company has been of exploratory nature with the purpose
to explore how the Lean concept can be used in managerial and organization
settings in form of a case study. According to Yin (2018) case studies has been
commonly used by researchers to identify, explore and describe phenomenons,
outcomes or questions.

To successfully identify problematic situations and their cause one needs to have a
deep understanding about an organization and their operations. According to
Woodside (2010) a main benefit while performing a case study is the possibility to
acquire a deep understanding about an organization, and that acquiring this deep
understanding should be the goal of every case study. The deep understanding is
achieved by triangulating data from multiple sources such as direct observation by
the researcher, asking for operational explanations from case participants and
analysis of written documents and environments (Woodside, 2010).

10



2. Methodology

2.5 Frame of Reference

With a research question and hypothesis defined one can start collecting data to
test it, although one needs to be careful to plunge into research without a plan
(Booth et al., 2016)(Bell, 2010). Booth et al. (2016) explains that it’s easy to
aimlessly wander from one article to the next, with a chance of not discovering any
literature with real value to the project. However, they do not condemn the
aimless readings if the project is not limited by a deadline as they tend to lead
towards new ideas and important discoveries (Booth et al., 2016).

According to Booth et al. (2016) and Bell (2010) a researcher who’s working with
a limited time frame should focus on finding relevant materials accessible through
local institutions with a well developed search strategy. A well developed search
strategy allows for identification of materials that relates directly towards the topic
and effectively eliminates the thousands that are not. External databases such as
Google Scholar might contain materials unavailable at the local institutions and
can therefore be seen as a considerable bonus for academic users. However, the
amount of search results from those databases can be enormous and unrelated to
the topic causing the time to sift through the findings to be considerable (Bell,
2010).

As there has been a huge amount of research made in Lean with a production
setting it’s easy to find credible and acknowledged sources with that setting, but in
other settings there has been a lot less research and it’s harder to recognize reliable
sources. In the search for literature one should always be questioning the reliability
of the source and check if the literature is published by a reputable press, made by
a reputable schoolar or peer reviewed. These three indicators does not guarantee
reliability but is a good guideline follow in the search for reliable sources (Booth
et al., 2016).

The frame of reference is based on a literature review that focus on finding
information and studies relevant for the chosen field of study. The literature
review was concluded according to Bell (2010) and Booth et al. (2016) thoughts
and expertise in the subject, literature was therefore searched by using Chalmers
University of Technology’s official channels for information in form of its own
library and provided accesses to databases, public channels for information such as
Google Scholar was also of use.

The literature review were started by searching for recently published material and
then progressed into reading material recommended by the supervisor as well as
literature chosen by courses at Chalmers regarding the field. Previous theses
within the field conducted at Chalmers were also be read in a attempt to find new
and applicable research and local expertise. The findings from the literature review
was used as a basis for a frame of reference which the findings of the research were
be compared against during its progression.

11



2. Methodology

2.6 Lean Experts
The Lean Experts phase started by identifying experts that use the Lean
philosophy in their operations on a daily basis with the aim to conduct a
interview. In the search for experts both professors and Doctor of Philosophy
(PhD) researchers at Chalmers were regarded, searches for experts outside of the
university has not been conducted due to the limited time frame. Professors and
PhD researchers were interviewed in order to take a part of their valuable expertise
in the subject of interest, the interviews aimed to get inspiration and connect
similarities between their thoughts on the subject and the findings in the frame of
reference to recognize tools and methods that might be applicable to the case
company.

All of the interviewed experts were connected to Chalmers University of
Technology as either employed professors or PhD researchers. However, if there
were more time available for the research the possibility to interview experts at
other universities or institution would have been a great addition to increase and
verify the research authenticity. The interviews were conducted in a
semi-structured way which allows the interviewee to express his or her own
opinions about the subject (Patel and Davidsson, 2011).

With a semi-structured interview the researcher has a set of defined questions but
can at the same time adapt them and ask follow up questions during the interview
(Robson and McCartan, 2016). This way the interview can be adapted to the
context but at the same time follow the main structure to ease the answer analysis
(Wentzel and Bertilsson, 2015). Even though the interview can be adapted to the
context and deviate from the original question structure it’s of great importance to
make sure that the interviewee reflects and answers the research questions
(Bryman and Bell, 2011).

While performing a structured interview the answers tend to be closed and often
affected by the question formulation. A semi-structured interview can according to
Bryman and Bell (2011) help to catch unexpected perceptions which enhances the
information gathered by the interview. These perceptions can provide the
researcher with new topics and insights, allowing for further research in aspects
that was never thought of in the first place (Edmondson and McManus, 2007).

12



3
Case Company

3.1 Production Organization

The production organization consists of education, emergency services, lab and a
production department which operates the refining process and acts as the central
department of the whole oil refinery. The production department is illustrated in
Figure 3.1 in a attempt to describe its organizational layout, the other departments
acts independent departments and is thus not included in the illustration.

The production department is consisting of two different types of positions, shift
working positions and day working positions, where shift positions is working
according to a shift schedule and five shift teams rotate to cover all hours of the
week. The organizational structure of the production department can be
considered to be flat as there is only two levels between the production
management and the operators, although the organizational structure is based this
way it might not perfectly reflect reality. The Shift Operator is in charge of all
production related operations and has a key role in the collaboration between
operation engineers and operators and can thus be seen as an additional level of
managers. However, the Shift Operators does not have a personnel responsibility,
this is instead taken on by the Shift Manager which is considered by people at all
levels to be working exceptionally even though the structure can be quite
complicated to comprehend when not seen first hand.

Positions as coordination engineers and operations engineers are positions in the
organization that works during office hours, these positions report directly to each
area associated production manager in the production management. Coordination
engineers coordinates work tasks and collaborates with the other departments to
ensure that maintenance and repair operations is performed in their assigned area
while operation engineers ensures that their part of the refinery process is running
smooth and performing as determined.

13



3. Case Company

Figure 3.1: Production Department Organizational Layout

14



3. Case Company

3.2 Production Management
The production management is organized as six different department heads with
the production manager as its supervising officer. The management consists of
managers from the three different production areas as well as the lab, emergency
service and education departments which is visualized in Figure 3.2. The
production areas act as directorial departments who request services from the
other departments. The lab can thus be seen solely as a service department for the
production while the emergency service and education department acts
independent as well as in collaboration with the production areas. The HR
Business Partner (HRBP) however does not report to the production manager but
acts rather as an support resource for the managers in their operations.

The management group consists of people with different backgrounds, several of
the managers are raised in the company and has there their whole careers from
blue collar workers to managers, while others have been acquiring experience and
from different companies as well as educational institutions, although with the
exception from the Lab Manager the production managements knowledge within
the Lean philosophy is limited.

All members of the production management has their assigned location at the
refinery and thus they are often interacting on a daily basis, beyond these
interactions the management also has a standing meeting once per week where
each head of department participate. At those meetings is events that took place
during the previous week discussed along with a standardized agenda that includes
security deviations, updated work instructions and information from the
operations manager.

Figure 3.2: Production Management Organizational Layout

15



3. Case Company

3.3 Observations
In order to acquire experience of how the different departments works several
periods of observations was made. The observations were performed by studying
each head of department during one week each, the observations gave an insight to
their operations and provided information about struggles and obstacles in their
daily work tasks. The observations were extended outside of the production
management to include studies of Shift Operators and Operation Engineers as
well, a full list of participants can be seen in Table 3.1. This was done with the
aim to provide a more holistic view of the production organization and to trace the
information flow from the top to the bottom of the organizational structure.

With the Lean philosophy’s prolonged background in production research tends to
focus more on departments influenced or oriented towards production operations.
Although all of the studied departments are connected to the production
operations by being a part of the production management they don’t necessarily
interact with the physical production facilities nor operations. In this research
however all the departments is observed and evaluated regardless of their
interaction with the production. The observations aims to identify how they can
apply methods and tools from the Lean philosophy in their operations.

Title Department Study Period
Operations Manager Production 1 Week
Production Manager Production Area 1 1 Week
Production Manager Production Area 2 1 Week
Production Manager Production Area 3 1 Week
Fire Manager Emergency Services 1 Week
Lab Manager Laboratory 1 Week
Education Manager Education 1 Week
Shift Operator Production 2 Days
Operations Engineer Production 1 Day

Table 3.1: Persons studied during the case company observations

16



4
Frame of Reference

The Frame of Reference chapter will introduce the theoretical framework of the
Lean philosophy, providing the reader a deeper understanding of the concepts
cornerstones and its usefulness. All of the parts integrated into the Lean philosophy
will not be presented but merely the concepts that were used and evaluated
throughout the research.

4.1 Visual Management
The concept of visual management is a central part within the Lean philosophy, it
aims to provide information about production, organization or other settings in a
transparent holistic view. However, the concept of visual management is not new,
it’s an ancient invention which spread rapidly through industries in the early 90’s
as the traditional information methods of reports, telephones and computers did
not suffice when the industries needed to produce more efficiently, with better
quality and at a lower cost (Greif, 1991). Nowadays the concept is not only
integrated in the soul of producing companies but is also starting to get
acknowledgement in pure developing and managing organizations as well.

Visualization provides an systematic approach to transfer knowledge between
different stakeholders in a organization as it acts like a bridge which links
individual knowledge and the wider organization together at a common ground
(Whyte, Ewenstein, Hales and Tidd, 2008). In knowledge intensive industries the
visualization practice has been widely adopted as it has proven to be a powerful
method for sharing knowledge between stakeholders (Lindlöf, Söderberg and
Persson, 2013).

Using visual management as a communication method creates a transparency that
can not be found in conventional workplaces, with the visualization practice
delays, deviations, and reports can be accessible to all stakeholders and not just an
individual recipient (Greif, 1991). According to Greif (1991) a distinctive aspect
with visualization as a communication method is the open group of recipients
which causes the information to not be limited by a set of individuals, specialists
or hierarchies but rather a given area, allowing everyone that’s working or passing
by in the area to observe the visualized information (Greif, 1991).

17



4. Frame of Reference

The method is distinctively different from traditional ways of communication in
the respect of how information is distributed and received. As described earlier the
information is not limited to a set of individuals but rather a given area, in line
with the purpose of a self-serving principle the method relies on the intention of
people to become information recipients (Greif, 1991). However, when information
is accessible to everyone and not directly directed towards an individual there may
be a problem with people making themselves uninformed, it’s therefore of great
importance to create a positive work culture in which information is not ignored
for personal gains.

There is several uses with the visualization concept, but one of its prime benefits is
the managements capability to acquaint colleagues about the corporate values,
vision and goals (Mestre, Stainer, Stainer and Strom, 2000). It’s extensively used
by management in successful companies to maintain the corporate vision,
visualizing how the company is progressing in reaching its goals as well as
informing, reminding, and motivating the corporate members (Mestre et al., 2000).

Visual management is often seen as an important principle in development settings
due to the complexity of organizations which makes it difficult to see the actual
process without the support of visualization systems (Morgan and Liker, 2006;
Ludvig Lindlöf and Trygg, 2012). According to Ludvig Lindlöf (2012) the
visualization concept allows organizations to achieve a flow-orientation in their
information stream which enables transfers of information and knowledge between
people. Although visualization aims to create a transparent organization
information should not be displayed just because it’s at hand. Visual management
systems must be kept simple and only display information that’s of importance for
the process (Parry and Turner, 2006).

That visualization supports human cognitive functions is a well researched area
and widespread in both society and industry, several studies in how humans
comprehend and perceive information has shown that sight is the largest
contributor to our remembering process of the five senses. According to
J. S. Oakland (2007) researchers estimates that the sight makes up seventy five
percent of our ability to process information. Although the scientific proven
benefits visualization still seems to be underutilized in management settings
(Ludvig Lindlöf, 2014).

The era of digital transformation has taken its toll on visual management systems
as well, the question if information should or should not be displayed digitally is a
often discussed subject among modern researchers. Bhansin (2015) argues that
enormous screens might impress visitors but might not be practical for its users,
while Catic, Stenholm and Bergsjö (2016) argues that digital systems can increase
the versatility. Whether or not a visual system should be analog or digital seems to
be unconcluded by previous research as both have specific benefits and weaknesses.

18



4. Frame of Reference

4.1.1 Visual Planning
Visual practices has been developed to enhance the information flow,
prioritization, cooperation and decision-making of a process. Visual planning is
one of these practices which can be found in the visual management concept, it
aims to communicate, coordinate, manage and execute deliverables of an ongoing
process by physical visualization of the process tasks as described in an article by
Ludvig Lindlöf and Trygg (2012):

"Visual planning is when development teams use frequent meetings and physical
representations of tasks in order to manage deliverables and tasks throughout the

execution of a project" - (Ludvig Lindlöf and Trygg, 2012, p.4)
Ludvig Lindlöf and Söderberg (2011) argues that visual planning makes the
communication more efficient by visualizing a teams activities in a unified view
and that one of the main benefits with visual planning is the short meeting, as this
prompts real time information that concerns all team members to the surface.
Planning meetings can thus be seen as a forum where both planned and ad-hoc
information can be shared and evaluated among the participants, this enables
peoples engagement which empowers the communication and support for
continuous improvements (Dabäck, 2016; Parry and Turner, 2006).

Visual planning creates a transparency and overview of the current status in
process that can’t be acquired elsewhere, this allows users to easier identify wastes
in the process and enables faster decision making (Jaca, Viles, Jurburg and Tanco,
2014). With the transparency and updates of activities that visual planning
provides can managers level the work tasks among a team to maximize the
productivity, the method also allows problems to surface at an early stage in the
process which limits its impact (Holmdahl, 2010; Lindlöf and Söderberg, 2011;
Dabäck, 2016).

According to Mascitelli (2011) is planning vital for the success of a process and
that plans are simply a product of planning. Visual planning should therefore not
be seen as a set plan, but rather as a dynamic support tool which continuously
tracks and updates the plan (Wentzel and Bertilsson, 2015). This belief is shared
by Ludvig Lindlöf and Söderberg (2011) who stresses the importance of viewing
visual planning as a support tool and complement to previous working methods
rather than a replacement.

Holmdahl (2010) argues that visual planning express its best effects when used as
a support tool through the entire organization, all the way from the management
to the blue collar workers. Visual planning boards are therefore often divided into
three time horizons depending on interest and application, these time horizons are
short-term, mid-term, and long-term (Ludvig Lindlöf and Söderberg, 2011).

19



4. Frame of Reference

Visual Boards
Visual planning uses boards for physical representations of tasks, deliverables and
milestones. A basic form of a visual board is visualized in Figure 4.1 which
illustrates a short-term visual board. The x-axis of visual boards represents the
time-frame and can be altered to fit the application, however, the y-axis is
constant and represents users which can be either an individual, group of persons
or department (Ludvig Lindlöf and Söderberg, 2011). In Figure 4.1 the time
resolution of the board is constructed to represent a whole week where task,
deliverables and milestones is color-coded to become more understandable
(Holmdahl, 2010; Ludvig Lindlöf and Söderberg, 2011).

When introducing visual boards the users must be empowered to develop their
own layout and standard as this creates a deeper feeling for ownership and
responsibility (Parry and Turner, 2006; Ludvig Lindlöf and Trygg, 2012).
Ludvig Lindlöf and Söderberg (2011) as well as Parry and Turner (2006) argues
that the users should write their own activities notes and be responsible for their
own row without the interference from others.

The color-coding can be different depending on the interest, even special notes can
be utilized to mark critical components or deadlines which marks visual boards as
a versatile support tool that can be adapted to special needs. Holmdahl (2010)
practices the color-coding of activities, deliveries and milestones seen in Figure 4.1,
while other researchers such as Ludvig Lindlöf and Trygg (2012) color-codes notes
of activities, deliverables, problems and absences. However, which type of
color-coding or number of notes that’s used is trivial, as long as all users is
working according to a set standard (Ludvig Lindlöf and Trygg, 2012).

Figure 4.1: Visual Board Of A Short Term Plan

20



4. Frame of Reference

Visual Planning Meetings
At the visual planning meetings the participants are standing up, the point of this
is to create a sense of urgency which increases the focus and results in a effective
and active meeting (Ludvig Lindlöf and Söderberg, 2011; Mascitelli, 2011).
Mascitelli (2011) also argues that planning meetings should be held with a limited
non-flexible time frame as this causes people to reveal the most important
information first without going into details.

How often meetings should occur depends on the setting, the duration and
frequency of the meetings can vary from daily meetings to once a month depending
on the communication needs (Andersson and Torinson, 2017). However, the team
members must be given enough time to collect new information between the
meetings, otherwise the meetings will bring no value (Mascitelli, 2011;
Ludvig Lindlöf and Söderberg, 2011).

Mascitelli and Winett (2007) recommends having meetings taken place during the
mornings as information tends to be forgotten and stresses the importance of
attendance from all members as the meeting should act as a forum for information
exchange and coordination which otherwise isn’t possible.

Digital Visual Boards
Along with the era of digital transformation has several visual management
systems been developed to digital versions, although the opinions of the usefulness
of this are split between researchers. Ludvig Lindlöf and Söderberg (2011)
highlights that the use of software risks constraining the team communication, this
is explained to originate from the enclosure and concealment of information that
comes with the nature of digital systems (Ludvig Lindlöf and Trygg, 2012).

According to Parry and Turner (2006) are physical boards superior to digital
boards and mentions limitations in ownership, knowledge expectations, and data
presentation as arguments for his claims. Although these arguments are valid it’s
not impossible to overcome the limitations, the limitations can be countered by
developing user friendly interfaces that removes the knowledge barriers and using
specialized screens for the task (Andersson and Torinson, 2017).

However, Wentzel and Bertilsson (2015) points out that there are settings where a
digital board is better suited for the task, in their article they urge for the use of
digital planning boards when the users are not based at the same location.
According to Mascitelli (2011) this is might be true when it’s not possible to reap
the largest benefit and main purpose with visual planning, the face-to-face
discussion and team interaction as stated in the following quote:

"A virtual project board may be easy, but having team members see each other
face-to-face is the most powerful “visual” management tool there is."

- (Mascitelli, 2011, p. 112)

21



4. Frame of Reference

Yolean
One of the most recent developed digital visual management tools, Yolean,
manages to act as a bridge between pulse and visual planning. It’s architecture is
built around the aggregation of individual plans into the context of all the teams
in which those individuals participate, allowing teams to see the synchronization
on a higher level (Yolean, 2018).

Yolean acts as a digital visual management tool with the goal of stimulating
communication around tasks, deliveries, obstacles and questions. It makes hidden
value flows visible by acting as a catalyst for people to meet on a regular basis and
communicate in their daily work, no different from a physical board (Yolean, 2018).

It’s ability to act as pulse board, visual board and as a virtual planning forum for
distanced teams provides a versatility that cannot be found in analog physical
boards, the previously mentioned limitations that Parry and Turner (2006) saw
with using digital boards has been avoided by it’s simplicity and user-friendly
interface. A statement made by one of the Lean founders Daniel T. Jones on his
thoughts about Yolean settles the debate on the usefulness of digital systems in
visual management:

"Yolean has managed to keep the simplicity of the Lean tools while adding the
benefits of digitalization. I am impressed" - Daniel T. Jones, Lean Enterprise

Academy

22



4. Frame of Reference

4.1.2 Pulse Methodology
In industries the use of Pulse or Obeya rooms is a recognized management method
in which a specific room is designated for visualization of processes and methods.
The pulse methodology aims to create an environment where dependency parties
can frequently synchronize by informing, defining, and solve process deviations
(Kaya, Stenholm, Catic and Bergsjö, 2014). Pulse rooms thus removes the
communication barriers between departments in a organization by providing a
common platform for information sharing and collaboration.

According to Ludvig Lindlöf (2014) the method helps functional managers and
project managers gain a better overview of organization activities on an aggregate
level. Although the pulse creates a holistic overview of the current processes its
main purpose in a large organization is to promote the communication, interaction
and problem solving between departments (Dabäck, 2016; Kaya et al., 2014).
Pulse rooms can therefore be seen as a central dispatch where the departments
meets to collaborate and coordinate processes. Pulse boards are mounted at the
walls which helps with the interactions and creates a transparency in which
everyone can see the current status of the organization.

Pulse boards visualizes activities and status of processes in large matrices, due to
the color-coding of the matrix it’s simple to get a holistic view which provides an
instant insight into the status of the activities in the entire organization
(Oosterwal, 2010). As with the visual planning notes the number or colors of the
matrix can be adapted to suit the setting as long as a standard is used, in Figure
4.2 the illustration of a pulse board contains three colors which each represent
either no, short lasting, or long lasting deviation.

Figure 4.2: Pulse Board Illustration

23



4. Frame of Reference

4.2 Daily Management
The concepts of daily management and visual management can often be seen used
together due to its great complement, although, here are the two considered as
separate and not in any way depending and so one can be used independently
without the others existence. Daily management focuses on how the information
flows through the organization while visual management focuses on removing
information barriers, create transparency and stimulate communication (Levinson,
2012).

Daily management aims to create a organic information flow between the
organizational levels as seen in Figure 4.3, this information flow ensures that
everyone has knowledge about the current situation in the organization (Levinson,
2012). The information flow is created by establishing short meetings at the
different organizational levels where appointed representatives from each level are
informing the level above what they discussed.

However, daily management meetings does not only create a more informed
organization, it also allows for managers at the level to distribute work tasks,
follow up on previous performed tasks and ensure that the plans are followed by
the development of activities lists and routines (Levinson, 2012). By the
development of routines and structured activities lists that team members can
follow throughout the day the expectation of their performance are easier
understood, this allows team members to be more independent and conscious
about their expectations. In short terms the goal with daily management is to
ensure that everyone in the organization knows the current situation and be
informed about the activities they are expected to perform, and thus removing
waste by the creation of a knowledgeable organization (Levinson, 2012).

Figure 4.3: Daily Management Meetings

24



4. Frame of Reference

4.3 Process Mapping
Process Mapping is the concept of creating detailed actions that are taken
throughout an entire process, ranging from processes at the ground level to the
absolute top of an organization. The concept is acting as a part of the Lean
Management philosophy due to its ability to identify process actions that either
adds value or creates wastes within a process, several process mapping tools such
as flowcharts, value stream mapping, and string diagrams are therefore frequently
used within industries. However, the methods address to different types of
situations, value stream mapping includes a holistic view where the entire chain
from supplier to customer is included while flowcharts addresses specific actions in
a process. Flowcharts has recently been adopted by a large amount of companies
due to implementations of the ISO standards 9001 and 14001 which maps the
processes of a business, an example of a process map can be seen in Figure 4.4
which illustrates the different steps of a recruitment process.

All types of process mapping highlight the actions of a process with the underlying
intent of finding improvement potentials. According to Damelio (2011) adding the
knowledge of a process into a process map creates an opportunity for analysis of
improvement potentials to achieve a specific purpose, as well as a basis for
knowledge distribution. The method also improves the understanding of what’s of
importance in the process by describing the currently best-known way to perform
a work task (Damelio, 2011).

Martin and Osterling (2012) describes process mapping as an effective method for
grasping the current situation at a granular level and as a effective tool for analysis
and design of processes. Although the process map should be able to serve as an
base for analysis it should always be kept simple and understandable but as true
to the real environment as possible (Martin and Osterling, 2012).

Figure 4.4: Recruitment Process Map

25



4. Frame of Reference

4.4 Key Performance Indicators
Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) represents a set of organizational defined
measurements that’s regarded most critical for the current and future success of
the organization. KPI’s are used by businesses to quantify their business objectives
and enables for regular check-ups on their performance and progress (Parmenter,
2007). The KPI’s allows for accurate current performance measurements which in
turn allows the organization to:

� Learn from past outcomes � Focus effort
� Improve future results � Monitor output
� Report externally � Demonstrate compliance

Information from the KPI’s can be used as a basis to make faster and more
accurate decisions, the method can thus be seen as a vital support tool across the
organization which minimizes errors and uncertainty (Marr, 2015). Monitored
KPI’s thus provides information about an organization in a way that allows for
challenge of strategical assumptions which ensures that the company is steadily
moving in the right direction without the need for guesses (Marr, 2015).

KPI’s are due to the information basis it provides often seen as a vital method for
managements to efficiently steer the organization, as without it are management
decisions often affected by circumstantial events which causes decisions that has no
clear relation towards the strategical goals of the organization to be made
(Parmenter, 2007).

Which type of KPI that should be used are dependent on what the organization
has defined for objectives, although a common denominator for all KPI’s are to
measure something of relevance to the target objective. KPI’s therefore needs to
be put in a context where decisions and actions can be traced to an impact on the
measurement, as it’s otherwise numbers and data with no clear relevance (Marr,
2015).

However, KPI’s are not limited to be used by management as a basis for their
decision making progress, it’s regularly used to influence the employee behaviour
to reach certain objectives by creating KPI’s that they can affect. According to
Marr (2015) this procedure is common and can be achieve extremely positive
results in the progress to reach strategical objectives due to the dialog up and
down the organization it creates (Marr, 2015).

26



4. Frame of Reference

4.5 Policy Deployment

Policy deployment or Hoshin Kanri is a method for ensuring that the vision set by
management drives progress and actions at all levels in the company. The method
strives to create an organization where all members of a company work towards a
common goal by aligning the top managements strategy with the plans of the
middle management and the actions performed by blue-collar workers and can
thus be seen as a long-term variant of daily management. With all members of an
organization in alignment and a clear understanding of their role in the
achievement the productive power of an organization is at its optimal point
(Hutchins, 2016).

The method is often described as a catch-ball process where a vision is set by the
top management which then aligns and creates strategical goals with the
underlying organizational level how the goal can be achieved, this process of
alignment is iterated all the way down in the organizational level to the
blue-collars and eliminates wastes that comes from inconsistent direction and
misguiding communication (J. Oakland, 2011). Along with the goals are Key
Performance Indicators (KPIs) created to track the process of reaching the goal,
according to Hutchins (2016) it’s of great importance that the KPIs directly links
to the vision with the goal as the KPIs often creates an impact in behavior that
affects the drives towards the goal’s achievement.

However, it’s not limited to pushing strategical goals down the organizational
levels, it also focuses on acquiring information about progresses and results in the
other direction (Liker and Convis, 2012). The results of the actions is reported
back up in the chain of organizational levels which closes the loop of information
exchange. Policy deployment can thus be seen as creating an information flow that
runs through the entire company, where goals and KPIs travels from the top and
the results are returned from the bottom as seen in Figure 4.5.

Figure 4.5: Policy Deployment

27



4. Frame of Reference

4.6 Continuous Improvements

Continuous improvement is a method for identifying opportunities, streamlining
work and reducing waste. The method is based on implementing incremental
improvements which over time builds a process of operations excellence. The
process reduces the fear and resistance of change, allowing organizations to develop
without the need of waiting for a strategical shift (Smalley and Katō, 2011).

When approaching the concept of continuous improvements the practitioner needs
to have an open mind, and a willingness for experiments in order to obtain results
(Smalley and Katō, 2011). However, the experiments can not be conducted
without a rigorous amount of time to reflect upon the process and how it can be
improved, improvement ideas should therefore come from the employees as they
are closest to the problems. Allowing people to improve their own work also causes
a positive impact on employee engagement, simply doing things differently does
not constitute continuous improvements, one must be engaged enough to dig
deeper into the process and ask fundamental questions about its execution and
existence (Smalley and Katō, 2011).

Continuous improvements is a dynamic, ever-changing process which requires
commitment, the process can therefore cause frustration as it’s like climbing an
never ending ladder. As argued by Stewart (2012) senior managers needs to
balance the level of recognition for improvements with the desire of achieving the
ideal state, a healthy balance motivates an organization to continue develop in a
desirable rate. Managements that empowers employees to implement
improvements thus creates a more efficient organization as incremental
improvements are usually inexpensive but value adding to the operations, without
a system of continuous improvements the real potential value of a process can
never be realized (Stewart, 2012).

The concept of continuous improvements and standardization builds upon each
other, where one would not be able to exist in it’s current form without the other.
The process could be compared to a staircase, were each step is a new standard
based on the previous but with incremental changes of improvements. The process
of continuous improvements and standardization is visualized in Figure 4.6 which
illustrates the concept.

Figure 4.6: Continuous Improvements Concept

28



4. Frame of Reference

4.6.1 Continuous Improvement Cycle
While working with continuous improvements an iterative four step cycle method
is often used, one of the most commonly known is the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA)
cycle illustrated in Figure 4.7. The PDCA cycle was originally developed by the
quality control movement as a learning tool and consists of both single and double
loop learning which is argued by Pietrzak and Paliszkiewicz (2015) to be crucial
for effective organizational learning during strategic management processes. The
method is used in all types of organizations to develop processes by the iterative
cycle of implementing improvements.

Plan
During the Plan stage the analyst formulates the mission and conducts a strategic
analysis. The vision and strategy should be developed and translated into
operational actions. Defining what needs to be accomplished and indicators on
when it’s accomplished, as well as the objectives is of great importance during this
stage (Pietrzak and Paliszkiewicz, 2015).

Do
At the Do stage the actions defined in the Plan is carried out, the strategy is
communicated and the organization is aligned to support its implementation.

Check
During the Check stage the effects of the actions is observed, the results is
examined to verify that the objectives and goals is achieved. Deviations from the
plan is also checked to ensure that the underlying reasoning is still valid (Pietrzak
and Paliszkiewicz, 2015).

Act
Actions at the Act stage is dependent on the results, if the objectives were not
achieved adjustments need to be made during the Plan stage and the cycle resets.

Figure 4.7: Continuous Improvements Cycle

29



4. Frame of Reference

4.7 Standardized Work
Standardized work is acting as the fundamental pillar on which continuous
improvements relies on, without it there is no opportunity for improvements due to
the non-existent base line on how the operation is conducted. One can argue that
the whole concept of continuous improvements therefore is unobtainable without
first obtaining the operations base line that standardized work instructions
provide. Thus, the two concepts can be seen interconnected as visualized in Figure
4.8, continuous improvements needs standardization and standardization needs
continuous improvements (Patchong, 2014).

The method aims to create a base line of how an operation is conducted by
providing clear instructions and culture on how to perform a process. However,
according to Patchong (2014) this does not just enable continuous improvements
but also delivers long-term benefits in terms of improved safety, better quality,
higher productivity and increased team morale. Arguments of improved safety,
and increased quality is supported by Niederstadt (2016) as well, whom points out
that standardized work should not be limited to cyclical production processes as it
can be applied on all types of processes.

Standardized work should not be seen as set in stone in any way, practitioners of
the tasks has to be able to form it and affect its content. Therefore, the creation of
standardized work can be seen as an iterative process which resets each time an
improvement has been identified. These incremental improvements causes the
work practice to be steadily climbing up to the goal of operational excellence, the
standard should therefore not be seen as the way of performing a task but merely
as the current best known way of performing the task (Liker and Hoseus, 2008).

Figure 4.8: Illustration Of Standardized Work and Continuous Improvements
Relation

30



4. Frame of Reference

4.8 Value Added Time
All the of the mentioned methods in the Frame of Reference chapter are used for
the same reason, remove wastes and increase the share of value adding time in a
process. In order to grasp the different aspects of a process all of the actions made
in that process are divided into the three different sections value adding, necessary,
and waste seen in Figure 4.9.

� Value adding are the actions that brings ’value’ to the process, value can
thus be explained as the actions that is bring a change or effect that an
internal or external customer is willing to expense, e.g a creation or decision.

� Necessary are actions that does not bring any value to the process but are
still required in order to allow the value adding work to be performed, e.g.

� Waste are actions that does not bring any value to the process nor needed to
perform the value adding actions, these actions are therefore seen as wastes
which are unnecessary in the process, e.g waiting for dependencies.

Identification of which actions that belongs in each section can done while
performing process mapping, this visualizes the processes and makes it easier to
recognize which actions that can be labeled value adding, necessary or waste.
Within the concept of Lean there is seven actions that is pre-determined to be
regarded as waste, overprocessing, overproduction, waiting, defects, waiting,
motion, inventory and transport (Liker and Hoseus, 2008).

However, these wastes are more or less common in all kinds of organizations,
overprocessing e.g which relates to the effort that goes into actions that are outside
of the customers needs does frequently appear and could easily be eliminated by
precising the customer needs. This can be traced to a lack of communication, the
performer gets a unspecified task and does this do his best ability, although the
provider are not in need of such a detailed performance, which makes all of the
extra effort to go into the waste bracket. In organizations it’s common that the
value adding time is representing less than five percent of the process time, thus a
huge improvement potential can be found by creating a mindset that concerns
value adding time during normal operations (Liker and Hoseus, 2008). Although,
one of the main problems that adds to the waste bracket are a mindset of full time
utilization, making unexpected value-adding work postponed due to a already
packed schedule which is described as the efficiency paradox by Modig and
Åhlström (2015).

Figure 4.9: Representation Of Value Brackets In A Process

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4. Frame of Reference

32



5
Results

The Results chapter contains findings gathered during the research’s observation
period, the findings is presented and related to the theoretical framework in the
Frame of Reference chapter. The chapter addresses findings of current operations
in line with the Lean philosophy as well areas for possible improvements.

5.1 Current operations

5.1.1 Daily Management
A practice of daily management is already in operation at the case company
although it’s not called out, every morning the operators starts the practice during
their shift change, activities that were performed during the shift and deviations at
their assigned area are informed to the relieving operator. The relieving shift
group then discusses deviations that came up during the previous shift and
activities that are going to be performed during the day with their shift manager
at a ’group level’. After the discussions has been completed the shift manager
together with a representative of the shift team continues to a ’department level’
meeting which consists of representatives from the other interacting departments
mechanics, piping, electricity and instruments as well as coordination engineers,
operations engineers and production manager to the assigned area. During those
meetings the different departments synchronize and discusses the time plans of
coming activities as well as informing about previous performed activities and
share deviations to their knowledge.

After the department level meeting has taken place the operations engineers and
production managers from the different production areas meets up at the shift
operators office together with the operations manager, here the gathered
information during previous meetings are presented to the shift operator and
others among the group, creating a holistic view of the current status of the
production and organization. As the shift operator has the operational
responsibility of the production and thereby also the most insight into the current
production the shift operator are holding the meeting, the meeting thus acts as the
’factory level’ meeting and the end stop for the information which has been flowing
from the bottom of the organization up to the top. The factory level meetings has
a standing agenda which is determined to be followed by the shift operator that
aims to create a type of two-way communication between the meeting participants,

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5. Results

the purpose of this is to connect the information gathered during the daily
management meetings with the informational logs to make sure that the
organization is synchronized and no area is left out of the information.

The duration of the daily management meetings are quite limited and often ranges
in the time frame of ten to twenty minutes depending on the amount of discussion
required, although the agenda used at the shift operator meetings are quite
different from the other meetings as the needs for discussion is much less, follow up
questions to verify that the received information is correct are frequent but the
discussions are kept limited. The agenda at the shift operator meeting are kept
small to ensure a swift meeting but still manages to include the following items:

1. Safety Deviations
2. Equipment Status
3. Activities
4. Quality Deviations
5. Production Targets

Daily management meetings at the case company has been noticed during the
observations to be working exceptional, the operators as well as operations
engineers and shift operators has expressed satisfaction with the information flow
created during the morning meetings.

"The morning meetings provides great information of the current situation within
the organization which would otherwise be hard and time consuming to gather, the
newly formed shift operator meetings really brings the information together and

provides a holistic view"

Activities are brought to the operators by informational systems built around
routines and operations orders, the routine tasks assigned at the specific area are
checked by the operator currently stationed at the area, after the operator has
completed the routines the status is changed in the informational system by the
operator. Operations orders are created by the operations engineers and consists of
work tasks that’s not included into the routines, the operations orders are thus
tasks that can be traced to the needs of the production, i.e tasks to counter
production deviations such as unexpected equipment breakdowns. These systems
allows for tracking of routines and operation orders, as well as provides a more
effective performance by making the operators knowledgeable and independent,
thus reducing the needs of guidance from management.

All in all the case company already follows the method of daily management
according to the Lean management philosophy. Structured meetings between
different organizational levels that provides an organic information flow are in
place and activities systems for the operators has been created which reduces the
need of guidance from management, thus the company has grasped the
fundamental principles of daily management which were observed to be
systematically followed throughout the entire observation period.

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5. Results

5.1.2 Key Performance Indicators
Key Performance Indicators are used by the production management to track the
progress towards their set objectives, these indicators are updated and discussed at
least once a month during one of the production management meetings. All of the
key performance indicators used at the case company has a clear relevance to their
business objectives and can be traced to performed actions. Production
managements choice of key performance indicators can be seen as a combination of
measurements for both long term and short term objectives with a extensive focus
on performance and safety measurements.

Key performance indicators are shared with the personnel who thus can take part
of the organizations progress, several of the measurements are also directly
connected to their activities, making them notice the impacts of their
performances. During a presentation the participants were asked if they felt that
can create an impact on the measurements, a common a response were "I know
that my actions can affect several of those measurements". Production
management uses this method to influence the behavior of the personnel and
create an impact on the work culture, this is seen by the use of strategical
measurements that the personnel themselves are responsible to update and
maintain to reach an objective. Key performance indicators used by the
production management is thus regarded to be well formed to quantify their
business objectives and efficiently steer the organization.

5.1.3 Standardized Work
Standardized work are a common occurrence within the case company, almost
every process observed during the observation period were influenced by the
practice of standardized work. This is particularly noticeable within the
production department were tasks has a specific set of guidelines that describes the
operation, required equipment as well as knowledgeable risks associated with the
operation that’s to be performed. Instructions to standardize the work tasks has
been constructed by the personnel during decades to improve efficiency and safety,
although his has resulted in instructions written with different templates or forms
which deviates from the line of standardization. The production management has
thus decided to rewrite all of the instructions to a standardized template formed
by a specialist in the subject. However, all of its content are still based on the
practitioners instructions, but rewritten with an foremost perspective of safety and
easy comprehension, all in line with the fundamental principles of standardized
work.

Although the use of standardized work permeates in the production department
and thus easy to notice it’s found other the departments such as education as well.
Within the education department it’s more subtle but the use of the concept still
shows during normal operations, ranging from standardized processes in the
recruitment of holiday workers to standardized requirements templates in the
handling of pay grade bumps which ensures the quality of the process and

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5. Results

increases the performance. Standardization occurs within the production
management as well, during their meetings a standardized agenda is used that
allows the managers to be more prepared for the content discussed at the meetings
which thus improves both the efficiency of the meeting and their preparations.

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5. Results

5.1.4 Continuous Improvements
All deviations from normal procedures that occurs at the company, regardless of
location and department, are reported through a system called ’Synergies’ which
can be seen used with the purpose of creating a culture of continuous
improvements, although it may not be recognized as such. Synergies are allowed to
be written by all personnel employed at the company with a range from the largest
of deviations to small deviations solvable at the spot. Synergies are thereby
continuously created throughout the company in an effort to bring up deviations
that can be investigated to grasp the occurrence and to improve the processes,
whether it might be incremental or breakthrough improvements.

The case company’s system of using synergies as a tool for reporting deviations
and manage continuous improvement were observed to be working fairly well, most
of the fundamental principles of continuous improvement, empowering the
personnel closest to the process to report deviations as well as the encouragement
of them to recognize and report the deviations were recurrent topics during the
observations. Although the fundamental principles are already in place, there is
still improvement potential in the way that they are using the system in relation to
the concept of continuous improvements. The allowance of all personnel to report
deviations in collaboration with the managements constant encouragement of the
personnel to do so results in large amounts of synergies to be created, this is not in
any way regarded as distressing but creates a huge workload on the synergies
recipients.

The mentioned improvement potential comes with the way the synergies are
handled rather than how it’s reported. The huge workload on the synergies
recipients can be traced to the levels of investigation that comes with the synergies,
currently there are two types of synergi levels, one lower level which requires a
operations engineers or production managers investigation and one extended level
which is used for critical deviations that requires a special appointed investigation
team. The case company thus misses out on one important aspect, engaging the
personnel closest to the process in the investigation of possible improvements, by
implementing another lower investigation level where the synergi reporters
themselves can investigate and come up with improvements for small deviations
and then report to an operations engineer would reduce the workload on the
current synergi recipients as well as improve the efficiency of the system.

Synergies that are reported are evaluated by operations engineers and production
manager at their respective areas, this is done during a meeting where the
participants goes through their received synergies and presents their investigation
and can thus be related to a sort of continuous improvement cycle without the
implementation of improvements. However, the case company is on the right track,
the synergi system includes everything required by the concept of continuous
improvements, it’s alone the culture of evaluate implementing improvements
identified by the investigations that’s currently not found in the process.

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5. Results

5.2 Improvement areas

5.2.1 Visual Management
In the production department there is seemingly a huge potential with several
parts of the concept, members of the organization has been expressing their
concerns of feeling uninformed of other departments operations as well as
operations conducted their in own, which could be countered with the use of visual
management. These expressions of concerns are not justified while working in the
morning shifts but are however for the other two shifts that does not interact with
the daytime personnel to the same extent. The lack of information does not come
from an unwillingness to share information but rather from the nature of a shift
working organization and enclosure of information in unconnected complex
information systems. Due to the nature of shift rotations there can be a time
frame as long as five weeks where the shift working personnel can possess outdated
information or be ’kept in the dark’ of information that’s not channeled through
shift change or documented in the information systems.

These information barriers creates a disruption in the information flow that
generates frustration for the personnel, and in some cases even creates a sense of
segregation between the production areas and other departments. Visual
management can help the production management to create transparency and
improve communication between interacting departments and bring the shift
organization closer to the daytime organization, and thus counteract the grounds
of frustration and segregation. By utilizing the pulse methodology a central
dispatch which acts as a platform for interaction and information sharing to
operators assigned to different production areas and shifts could be created.
Within this platform can operators, operations engineers, and production
managers collaborate and synchronize to a greater extent, minimizing the risks for
miscommunication and prevent mistakes to be made. Managers in the production
organization would also benefit from the pulse methodology by obtaining an better
overview of the current activities and process deviations, allowing them to
effectively collaborate in the problem solving process and direct the organization.

Furthermore, the expressions of feeling uninformed of interacting departments
operations can be counteracted with the use of visual planning. Utilizing visual
planning in such a centralized platform as the pulse methodology can interacting
departments together discuss the time plan of processes and manage its execution.
Visual planning would act as the physical representation of the activities discussed
during daily management meetings which enables personnel working afternoon or
night shifts to take part of the discussed information, visual planning would thus
reduce the information barriers by acting as a gateway between the shift and
daytime organization. However, visual planning should not be seen as an
replacement to the daily management method already in place in the production
organization but rather as a support tool and complement that increases the
transparency and stimulates communication between interacting departments.

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5. Results

The usefulness of visual planning has been identified in the education department
as well, the education department consists of four members who actively work with
interrelated processes which demands a high need for collaboration and
synchronization. In the education department the use of daily management
meetings is not found, it rather relies on weekly synchronization meetings where
the members goes through the current status of processes and their activities.
Although there is no notification that this method of management is inflicting a
lack of information in it’s still possible to benefit from the concept. As there is a
small number of members in the education department visual planning could be
used as a standalone management platform, removing the weekly management
meetings and implementing short planning meetings at a visual board in the
morning would increase the departments allowance for plan deviations with faster
decision making and dynamic plan handling. Members would get an better
overview of the departments current workload and can thus level the tasks among
the team to reduce stress levels and maximize the productivity, this would also
enable the members to share progresses and discuss real-time information to a
greater extent which would allow problems to surface at an earlier stage in relation
to the current management method.

5.2.2 Process Mapping
Process mapping were observed to be extensively used to describe processes of the
actual production outdoors, the whole production process and its current status
are mapped and can be seen with the use of a computer software called IP21.
During the observations members of the production organization highlighted that
this tool to visualize the production process and its status were one of the most
important parts of their operations as it provided them detailed actions of the
process flow in an accessible form.

"In this software you can follow the process steps of the production, it’s an
exceptional tool that i normally use everyday. It provides me information about the
current status of the process and allows me to trace the process from start to finish,

it’s really valuable"

However, with an exception of the human resources department the method of
process mapping were deemed to be unused for describing processes in the
organization operating indoors. Process mapping could create a support base upon
how a process should be performed in which improvements can be identified by
analysis of the process, the analysis would provide the organizations members
more insight in the reasons behind the process steps and its value. This would
come to great use since several of the managers has expressed difficulties to
comprehend their involvement in processes and added value due to the information
concealment that comes with the nature of computer based tasks, with the use of
process mapping this information barrier could be lifted, allowing the managers to
lean back upon the process map to act as a guide way in their operations.

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5. Results

5.2.3 Value Added Time
Value added time were observed to be a new term to many members in the
production organization, although when explained all understood the concept and
it’s fundamental principles. Within the production organization there is seemingly
a strong work culture where all of it’s members wants to perform to their best
ability, this is not in any way regarded as distressing but results in tendencies to
overprocess work tasks which was also noticed during the observation period.
Introducing a mindset of value adding time could reduce the time spent on
non-value adding work and thus result in a increased performance efficiency
throughout the organization. The efficiency increase is related to the analysis of
work tasks and increased communication that the mindset aims to provide by
making the organization become more specific in its task assignments and reduce
the amount of time spent on performing outside of customers needs.

Members of the production management expressed their concerns with the huge
amount of time being spent in meetings, and surely this were noticed during the
observation period. Even though several of the participated meetings were essential
to the managers operations there is still a potential to reduce the amount, some of
the meetings even were pure information sharing that required no interaction from
the managers part. Meetings are exceptional to distribute information but the
without the need of the managers interaction large parts of the meeting would slip
into the waste bracket, managers therefore needs a mindset of regarding their own
time as valuable and dare to turn down meetings and ask for summarizes of the
information instead. This method of summarizes would reduce the amount of time
spent in the waste bracket in an already tight schedule, allowing the manager to
both take part of the information and deliver on their other commitments.

"I get a lot of invitations to participate in different meetings, this is sometimes
making me rush between different meetings that takes up the whole day, forcing me

to push up other commitments or spend time with them at home"

During the observations the managers were seen to be working with a mindset of
full utilization, if there was a free spot available at the scheme the managers were
not hesitant to accept meeting invitations even though questioning if their
participation would make a difference. Their mindset of full level of utilization is
regarded as a efficiency paradox as value adding tasks that comes up gets pushed
up due to an already packed schedule, changing this mindset to comprehend value
adding time would avoid managers to pushing value adding tasks to and improves
the efficiency by increasing the amount of time laid in the value adding bracket.

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6
Discussion

6.1 Current operations

6.1.1 Daily Management
In the production organization there is a extensive use of daily management
meetings as presented in the results chapter, the purpose of this is to create an
information flow from the bottom of the organization to the top which provides all
members of the organization with information about the current situation. The
production organizations practice of daily management were observed to be
working according to Levinson (2012) principles, where all members of the
organization gets knowledge about the current situation by creating iterative
management meetings on all organizational levels. Further, the organization
follows the principles of creating activities list that operators can follow who thus
become more independent and efficient without the need for management
interference. These activities list are represented at the case company as routines
and operations orders, this practice also falls under Levinson (2012) thoughts
about daily management. Levinson (2012) argues that the goal with daily
management can be summarized into ensuring that all members of the
organization knows the organizations current situation and are informed of the
activities they are expected to perform, all of these points has been noticed during
observation period and thus the concept of daily management is regarded to be
already implemented and well functioning.

6.1.2 Key Performance Indicators
The production managements handling of key performance indicators were close to
textbook examples, their key performance indicators quantified the business
objectives and were regularly used to check up their performance and progress as
suggested by Parmenter (2007). Further, the observed key performance indicators
were related to both own and employee based activities and could be traced to an
impact on the measurement, thus their use of key performance indicators are in
line with Marr (2015) thoughts on using key performance indicators to affect
employee behaviour to reach an objective. Key performance indicators were
observed to be a central part of the production managements operations, they
followed up on the measurement to show that the organization were moving in the
right direction towards their objectives and thus made no assumptions but rather
relied on the measurements to support them in their operations as per Parmenter

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6. Discussion

(2007) requirements. Overall their use of key performance indicators is deemed to
be in line with the lean concepts fundamental principles and are thus not regarded
as a subject of change.

6.1.3 Standardized Work
Standardized work is not excluded to the practice of introducing instructions to
workers, it’s all about the culture of iterating the improvement process and urge
the members to perform the task to the current best known way of operating as
described by Liker and Hoseus (2008). Standardized work is thus found to be
followed within the production management group to a great extent according to
Liker and Hoseus (2008) thoughts by weekly discussions about updated
instructions as well as their commitment to rewrite the instructions to compile a
common standard template for all instructions. Production managements purpose
with the culture of using instructions has been noticed to be for increasing
productivity and quality, but foremost with the purpose of creating a safer working
environment which correlates with Patchong (2014) descriptions of long-term
benefits. Influences of standardized work are found in processes outside of the
production processes as well, an example of this is the standardized templates for
pay-grade bumps and recruitment processes as presented in the results chapter.
This proves that the production management applies the standardization method
in non-production processes as supported by Niederstadt (2016) whom points out
its usefulness. Although the production managements does not label their
operations as standardized work or talk in those terms the fundamental principles
behind their operations and standardized work are the same.

6.1.4 Continuous Improvements
The case company’s system of synergies is close to identical of a strategic
continuous improvement system, thus it’s regarded that a system of using
continuous improvements are already in place. As stated by Smalley and Katō
(2011) must one be engaged to dig deeper into the process and ask fundamental
questions of its execution in order to constitute continuous improvements, changing
the way of performing a task is thus not enough. With the case company’s use of
synergies a culture of getting knowledge about the root cause for deviations is
highlighted and can be related to Smalley and Katō (2011) statements. However,
as all deviations that occurs in the case company are reported through the system
of synergies and consists of two levels of investigations the workload on the synergi
recipients are constantly high. The high throughput of synergies can be related to
Stewart (2012) thoughts on the balance between the level of recognition for
improvements and achieving the ideal state, Stewart (2012) promotes that a
healthy balance motivates the organization to develop in a desirable rate as well as
increases the quality of the improvements investigation and implementation. By
following Stewart (2012) principles with a balance and engaging employees in the
improvement process the workload on the synergi recipients could be reduced and
create an allowance to produce the best results.

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6. Discussion

6.2 Improvement areas

6.2.1 Visual Management
In previous chapters there has been a lot of focus on the term visual management,
this is because of its ability to highlight abnormalities and bring information about
processes to the surface which is regarded as a fundamental part of the Lean
philosophy. The two visual management concepts regarded in this thesis, visual
planning and pulse, has been chosen as a central part of due to their abilities to
highlight process statuses and distribute information in a easy and accessible form
that’s applicable in a production environment. Although both of the concepts
shares the fundamental idea of presenting information in an easier and accessible
way by using a visualizing technique they still addresses to different problematics
within information sharing between stakeholders (Lindlöf et al., 2013).

Visual planning addresses towards project groups and has more experience in those
environments but it’s usefulness is not in any way hindered in production settings,
organizations with a lot of interaction and dependabilities between departments
such as the case company’s production organization gains a lot of benefits from the
increased communication and transparency the method provides (Greif, 1991).
Pulse rooms on the other hand are a well known method to visualize information
in production settings, it has evolved from the car manufacturing and been
polished and adapted to be applied in various production environments. In line
with visual plannings objective the pulse rooms also aims to stimulate
communication and create a transparency between stakeholders by visualizing a
holistic view of the organization on an aggregate level (Ludvig Lindlöf, 2014).

Pulse rooms abilities to visualize activities in production organizations as
Ludvig Lindlöf (2014) describes is regarded to have great potential within the case
company, due to the organizations large interaction between departments and
continuous shift rotations there is a strong belief that information barriers could
be reduced or even removed with the use of a central information dispatch that
helps with the collaboration and coordination of processes. Utilizing visual
planning in addition to pulse rooms which organizes and coordinates activities that
extends through departments could greatly impact the effectiveness of processes
and enable a faster decision process when deviations occurs (Jaca et al., 2014). An
implementation at the case company should be conducted in line with Holmdahl
(2010) thoughts on using visualization as a support tool for all members of the
organization, the managers would get an holistic view of the ongoing processes
which allows for an more efficient management and the blue collar workers benefits
from the increased communication and guidance the concept provides by reducing
the information barriers. However, it’s regarded to be of utterly importance that
the already implemented structure with daily management keeps intact, a
visualization concept i