SIC meetings are structured, factual, proactive, and time-boxed. They are intense bursts of focused energy with one simple objective: identify one or more actions that will make the biggest difference to production during the next interval. SIC meetings are held on the plant floor and are typically completed in less than 10 minutes. They consist of three parts:
Look Back
Look Forward
Prioritize
Look Back
In the first part of the Short Interval Control meeting, look back at the immediate past (the previous interval) for insights that can be applied to the immediate future. In practical terms, identify Top Losses from the previous interval and brainstorm countermeasures.
Look Forward
In the second part of the SIC meeting, look ahead to the immediate future (the next interval) to identify events that may adversely affect production. In practical terms, look for changing conditions such as changeovers, shift handovers, or material changes, and brainstorm preventative countermeasures (typically ways to prepare in advance).
Prioritize
In the third part of the SIC meeting, prioritize ideas and select a small set of specific actions to implement during the next interval. Think of actions as something that will fix, stabilize, prepare, or improve.
SIC Actions
Actions are implemented by the plant-floor team during the SIC interval, with the goal of maximizing production. Actions that cannot be completed within the interval or that require additional resources are escalated for review outside of the SIC process (to a supervisory or managerial level).
Experience has shown that an effective implementation of SIC can improve OEE by as much as 10% (e.g., from 60% to 66%) in three to six months.
Benefits
In the short term, Short Interval Control is an effective tool for improving OEE with minimal capital investment. It does require an investment in training.
In the long term, Short Interval Control helps to create a culture of continuous improvement, where operators are actively engaged in suggesting and implementing improvements on an ongoing basis.
