Lean Lego

Marvellous Models, Inc.

Overview

This interactive activity will give the participants the opportunity to:
• Participate in a process
• Evaluate the process
• Identify wastes that can be eliminated from the process
o Transportation
o Inventory
o Motion
o Waiting
o Over-processing
o Over-production
o Defects
o Skills
• Redesign the process to eliminate wastes
• Measure the savings in the redesigned process

This will allow participants to experience how Lean can be applied to processes, and to appreciate
the benefits of using a Lean approach.

In this activity there are five different roles:

1. Stores
2. Construction Team 1
3. Construction Team 2
4. Supervisor / Quality Control
5. Customer

Participants take on one role and are given some instructions of what is involved in that particular
role. Play the game with at most, two people per role. One per role is fine, two per role, or for some
of the roles, in Round 1 at least, adds to the waste and creates a level of confusion. Both are
desirable at this stage.

Key equipment required

1200 Lego bricks
Small containers for the transportation of bricks for models
Tables or other works tops for Stores, Construction Team and the Supervisor / Quality Control

Key Performance Indicator

From receipt of order by Supervisor to receipt of model by Customer = 5 minutes (or less, what can
you get it down to?).

St Andrews Lean Consulting

University of St Andrews, New Technology Centre, North Haugh, St Andrews, KY16 9SR, UK
T: +44 (0) 1334 464 746 || W: www.standrewslean.com || E: lean@st-andrews.ac.uk
Instructions: Stores

1. Your task is to supply the bricks as requested.

2. Your store consists of hundreds of Lego bricks in different sizes and colours.
3. When one of the construction teams receives an order, they will come to you and ask you to
supply the bricks required.
4. Put the bricks that they ask for in a suitable container and give them to the construction team.
5. There is a form to be completed on supply. The construction team will give this to you to fill in as
appropriate and return with the bricks.

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Instructions: Construction Team 1

1. Your role is to construct the non-animal models from Lego bricks.

2. You will receive orders for specific models from your Supervisor.
3. When you receive an order, you need to visit Stores, give them the order form, and collect the
right amount of the right colour and size of bricks.
4. You then need to return to the building station and build the model using the appropriate
template you have been given.
5. Completed models should be taken to the Supervisor who will do a quality control check.

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Instructions: Construction Team 2

1. Your role is to construct the animal models from Lego bricks.

2. You will receive orders for specific models from your Supervisor.
3. When you receive an order, you need to visit Stores, give them the order form, and collect the
right amount of the right colour and size of bricks.
4. You then need to return to the building station and build the model using the appropriate
template you have been given.
5. Completed models should be taken to the Supervisor who will do a quality control check.

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Instructions: Supervisor/Quality Control

1. You will receive orders for Lego brick models from the Customer.
2. You need to check the order then pass it on to the appropriate construction team.
3. Construction Team 1 build the non-animal models and Construction Team 2 build the animal
models.
4. The completed models will be returned to you for a Quality Control inspection, where you will
compare the model with the appropriate template.
5. If you are happy with the quality, then the model should go to the Customer together with the
original order form.
6. If the model is not correct, it should be returned to construction to fix before passing on to the
customer.

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Instructions: Customer

1. You have been given a supply of order forms to enable you to request some Lego models from a
catalogue.
2. You can choose which models you want, and pick the colours you would like them in.
3. You need to complete one form per model, and take the orders to the Supervisor/Quality
Control.
4. Please note the time you place your order on the form.
5. Once the models are complete, they will be returned to you and you should note the time of
delivery on the form.

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 Additional Instructions for Facilitators

Time

1. There are two rounds, each taking between 30-45 minutes, although you may wish to set a
specific time limit for each round.

2. Usually very few models are produced in the first round.

Bricks

1. The three sizes of bricks to be used in construction; no other size of bricks can be used.

2. At least 1200 bricks of the right sizes are required. There are different ways on naming the
bricks, we call them 2s, 4s and 8s. There is not an even distribution of sizes and colours. We use:

Colour 2s 4s 8s
Blue 125 0 90
Dark Blue 0 0 10
Green 100 125 50
Orange 0 25 75
Pink 135 30 30
Purple 30 120 30
Yellow 10 100 115
Total 400 400 400

3. Smaller bricks cannot be combined to make up larger bricks.

4. The bricks provided are not of the correct size, colour, or quantity to meet all the orders that the
customer is likely to place. This is intentional, and the resulting confusion and inability to meet
customer demand is a key element of the first round.

5. It is helpful for learning, but not for the model makers, to include other sizes and colours of
bricks as well. These additional bricks cause further uncertainty but cannot be used in
construction. This is a great lesson regarding the need for 5S at stage 2.

The Models

1. The plane on the aircraft carrier is not attached to the carrier, it merely sits on top. Many model
makers spend ages trying to figure out how to attach it. We never tell them in the first round.

2. There is an intentional error in the number of bricks required for the chair. The numbers should
read, top to bottom - 16, 0, 2. Interestingly, most people when they realise that the number
should be 2 rather than 12, never actually formalise the correction. In real life this would mean
the process continues to cause problems.

3. The ‘Duck Robot’. Is it made by the animal or the non-animal team? Who knows? Let the
construction teams work that out.

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The Form

1. We get lots of comments about the form, it is annoying for a reason as I am sure you are aware.

2. No one that we know of has created a new more relevant form for stage 2, or dispenses with the
form altogether.

Data collected

1. Whether relevant or not, as above, no one, so far, has changed or dispensed with the form.

Enjoyment

1. This simulation is always enjoyable, the participants make their own fun: running around trying
to meet the customer’s order, talking among themselves about how to make the models,
expressing dissatisfaction with the model- making instructions, and complaining about the
unreasonable customer.

Round 1

1. Remember, no changes can be made to the set up or process during Round 1.

2. Once you have given the participants an overview of what they are to do, handed out their
instruction sheets, and placed them in position, the working day starts. There is no training time
unless the team chooses to train themselves – most do not.

3. Sometimes the team will ask about the process, the form, etc., and the facilitator must reiterate
that no changes to the process can be made. All other matters must be resolved by the team.

4. The following enhance the lessons learned from Round 1 and, in replicating commonly
encountered workplace activity, make the game all the more frustrating for the participants:

• Give the bricks to the storeperson immediately before the game starts. Do not let them sort
the bricks by colour or size – they have to select from an unsorted pile or from the
containers.

• Place the participants out of order and remote from each other so that there is lots of
walking and handing of bricks back and forward.

• If you can, have the customer in another room so that the team is not aware when an order
will be placed. It is also beneficial – but not as far as the team is concerned – to locate
Stores, Construction, and Quality Control in separate rooms.

• Insist that the customer order forms are completed correctly.

• The construction teams cannot make anything that does not appear in the catalogue, and
this includes a model of more than one colour of brick.

• Take a team member out of the process, at a random time, for five or so minutes to simulate
a performance review or absence for another reason. This should stop the process and
cause many problems.

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 • Participants must not assist others in their work at any time, including when someone is
absent; there is a clear demarcation of duties.

Round 2

1. In this round you can either limit the team to a few changes or let them make as many as they
choose. It is important to link the game, and the changes made, to Lean tools and techniques
such as the eight wastes and ease- benefit prioritisation.

2. You should still take a team member out at random, however, this time it is unlikely that the
process will stop or any further problems will be caused.

3. At the end, ask staff how they can apply what they have learnt to their own jobs.

During Both Rounds

1. The customer is to:

• Ask for something that is not on the list.
• Lodge multiple orders simultaneously.
• Be very fussy, demanding, and unaccepting of anything that is not perfect.
• Not show any sympathy with or understanding of the construction team’s problems.

2. Completed models, accepted by the customer or not, are to be placed to one side. The bricks
cannot be re-used during the round in which the models were constructed.

3. Data to collect:
• Number of completed models delivered to the customer
• Number of models rejected by the customer
• Number of models accepted by the customer
• Number of models in progress
• Number of models produced per person
• Time to complete one model

_______________________________________________________________

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 Model Colour Quantity

Date Order Time Order Date Order Time Order

Submitted Submitted Received Received

Customer Signature Customer Signature

For Official Use Only Time Initials

Parts supplied from store
Model constructed
Model passed Quality Control

Model Colour Quantity

Date Order Time Order Date Order Time Order

Submitted Submitted Received Received

Customer Signature Customer Signature

For Official Use Only Time Initials

Parts supplied from store
Model constructed
Model passed Quality Control

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Product Catalogue

Please feel free to browse our catalogue below, and once you have made
your selection, complete one of our order forms.

Model selection:

Aircraft carrier Duck Robot

Ideal for That perfect

those times mechanical
when only a help around
boat just isn’t work and the
enough home

Chair Aeroplane

Perfect for
Want to get
when sitting
somewhere,
around is the
and fast? You
option of
need to fly!
choice

Dinosaur Horse

Didn’t
everyone
Arrrgh! It’s a want a pony
scary when they
dinosaur! were young?
Get yours
now!

All models are available in the following colours:

• Blue
• Green
• Purple
• Yellow
• Orange
• Pink

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Construction Instructions

Aircraft carrier Components Duck Robot Components

14 2

3 7

10 7

Chair Components Aeroplane Components

16 0

0 2

12 5

Dinosaur Components Horse Components

4
10

6
3

4 6

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 Round 1 Round 2

# models completed

# models rejected

# models accepted

# models in progress

# models per person

Time to complete one model

10