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How can we effectively measure the 8 lean wastes?
The 8 lean wastes TIMWOODS whiteboard helps to eliminate wastes using the systematic Lean way of working. It also offers a structured approach to continuous improvement.
The board focusses on:
· Identification of the waste
· Developing countermeasures
· Assigning review dates and
· Tracking the status
TIMWOODS is an acronym for:
T: Transportation
I: Inventory
M: Motion
W: Waiting
O: Overproduction
O: Over Processing
D: Defects
S: Non-utilized skills
The design of the board takes inspiration from the PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) or Deming Method. It is four-step model used to solve problems, make improvements, and drive continuous progress.
Determining waste starts with the identification of value. One can only know what is waste by knowing what value is first.
Value is created by the business in the form of a product or service that the customer buys; thus, it is the customer who defines the product’s value, based on their needs and desires. The critical set point of lean thinking is value.
The opposite of Value is ‘Muda’
Muda is every non-value-added activity that the customer is not willing to pay for.
How do you identify the Muda in each category? How is Muda identified and eliminated.
Transportation: unnecessary motion or movement of materials beyond that which is required to get the product from A to B. WIP material handling should be minimized because it increases lead times and does not add value. Furthermore, damage can occur during transport.
Milk run is a lean tool which can be used to optimize the delivery of materials or components to a production line. Instead of making separate trips for each item, a milk run involves a single vehicle making multiple stops to collect various materials before delivering them to the production line. This process helps reduce transportation time and costs while increasing the efficiency of material delivery.
Inventory: any inventory not identified as needed to fulfil customer orders is a waste. Inventory requires extra handling and space.
Lean deals with three types of inventory to tackle internal and external fluctuations.
Safety Stock: Safety stock is extra inventory kept to protect against problems such as downtimes.
Buffer stock: Buffer stock is additional inventory kept to handle variations in demand.
Cycle Stock: Cycle stock (also known as base stock or demand stock) is the inventory that is regularly replenished as part of the normal cycle of supply and demand.
Motion: refers to the extra steps taken to accommodate inefficient layout, defects, reprocessing, overproduction, or excess inventory.
Spaghetti diagram is a visual tool used in Lean and Six Sigma methodologies to identify and eliminate waste in a process. The name “spaghetti diagram” comes from the way the lines, representing the movement of people, materials, or information, resemble a tangled plate of spaghetti. The basic purpose of this tool is to understand the current process, identify the bottlenecks in the process, and increase efficiency by eliminating the waste in the process. It is a mapping tool used to identify the distance travelled by the product or people and the waiting time at each stage of the process. It also captures the walking patterns of the operators, especially back-and-forth movement for material or process operation. This tool helps to optimize the distance and restrict the movement.
Waiting: refers to any idle time experienced by employees or equipment during the manufacturing process. It is also referred to as queuing. This waste can result from equipment breakdowns, material shortages, or poor planning. Waiting negatively impacts productivity, leads to longer lead times, and increases costs.
Just-in-time (JIT) is a demand-pull production method where production is triggered by customer orders. It delivers just what is needed, when it is needed, and in the amount needed.
A bottleneck analysis is a lean management tool that looks at any areas within a process that are causing the workflow to become backed up or slower than should be.
Overproduction: occurs when operations continue after they should have ceased. Overproduction leads to increased inventory.
Kanban is a Lean manufacturing technique that was developed to fight overproduction. Kanban is a visual signal that is used to trigger an action.
Over processing: is adding additional process steps to what is needed ie a rework, handling or storage that occur because of defects, overproduction, or excess inventory. Overprocessing is caused by having unclear standards and specifications.
SOP stands for standard operating procedure. They are instructions that describe how to perform an activity. They are detailed descriptions of the prescribed method that team members must follow in order to carry out a given process in a particular organisation. These SOPs will ensure the standardization of methods across shifts and personnel. Combined with on the job training, they are a highly effective way to reduce wastes.
Defects: goods or services that do not conform to the specifications or customer expectations, thus causing dissatisfaction.
Poka-yoke is used to avoid defects, typically by eliminating or minimizing quality mistakes that lead to rework and scrap as well as eliminating potential safety issues. Poka-yoke is an effective method for eliminating certain defects from occurring. When a defect cannot be eliminated, poka-yoke can often assist in identifying the error earlier in the process, decreasing the cost of the rework and the potential of the error reaching the end customer.
Non-utilized skills: Not fully using people’s mental, creative, and physical abilities leads to all sorts of lost opportunities such as lost motivation, less creativity, and lost ideas.
The Gemba Walk concept is essentially the time when top management goes to the actual place where the work is being performed. This is also an opportunity for leaders to communicate with employees in the factory. This activity helps leaders gain an understanding of the skills of the employees. This knowledge can be used effectively by involving employees in problem solving and continuous improvement initiatives or providing trainings to improve their skills.
The TIMWOODS board
These tools not only help identify the waste but also help to identify counter measures to help eliminate the waste altogether. Each counter measure is given to an owner and the board allows you to track and monitor using the review date and status sections.
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