Process owners are always looking for ways to prevent waste. Waste is an action or a step in a process that does not add value for the customer.
There are eight major types of waste, and any one of them could cause you to lose both efficiency and money. A list of these wastes is included below; the Lean Six Sigma solutions to eliminate the waste are also included.
Defects – This type of waste is easy to spot and easy to understand. A defect occurs when a product or service falls short of the customer’s expectations. If you don’t notice them, your customers will. Defects cause expensive rework and/or disappointed (and lost) customers.
Solution: Apply Six Sigma principles using the DMAIC process to identify the root causes of defects and eliminate them.
Overproduction – Making more of your product than your customers demand leads to squandered resources and unnecessary inventory carrying costs. Both of these factors cost you money and reduce profitability.
Solution: The long-term cure for overproduction is to implement a pull system that changes production philosophy from made-to-stock to made-to-order. Companies that are in tune with the needs of the customer have a much easier time with scheduling and forecasting and don’t require large inventories.
Waiting – Although this may seem harmless, it is expensive. Material that sits idle adds no value to the customer. Employees that sit idle while being paid create no value and reduce profitability.
Solution: Eliminating bottlenecks in the production process and improving communications can help reduce idle time. Reducing distractions can help employees remain focused on their work.
Non-Value Added Processing – Would you believe that there are steps in your process that can be eliminated without reducing product quality? Think carefully. Do you inspect your product? This step in the process can safely be deleted when the product is made right the first time.
Solution: Use Value Stream Mapping to analyze your process to find how much value each step gives your customer. Evaluating every step in the process by this standard helps identify wasted effort.
Transportation – Transporting the product to the customer is essential. But if the process moves materials around the factory without adding value to the product, it is wasting time and money. Efficient processes eliminate unneeded transportation.
Solution: Production processes can reduce nonessential transportation by transforming raw materials into finished products in one location on a made-to-order system.
Inventory – This waste occupies space and consumes money. It also encourages other types of waste from overproduction, higher defects and non-value added processing.
Solution: Eliminating work in progress (WIP) by reducing gaps in the production process and improving forecasting methods reduces the need for inventory.
Motion – A step in the production process should be completed with the smallest amount of motion possible. Using more motion than is needed is a waste of resources.
Solution: Machines and work stations can de designed to minimize movement.
Unused Employee Talent – Employees are a great source for new ideas and innovation. Sadly, organizations fail to encourage employees and they only make a fraction of the contributions they otherwise could.
Solution: Use employee incentives and rewards to tap employee talent.
What are some of the innovative solutions you have used to reduce these wastes?
