7 Wastes Lean & 5s Lean: Lluvia Olibarria Hernandez
7 Wastes Lean & 5s Lean: Lluvia Olibarria Hernandez
7 Wastes Lean & 5s Lean: Lluvia Olibarria Hernandez
Student
Lluvia Olibarria Hernandez
Lean thinking aims to remove wastes from work processes. Before diving into the 8
wastes, it is important to understand what waste is. Waste is any action or step in a
process that does not
add value to the
customer. In other
words, waste is any
process that the
customer does not want
to pay for.
1. Transport
Waste in transportation includes movement of people, tools, inventory, equipment,
or products further than necessary.
Excessive movement of materials can
lead to product damage and defects.
Additionally, excessive movement of
people and equipment can lead to
unnecessary work, greater wear and tear,
and exhaustion.
3. Motion
The waste in motion includes any unnecessary movement of people, equipment, or
machinery. This includes walking, lifting, reaching, bending, stretching, and
moving. Tasks that require excessive motion should be redesigned to enhance the
work of personnel and increase the health and safety levels.
In the office, wasted motion can include walking, reaching to get materials,
searching for files, sifting through inventory to find what is needed, excess mouse
clicks, and double entry of data. Manufacturing motion waste can include repetitive
movements that do not add value to the customer, reaching for materials, walking
to get a tool or materials, and readjusting a component after it has been installed.
4. Waiting
The waste of waiting includes: 1) people waiting on material or equipment and 2)
idle equipment. Waiting time is often caused by unevenness in the production
stations and can result in excess inventory and overproduction.
In the office, waiting waste can include waiting for others to respond to an email,
having files waiting for review, ineffective meetings, and waiting for the computer to
load a program. In the manufacturing facility, waiting waste can include waiting for
materials to arrive, waiting for the proper instructions to start manufacturing, and
having equipment with insufficient capacity.
5. Overproduction
Overproduction occurs when manufacturing a product or an element of the product
before it is being asked for or required. It
may be tempting to produce as many
products as possible when there is idle
worker or equipment time. However, rather
than producing products just when they are
needed under the ‘Just In Time’ philosophy,
the ‘Just In Case’ way of working leads a
host of problems including preventing
smooth flow of work, higher storage costs,
hiding defects inside the WIP, requiring
more capital expenditure to fund the
production process, and excessive lead-time.
6. Over-processing
Over-processing refers to doing more work, adding more components, or having
more steps in a product or service than what is required by the customer. In
manufacturing this could include using a higher precision equipment than
necessary, using components with capacities beyond what is required, running
more analysis than needed, over-engineering a solution, adjusting a component
after it has already been installed, and having more functionalities in a product than
needed.
7. Defects
Defects occurs when the product is not fit for use. This typically results in either
reworking or scrapping the product. Both results are wasteful as they add
additional costs to the operations without delivering any value to the customer.
Here are four countermeasures for defects. Firstly, look for the most frequent
defect and focus on it. Secondly, design a process to detect abnormalities and do
not pass any defective items along the production process.
Use
The main purpose of Lean management is creating
value to the customer by optimizing resources.
Lean management principles aims to create a
stable workflow based on actual customer's
demand. Continuous improvement is a major part
of Lean management, ensuring that every employee is involved in the process of
improving.
The 5S methodology
Is a system for handling workplace organization. It includes 5 steps known as the 5
S's that turn organization into a step-by-step system for people to follow. This
methodology is often considered the foundation of Lean manufacturing because for
a workplace to reduce waste and become more efficient, it needs to first be
organized.
Seiri Sort
Sort through materials, keeping only the essential items needed to complete tasks.
(This action involves going through all the contents of a workspace to determine
which are needed and which can be removed. Everything that is not used to
complete a work process should leave the work area.)
Importance
5s, or any lean system, helps to eliminate
waste, streamline production, and optimize
efficiencies. When you adopt 5s thinking, you
make a commitment to put safety, organization
and effectiveness ahead of production
deadlines, profits and output. The end result is
always an increase in overall success, though
growing pains will occur as the processes are
implemented.