I have a framed quote sitting on my desk that reads, "Why do you keep trying to push for more, when all you have to do is remove what's in the way." - Usui Sensei
This quote has a lot of meaning and provides some great questions to reflect on as a leader. Questions like... How do you lead? Have you earned your team's respect and do you reciprocate respect? Do you engage your team in problem solving? Can you see what's in your team's way? Are you even looking for things in their way? Do you listen empathically?
All these questions are good and leaders should be thinking about them regularly, but the question I want to focus on today is the question about seeing what's in the way. All processes, whether on the macro or micro level, contain steps that prevent processes from flowing. Said differently, you should have processes that don't stop from start to finish as soon as the pull is triggered. The forms of waste are the things that prevent the ideal state of flow. Wasteful steps don't add any value to your customer; they take up time, resources, money, space and the list goes on. Moreover, the waste is preventing you from higher profit, shorter lead times, better quality and reduced costs.
You need to be able to SEE the waste!
Some people say the number of wastes has grown since the original seven were identified but I'm going to focus on the original seven wastes, which were originally identified by Taiichi Ohno, the late Toyota executive who also pioneered other Lean concepts such as JIT and TPS. Each of these categories of waste should be treated with equal importance, none are more important than another. Although, Over Production is considered the ultimate waste as it generates all other forms of waste.
The seven forms of waste are:
1. Transportation - Using people to move material, information and supplies. Ideally, any and all transportation should be automated whenever possible. People should be used for value added work, and moving stuff/materials around is not value added work.
2. Inventory - No inventory is ideal, but sometimes buffer inventory is needed due to lead times or minimum order quantities from suppliers. Whenever inventory is needed there should be a kanban system in place to help visually manage the inventory based on pull from the customer. Don't produce/buy extra inventory "just in case" or because you have room to fill it with.
3. Motion - This waste is all about ergonomics. Everything needed for a task should be within arms reach and in front of you; moreover, there shouldn't be any excess bending, turning or reaching for tools, supplies or parts.
4. Waiting - This one is pretty self explanatory. Waiting for ANYTHING is a waste; people, material, supplies, signature on a document or information.
5. Over Production - Producing more than what is needed. Have you ever made too many copies of a document? Why? Do you double-enter information anywhere in you business/supply chain? If you answered yes, then you're over producing.
6. Over Processing - This is using inappropriate tools/resources to achieve a quality product or service. Two great examples would be cracking a walnut using a sledgehammer and in an assembly process using a manual ratchet instead of a quick connect. If quick connects aren't viable then using an air-ratchet is less waste. In an office environment, holding a formal meeting when a phone call would have sufficed is also waste.
7. Defects - These are any mistakes, rework or errors both internally and externally. If a product is produced that does not meet the customer's expectations then a defect has been produced. When a process produces a defect the process should stop immediately, fix the problem that created the defect and only when the problem (and the root of the problem) is corrected should the process continue. Missing information on forms and forgetting to pass along information are also defects.
Bonus... The 8th waste is unused skills/talents of people. If you have someone on your team who has a particular skill set or talent that you're not using then that is waste. This usually occurs in a micromanagement environment, where people aren't able to shine.
Tim Woods, just remember Tim Woods and you will remember the seven forms of waste. What do I mean by Tim Woods? Look at the first letters of each of the wastes.
Each of these wastes are built into your existing processes and they are there because you didn't know to look for them. Now you do. Another common reason for waste in a process is because that's the way you've always done it and never stopped to ask why? Here's a question to answer with your team, "why do we do (insert process here) this way?
When you find waste, stop! Don't continue to produce waste or wasteful steps. Measure it, get to the root of the waste, eliminate the root cause then measure savings after the waste is gone. How much time, cost and/or space have you saved?
Now what? Get out from behind your desk, talk to your people, go to where the work is being done, look for the waste, map the process, ask why and where the pains are and you will inevitably start to find waste. When you take away waste you take away pain, confusion, frustration and gain value.
"You really can accomplish more for the workers by asking them to do less." - Usui Sensei
Be Continuous Improvement
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