FITT Facts: Waste #7

Waste #7 – Defects

Defects are obvious and the waste most likely to make it to your end customer.  This is the form of waste that always gets the most attention because you don’t have to be a trained lean person to see them.  Defects won’t just slow you down like the other forms of waste, defects will cause you to do work over again and thus create the potential of producing all other forms of waste.

A defect is defined as any errors, rework, scrap or missing information that negatively effects the product or service you are providing to a customer.  Remember, customers can be internal and external, so that missing piece of information on the form you handed to the next stakeholder in a process is also a defect. 

Defect Waste Examples	What to do about it…
Missing field or information on a form.	If the form is electronic, make fields mandatory.
Forgetting to follow up with someone or to complete a task.	I highly recommend keeping to to-do list and a way for keeping track of all the little things that pop up.  Use a phone, tablet or an old fashioned notebook to keep tabs on you goals, priorities and tasks.
Not putting a tool/item back in its home.	Make sure the item’s home is properly labelled.  Were all the stakeholders who use that item/tool trained on proper home locations and use?  Process owners are a great tool to ensure areas/tool boards stay within standard.
Manufacturing out of specification.	Immediately get to the root cause and put countermeasures in place.  These defects often point back to lack of training or missing information/supplies, but the “I was rushed” response is also common.  Establish a DIRTFT (do it right the first time) mentality throughout the company.

Unlike the other forms of waste, you can’t sweep defects under the rug.  Defects are out there for everyone to see and they can cost you a lot of bottom line dollars. 

Develop the “STOP” mentality in all processes so that as soon as defects are produced you stop and get to the root cause, then immediately put solutions or countermeasures in place.

Be FITT!

FITT Facts: Waste #6

Waste #6 – Over Processing

Have you ever tried to crack open a walnut with a sledgehammer?  How about carve a turkey with a chainsaw?  If you do these things, as silly as they sound, you will get the result you’re looking for (opening the nut or carving the turkey) but you won’t achieve a quality product and will generate a lot of waste in the process. 

Over processing is defined as using ineffective processes, systems, tools or procedures to achieve a quality product or service.  Try to think about any areas where you’re putting too much effort into completing a task or process.

Over Processing Examples	What to do about it…
Using a wrench to tighten bolts and fasten tooling.	Next best practice would be to use a ratchet, even better would be to use an air ratchet/gun, and the ultimate is to use a quick connect.
Having a back and forth e-mail conversation.	Pick up the phone.  Better yet, if that person is in your office then go talk to them.
Creating long and/or arduous forms (maybe in triplicate…)	Simplify the form.  Ask why the form and its parts are needed.  Was it created due to an exception?  Processes should be designed to handle the normal scenario (as waste-free a possible) and people should be allowed/trained handle the exceptions.  Processes that are created to deal with exceptions end up creating a lot of red tape.

When your inner lean champion says something like “there’s got to be a better/easier way…” Listen.

Be FITT!