|
A major focus of Lean is the relentless pursuit of waste elimination.
|
|
Waste elimination is accomplished by fully engaging the workforce in the improvement process. The entire workforce will generate and implement Kaizen's (improvement ideas) focusing on the reduction and elimination of the seven deadly wastes.
|
|
The seven deadly wastes are:
|
|
- Transportation (of products, RM, or subassemblies)
- Inventory (all RM, safety stock, buffer stock, work-in-process and finished product not being processed)
- Motion (people or equipment moving or walking more than is required to perform the processing)
- Waiting (waiting for the previous or next production step)
- Overproduction (production ahead of demand)
- Over Processing (due to poor tool or product design creating activity)
- Defects (the effort involved in inspecting for and fixing defects)
|
|
TIM WOOD is the mnemonic to help remember the seven deadly wastes. |
|
When all levels of the workforce begin to recognize that these wastes in all their manifestations around a company impact customers negatively, make their company less profitable and less competitive, and ultimately endanger their jobs they begin to see waste as the enemy.
|
|
Once waste is seen for what it truly is, you can take action to reduce or eliminate it. |
|
Safety is often added as an eighth waste (TIM WOODS) because of the many costs to an operation and inefficiencies caused by unsafe environments (often ergonomic issues fall into this category). |
(Muda in Japanese = Waste)
|
