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Component Manufacturing dverti$er
Adverti$er
Don’t Forget! You Saw it in the
February 2017 #10211 Page #44
things could be adding value to the process in assembly or another area. Waste of transportation can involve raw components, subassemblies, empty boxes or just about anything that is required for production. It will not only be found in the production area, but also the material delivery areas, throughout the supply chain, and even in offices. Transportation waste is generated whenever you move objects around unnecessarily. (This is related to the waste of motion which is generated whenever you move people, paper, objects, inventory, and finished goods around unnecessarily.)
Ben Hershey, President, Coach, & Mentor 4Ward Consulting Group, LLC
Transportation Waste is More Evident Than You Think Part 2 in our TIMWOODS Series
When we last left off in our series, I introduced you to my friend, TIM WOODS. TIM WOODS is actually an acronym for the eight deadly wastes (Transportation, Inventory, Motion, Waiting, Over-Processing, OverProduction, Defects, and Skills). While the acronym DOWNTIME has also been used in some circles to describe the same processes of waste (Defects, Over-Production, Waiting, Non-utilized Resources/Talent, Transportation, Inventory, Motion, Excess Processing), TIM WOODS keeps the focus on eliminating the time waste, thereby adding value in the process, eliminating process time, and reducing lead time. This month I thought we would start with the waste (muda) of Transportation. Transportation is any excess or unnecessary movement of materials or information within an operation including component plants and LBM dealers. Examples include: chasing parts; walking to the saw room; moving carts in and out of bays; moving plates from one end of the building to the other. We can never fully eliminate transportation, but that person who’s transporting
Obviously, in our component operations when we manufacture components, millwork items, etc., SOME movement of objects is going to be necessary to get it produced. So how do you know when that movement of objects is necessary versus unnecessary? The acid test for whether something is useful movement versus transportation waste is the same question you can use to identify all other kinds of waste in your process. Does the process of movement increase the value of our produced item (or outcome)? If the answer is “No,” you are talking about transportation waste rather than necessary movement of parts and supplies. If we look at Toyota, where the tools and techniques behind Lean Manufacturing have been refined as part of the Toyota Production System (TPS), you will see that many of their suppliers are located close to their plants. Products are not shipped huge distances at great cost with the potential for delay and damage, and it eliminates the interval between where a part arrives to where it is delivered. As part of TPS/Lean/Six Sigma, we are always looking at ways to eliminate muda in the form of transportation. Moving objects or assemblies around unnecessarily obviously consumes time, energy, labor, and money that could be used for something else. However, there are also some less obvious consequences of needlessly moving these same objects or assemblies around. For example: Increasing inventories. When an item gets moved around a lot for little reason, it inevitably piles up in various places, robbing space from more useful activities. Increasing expenses. The waste of transport is a disease that causes the company to hemorrhage money at an alarming rate; you may be paying extra for material handling equipment, staff to operate it, training, safety precautions, extra space for the movement of material, and so forth. Increasing defects. Every time you move something around, you risk damaging it, or losing track of it. Increasing wait. Moving things around unnecessarily means they’ll often not be where they are needed, prompting a lot of waiting around for it to get to where it’s supposed to be. It is the countless times have we seen our associates standing waiting for a forklift at a gantry table, a saw, a trailer, etc. for parts or assemblies that should have been there at that moment.
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