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Component Manufacturing dverti$er
Adverti$er
Don’t Forget! You Saw it in the
December 2017 #10221 Page #46
No Waste Path Using TIMWOODS Part 9 in our TIMWOODS Series
Ben Hershey, CEO & Coach 4Ward Consulting Group, LLC
Hey TimWoods, it’s time to take a pause with your Gemba walk and talk about a Waste Reduction plan using what we learned in this series.
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hroughout this series, our friend TimWoods has helped us focus on the wastes of Transportation, Inventory, Motion, Waiting, Over-Production, Over-Processing, Defects, and Skills. To close out the series, let’s talk about some simple steps you can take now to implement a Quality Improvement program focused on TIMWOODS. These wastes are commonly referred to as non-valued-added activities, and they can account for up to 95% of all costs in non-Lean manufacturing environments.
Why Reduce Waste? In a lean business/manufacturing environment, we want to reduce the cost of any product or service by eliminating waste in its development, production, and distribution. So with all things being equal, if costs of all products and services decrease via the lean model, that would, in turn, drive prices down over time as well. Applying lean is about removing waste from the system, so that work-in-process decreases, productivity increases, lead times decrease, quality improves, and on and on. There is a good quote I read from Henry Ford that applies to what we have talked about in this series: “One of the most noteworthy accomplishments in keeping the price of Ford products low is the gradual shortening of the production cycle. The longer an article is in the process of manufacture and the more it is moved about, the greater is its ultimate cost.” Henry Ford (1926)
Quick Review of the Wastes in TimWoods • “T” Transportation – Material should be delivered to its point of use. • “I” Excess Inventory – Related to Overproduction, inventory beyond that needed to meet customer demands negatively impacts cash flow and uses valuable floor space. • “M” Excess Motion – Unnecessary motion is caused by poor workflow, poor layout, housekeeping, and inconsistent or undocumented work methods. • “W” Waiting – This includes waiting for material, information, equipment, tools, etc. • “O” Overproduction – Producing more than the demands. Anything produced beyond this (buffer or safety stocks, workin-process inventories, etc.) ties up valuable labor and material resources. • “O” Over-Processing – Some of the more common examples of this are reworking (the product or service should have been done correctly the first time); parts should be produced without defects. • “D” Defects – Production defects and service errors waste resources. • “S” Skills/Underutilized People –Underutilization of mental, creative, and physical skills and abilities can be caused by poor workflow, organizational culture, inadequate hiring practices, poor or non-existent training, and high employee turnover. PHONE: 800-289-5627
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