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omponent
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Don’t Forget! You Saw it in the
November 1st, 2016 #09208 Page #62
Lean Thinking Means No Waste No “TIM WOODS” By Ben Hershey, Coach & Mentor, 4Ward Consulting Group, LLC
At its core, Lean means no waste. The original Lean (Six Sigma) concept defines 7 wastes (Muda) that exist in business. All process waste is categorized into one or more of these categories. The rules for these wastes apply in both manufacturing and non-manufacturing industries.
Defining and Identifying Waste So what is the definition of “waste” we’re using here? It’s important to understand that our use of the term “waste” doesn't mean “trash” that should be thrown out. Here waste is something which does not add any value for the product or process. In response, we need to alleviate and/or eliminate it. If there is any way to get rid of the waste, it should be done. If there seems to be no way to currently remove the waste, methods should be found to reduce the waste and eventually remove the waste altogether with creativity and technology.
The 8 Wastes of TIM WOODS Over time, one additional item has been added to the waste bucket, so now there are 8 concepts recognized as waste categories. To help you remember them and find ways to apply this to your business, I wanted to find a fun way to introduce you to the concept. So I would like to introduce you to a friend of mine, TIM WOODS.
TIM WOODS is an acronym for the 8 deadly wastes: Transportation, Inventory, Motion, Waiting, Over-processing, Over-production, Defects, and Skills. Additional acronyms exist with slightly different connotations (such as DOWNTIME, which replaces “Skills” with “Non-utilized resources/talent” and “Over-processing” with “Excess processing”), but I prefer TIM WOODS. Its focus is eliminating the time waste to add value in the process and eliminating process time thereby reducing lead time. The 8 wastes are:
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Transportation Any excess or unnecessary movement of materials or information is transportation waste. Examples include chasing parts, walking to the saw room, moving carts in and out of bays, and moving plates from one end of the building to the other. We can never fully eliminate transportation. But that person who’s transporting things could be adding value to the process in assembly or another area. Look to see where your employees are spending time walking when they should be in assembly or other functional areas.
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Inventory
Inventory waste can be in the form of piles of information, raw materials, work in process, and finished goods. It can be all of the parts we have, including people. Inventory is an asset we need in order to run the business, but we often get too much of that asset. Inventory is like a big, cozy blanket. When we see the cart piled up with lumber, we feel nice and cozy. “Man, look at that backlog. Look at all that great work we’ve got to do.” But who’s waiting on all that waste? Inventory makes us feel comfortable, but it’s a very expensive way to feel comfortable. Why is it waste? It ties up cash and space. It covers up problems.
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