Lean Manufacturing: eliminating the seven wastes, with examples.
What is Lean Manufacturing?
Lean Manufacturing is a process of identifying and eliminating waste to improve effectiveness. The Lean approach focuses on reducing seven types of waste in an organisation’s production processes, often called the seven wastes.
In this blog post, we look at each of these seven wastes and discuss how to identify them in your own organisation.
The seven wastes of Lean Manufacturing are defined as follows:
1. Overproduction
Producing more than is needed or ordered can harm a business by creating additional costs and increasing the risk of unsold products. Producing ahead of demand may appear sensible, but can be problematic for products with expiry dates or when market trends change rapidly. Producing products customers do not need can also waste time and resources entirely.
Example:
The production department of a food factory orders more units than customers have requested. This becomes routine and nobody in the department identifies or addresses it. It is a symptom of a push production model. With a pull model, the factory produces the number of units the market demands. The changes are subtle, but make a difference to monthly results because of the resources committed to unnecessary production.
2. Waiting
Unnecessary waiting can harm efficiency and productivity. Production delays caused by poor planning or lack of resources can waste money and time and create stress for workers and customers. Waiting for instructions or approvals from other departments can also delay production and affect the quality of the final product.
Example:
A new worker in a machinery warehouse has to wait for a more experienced colleague to show where a part is stored, because it is the first time they have needed it. If the colleague is busy, the new worker cannot continue serving customers, resulting in fewer sales. Over the medium and long term, these activities reduce performance across the business.
3. Unnecessary transportation
Unnecessary transportation of products between departments or locations can add costs and delay production. It can also increase the risk of product damage during transit, affecting final quality.
Example:
A furniture manufacturer has three assembly stages in three locations. Considerable time is likely to be spent moving heavy, partly finished products. Reducing the number of assembly locations to two or even one, where financially and logistically feasible, is advisable. Space requirements would fall, creating more spacious working areas and improving the working environment and employees’ wellbeing.
4. Overprocessing
Unnecessarily complicated processing can consume excessive resources to complete a task. This includes procedures that add no value to the overall process. Excessive complexity can also increase the risk of errors and delays, affecting final product quality.
Example:
In a food factory, operators are required to complete forms and procedures that add no customer value. Demanding standards and traceability are common in this industry, but processes should be simplified and digitally automated so attention can focus on delivering quality products to the end customer. Over time, this improves customers’ perception of the business.
5. Inventory
Excess inventory can create additional costs and increase the risk of products becoming obsolete. Storing and managing excess inventory also requires extra resources and can reduce efficiency.
Example:
An electronics shop holds a large number of televisions in stock that remain unsold for months. It incurs extra storage and management costs and risks the televisions becoming obsolete.
6. Unnecessary motion
Workers moving unnecessarily during tasks can create additional costs and increase the risk of workplace injuries. Unnecessary movement can also reduce productivity and efficiency.
Example:
A factory worker must move through several areas of the plant to collect the tools and materials needed for a task. This unnecessary movement consumes time and additional resources and affects efficiency.
7. Defects and rework
Defective products can create additional costs to repair problems and replace faulty items. They can also reduce customer satisfaction and damage the company’s reputation, adversely affecting the quality of the final product. Quality therefore needs to be assured at every production stage and standards met.
Example:
A car factory has to recall vehicles because of a brake problem not detected during production. This damages its reputation and creates additional costs to repair the problem and replace affected vehicles.
How can you find and eliminate waste?
Once you understand the seven wastes, you can start looking for them in your own processes to eliminate or reduce them as far as possible. Map your current processes step by step so the stages can be seen at a glance and potential waste identified quickly. After identifying potential waste, take action promptly to improve overall efficiency, productivity and profitability.
Identifying and eliminating these seven wastes can help businesses reduce costs, increase efficiency and improve quality control throughout operations, supporting competitiveness. Understanding the seven wastes and working to eliminate them wherever possible helps the business operate more efficiently while continuing to offer excellent customer service.