7 wastes

1. Over Production

• To produce sooner, faster or in greater quantities than the absolute customer demand

• Manufacturing too much, too early or “Just in Case”

• Overproduction discourages a smooth flow of goods or services

• Takes the focus away from what the customer really wants

• Leads to excessive inventory

Caused by:

• MRP push rather than kanban pull

• Large batch sizes

• Looks better to be busy!

• Poor people utilisation

• Lack of customer focus

Why one of the 7 wastes ?:

• Costs money

• Consumes resource ahead of plan

• Creates inventory

• Hides inventory/defect problems

• Space utilisation

2. Inventory

Any raw material, work in progress (WIP) or finished goods which are not having value added to them

Caused by:

• Production schedule not level

• Inaccurate forecasting

• Excessive downtime/set up

• Push instead of pull

• Large batching

• Unreliable suppliers

Why one of the 7 Wastes ?:

• Adds cost

• Extra storage space required

• Extra resource to manage

• Hides shortages & defects

• Can become damaged

• Shelf life expires

3. Motion

• Adds cost

• Motion is the movement of “man”

• Waste motion occurs when individuals move
more than is necessary for the process to be
completed

Caused by:

• No standard operating procedure

• Poor housekeeping

• Badly designed cell

• Inadequate training

Why one of the 7 Wastes ?:

• It interrupts production flow

• Increases production time

• Can cause injury

4. Waiting

People or parts that wait for a work cycle to be completed

• Where are the bottlenecks?

• What are the major causes of lost machine availability?

• What are we doing to improve machine availability?

• Do people wait on machinery?

Caused by:

• Shortages & unreliable supply chain

• Lack of multi-skilling/flexibility

• Downtime/Breakdown

• Ineffective production planning

• Quality,design,engineering Issues

• ‘Black art’ processes

Why one of the 7 Wastes ?:

• Stop/start production

• Poor workflow continuity

• Causes bottlenecks

• Long lead times

• Failed delivery dates

5. Transportation

Unnecessary movement of parts between processes

• Complex material flow paths

• Poor close coupling

• Wasted floor space

• Unnecessary material handling

• Potential damage to products

Caused by:

• Badly designed process/cell

• Poor value stream flow

• Complex material flows

• Sharing of equipment

Why one of the 7 Wastes ?:

• Increases production time

• It consumes resource & floorspace

• Poor communication

• Increases work in progress

• Potential damage to products

6. Over-Processing

Processing beyond the standard required by the customer

By improving processing efficiency we ultimately use less resource to achieve
the same customer satisfaction

Caused by:

• Out of date standards

• Attitude – ‘Always done it like this’

• Not understanding the process

• Lack of innovation & improvement

• Lack of standard operation procedures

Why one of the 7 Wastes ?:

• It consumes resource

• It increases production time

• It’s work above and beyond specification

• Can reduce life of component

7. Non-Right First Time (Scrap, Rework and Defects)

A defect is a component which the customer would
deem unacceptable to pass the quality standard

• Defects reduce or discourage customer satisfaction

• Defects have to be rectified

• Rectification costs money with regard to time effort and materials

• Defects in the field will lose customers

• Right first time is the key

Caused by:

• Out of control/Incapable processes

• Lack of skill,training & on the job support

• Inaccurate design & engineering

• Machine inaccuracy

• Black art processes

Why one of the 7 Wastes ?:

• Adds costs

• It interrupts the scheduled

• It consumes resources

• It creates paper work

• Reduces customer confidence

The 8th Waste

The under utilisation of people – Your greatest assett !