Becoming LEAN continues to be a popular topic for most companies, and the goal is simple; focus on value-add activities and eliminate waste. Value-add activities are processes that support what the customer is willing to pay for, also known as your product or service. Waste is anything that gets in the way of this. When you really think about it, a business is nothing more than a string of processes, and if a process exists, there is a cost to that process. Period. Therefore, the ultimate goal should be to eliminate any process, or reduce the process waste, that does not add value to the customer.
Think of ordering a product from Amazon. As an Amazon Prime member, you order the product and like black magic, your product is magically delivered two days later. But it isn’t magic. The path to achieving guaranteed 2-Day delivery from Amazon didn’t happen overnight. Their process was examined, value-add activities maximized, wastes eliminated, and the customer is positively and directly affected by these actions. We should look at our processes and take the same approach.
If the rule of 80/20 applies (which it always does), this means 80% of your daily work is non-value add. Let’s think about that. Is the customer paying you to read this blog on company time? Is the customer paying you to update that special KPI that doesn’t affect them?
What would happen if you instead focused your efforts directly on what directly impacts the customer, which essentially boils down to our products and lead time? What if you question yourself every day about every task, “Is the customer going to benefit from this change?”
Again, 80% of the time, the customer does not benefit, so why are we continually adding waste and how do we stop? The answer is simple. Stop contributing to non-value-add tasks. Literally, stop! And if you can’t stop, then challenge yourself to reduce the total amount of non value-add tasks (ie. waste) from your process. Reduce the DOWNTIME on every project.
D – Defects. The goal is to eliminate defects and create a disturbance-free or defect-free environment.
O – Over Production. Don’t produce more than the customer requires. Think of a professional football game and all of the food being made to serve fans. Now think about the end of the game and how much food was leftover (i.e. over produced). If 1pc flow was implemented, over producing is kept in check.
W – Waiting. Imagine driving 10 hours to your destination, only to be stuck waiting in traffic for an additional 4 hours. What a waste!
N – Non-Utilized Talent. As a manager or supervisor, it is your duty and privilege to coach employees and tap into your teammates’ talent. Find their passion, coach them to follow their passion, and help them reach their goals. The world needs more do-ers and people executing their abilities to their fullest potential. Talent that is not tapped into is undoubtedly a waste.
T – Transportation. Analyze distance traveled, count how many steps from point A to point B and create a spaghetti diagram to map out the back and forth of a process. Reduce and eliminate accordingly.
I – Inventory: Inventory gets lost, stolen, breaks, is outdated, etc. Getting to JIT (Just in Time) is the ultimate goal. This means your inventory arrives “just in time” when it is needed by the customer instead of sitting on a shelf.
M – Motion: An Olympic sprinter has perfect form. Any wasted motion does not add value to help him/her win the race. Reduce and eliminate unnecessary motion, twisting, turning, etc.
E – Excessive Processing: Reduce the total touches a product or item is handled, read, etc. Avoid rework!
Now that you are equipped to identify waste in your process, I challenge you to be a change agent in your department to focus on what the customer pays for and reduce or eliminate the tasks the customer does not pay for. It’s difficult and it’s trying, but it’s worth it!
