LEAN MANUFACTURING | 8 WASTES (MUDA) OF LEAN MANUFACTURING

LEAN MANUFACTURING OR LEAN PRODUCTION

• Lean Manufacturing or Lean Production is a systematic approach in an organization that focuses on identifying and eliminating the WASTES or NON-VALUE ADDED ACTIVITIES while simultaneously maximizing the productivity and value added activities.

• Lean Manufacturing was first introduced in Japanese industry i.e. "TOYOTA PRODUCTION SYSTEM" and still they used it.

• KAIZEN, 5S methodology, PDCA cycle, OEE, JIT, TPM, TQM are most useful Lean Tools.

DEFINITION OF WASTE IN LEAN MANUFACTURING

In Lean Manufacturing, WASTE refers to any activity that does not add value i.e. NON-VALUE ADDED ACTIVITIES. It only adds time and cost. In Japanese term Waste is known as MUDA.

8 WASTES OF LEAN MANUFACTURING

First there were 7 wastes which was developed by TAIICHI OHNO, the Chief Engineer at TOYOTA PRODUCTION SYSTEM. These were:-

Transportation, Inventory, Motion, Waiting, Overproduction, Overprocessing, and Defects. Later 8th Waste i.e. Skills (Non-utilized talent of workers) was introduced in 1990's and became total 8 Wastes of Lean Manufacturing in an organization which are as follows:-

1. TRANSPORTATION                          
2. INVENTORY
3. MOTION
4. WAITING
5. OVERPRODUCTION
6. OVERPROCESSING
7. DEFECTS
8. SKILLS

We can use trick to remember all the wastes by term TIMWOODS as shown in above figure.

All the Wastes of Lean are explained below:-

TRANSPORTATION 

Unnecessary movement of products and materials are termed as Waste which increases the cycle time and costs. So, avoid unnecessary Transportation for eliminating Waste. 

INVENTORY

Lots of Inventory or excess Inventory like excessive raw materials, finished goods (more than customer demand) are termed as Waste. So, efficient use of Inventory can reduce this waste.

MOTION

Unnecessary movement of workers, equipment and machinery are termed as Waste which increases the cycle time and costs. So, minimized unnecessary Motion.

WAITING 

Waiting for the raw materials, tools & equipment, waiting for the next process step to occur, waiting for the instructions to start manufacturing, waiting for the E-mails, waiting for a computer to load program are termed as Waste which increases cycle time, delays in product manufacturing and delivery. When inventory waits, customer waits.

OVERPRODUCTION

Producing or making more products than the customer's demand, working on the wrong priority products are termed as Waste which causes space blocked.

OVERPROCESSING

Doing more works, adding more components or having more steps in a product or service than what is required by the customer like cleaning and again cleaning the machines & materials than what is required and checking and again checking are termed as Waste which impacts delay in delivery. So, eliminate excess work.

DEFECTS 

Operator errors, mistakes in documents & drawings, inadequate training, incomplete inputs or incorrect inputs, unnecessary changes in decision are termed as Waste which is not fit for the use results in reworking on materials and products, delay in delivery, unsatisfied the customers, increases cost & time. So, reducing defects can reduce the Wastes.

SKILLS

Non-utilization of worker's talent, skill and knowledge, poorly trained workers, employees not knowing how to effectively operate equipment, placing employees in position below to their skills & qualifications are termed as Waste.