7 Types of waste in Lean Manufacturing

If you are an engineering college student you will often face this question in some?of?your semesters. If you are working professionally in an industry that time also you will face the same question. And knowing the answer?to?this question will be very beneficial. You will get good marks in college, you will put a good impression on your work and even you can save a lot?of?costs in your professional workplace and at home also. So let's begin to understand what are?types?of?waste?in?Lean?Manufacturing.

What is?waste?

Any activity which is not added any value to a product is called?waste. Or we can say anything for which the customer is not ready to pay the price is called?waste.

Value addition?is simply meaning any activity for which the customer is ready to pay the price.

Waste?can be in any form Time, money, labor, space, etc…common?types?of?waste?are Defects, waiting time, overproduction, and so on…

For example?— If you have ordered something online/ offline and you received a broken part or missing part delivery. As a customer, you will not accept the delivery or you will not pay the money. This is the simplest example?of?waste?because it requires rework, repair, or return?of?the goods which will add additional cost to the product, but as a customer, you will not pay for that. The manufacturer has to own this extra cost from his share?of?the profit.

7?Types?of?waste?in?Lean?Manufacturing.

In the 20th century, Toyota came up with the concept called?the?Toyota Production System (TPS),?or Known as?Lean?Manufacturing. In this they definitely 7-types?of?waste that must be removed from manufacturing systems. To achieve?lower cost?of?the products, better competition, Good profitability?for the organization and?motivate?Good work practices.

Taichi Ohno was the father?of?TPS.

Following are the 7-types?of?waste.

1. Defects
2. Transportation
3. Inventory
4. Motion
5. Overproduction
6. Over-processing
7. Waiting

Defects:-

Any undesirable feature which impacts the function, appearance and customer satisfaction for goods/services is called a defect. For example, scratches on a car body, Cracks on the windshield, broken parts, parts not as per specification, etc…. These are the simplest examples?of?defects. Defects or defective parts will lead to repair, rework, and rejection. This will be a direct loss for the company.

The reasons for defects are poor quality control, unclear specification and customer requirements, unskilled labor, poor maintenance?of?equipment and machinery, and poor 5s and safety controls.

Transportation:—

Transportation also is one type?of?waste?because it will add cost to products and time-consuming activity. It may be in two forms one is the transportation?of?material from outside to the plant location and the second is the transportation?of?material inside the plant. The longer the distance the higher the cost involved in it.

The reasons for this are improper supplier & inventory?management, improper plant location, and layout, government rules and regulations, etc…

Inventory:—

Inventory is one?of?the biggest challenges in today's uncertainties. Inventory means building safety stocks?of?goods/services. If we are building a higher inventory then it will block the liquid assets and require more space. If we are not maintaining any inventory then it may cause production stoppage and not able to feed the market demand. So we need to maintain inventory at a very optimum level. To cover this challenge, Toyota had introduced the?Just in time?methodology.

The reasons for this are improper supplier?management, improper plant location, layout?and?wrong market demand forecasting, etc.

Motion:—

Motion means unnecessary movement, walking, bending, and stretching?of?the operator to complete the task. For example, if the material is not reachable properly to the operator then he needs to walk and collect the material for fitness, similarly for tools and other types of equipment also. This will increase the production cost.

The reason for this is improper line layout, material supply to the line, tools not available, etc.

Over Production:-

Where goods/services produced more than their market requirements. This will impact not selling?off?much good and keeps on increasing the stock at dealer end. This will hold a lot?of?cost and space. And reduced liquidity for further purchases.

The simplest reason for this is improperly forecasting the market demand, Push production approach, etc…For this issue, TPS suggests the Pull production method in place?of?the push production approach.

Overprocessing:—

This is what if we are doing extra processing on a product for which the customer is not willing to pay or it is not required as per design specifications. For example extra polishing, and extra super finishing where simple finishing operations is also okay. This will add extra processing cost and as well time.

The simplest reason for this is unclear Standard operating procedures, unclear customer requirements, etc.

Waiting:—

No one likes waiting. And the same in manufacturing also waiting is?waste?of?time and money. If the operator is waiting for equipment, and material, waiting for finishing the previous operation then these all are the simplest examples?of?waste.

The reasons for this are improperly balancing?of?the production line and improper maintenance?of?equipment/machinery. Improper 5S and labor distribution.

Elimination?of?the above 7-wastage from manufacturing is a continuous process. Toyota company has a long success story?of?this. After Toyota's success, many other companies in Japan as well as throughout the world started adopting the TPS system. These companies are surely getting good benefits from these techniques.

There are a few other techniques also mentioned in Toyota Production System —?Kaizen, Just in Time,?Lean?Manufacturing, and Pull and Push?approach which are equally beneficial and accepted throughout the world.