Dealing with waste in lean manufacturing

Lean manufacturing focuses on the elimination of waste. Waste is anything that does not add value to the company. In order to start eliminating waste, you must be able to identify it first. Take a look at your processes and check for inefficiencies and redundancies. One way to look for waste is to listen for it. While this may sound strange, it actually works.

Listen for some of the common noises that indicate a problem, many of these noises are shouted by your employees. If they are saying things like "heads up" or "watch out", you have a problem with your manufacturing process. The same goes for office jobs. If you have employees that constantly have to borrow equipment, they do not have the right tools they need to properly perform their job and this indicates a big problem for the company.

Take a look at the equipment your employees are using. Is the equipment broken? Can employees properly perform their job duties with the equipment? When equipment doesn't work properly, it increases the risk of errors. One way to reduce this waste is to invest in the proper equipment and to train your employees how to properly use it. Improper body mechanics can cause many employees to improperly perform their job duties and this can cause injuries, lost production time, and workers compensation claims.

Walk around the floor and listen to the machines. If you notice a strange humming noise, there is something wrong. Routine maintenance will keep your machines working properly. When machines are not being used, make sure your employees know to turn them off. Leaving a machine on and letting it idle is considered a waste because it is sucking up energy and it may be doing more damage to the machine if it has been malfunctioning recently.

Lean manufacturing also uses tools to help the business side of your company. An unanswered phone is the sound of losing customers. When the phone continues to ring and ring and everyone is unwilling to do anything about it, you have several different types of wastes. First, you are wasting money paying for the phone line. Second, you are wasting money on employees that have improper training and do not understand how to handle the phone. Third, you are wasting money on advertising since you obviously do not care about your customers and their needs.

To organize the office, many companies adopt the 5 "S" methodology to improve their business. The 5 "S" method helps employees maintain clean workstations so they can find the right tools when they need them to perform their job duties. If you have employees that are shuffling papers around their desk, you have improperly implemented the 5 "S" method. Using the 5 "S" method, employees should be able to quickly find things that they need. You shouldn't hear questions like "can I borrow your stapler?"

Another office waste to watch out for is your employees that constantly interrupt others. When you are working on the assembly line, people often don't gab away about their weekend plans, but when you are working in front of a computer some people think its ok to chat. While office conversations promote unity, many of them distract an employee, which is considered a waste. The employee then needs to find a way to re-focus on their job, which could take them several minutes. If you find the employees that like to distract their co-workers, move them to a different area in the office where it is harder for them to get out of their seat and bother their co-workers.