Seven manufacturing wastes

This concept was originated in Japan (called muda) and pioneered by Toyota Production System (TPS), also called Lean Manufacturing. These wastes are

Overproduction: It means producing something which is not needed now. Overproduction leads to wastage of resources and increase in inventory. Toyota works on ‘Jus in Time’ philosophy. Overproduction is a kind of ‘Just in Case’ philosophy.

Waiting: 99% of the product’s life is wasted in waiting. And any time wasted in bottle is a waste for the whole production. Need is better design of factory layout.

Transporting: A direct addition to the cost. It is difficult to identify. Unnecessary handling of the product leads to the product damage and poor quality. Mapping product flows will help.

Inappropriate processing: Many organizations use high precision machines where simpler tools can work. Toyota uses simpler machines.

Unnecessary inventory: Direct result of overproduction and waiting.

Unnecessary and excessive motion: Related to workplace ergonomics and safety. Unnecessary bending, stretching , walking, lifting etc should be eliminated.

Defects

A newer wastage has been added recently, called “Underutilization of Manpower”.

Having worked in Tata Steel, I can see that there are controls in the plant to eliminate these wastages. Still the standards are not as high as it is in TPS. In the maintenace field, I have seen the inventory of maintenance items running into several crores in CRM only, the highest it reached was 85 crore worth of inventory. Mos of items lying there were insurance items, which were sometimes back purchased to meet unexpected breakdowns. Apart from this, there are controls for other items.