7 wastes

The Great Manufacturing Illusion: Is 95% of Your Work Adding Zero Value?

Posted on by Adam Payne

I’ve walked onto more shop floors than I can count. From gleaming, high tech aerospace facilities to gritty, old school fabrication shops in the heart of the Midlands. And you know what? There’s a sound, a feeling, that’s almost universal. It’s the sound of busyness. The hum of machines, the clatter of tools, the squeak of pallet trucks, the constant footfall of people moving with purpose.

It feels good, doesn’t it? That hive of activity. It feels like money is being made, like orders are being fulfilled. You see your team working hard, sweating, moving fast. You think to yourself, “Great, everyone is flat out. We’re at maximum capacity.”

But are you?

To be honest, after years of doing this, I’ve learned that the loudest, most chaotic environments are often the least productive. The places where people seem the most rushed are frequently the ones haemorrhaging the most time and money. It’s a hard pill to swallow, but we in the manufacturing world have become experts at mistaking motion for progress. We celebrate the ‘busy bee’ without ever stopping to ask a simple, powerful question: is the work they’re doing actually adding any value?

This is where the core insight of Lean Manufacturing changes the game. It’s not about making people work harder or faster. It’s about making them work smarter by ruthlessly distinguishing between what the customer actually cares about, which is value added work, and everything else, which is non value added work. Getting your head around this one distinction is, I think, the first and most critical step toward real, sustainable improvement.

What Does ‘Busy’ Really Look Like on the Shop Floor?

Let’s get tangible. Picture one of your operators, let’s call him Dave. Dave is a great employee. He’s never standing still. He’s always on the move. But what is he actually doing all day?

If we were to follow Dave with a video camera for an hour, we might see something like this. He finishes a task at his workstation, then walks 50 feet across the floor to the parts store to get the next component. He gets there, but the part he needs isn’t in its designated spot. He spends five minutes hunting for it, finally finding it on the wrong shelf. He walks back to his station. Then he realises he needs a specific torque wrench, which isn’t at his station because someone else borrowed it. He spends another few minutes tracking it down. Then there’s the paperwork. He has to fill out a quality check form, get it signed off by a supervisor who is currently in a meeting, and then file a copy.

At the end of the hour, Dave is knackered. He feels like he’s run a marathon. If you asked him if he had a productive hour, he’d say, “Absolutely, I haven’t stopped!” And he’d be telling the truth. He has been incredibly busy.

But how much of that time was spent actually changing the product? How much of it was spent doing something a customer would happily pay for? Almost none. The walking, the searching, the waiting, the duplicating of paperwork. These activities feel like work. They consume energy and time. They fill the day. But they don’t move the needle one inch closer to a finished, shippable product. This is the illusion of productivity. It’s the frantic, exhausting, and ultimately wasteful state of being busy.

So, What Is Value-Added Work, Really?

This brings us to the most important definition in the world of operational excellence. Value-Added work is any action that physically transforms the raw material or component into something the customer wants and is willing to pay for.

It’s that simple.

It has to meet three very strict criteria:

  1. The customer must be willing to pay for it. Would your customer happily write a cheque for the time spent walking to the tool crib? Of course not. But they will absolutely pay for the time spent welding a perfect seam on their product.
  2. It must physically change the thing. The action has to transform the product in some way. Bending metal, drilling a hole, assembling two parts, painting a surface, packaging the final item. These are all transformative acts. Searching for a tool doesn’t change the product. Neither does waiting for a signature.
  3. It must be done right the first time. Rework is the enemy of value. If you have to spend time fixing a mistake, that is, by definition, not adding value. The initial value was supposed to be added during the first attempt.

In a typical manufacturing setting, value-added work is the welding, the machining, the assembly, the testing that confirms quality, the final packaging. It’s the magic. It’s the bit where your expertise and equipment turn basic materials into something of higher worth. And here’s the scary part, in many traditional, un-optimised manufacturing environments, if you were to honestly time it, true value-added activities might account for less than 5% of the total lead time. Think about that. For a product that takes 20 days to go from order to dispatch, you might only be physically working on it, changing it, for a single day. The other 19 days are just… waste.

The Hidden Killer: Unpacking Non Value-Added Work

If value added work is the hero of our story, then non value-added work is the villain. It’s all the other stuff. It’s the 95% of activity that adds cost and time but no value to the final product. Lean thinking categorises these activities into the famous seven (or sometimes eight) wastes. You might have heard of them, but it’s worth seeing them through this busy versus productive lens.

  • Transport: Moving parts and materials around the factory. Every time you move something, you risk damaging it, you lose it, and you add zero value. Dave walking to the parts store is a classic example. Why wasn’t the part at the point of use?
  • Inventory: Excess raw materials, work in progress (WIP), or finished goods. It ties up cash, takes up space, and hides other problems like poor quality or unreliable suppliers. That huge pile of WIP between process A and process B? It’s just waiting. And waiting is a waste.
  • Motion: This is about the people. Unnecessary movement by your team, like bending, reaching, or walking. Dave searching for his torque wrench is pure waste of motion. An organised workstation, where every tool has its place, eliminates this.
  • Waiting: This one is painfully obvious. Operators waiting for a machine to finish, for parts to arrive, for instructions, or for a supervisor’s signature. It is the most frustrating waste for any motivated employee. They want to work, but the system is forcing them to be idle.
  • Overproduction: Making more of something than is needed right now. This is often called the worst waste because it causes all the others. You make too much, so you need to store it (Inventory), move it (Transport), and it might become obsolete.
  • Overprocessing: Doing more work on a product than the customer requires. Polishing a surface that will never be seen, engineering a component to a tolerance ten times tighter than necessary, filling out a five page form when a single checkbox would do. It’s work, yes. But it’s pointless work.
  • Defects: Creating a faulty product that needs to be repaired, reworked, or scrapped. This is a double whammy. You wasted time making it wrong, and now you have to waste more time fixing it.

Now, it’s important to add a little nuance here. There is a third category that some people talk about: Necessary Non Value-Added Work. These are tasks that don’t meet the strict value-added criteria, but you absolutely have to do them. Think about mandatory safety checks, certain regulatory paperwork, or essential financial reporting. The customer isn’t paying for the safety check on the forklift, but you can’t run your business without it. The goal with these tasks isn’t to eliminate them completely, but to minimise them, streamline them, and make them as efficient as humanly possible.

The real target, the low hanging fruit for improvement, is the pure waste. The walking, the searching, the waiting. That’s where you can transform busyness into real, honest to goodness productivity.

A Practical Checklist: How to Spot the Difference in Your Own Facility

Alright, theory is great, but how do you start seeing your own operations through this new lens? It takes practice, but you can start today by asking a few simple questions as you walk around the shop floor. When you see an activity happening, ask yourself:

  1. Would a customer happily pay for this specific action? (Be brutally honest).
  2. Is this action physically changing the product for the better?
  3. Is it being done correctly for the first time?

If the answer to any of these is ‘no’, you have likely found a form of waste. You have found busyness masquerading as productivity.

Let’s look at a quick example.

Busy Brian: Brian operates a CNC machine. His area is cluttered. At the start of a job, he spends ten minutes searching for the right collet and the setup sheet. He loads the material, runs the program, and then walks over to chat with a colleague while the long cycle runs. Once the part is done, he inspects it and finds a small burr. He spends another five minutes with a file, deburring the part by hand. He’s been active all that time. He’s been busy.

Productive Paula: Paula operates the same machine. Her workstation is a model of 5S organisation. Every tool is in a shadow board, and the setup sheet is in a holder on the machine. Her setup takes two minutes. While the machine runs its cycle, she performs a quality check on the previous part and gets the raw material ready for the next one. The program finishes, and the part comes out perfectly, no deburring needed, because a previous improvement activity fixed the root cause of the burrs.

Who is more productive? It’s not even a contest. Paula might look less frantic, her station might be quieter, but her output of good quality parts per hour will be significantly higher. She has eliminated the non value added work, leaving only the productive, value creating tasks.

The Secret Weapon: Making Waste Visible with Process Mapping

How do you find all this hidden waste? It’s happening all over the place, all the time. The single most powerful tool for this is to simply draw a map of your process. In Lean terms, this is often called Value Stream Mapping.

Don’t let the fancy name put you off. At its heart, it’s just about getting a big piece of paper, grabbing a few colleagues, and physically walking the path of a product. You start where the order comes in, and you end where it’s dispatched to the customer. You draw a box for every single process step. Welding, drilling, assembly, inspection.

Then, and this is the crucial part, you map the stuff that happens between the boxes. You draw in the transport links, the waiting areas, the piles of inventory. You time everything. How long does the welding take? (Value Added). How long does the part then wait for the next step? (Non Value Added).

When you’re done, you’ll have a visual representation of your entire process. It’s often a sobering moment. You might see that a product with 30 minutes of actual value added work takes three weeks to get through the factory. The ‘before’ map often looks like a chaotic spaghetti diagram, with arrows going everywhere.

The beauty of this map is that it makes the waste impossible to ignore. You can literally see the delays and the unnecessary movement. It becomes the blueprint for your improvement plan. Your team can gather around it and say, “Why does it wait for three days here?” or “Look how far we have to walk between these two steps, that’s crazy!” The ‘after’ map, the future state you design, will look cleaner, straighter, and faster. It’s a map that shifts you from a state of busy to a state of flow.

Your First Steps to Shifting from Busy to Productive

This isn’t an overnight transformation. It’s a journey of a thousand small steps. But you can start right now.

  1. Map a Single Process. Don’t try to boil the ocean. Pick one product family or one manufacturing cell. Get the team involved and map it out, warts and all.
  2. Conduct a Waste Walk. Grab a clipboard and a stopwatch. Go and stand in one area for an hour. Simply observe and make a note of every instance of the seven wastes you see. You will be astonished at what you find.
  3. Ask Your Team. The people doing the job know where the frustrations are. They know what wastes their time. Hold a short, informal meeting. Ask one simple question: “What stops you from having a great day at work?” Their answers will almost certainly be a list of non value added activities.

From Motion to Progress

Let’s be clear. The difference between busy and productive is not subtle. It’s the difference between running on a hamster wheel and running a race. One is exhausting and gets you nowhere; the other is focused, intentional, and moves you toward a finish line.

By learning to see the waste in your processes, you do more than just improve efficiency. You make your employees’ jobs less frustrating. You improve quality because you have fewer chances for things to go wrong. You free up cash that was tied up in inventory. You increase your capacity without buying a single new machine. You build a stronger, more resilient, and more competitive business.

This is the foundation of Lean thinking. It’s a powerful shift in perspective that allows you to achieve more with the resources you already have. If you’re ready to stop being just ‘busy’ and start being truly productive, this is the path. And if you and your team are serious about learning the tools to make this happen, then taking a structured course like our Lean Greenbelt training is the perfect next step to guide you on that journey.

The Power of Lean: How Leadership Transformation Elevates Company Performance

Posted on by Adam Payne

By now, you’ve probably heard about Lean. It’s a powerful approach to management, which has its roots in manufacturing, but is used by many companies large and small to improve their processes and products.

As its name suggests, Lean is about eliminating waste — anything that doesn’t directly add value to the customer. This includes waste in time (waiting), materials (overproduction), money (overhead) and energy (people working on the wrong things).

Lean is a journey — not just a set of tools or tactics — and it takes time to become effective. But it can transform how you manage your people — giving you more time for important activities like coaching and developing your people so they can do their jobs better.

The Lean Leadership Journey

The journey to a Lean organisation is not an easy one. It requires a holistic approach and a complete mindset change. It takes time, effort and dedication to make the transformation successful. And it’s never over!

The following are some of the steps that you can take to start your journey toward becoming a Lean organisation:

Get everyone involved in the process. The Lean Transformation cannot be achieved through top-down management alone. The leader must work closely with employees at all levels to implement changes that will make the organisation more effective and efficient. Employees need to understand how they fit into this process, so that they can contribute effectively.

Set goals for improvement and measure progress toward those goals regularly. One of the primary reasons for implementing Lean practices is to improve business performance and increase efficiency, but measuring results will tell us if we’re moving in the right direction or not. We need to be measuring against specific goals set out at the beginning of the process (or before it began). This also helps us identify areas which need improvement as well as areas where we’re excelling.

The Lean Leaders Standard Work

Lean leadership Standard Work is a system that encourages continuous improvement and provides a framework for facilitating change. It requires leaders to focus on their actions, behaviours, and tools in order to drive continuous improvement in their organisation. This Lean Leadership Standard Work can be applied to managers, supervisors, directors, and executives alike.

Lean Leadership Standard Work encourages and promotes employees in organisations to reduce variation and improve performance. It also develops team members by demonstrating how to make smart changes and support people by defining what they should do when they take action.

Lean Leadership Standard Work can include:

  • Develop process standards alongside the process operators
  • Observing processes in action (Gemba Walks)
  • Asking 5 Why questions
  • Identifying gaps between standard & actual work (Audit)
  • Supporting process improvement
  • Coach and Mentoring Employees
  • Empowering Accountability and Responsibility
  • Deploying strategy

Lean Thinking as Leader

Lean Thinking as a Leader is about management that encourages you to make the most of your team and organisation. It is about creating an environment where people feel comfortable thinking “outside the box,” and where ideas can be considered, implemented, and monitored so that adjustments can be made quickly.

It requires leaders to be open-minded and encourages them to listen carefully to their team members’ ideas and suggestions. It also encourages leaders to collaborate with their teams in order to come up with better solutions for problems or issues. When everyone feels like they’re part of something bigger than themselves, they’ll be more likely to work hard toward achieving success in whatever it is they’ve been tasked with accomplishing.

The Lean Leader as a Teacher

A key concept in Lean is that people learn best by doing. Leaders must therefore create an environment where learning can happen, by encouraging employees to take on projects and responsibilities that stretch them, while also providing coaching and feedback along the way. The goal, according to Masaaki Imai (the author of Kaizen), is to help each employee become “Kaizen conscious, developing skills and tools for problem solving” — and this requires a great deal of effort on the part of managers in order to ensure that all employees are given opportunities to learn, grow and improve within their roles at work.

Eliminating waste is a key Lean Leadership Principle

Waste can be defined as anything that does not add value to the product or service being created. Waste occurs in all processes and can be categorised into three types of wasteful actions that negatively impact workflow, productivity and ultimately, customer satisfaction.

  1. Muda (or non-value-added work). These are activities that do not add any value to the end product or service, such as, Overproduction, Inventory, Defects, Motion, Over-processing, Waiting, Transportation.
  2. Muri (or overburden). This is when workers are asked to do more than they can handle efficiently, safely, or ethically.
  3. Mura (or unevenness). This occurs when there are unexpected fluctuations in demand for products or services due to things like seasonal change or competitor activity.

Waste takes time and resources to create, so eliminating it saves time and money.

Lean Leaders Put Customers First

Lean leaders are customer focused. They don’t waste time or money on anything that doesn’t directly improve the customer experience, and they know that this is the best way to grow their business.

This means that lean leaders put their customers’ needs first by:

  1. Listening to their customers and understanding their challenges and needs.
  2. Paying attention to what customers think about the product or service, and how they use it.
  3. Identifying areas where they can improve the products or services based on what customers say.

Takeaway: Lean leadership is about learning and improving.

A company benefits from having the right leadership in place, which ultimately helps a business to grow. They’ll learn from your customers, try new things, and challenge you in new ways. They’ll collaborate with others and actively seek outside support. Without good leaders, or without lean principles guiding those leaders, you’re going to get the same results: no learning and therefore no improvement.

Boost your team’s performance and your leadership potential with New Way Growth’s personalised Helping Managers to Succeed and Lead Programme. Let’s shape your leadership success story today!

How To Cut Waste And Increase Productivity By Implementing Lean Manufacturing

Posted on by Adam Payne

Lean Manufacturing is a culture and a strategy. It’s a way of doing things that helps companies improve efficiency, quality, and flexibility. It’s not just about tools and processes—it’s about people, too.

Lean Manufacturing is all about making things more efficient. It focuses on eliminating waste and finding ways to streamline workflows so that the company can produce more with less time and money.

Create a Lean Manufacturing culture

A Lean Manufacturing culture is an environment where people are taking responsibility for their own improvement, the improvement of processes and products, and the overall improvement of the company. It’s a culture built on trust, accountability, and continuous improvement.

In order to create this culture, it’s important to give employees the freedom to make decisions about how they do their job and then hold them accountable for those decisions. This can be tricky if you’re not sure what your employees’ strengths are or how they work best. But one way to develop this understanding is by asking questions like: “What’s been most helpful in improving your efficiency?” or “What practices have helped you achieve your goals?”

Once you’ve identified some of these practices, try them out on other employees! Make sure they’re working before adopting them as official company policy though—you don’t want anyone feeling like they’re being punished just because they weren’t included in testing new ideas before implementation!

Have the Upper Management Lead by Example

Lean is a powerful strategy, but it’s not something that can be implemented overnight. In order to make the most of your Lean efforts and get the most out of your employees, it’s important to have upper management lead by example.

Upper management should be actively engaged in the process of implementing Lean, from the beginning to end. They should also be involved in training new employees on Lean’s principles and ensuring that everyone is working together toward common goals. This will help employees understand how important their role is in helping you achieve those goals, which will increase their sense of ownership over their work.

Upper management should also be willing to let go of their preconceived notions about how things should be done in favour of allowing employees more freedom when it comes time to make decisions about how tasks should be completed.

Train your Team on Lean Basics

One of the best ways to get your team on board with Lean is to train them on the basics.

The Lean principles are not complicated, but they can be difficult to understand if you’re new to the concept. You should prepare your team by giving them a solid understanding of what Lean is and why it’s important before you start putting it into practice.

If your team doesn’t have a clear understanding of the principles, they will have trouble implementing them into their day-to-day work. If, for example, if you try to reduce waste without first explaining what waste is and why it needs to be reduced, then you’ll find that the effort isn’t effective or sustainable.

This is especially true when it comes to engaging your employees in Lean initiatives: if they don’t understand why they should participate in these efforts and how they’ll benefit from doing so, then they won’t be motivated enough to participate fully or consistently.

Value Stream Map – Study the Current Process

The first step in implementing Lean is to study the current process. This will help you identify areas of improvement and determine whether or not you are ready for the changes that will be necessary to make this happen. You can do this by performing a value stream map, which is a visual representation of your workflow.

The process should be broken down into steps. You want to look at each step and ask yourself what can be done to improve it, and how this change might affect other parts of the process as well. It is important to consider how each step impacts other steps, so you can look at all aspects of your operations and make sure that they are working together effectively.

Look for Waste and Remove It (Muda – Waste, Mura – Unevenness, Muri – Overburden)

You can define waste as anything that detracts from the value of a product or service you’re producing from your customers’ point of view. Waste can take many forms, such as overproduction, unnecessary resources, and more. These things need to be eliminated so that organisations aren’t creating products or services that don’t add value.

Muda is any kind of wasted motion, such as unnecessary steps in a process or unnecessary travel between locations. Mura refers to unevenness in the production line—it means one part of the process might be operating at peak efficiency while another part is idle or struggling just to keep up. Muri refers to overburdening people with too much work—this is often seen when you have an employee working alone on a task that should be split between two or more people to match customer demand (TAKT).

Map out the Main Bottlenecks

The main bottlenecks in a process are the aspects of the system that are limiting its throughput.

In order to identify these, you’ll need to first look at or build your Value Stream Map or Process Map and identify where there are bottlenecks. Then, you can work on fixing them by identifying what’s causing the bottleneck and finding ways to remove it. This may involve making changes like adjusting how people work together, reducing change-over times, increasing the Overall Equipment Effectiveness or changing how tasks are assigned (e.g., having workers perform different parts of a task).

Once you’ve identified where your bottlenecks are, you can start working on removing them.

Standardise Everything

This means that you need to define what “standard” means, and then make sure all employees are aware of it and trained to it. Standardising your processes gives consistency in how your team members perform their tasks. 

For example, if you’re a software company and you’re trying to improve efficiency by standardising on coding practices, then every employee should know which practices are allowed and which are not allowed.

You should also standardise your equipment and tools. If multiple employees use the same equipment or tool, everyone should use it in the same way every time.

If your company has multiple locations, then standardising everything is even more important because it helps create consistency between locations. If everyone knows what standards they need to meet at each location, then they’ll be able to work together better across locations knowing the desired quality will always be met.

Develop a Continuous Improvement Mentality

Implementing lean means shifting your focus from your business’s outputs to its inputs. But if you’re going to do that, you need to first develop a continuous improvement mentality.

To do this, you have to be willing to adopt an attitude of continuous improvement and continuous learning. You need to be constantly looking for ways that you can improve how things are done in your office or factory and how they contribute to the overall success of your business.

You also need to be willing to consider new ideas, because one of the main tenets of lean is that there are no bad ideas—only challenges in implementation. If someone suggests something new or comes up with a way of doing something differently, try it out! Even if it doesn’t work right away, you may learn something valuable about how something works or doesn’t work within your organisation.

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The 7 Wastes: Unseen Thieves in Your Business

Posted on by Adam Payne

In the world of lean manufacturing, ‘The 7 Wastes’ are infamous for their stealthy operations, silently chipping away at profits and productivity. These wastes fly under the radar, often going unnoticed by even the most astute professionals. Yet, if left unchecked, they can cripple an organisation’s ability to remain competitive and responsive to customer demands.

The Infamous Seven: TIMWOOD

Meet the hidden culprits named TIMWOOD, an acronym that represents the seven wastes in manufacturing:

7 Wastes Infographic

Transport (Unnecessary Movement of Materials)

The unnecessary movement of materials from one place to another is often the result of poor shop layout or a disjointed process flow. This waste can lead to an increase in handling which may cause damage or loss of materials, delays, and added labour costs. Eliminating this waste requires a streamlined approach to layout design and process flow optimisation.

Inventory (Excess Products and Materials)

Excess inventory is a common issue where production outpaces demand, leading to tied-up capital, storage costs, potential obsolescence, and increased risk of damage or loss. Inventory levels should be scrutinised, and techniques such as Just-in-Time (JIT) production and demand-driven planning should be considered for improvement.

Motion (Unnecessary Movement by People)

Similar to Transport, Motion refers to any movement by employees that does not add value to the product. This can range from reaching for tools to walking between workstations. Reducing unnecessary motion is integral to improving ergonomic conditions and efficiency. This reduction can be achieved by redesigning workspaces to minimise reach and travel distance and by standardising work procedures.

Waiting (Idle Time)

When employees or machines are idly waiting for the next step in production, this represents a significant waste of time and resources. This can be due to poor workflow, machine breakdowns, or bottlenecks. Tackling this waste involves a thorough analysis of processes to synchronise work steps and to ensure a continuous flow.

Overproduction (Producing More Than Needed)

Manufacturing items before they are actually required or in quantities exceeding customer demand results in overproduction – the root of many other wastes. This can lead to excessive inventory and increased holding costs. To nip overproduction in the bud, implement pull systems based on real customer demand.

Over-Processing (More Work Than Required)

Over-processing is seen when more work is done on a product than what is valued by the customer. This waste occurs due to unclear customer specifications or internal miscommunication. Reducing over-processing demands a clear understanding of what the customer values and aligning the production process to those standards.

Defects (Production that Requires Rework)

Defects and the need for rework can be the most apparent and costly form of waste. They lead to wasted materials, labour, and time, not to mention the potential to harm a business’s reputation. A culture focused on quality—like adopting Six Sigma or Total Quality Management (TQM)—can significantly curtail the occurrence of defects.

Identification and Elimination Strategy

Recognising ‘The 7 Wastes’ is the first step to effective lean management. It’s essential to develop a keen eye for these wastes and instil this perspective across all levels of the organisation. This is not a “once in a blue moon” activity but a regular practice that should be embedded into the daily routine. Regular audits, employee training, and a culture that promotes continuous improvement are key factors for success.

To embed this practice, create a system of visible metrics and feedback loops. This promotes responsibility and awareness amongst teams. Engage employees in problem-solving and encourage them to take ownership of their workspaces, suggest changes, and implement improvements.

7 Wastes within a process

Continuous Improvement: The Lean Way

To enter into a sustainable cycle of continuous improvement, adopt the PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) methodology. Regularly plan improvements, do them in controlled conditions, check the outcomes, and act to standardise and stabilise the improvements.

Key Takeaways

Employing strategies to eliminate the wastes identified by TIMWOOD ensures a company’s ability to thrive in today’s competitive marketplace. By fostering a culture of continuous improvement, providing employee education, and implementing systems that promote efficiency, companies can not only identify waste but turn it into opportunity – for growth, for innovation, and for delivering value to customers that rivals cannot match.

If you need help applying these principles and taking practical steps towards eliminating waste, our team at TCMUK Limited is equipped to guide you through the process. The impact of addressing ‘The 7 Wastes’ can be profound. Call us at 0330 311 2820 or email info@tcmuklimited.co.uk to unlock the full potential of lean in your operation.

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How Good is Your Factory? Are there Opportunities?

Posted on by Adam Payne

It’s easy to feel like a factory tour is something that happens once every couple of years, but in reality, it’s something that should happen every day. Conducting regular factory tours and assessments is crucial for maintaining operational efficiency, safety, and overall productivity. This regular review helps factory managers and supervisors identify areas of improvement and ensure that their operations are lean and effective.

Walking your factory floors is not just a managerial activity; it’s an opportunity to observe, learn, and communicate with your workforce. There are nine key items to consider when assessing the lean nature of your factory. These elements provide a comprehensive framework for evaluating your factory’s effectiveness and identifying opportunities for improvement.

1. Work Stations

The first item to consider is the state of your workstations. A clean, organised workstation is a hallmark of a well-run factory. Are the workstations free from unnecessary material and equipment? Are tools organised, identified, and easy to find? The 5S methodology (Sort, Set in order, Shine, Standardise, Sustain) is a great tool to ensure that workstations are kept in optimal condition.

Visual labelling, proper lighting, and cleanliness are crucial. Workstations should be well-lit to prevent accidents and ensure that employees can work efficiently. Equipment needs to be clean and in good working order. Supervision and support personnel should be present on the shop floor to provide immediate assistance and oversight. Metal-on-metal contact, safety hazards, and debris on the floors are signs of poor workstation management. Even the cleanliness of the bathrooms can provide insights into the overall maintenance of the facility.

2. Monuments

Monuments refer to large, immovable machines that are anchored to the floor. These machines often require materials to be delivered to them, which can disrupt the flow of production and reduce flexibility. It’s important to evaluate whether these monuments are still in use and if they are contributing to inefficiencies in your production process.

Not all older machines are inefficient; some are purpose-built and offer flexibility in cellular manufacturing. The key is to assess whether machinery, material locations, and drop-off points can be easily rearranged to improve workflow and reduce bottlenecks.

3. Work in Process (WIP)

Excessive Work in Process (WIP) is a clear indication of inefficiencies in the production process. Are there piles of WIP accumulating on the factory floor? Has some of it been there so long that it has grown roots or celebrated multiple birthdays? Each piece of WIP should have associated paperwork, and there should be a clear process for managing and prioritising hot items.

In an ideal factory, WIP should be minimised, and the only WIP present should be classified as Standard in Process Stock (SIPS), meaning it is controlled and part of the regular workflow. Reducing WIP can lead to significant improvements in efficiency and productivity.

4. Visibility of Targets and Schedules

Can everyone in your factory see if they are on target or behind schedule? Hour-by-hour monitoring or close-to-real-time tracking is essential for maintaining productivity and identifying issues as they arise. Using visual indicators like red and green colours can help distinguish between normal and abnormal conditions.

When abnormalities are identified, they should be recorded and analysed to determine the root cause and implement corrective actions. This proactive approach helps prevent recurring issues and ensures that production stays on track.

5. Team Metrics

What metrics do your teams have to measure their performance? Charts, graphs, and objectives should be posted in the work area, and these should be standard documents that are revision controlled, time and date stamped. Metrics need to be up-to-date, regularly reviewed, and actionable.

Having clear metrics allows teams to see if they are meeting their targets and identify areas that need improvement. It also helps distinguish between normal and abnormal conditions, enabling quick responses to emerging issues.

6. Materials at Point of Use

Efficient material delivery is crucial for maintaining a smooth production flow. Are materials delivered to or stacked at the point of use? If a worker loses a component like a screw, nut, or rivet, do they have to go to the stockroom to retrieve another one? This can cause significant delays and disrupt the workflow.

Assess how items are replenished and whether the process depends on cranes or forklifts. Implementing a just-in-time (JIT) system where materials are delivered exactly when needed can reduce inventory costs and improve efficiency.

7. Product Flow

How does the product flow through your factory? Is it through a cell, moving line, or in large batches or lots? Associates should be positioned close together so they can communicate easily, see each other’s WIP, and assist if something goes wrong.

A smooth product flow reduces bottlenecks and ensures that production processes are efficient. It also fosters a collaborative environment where workers can support each other and address issues promptly.

8. Testing and Inspection

Where is the product inspected and tested? Are inspections conducted by the associates themselves, or does the product move to a separate area for inspection? Having large numbers of inspectors can indicate inefficiencies, and a backlog in inspections can delay the production process.

Defects should be recorded, reviewed, and actioned. Tracking defects and implementing corrective actions can help reduce their occurrence and improve product quality over time.

9. Communication and Engagement

The most important aspect of assessing your factory is communication. Show dignity and respect at all times, question and challenge, talk to the people on the front line, and ask why. Understanding the perspectives of those directly involved in production is invaluable for identifying issues and opportunities for improvement.

Engage with your workforce, use your senses to observe, and foster an environment where open communication is encouraged. This approach not only improves operations but also boosts morale and job satisfaction.

In-Depth Exploration

Now that we have outlined the nine key points to consider when assessing your factory, let’s delve deeper into each aspect to provide additional background context, examples, and expert opinions.

1. Workstations: The Foundation of Productivity

Workstations are the foundation of productivity in any factory. A well-organised workstation minimises the time workers spend searching for tools and materials, reduces the risk of accidents, and enhances overall efficiency. The 5S methodology is widely recognised as a best practice for maintaining organised workstations.

  • Sort: Remove unnecessary items from the workspace.
  • Set in Order: Arrange tools and materials for easy access.
  • Shine: Keep the workspace clean.
  • Standardise: Establish consistent cleaning and organisation procedures.
  • Sustain: Maintain and review standards regularly.

For example, Toyota, a pioneer in lean manufacturing, has implemented the 5S methodology across its production facilities. This approach has significantly improved their operational efficiency and reduced waste.

2. Monuments: Balancing Flexibility and Efficiency

Monuments, or large immovable machines, can be a significant barrier to flexibility in a production environment. While they are often necessary for specific manufacturing processes, it’s essential to evaluate their impact on workflow and efficiency.

In some cases, investing in more flexible machinery that can be easily rearranged can lead to substantial improvements. For instance, a study by the Lean Enterprise Institute found that companies that replaced monuments with more adaptable equipment saw a 30% increase in production efficiency.

3. Work in Process (WIP): Controlling Inventory Levels

Excessive WIP can tie up valuable resources and space, leading to inefficiencies. Implementing a pull system, where production is driven by actual demand rather than forecasts, can help control WIP levels.

Kanban, a scheduling system that visualises work and inventory levels, is an effective tool for managing WIP. By using Kanban cards to signal when new materials are needed, factories can reduce excess inventory and improve flow.

4. Visibility of Targets and Schedules: Real-Time Monitoring

Real-time monitoring of targets and schedules is crucial for maintaining productivity. Digital dashboards and visual management tools can provide instant insights into production status and help identify issues quickly.

For example, General Electric (GE) uses real-time monitoring systems across its production facilities. These systems provide up-to-the-minute data on production performance, enabling quick responses to any deviations from the plan.

5. Team Metrics: Data-Driven Decision Making

Having clear and actionable metrics allows teams to make data-driven decisions. Metrics should be aligned with overall business goals and regularly reviewed to ensure they remain relevant.

Key performance indicators (KPIs) such as cycle time, throughput, and defect rates provide valuable insights into production performance. Regularly reviewing these metrics helps identify trends and areas for improvement.

6. Materials at Point of Use: Just-In-Time Delivery

Just-in-time (JIT) delivery is a cornerstone of lean manufacturing. By delivering materials exactly when they are needed, factories can reduce inventory costs and minimise waste.

For example, Honda has implemented JIT delivery across its production facilities, resulting in significant cost savings and improved efficiency.

7. Product Flow: Streamlining Processes

A streamlined product flow reduces bottlenecks and ensures that production processes are efficient. Techniques such as value stream mapping can help identify and eliminate waste in the production process.

By mapping out the entire production process, factories can identify areas where delays and inefficiencies occur and implement improvements to enhance flow.

8. Testing and Inspection: Ensuring Quality

Effective testing and inspection processes are essential for maintaining product quality. Implementing in-line inspection, where quality checks are integrated into the production process, can help identify defects early and reduce rework.

For example, Boeing has implemented in-line inspection in its aircraft manufacturing process, resulting in higher quality products and reduced production time.

9. Communication and Engagement: Fostering a Collaborative Environment

Open communication and engagement with the workforce are crucial for identifying issues and opportunities for improvement. Regular team meetings, suggestion programs, and employee feedback mechanisms can help create a collaborative environment where continuous improvement is encouraged.

For instance, Toyota’s approach to continuous improvement, known as Kaizen, involves all employees in identifying and implementing improvements. This approach has been instrumental in Toyota’s success and is widely regarded as a best practice in lean manufacturing.

Key Takeaways

Assessing the effectiveness of your factory is an ongoing process that requires regular reviews and a commitment to continuous improvement. By focusing on the nine key areas outlined above, factory managers can identify opportunities for improvement and implement changes that enhance efficiency, productivity, and overall performance.

Regular factory tours and assessments provide valuable insights into the state of your operations and help ensure that your factory remains competitive in an ever-evolving market. By fostering a culture of continuous improvement and engaging with your workforce, you can create a productive and efficient factory that meets the demands of today’s dynamic business environment.

Remember, the journey to lean manufacturing is never complete. It requires ongoing effort, regular reviews, and a commitment to excellence. Now, armed with these insights and best practices, go look, see, and improve your factory’s operations.

 

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