Question

Prepare a 1 to 2-page paper that addresses the following:

A. Identify examples from your own work activities which would be a prime example for each of the 8 wastes.

B. How could that waste either be eliminated or reduced in scope? C. What would it take to initiate that improvement effort

Answer 1

The organisation in question is a bakery that manufactures breads, cookies, cakes, tarts and many other items.

A. 8 types of wastes can be identified as given below.

(a) Defects - Production of cookies that don't pass the quality test owing to burnt, half baked or out of shape cookies.

(b) Over processing - The unattended mixing machine runs for 30 minutes against the scheduled time of 20 min.

(c) Over production - Excessive bread produced is to be given to charitable organisations for free at the end of the next day.

(d) Waiting - The poor coordination between the mixing and baking departments causes accumulation of mixture waiting to be baked.

(e) Inventory - The demand for gourmet cookies is unpredictable. The exotic berries procured in bulk for these cookies is lying in store for four months.

(f) Moving - Old layout does not fit with the modern manufacturing practices and causes unnecessary movement of men and material.

(g) Transportation - Warehouses are located at a distance of 2 miles from the facility, which calls for frequent trips of men and materials ( raw material and finished products) without a reason.

(h) Unutilised manpower - The work allocation has remained unchanged for many years. Some stations are work constrained while at others, employees can be seen idling.

(B) The waste can be reduced by

(a) Implementation of a quality management system to reduce the defects at the source.

(b) Automation of the processes to stop overprocessing

(c) Use of scientific and technology enabled systems for production planning.

(d) Designing inventory management system to optimise the supplies.

(e) Improving communication between the departments. Implement ERP system.

(f) Redesign the layout.

(g) Integrate various facilities ( including warehouse) at one place to prevent unnecessary transportation.

(h) Redesign the jobs and do employee planning to utilise the idle manpower.

C. The most important requirement for the plan to fructify is intent and involvement of the top brass of the company to improve the systems. Once it is done, efficient training of the ground level employees, improving their ability to see the bigger picture, effective communication between the ranks, involvement of employees in the decision making process and employee empowerment and instilling of individual ownership is the key for the initiative to be successful.