You may have seen a couple of posts I have done on the seven types of waste. I have completed seven articles on all seven types of waste you might find in your organization. Below is a listing and a short description for each of the seven types of waste plus a link to the full article. I believe if you read these articles you will have a new way of looking at your business.

The Seven Types of Waste:

Correction - Corrections are and time you redo, rewrite, rework, repair, or scrap something. This can be as simple as rewriting a grocery list. Say you have a grocery list but you want to rearrange the items on it in the order you will encounter them in the store. Even though it will speed things for you shopping it had to be redone instead of thinking of making the list ordered in the first place. Redoing the list did not add any value to you; it took longer to write it a second time instead of doing it right the first time.

Overproduction - Overproduction is when you make too much of something or you perform too much of a service for some one. Have you ever held a meeting and made copies for that meeting? Most people make a few extra, do you? That is overproduction they will end up in the trash. Or have you every as a question about something in a store and the salesman goes on an on answering your question when all you wanted was the simple answer? That salesman was overproducing

Movement of material or information - This type of waste is when you take any material for information and have to move it from one place to another. You may ship it or carry it your self but that movement does not create any value for the customer in fact it is lost time because it delays your product or service from getting to your customer

Motion of employees - This type of waste is when you or an operator has get up and walk or travel to get something to do their job.  Just like movement of materials and information, motion of the operator does not create value. In fact the "thing" in the process is not changing at all

Waiting - This type of waste is when you, other employees, customer, material, or equipment sits idle waiting. Think about all the waiting rooms there are. As a customer do you want to wait? No but we sometime have come to expect the wait. I have been to doctor’s office where the waiting room is empty or full did not matter but in some I was seen on time and other I have waited over an hour.

Inventory or other resources - This type of waste is not just supplies and materials on shelves but also any recourse your company has that is not being utilized. We normal see inventory as parts and supplies sitting on a shelf like boxes of cereal in the grocery store. But here inventory also include equipment that is standing idle or in storage and employees that have skill that are not being used to their fullest.

Processes - This type of waste is when you are doing more than required by the customer. This is a hard one to understand because sometimes doing more for free has a WOW factor for your customers. That is why it is important to know what is of value and what is not. You see sometime you do sometime more that you think the customer wants and they do not care. That is when it becomes a waste.

Bersbach Consulting
Peter Bersbach
Six Sigma Master Black Belt
http://sixsigmatrainingconsulting.com
peter@bersbach.com
1.520.829.0090

Bersbach Consulting LLC provides Six Sigma training coaching and support across Arizona, including the Tucson, Phoenix, Sierra Vista, Nogales, Yuma areas. At this time we would like to thank our friends and clients for their support. If you have landed here looking for our Six Sigma training, coaching or support services in Tucson, then please follow this Six Sigma Training link.

This is the seventh in a series of articles on the Seven Types of Waste[1]. This article addresses Processes.

Processes

This type of waste is when you are doing more than required by the customer. This is a hard one to understand because sometimes doing more for free has a WOW factor for your customers. That is why it is important to know what is of value and what is not. You see sometime you do sometime more that you think the customer wants and they do not care. That is when it becomes a waste.

Also many time we do things that customer thinks are great but then customer values change and the process did not. Those also become waste. Ever hear some one explain what they do as “… because we have always done it that way”. That is a flag that this could be a waste and needs to be changed. Just because we have ALWAYS done it that way does not make it the best or most efficient way to do it. Customer values change and so does the technology that is used to create value.

Take a letter for instance, once upon a time we hand wrote letters and sent them in the mail. Then there were typewriters; then computer; and now we have Email. So you see the world is constantly changing and as such so do you processes. Change to insure they are always creating the best value for your coustomers.

Some symptoms of Process Waste that you can look for are:

Unnecessary work

Extra equipment

Longer lead time

Reduced productivity

Extra material movement

Sorting, testing, inspection

Inappropriate use of resources

Excess energy consumption

Processing by-products

Look around your place of work or at home and see if you can see any of these. They are just the flag that there is a cause for these that needs to be identified and addressed. What are some of the root causes associated with these symptoms? Let me list them as well. I would associate them with the symptom but many times a root cause shows more than one symptom. So as you read this list of root causes look at the symptoms above and see how many of them it could cause.

Some Root Causes of Process Waste are:

• Product changes without process changes
• Just-in-case logic
• Old Habits (it’s always been done)
• Lack of communication
• Redundant approvals
• Extra copies, excess information
• Undefined customer requirements
• “Stop-gap” measures that become
• part of the process
• Lack of reuse / recycling

I invite you to post what you see around you that are Process Waste that could be changed.

If your business is located anywhere in the World including the US, Tucson, Oro Valley , Oracle, Phoenix, Glendale, and Scottsdale, Marana, Green Valley Arizona or beyond and you would like to learn more about our Six Sigma training, coaching and support services please call  Bersbach Consulting LLC at 1-520-829-0090 or go to our website.

[1] The seven types of waste are: Corrections, Overproduction, Movement of material or information, Motion of operators, Waiting, Processes or other resources that are not being used, and Processing.

Bersbach Consulting LLC provides Six Sigma training coaching and support across Arizona, including the Tucson, Phoenix, Sierra Vista, Nogales, Yuma areas. At this time we would like to thank our friends and clients for their support. If you have landed here looking for our Six Sigma training, coaching or support services in Tucson, then please follow this Six Sigma Training link.

This is the sixth in a series of articles on the Seven Types of Waste[1]. This article addresses Inventory.

Inventory

This type of waste is not just supplies and materials on shelves but also any recourse your company has that is not being utilized. We normal see inventory as parts and supplies sitting on a shelf like boxes of cereal in the grocery store. But here inventory also include equipment that is standing idle or in storage and employees that have skill that are not being used to their fullest.

Some times we do not realize how much we spend on skilled employees that are actually doing work that does not maximize their skill set. Take a look at any given skilled employee and think about what they are actually doing during their days work. Now ask your self how much of that required their special skills; I believe you would find that there are a lot of activities they are doing that do not need their skills. Those activates could be off loaded to someone else at a lower pay scale to do. Meanwhile the skilled worker could be working on another active that does require their skills. In this way you decrease costs and increase throughput.

Equipment is usually a capitol expense and as such if it is not working it is costing you money in floor space and maintenance and maybe even loans. I have an old truck at my house that I very rarely use. But I have kept it to “haul stuff” when I need to (have you heard that). I have to pay insurance and maintenance on it even if it sits. Plus I have to run it once in a while just to keep it in working condition. It takes up space in my driveway as well. I should sell it, freeing up the space and saving all the expenses of insurance and maintenance. If I need to haul things I could rent a trailer or buy one which would cost me less than what I am currently doing with the truck.

You get the idea!

Some symptoms of Inventory that you can look for are:

• Complex tracking systems
• Extra storage & handling
• Extra rework / hidden problems
• Paperwork / documents
• Stagnated information flow
• High disposal costs
• Obsolete material
• In-process packaging
• High utility costs

Look around your place of work or at home and see if you can see any of these. They are just the flag that there is a cause for these that needs to be identified and addressed. What are some of the root causes associated with these symptoms? Let me list them as well. I would associate them with the symptom but many times a root cause shows more than one symptom. So as you read this list of root causes look at the symptoms above and see how many of them it could cause.

Some Root Causes of Inventory:

• Product complexity
• Incapable processes
• Unleveled scheduling
• Poor market forecast
• Unbalanced workload
• “Just-in-case”
• Unreliable supplier shipments
• Inadequate measurement
• Misunderstood communications
• Reward system (wrong metric)

I invite you to post what you see around you that are Motions of Operators that could be changed.

If your business is located anywhere in the World including the US, Tucson, Oro Valley , Oracle, Phoenix, Glendale, and Scottsdale, Marana, Green Valley Arizona or beyond and you would like to learn more about our Six Sigma training, coaching and support services please call  Bersbach Consulting LLC at 1-520-829-0090 or go to our website.

[1] The seven types of waste are: Corrections, Overproduction, Movement of material or information, Motion of operators, Waiting, Inventory or other resources that are not being used, and Processing.

Bersbach Consulting LLC provides Six Sigma training coaching and support across Arizona, including the Tucson, Phoenix, Sierra Vista, Nogales, Yuma areas. At this time we would like to thank our friends and clients for their support. If you have landed here looking for our Six Sigma training, coaching or support services in Tucson, then please follow this Six Sigma Training link.

This is the fifth in a series of articles on the Seven Types of Waste[i]. This article addresses waiting.

Waiting

This type of waste is when you, other employees, customer, material, or equipment sits idle waiting. Think about all the waiting rooms there are. As a customer do you want to wait? No but we sometime have come to expect the wait. I have been to doctor’s office where the waiting room is empty or full did not matter but in some I was seen on time and other I have waited over an hour.

Ever gone to a meeting only to have to wait because some one was late? Or maybe you showed up late. Think of all the dollars in pay being spent while employees sit wait to start.

How about that order form that you filled out online but did not get filled until the next day. How many times did that sit and wait? Or have you seen key equipment sitting waiting to be repaired? What kinds of cost are there in that delay?

Waiting is a big one in my book. Why, because many times we, as customer, have come to expect it in some companies or industries and yet we don’t in others. Why is that? It’s because that is the way it always has been. But we as customer pay for it just as your customer pay for the waiting that happens in your organization.

Some symptoms of Waiting that you can look for are:

• Under-utilization of resources
• Reduced productivity
• Increase in investment
• Idle equipment
• Large waiting / storage rooms
• Equipment running, not producing
• Unnecessary testing

Look around your place of work or at home and see if you can see any of these. They are just the flag that there is a cause for these that needs to be identified and addressed. What are some of the root causes associated with these symptoms? Let me list them as well. I would associate them with the symptom but many times a root cause shows more than one symptom. So as you read this list of root causes look at the symptoms above and see how many of them it could cause.

Some Root Causes of Waiting:

• Unbalanced work load
• Late start of meetings
• Unplanned maintenance
• Long process set-up times
• Misuse of automation
• Quality problems
• Unleveled scheduling
• Ineffective layout
• Specialization
• Batch processing
• “Things” not at right    location

I invite you to post what you see around you that are Motions of Operators that could be changed.

If your business is located anywhere in the World including the US, Tucson, Oro Valley , Oracle, Phoenix, Glendale, and Scottsdale, Marana, Green Valley Arizona or beyond and you would like to learn more about our Six Sigma training, coaching and support services please call  Bersbach Consulting LLC at 1-520-829-0090 or go to our website.

[i] The seven types of waste are: Corrections, Overproduction, Movement of material or information, Motion of operators, Waiting, Inventory or other resources that are not being used, and Processing.

Bersbach Consulting LLC provides Six Sigma training coaching and support across Arizona, including the Tucson, Phoenix, Sierra Vista, Nogales, Yuma areas. At this time we would like to thank our friends and clients for their support. If you have landed here looking for our Six Sigma training, coaching or support services in Tucson, then please follow this Six Sigma Training link. ( q3b2kmt8dp )

This is the fourth in a series of articles on the Seven Types of Waste. This article addresses excessive motion of operators/employees.

First before I get into motion let me explain what waste is in six sigma. Waste is any activity that does not produce value, value in the “eyes” of the customer, not you. The seven types of waste are:

1. Corrections
2. Overproduction
3. Movement of material or information
4. Motion of operators
5. Waiting
6. Inventory or other resources that are not being used
7. Processing

Motion of Operators

This type of waste is when you or an operator has get up and walk or travel to get something to do their job.  Just like movement of materials and information, motion of the operator does not create value. In fact the "thing" in the process is not changing at all.  Let’s take the simple act of changing the oil in your car. If you do it yourself then to have to travel (motion) to get the oil and tools to change it and then afterwards you have to put the tools away and dispose of the old oil both motions.

If you take your car to a service shop to have the oil changed you will notice right away that they have the oil and tools right there in the service bay. Once they are done the tools are place back in their place in the bay and the used oil is held in a large container that will later be taken (motion) to be disposed of. This disposal has been combined with several others thus reducing the motion of the disposal...

Many times when we have a job to do around the house it is not the job we mind but the setup. Why, because instead of just doing the job we have to go around and gather what we need to get the job done first (motion). Plus usually, if you are like me, we missed a few things and have to go back to the store to get them (Correction and motion happening at the same time).

Some symptoms of motion of operators that you can look for are:

• Reduced productivity
• Large reach / walk distances
• Longer lead times
• Excess handling
• Reduced quality
• People / machines waiting
• High energy cost
• Inappropriate use of resources

Look around your place of work or at home and see if you can see any of these. They are just the flag that there is a cause for these that needs to be identified and addressed. What are some of the root causes associated with these symptoms? Let me list them as well. I would associate them with the symptom but many times a root cause shows more than one symptom. So as you read this list of root causes look at the symptoms above and see how many of them it could cause.

Some Root Causes of Motion of Operators:

• Poor ergonomics / layout
• Machine / process design
• Inconsistent work methods
• Poor workplace organization & housekeeping
• Extra “busy” movements while waiting

I invite you to post what you see around you that are Motions of Operators that could be changed.

If your business is located anywhere in the World including the US, Tucson, Oro Valley , Oracle, Phoenix, Glendale, and Scottsdale, Marana, Green Valley Arizona or beyond and you would like to learn more about our Six Sigma training, coaching and support services please call  Bersbach Consulting LLC at 1-520-829-0090 or goto our website.