7 Wastes In Lean
Lean management is based on certain principles among them eliminating waste to maximize customer value, build quality and establish continuous learning. In a bid to pursue the various principles, the organizations employing lean management encounter various problems that culminate into waste. This paper is written by the professors helper and discusses the seven lean wastes and how this affects the various organizations. In real world situations, lean wastes are experienced and managed by different organizations and therefore an ongoing process.
The first lean waste is overproduction which refers to excess inventory due to stocking too much product that goes unused in the end. This leads to realized costs in form of storage, wasted materials that were used in production and tied up capital in the inventory. This is therefore realized wastes as a result of this problem. Apart from the direct effects of this waste on the production capacity of the firm, this waste also has environmental effects in form of wastes and other hazardous substances. This risks the environment due to poor waste disposal and exposure of human beings to this.
Overproduction is a common phenomenon especially so in erratic market, when Covid-19 had started, pharmaceutical companies produced masks due to an increasing demand of this commodity. In the face of less competition and increasing demand, companies that had masks sold them fast and at a higher margin. It is possible that others had been convinced to produce more and store but as competition continued the market shrinked leading to excess inventory and thus over production. The case of overproduction also relates to anticipated market issues for instance, hotels increasing their room capacity in anticipation of more customers due to an event such as Olympics for example, rain happens and the capacity is termed excess.
The other type of waste is inventory waste that relates to unprocessed inventory. This type of waste comes forth in form of storage, tied up capital in inventory, transporting the inventory, packaging inventory in containers and the energy to light up the containers having this waste. If this is not properly managed, firms may lose in the end. According to Helmond (2020) inventory waste leads to a decline in the value added. An example of the inventory waste in the real world scenario is for construction companies such that when the bill of quantities amount is less than what is actually used in the business endeavors. This leads to extra cost incurred as a result and thus waste.
Wasteful motion is another type of lean waste that involves person or machine movement that may lead to adverse consequences to the various entities of the activity. Wasteful motion principle works hand in hand with the value addition principle. If excess motion is used to add value that could have been added by less than this becomes a waste. Burnout among health workers is an example of wasteful motion. For burnout, wasteful motion sets in when workers become overwhelmed leading to scenarios whereby one patient is handled for more than the normal time. This may lead to accidents and loss of patient lives and therefore heeds to the call that wasteful motion needs to be handled efficiently.
Another type of waste is defects which relate to a product differing from its standards and customer expectations. This therefore introduces the need to replace the defective products and thus an implied cost in the firm. In situations where the defects exceed the actual production, the output to the firm may be altered leading to loss of revenue and customer complaints. In the textile industry for example, the input to produce the output may sometimes have defects that may adversely affect the quality of the output. This as a result lowers production and the revenue generated from the undertaking.
The over processing is another lean waste that refers to an unnecessary process in the manufacturing process. It may be that manufacturing a product has a designed process for doing that but because of maybe trial, an extra process may be introduced. This may not be necessary and thus calls forth for an action to eliminate it. Failure to do so, less value will be realized and the environment may also be adversely affected. This may be the case for a steel manufacturing plant that instead of following the due process introduces an extra process that not only eats up on the company’s resources but also increases emissions causing pollution.
Another lean waste will be waiting due to slow or halted production process. This may be the case for a step by step production process and thus delay in delivery. In a food processing plant for example, packaging may delay branding due to waiting. The other waste is transport due to no direct value addition to the various products. Transport is an interrelated waste as it may contribute to environmental damage or waiting.
In conclusion, the paper presents several lean waste methods. Sometimes, the essay is not just enough. The professor may require a presentation. At that point, you may want to hire someone to create PowerPoint slides for you. We serve you things like peace of mind and a stress-free life. We do it all at the touch of a button. Find help at Theprofessorshelp PowerPoint help service at a reasonable cost. Bye.
