January 6, 2016 Industry Forum Blog When I first learned about the 7 Wastes (some 20 odd years ago!), it was a light bulb moment. The root of every single improvement method was revealed. You will probably have noticed how most of these blogs mention waste somewhere. But it’s one thing to be able to recite the wastes and another to be able to spot and rigorously eliminate them. I often find that people have heard about the wastes, but don’t have a solid approach for elimination. This results in missed opportunities when deploying all the other lean tools and techniques. Follow these 5 straightforward steps to maximise your activity results 1. You have to go and spot it! Get a team together (who have had a brief introduction to the waste categories) and go and observe your target area. Use the method best suited to the task you are watching: Stand and watch – good for repetitive, short cycle tasks. Video and playback later – good for tasks that take under an hour. Draw it, use a flowchart, process map or value stream map – good for lengthy tasks and those that involve operations that are difficult to observe e.g. admin and computer based tasks. You can combine the methods as well. Top tip: Take a list of the 7 Waste categories with you. It helps you to remember what you are looking for. 2. Write the waste you spot on a Post It® note The most important thing to write is a description of what you see – the waste observed. You can add the waste category and suggest a countermeasure afterwards. Encourage the team to identify as many different wastes as possible. Top tip: Liken each Post It® note to a £10 note (it used to be a fiver – but that was a long time ago!) 3. Organise the notes After quite a short time the team will have generated a huge amount of notes. You need to group these together so you can prioritise them. Start with this simple method and develop it as you learn by doing. First organise by category, grouping together similar observations. Then prioritise which ones you are going to tackle first. There are many ways of doing this, like using a grid with impact and cost axes. Start with the high impact, low cost ideas. Of course any safety concerns must be dealt with first. 4.Eliminate the wastes Go and implement the countermeasures. Top tip: Transfer each group of wastes onto a follow up sheet so you don’t loose any, especially those in the lower priority quadrants. A good sheet will help you follow a Plan, Do, Check, Act approach. 5. Tell everyone about your improvements Communicate how much easier and quicker the tasks have become for the people who carry them out. Use pictures, do demonstrations, use KPIs, discuss at team briefs. Don’t forget to train people in the new methods and incorporate the changes into any existing documentation like Standard Operating Procedures, costings etc. Prove to the management team how the activity has benefited the bottom line. Read this article to see how to translate the improvement into cash. The more you actually do waste elimination activities, the better you will become. If you want any help or some more tips for tricky activities please contact us.
