Lean Manufacturing
TIMWOODS Sounds like a good American name or Pallet Company name but when combined it is a whole other thing.
TIMWOODS is an acronym for the 8 wastes of manufacturing. These wastes prevent companies from higher profit margins. The result is being less competitive and underutilizing employees so they don't reach their full potential.
This is what each letter stands for:
T =Transportation
I = Inventory
M = Motion
W = Waiting
O = Overproduction
O = Overprocessing
D = Defects
S = Skills
An easy definition of waste is any action or step in the process that does not add value to the customer. In other words, waste is anything that the customer is unwilling to pay for.
Identifying and Eliminating the 8 Wastes
To reduce waste, you must recognize that waste exists and then have a means and process of identifying it. Value Stream Mapping (VSM) is a method for analyzing your process's current state and designing a better future state. It will show the flow of information and material as they happen. VSM is an effective tool for mapping out the processes involved, displaying the relationship between production processes, and separating value- and non-value-added activities.
To find your waste, use the VSM and start with the end customer in mind. Work backward from the end customer to the start of the production process. Document instances of the 8 wastes in the process and develop a plan for eliminating or reducing them. Continue to challenge your team to find more waste and then continue to improve your processes. Engage with the frontline workers and elicit their ideas for improvement. As your team begins reducing inefficiencies they will gain more confidence in their problem-solving capabilities. Over time, reducing waste becomes a part of the company culture.
In the following, we will identify each of these wastes in greater detail.
1. Transportation
Waste in transportation includes the moving action of the product. It can be moving people, tools, inventory, equipment, or finished goods. Extra movement of items can lead to damaged products and incurring defects. Additionally, the movement of employees and equipment can lead to overworking. In a production setting, the materials necessary for production should be easily accessible near the production location. One way to improve is to only bring to the production area materials needed for the item run.
2. Inventory
Most people do not think that some extra inventory is waste. From an accounting point of view, inventory is an asset. Suppliers consistently give sizable discounts for making purchases in bulk. But, having more inventory than necessary to sustain a steady flow of work can lead to many problems. Inventory can cause ingredients to expire, discoloration, damaged materials during transport, increased lead time, reduced cash flow, and allocation of capital. Inventory also hides waste and therefore limits improvement. Excess inventory can come from over-purchasing, overproducing work in process, or overproduction. Excess inventory prevents detecting production-related flow patterns since the extra provides a buffer. Manufacturing inventory waste could help machinery to no longer be used and just sit around. It could be more finished products than demanded that can become outdated. It could even be extra materials taking up the workspace and finished products that cannot be sold. Some countermeasures for inventory include: purchasing raw materials only as needed and in the quantity needed, reducing buffers between production steps, and halting overproduction.
3. Motion
The waste of motion is similar to transportation but it includes any unnecessary movement of a person, equipment, or machinery. This includes stepping, reaching, lifting, bending, stretching, and twisting. Tasks that require excessive motion should be redesigned to enhance the work of personnel and increase health and safety. Manufacturing motion can include repetitive movements that do not add value to the customer. Examples include: reaching for materials, walking long distances to get tools or materials, and readjustment.
4. Waiting
The waste of waiting includes two key dimensions. First, it includes production people, office personnel, and waiting on material, equipment, or documents. Second, it includes idle equipment. Waiting time is often caused by unevenness in the production scheduling and can result in excess inventory and overproduction. It can also be waiting for purchased materials to arrive when an item is out of inventory.
5. Overproduction
Overproduction occurs when manufacturing a product or an element of the product before it is being asked for, ordered, or needed. It may be tempting to produce as many products as possible when there is an idle worker or equipment time. But, rather than producing products when they are needed under the ‘Just In Time’ philosophy, the ‘Just In Case’ way of working leads to a host of problems. Problems include preventing the smooth flow of work, higher storage costs, hiding defects inside the WIP, requiring more capital expenditure to fund the production process, and excessive lead time. Additionally, over-producing a product increases the likelihood that the customer’s requirements are exceeded.
6. Over-processing
Over-processing refers to doing more work, adding more components, or having more steps in a product or service than what is required by the customer. In manufacturing, this could include using higher production equipment than necessary. It could also be using components with capacities beyond what the customer required for the application. Always have the customer in mind before starting work. Produce to the level of quality and expectation that the customer desires. Make only the quantities ordered for the date needed. These are your defenses against overproduction.
7. Defects
Defects happen when the customer's specifications are not followed and when the product is not able to be used as designed. This results in either reworking or having to scrap the products altogether. Both results are wasteful as they add costs to the operation without delivering any value to the customer.
8. Skills
This is the waste of human potential and, the waste of unused human talent along with their ingenuity. This waste can be seen when businesses separate the role of management from employees. In some companies, management’s responsibility is production planning, organizing, controlling, and seeking to innovate the production process. The production worker's role is to simply follow the manager's directions and execute the work as planned. When senior management does not engage the frontline worker’s knowledge and expertise, it is difficult to improve processes. This is since the people doing the work are the ones who are most capable of identifying problems. In manufacturing, this waste can be seen when employees are poorly trained, remain unengaged ( just there for a paycheck) and when employees are not challenged to come up with ideas to improve the work process.
A simple result and example of waste elimination can be seen in a boat rowing crew that competes competitively.
1.) The boat never wants to travel farther on the course than what is needed so they take the shortest route.
2.) No extras are carried in the boat. They have only what is needed to complete the race.
3.) The rowers only bring the paddles/oars out of the water far enough to make the next stroke.
4.) When the race start signal is given the team immediately takes off and does not wait to pass other teams.
5.) The teams do not extend the strokes and quit when the race is finished.
6.) Each team member only puts in the energy needed to be able to continue the race until the end.
7.) The races would never think of purchasing a boat/paddle with known defects.
8.) All crew members make their best and fullest contribution to have a winning team.