Waste [MUDA]

Non-Value-Added Activities

A process step is defined as value-added if:

• Customer recognizes its value
• Is willing to pay for the process step
• The process step  "changes" or "transforms" the product
• Is done the Right for time

NVA are those activities that the customer is not willing to pay for or those that DO NOT change or transform the product or service.

The NVAs are MUDA.

8 Types of Wastes

1. Defects
2. Overproduction
3. Waiting
4. Non-utilized skills
5. Transportation
6. Inventory
7. Motion
8. Excess processing

In the service industry:

Type of waste	What is it?	Examples
Waste of Over-production	Processing too soon or too much than required	• Information sent automatically even when not required • Printing documents before they are required • Processing items before they are required by the next person in the process
Waste of Defects	Errors, mistakes and rework	• Rejections in sourcing applications • Incorrect data entry • Incorrect name printed on a credit card • Surgical errors
Waste of Inventory	Holding inventory (material and information) more than required	• Files and documents waiting to be processed • Excess promotional material sent to the market • Overstocked medicines in a hospital • More servers than required
Waste of Over-Processing	Processing more than required wherein a simple approach would have done	• Too much paperwork for a mortgage loan • Same data required in a number of places in an application form • Follow-ups and costs associated with coordination • Too many approvals • Multiple MIS reports
Waste of Transportation	Movement of items more than required resulting in wasted efforts and energy and adding to cost	• Movement of files and documents from one location to another • Excessive e-mail attachments • Multiple hand-offs
Waste of Waiting	Employees and customers waiting	• Customers waiting to be served by a contact center • Queue in a grocery store • Patients waiting for a doctor at a clinic • System downtime
Waste of Motion	Movement of people that does not add value	• Looking for data and information • Looking for surgical instruments • Movement of people to and fro from filing, fax and Xerox machines
Waste of Un-utilized People	Employees not leveraged to their own potential	• Limited authority and responsibility • Managers common • Person put on a wrong job
Waste of Over-production	Processing too soon or too much than required	• Information sent automatically even when not required • Printing documents before they are required • Processing items before they are required by the next person in the process
Waste of Defects	Errors, mistakes and rework	• Rejections in sourcing applications • Incorrect data entry • Incorrect name printed on a credit card • Surgical errors

5S (Lean Tool)

5S is a workplace organization method that can help improve the efficiency and management of operations. 

• SORT (SEIRI) -- Sort thru the items as required and remove unneeded items from work area. Never used items need to be discarded immediately.
• SET IN ORDER (SEITON) -- Arrange required items for ease of accessibility. Files that are required more often (SOP, instructions etc.) are placed in marked location / designated area. 
• SHINE (SEISO) -- Cleaning the work area and equipment. (Manufacturing example - cleaning of inspection surface plates leads to better measurement results). Other e.g. equipment work table cleaning and cleaning of the floor.
• STANDARDIZE (SEIKETSU) - Involves developing checklists, standards, and work instructions to keep the work area in an orderly condition. 
• SUSTAIN (SHITSUKE) - Sustaining efforts and continuing them (continuous improvement). Requires support of team and that of management, empowerment of employees, etc.  

> A process is impacted by its environment

> The ability of employees to process change is also impacted by its environment

> Improvement in the work area is helpful for controlling the process.

5S Example in a Service-based Industry

• CEO asks for progress update on existing cost improvement initiatives.
• PMO shares a comprehensive report spending 80 hours and at least two loops. 
• CEO unhappy. 
• 5S is deployed. 
• Existing report looked at
• Sorted existing reports based on stakeholder requirements - high, med, low
• What type of data was being collected, and how it was collected for the report. Was being done manually, and in various formats.
• The improvement team "sorted" the available information as inputs to fulfill the requirements. 
• Set in order - Created input screen from where PMO could add his details, and the PMs can collect data and upload their reports. 
• Created reports in Tableau. 
• Shine - identified 5PMs and executed a pilot. 
• Standardize - Created training material, SOPs, maintenance procedures, 
• Sustain - for 2 months. 
• 
  

What is Value?

• Value is defined by the customer based on:
• Is the customer perception of the usefulness of the given product or service
• The necessity of the given product or service

Muda, Muri, Mura

Autonomation vs. Automation

• Autonomation (Jidoka), is applied to a machine with a built-in device for making judgments. In the case of Toyota, it was the power looms with a built-in mechanism that stopped the machine when the thread broke. 
• Automation is applied to the machine as a whole that allows to "move" on its own. 

TPS - Ohno's Journey

• 1930's Toyota struggled. Japanese market too small, and demand too fragmented. 
• 1950s Eiji Toyoda goes on a 12-week study tour of US plants to study the Ford motor system. 
• After return Toyoda assigns Ohno the task of focus on improving Toyota's production. 
• Realized they need to adopt mass producing mechanism. 
• Ohno
• Benchmarked the competition
• Further tours to US
• Studied Ford's book (Today & Tomorrow) - Ford's Moving Assembly Line.
• Pull System - 
• In any well-run supermarket, individual items are replenished as each item begins to run low on the shelf. Material replenishment is initiated by consumption. 
• Implemented Kanban to signal to the prev step when its parts needed to be replenished (with the help of visual cards). Thus the concept of JIT was evolved. 
• Implemented Jidoka
• Implemented Kaizen (based on Deming's PDCA cycle)
• 
  

Toyota Production System (TPS)

Toyota

- Faster designs

- More reliable

- Competitive cost

The secret of Toyota's success is Operational Excellence...

TPS is set of lean tools and techniques and the Toyota Way provides governing principles for TPS. 

The TPS House

Taiichi Ohno is the creator of TPS. 

Developed by Fujio Cho, president of Toyota Motor Corp. 

> Structural system

> Is strong when the pillars and roof are strong

• JIT - Pull parts through production based on customer demand instead of pushing parts through production based on projected demand. Relies on many lean tools, such as Continuous Flow, Heijunka, Kanban, Standardized Work and Takt Time.
• Kaizen (Continuous Improvement) - A strategy where employees work together proactively to achieve regular, incremental improvements in the manufacturing process.
• Muda (Waste) Reduction - Muda is anything in the manufacturing process that does not add value from the customer’s perspective.
• Jidoka - Design equipment to partially automate the manufacturing process (partial automation is typically much less expensive than full automation) and to automatically stop when defects are detected.
• Heijunka - A form of production scheduling that purposely manufactures in much smaller batches by sequencing (mixing) product variants within the same process.
• Poka Yoke - Error proofing. Design error detection and prevention into production processes with the goal of achieving zero defects. An example is different types of nozzles (that don't fit into the non-compatible vehicle) for diesel and petrol at gas stations. 
• Visual management - Visual indicators, displays and controls used throughout manufacturing plants to improve communication of information.

Lean Pioneers

Key contributors to Lean methodology

The money from patent rights provided research fund for entry into the automotive industry now known as Toyota

JIDOKA = Automation with a human touch...

Lean Masterclass (Udemy, AIGPE)

Lean production is the production system of the 21st century like mass production was the production system of the 20th century.

Lean thinking example of empty soap boxes

"A Japanese soap factory used to produce soap boxes with too many instances of boxes delivered without the soap inside. The production chain consisted of preparing the soap in a nice shape on the one hand, building the box matching with the soap shape on the other hand, and finally putting the soap in the box. That sounds simple, yet many boxes ended up delivered to the customers without a soap inside!

After receiving several customers complaints, the factory manager could not afford to let so many defects out of his factory anymore… but, as everyone, he had tough budget constraints: no question to hire someone to check every single box had a soap inside before being delivered (considering the volumes of soaps being produced, it would have required dozens of people anyway); no question to invest in an expensive machine to X-ray, or even weight each box (beyond the machine investment, that would have also required more people to maintain the machine, and deal with the defects spotted by the machine anyway).

So, the soap manager brainstormed with his team, with the objective to find a simple and cheap solution to prevent the defects (empty boxes) from being delivered to the customers… and the solution came! A  fan ! Put a fan above the last element of the production chain: empty boxes will fly away! It took very little time and money to put the fan in place, and now the soap factory has regained the confidence of its customers."

What is Lean?

Lean is the systematic identification and elimination of waste.

Benefits of Lean

• Lower production costs
• Fewer personnel
• Quicker product development
• Higher quality
• Higher profitability
• Greater system flexibility

5 Areas that drive a Lean Producer

1. Cost
2. Quality
3. Delivery
4. Safety
5. Morale

Are Lean techniques applicable to the service industry?

Lean Brownbag

• Lean is a philosophy or methodology
• Isn't something you do
• You "think" in a lean way. 
• You use tools to embody

Lean Definition

Lean is a (1) systemic  (2) pursuit of perfection with (3) relentless identification and (4) elimination of waste and (5) non-value added work.

There are five aspects of it as seen in the above statement. 

1. Systemic
2. Pursuit of perfection
3. Relentless Identification
4. Elimination of waste
5. Non-value-added work

• Sakichi Toyoda -- Toyota Motor Corporation

Flow

Achieve smooth flow as in a river

Rocks, leaves/ branches inhibit the flow

When the flow is smooth --- waste is minimal, and velocity is high VICE VERSA.

Three kinds of work

1. Value-added (VA). All three must be met for a task to be value-added.
1. This is something the customer is willing to pay $
2. It is right the first time. Rework is a waste
3. Transformational meaning changes form (physical characteristics of the product like shape, weight, colour, etc.) / fit (fits intended application) / function (Function of what the product actually does) -- the task must change the form fit or function of the product for it to be considered value-added. An exception though is an inspection at the assembly line - it is required so we don't let out a bad product.
2. Value enabling work (VE)
1. Is something that has potential for elimination in future but not immediately. 
2. Some but not all of change to form / fit or function.
3. Example banks doing a credit check - would you be willing to pay for it. I won't be. But it also depends on who the customer is. An individual wouldn't pay, however if the customer is a bank, it would be willing to pay.
4. VE is usually related to regulatory / compliance (SIRA for long tail claims).
3. Non-value added work (NVA)
1. This is waste

• Lean INCREASES value Add
• Understand and DECREASES Value Enabling
• Gets rid of NVA

8 Kinds of Wastes

1. Waiting - no changes to form, fit or function.
2. Rework - not done fight first time
3. Transportation - Movement of work between work stations.
4. Movement - How do you work? work moves between me, manager, to someone else, back to me, goes in loops. All this is waste.
5. Overproduction - too much of production
6. Over-processing - do something even before it is needed.
7. Inventory - excessive inventory, order only what you need
8. Not utilizing staff to full potential - using a highly skilled person to do silly jobs.

Gemba

Value stream

Lean for business improvement

Combining Lean and Customer Journey

Problem with Gartner's "Combine Design Thinking, Lean and Agile" Diagram

1. Problem Solving happens before Execution, thus indicating a Big Upfront Planning. 
2. Each sub process is indicative of a functional silo with handover between them

Overall, this appears Waterfallish.

VSM Limitations

Limitations of VSM:

1. Finding deficiencies and getting rid of them is not the way for improving performance of a system.

2.The definition of what a value stream is, is itself fuzzy:

a. It doesn't capture all specific actions

b. VSM should be typically applied to product, but often gets applied to product families with little guidance about what constitutes those families.

c. VSM is cumbersome when product variety is high and volume is low (Media team has more than 20 product / product families; and we are looking at only the 10 important activities in each stream, not looking at all the activities in each stream).

Lean Coffee

Lean Coffee - Facilitator's Guide
=======================

https://medium.com/agile-outside-the-box/lean-coffee-facilitator-s-guide-d79d9f13d0a9

Lean coffee format
==================

1. Set Up (To Do, In Progress, Done)
2. Collect Ideas
3. One sentence introduction of the topic
4. Dot vote
5. Prioritize
6. Discuss
- Time box ( 5 minutes)
- Vote (next item or 2 more minutes)

Japanese Lean Terminology

Chaku Chaku

==========

Chaku chaku is an efficient style of production in which all the machines needed to make a part are situated in the correct sequence very close together.

The operator simply loads a part and moves on to the next operation. Each machine performs a different stage of production, such as turning, drilling, cleaning, testing or sandblasting.

Example...

Gemba

======

Gemba walk is an essential part of lean management philosophy. Gemba is the factory floor where the actual value is produced. The philosophy behind Gemba is problems in business process or production become visible / best improvements come from by actually "visiting the place where value is created" -- Go and See the work as it is being produced. It encourages communication, transparency and trust. Shouldn't be employed to point of flaws of employees.

Hanedashi [Lean Manufacturing]

========================

Device or means of automatic unload of the work piece from one operation or process, providing the proper state for the next work piece to be loaded. Automatic unloading and orientation for the next process is essential for a “Chaku-Chaku” line.

Hansei 

=====

Reflection / self reflection. Similar to retrospective / post-mortem, review. Look at yourself in the mirror.

Lean vs. Agile - what's the difference?

https://goleansixsigma.com/lean-vs-agile-whats-the-difference/