Business Builder Bob - Just-in-Time #3

Wage War on Waste

For the next several blogs I will review some of the key process techniques of Just-in-Time manufacturing. The first technique is to wage WAR on Waste. There are many kinds of waste. Check out this list and think how they may apply to your business. Where are the biggest opportunities to reduce waste?

1. Complexity
2. Labor
3. Over Production
4. Space
5. Energy
6. Defects, Errors, bad product
7. Materials
8. Idle Materials
9. Time
10. Transportation

I will just highlight a couple for clarity since most are obvious. First, complexity is a waste when there is a simplier way to do something. Some processes are complex by nature. The waste is in unnecessary complexity which consumes time, labor, materials, etc.

Material waste is fairly obvious. It is yields below 100%. It is materials lost due to errors. It is materials damaged in transit or lost.

Idle material is basically inventory. Remember that the goal of Just-in-Time is to instantly convert raw materials into finished goods. Any time materials are sitting on a pallet or in a vessel waiting for the next step, that is cash tied up in inventory unnecessarily - wasted cash. You can view ALL inventory as idle materials and wage war.

Next up: Why is ALL Inventory Evil...