MOTION
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(c) Creative Safety Supply
A favourite “waste” of mine, as it is probably the least obvious. If the “business growth success story” applies to you then I have little doubt that motion, of people, product and information are areas for opportunity.
Whilst the health benefit to office staff is laudable, as they complete their 10,000 steps per day walking from admin to production, is this really necessary? If there is one thing that the COVID situation has taught us, from a business perspective, it’s that travel is not always necessary (I’ll not state the obvious regarding planes, trains and automobiles); can your future meetings between depts be conducted online?
In my last assignment, the daily production meetings were held in a building adjacent to the main production hall, up three flights of stairs and involved at least 14 people from all over the plant. As I wrote that, I realised that there were only 3 attendees that worked in that same building, a huge waste of people movement. We could have “onlined” it just as effectively and set face to face meetings, with specific attendees, in specific locations, at other times of the day.
Another aspect of motion waste is the manner in which we conduct and perform set up, or make ready, on our equipment. In an ideal world, we would move, seamlessly, without stoppage from the end of one job to the next but this is impossible. We must change plates, inks, paper, tooling and other settings; whilst we might strive for elimination, we must settle for minimisation.
Two of the most useful tools from the Lean Toolbox, for identifying motion (and transport) wastes are the Spaghetti diagram and SMED (Single Minute Exchange of Die).
The simplest and least costly, the Spaghetti diagram, is scalable, meaning it can expand to cover areas outside of one machine (or workstation, this is an excellent tool for the office); it is quick to record and can be done over a relatively short period, such as a shift or workday. The idea focuses on the movement individuals do to perform their tasks over a given time (this can apply also to one individual); for every motion, a line is drawn that represents the distance and direction of movement. Analysis of the resultant diagram will identify repetitive motion and how best to relocate objects, tools or equipment to reduce motion waste.
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* An example of a Spaghetti diagram showing task, frequency and location of movement; in this case for a flexo/rotary cutting machine
SMED takes this a few steps further and is defined in its use as a method to specifically reduce make ready/change over times. The object of SMED is to externalise all tasks where possible, ensuring that the operator has everything needed to quickly and efficiently begin processing the next job. In simple terms, externalise means to maximise as many operations as possible away from the machine in order to have the components ready and available at the required time (for example, mixing spot colours in preparation for the next day’s production).
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I have implemented SMED on numerous occasions and it has always proven beneficial. I can also testify that the operators that went through the SMED process were positively motivated after undertaking the training; they were directly involved in improving their working day.
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(c) Eurosport.com
To validate the benefits and actions of SMED, I recommend watching a Formula 1 Team in action. Insert “Pit stop 1981 Vs 2019” into your YouTube browser and you’ll get an understanding of the potency of SMED.
WAITING
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(c) Creative Safety Supply
There can be no value attributed to waiting. That sentence could be the start and end of this section but let’s focus on aspects of waiting that can be minimised or even eliminated.
The unit of measurement of waiting is time and while Time Management spurned an era of management thinking of its own, there are some simple points to consider when thinking of waste to create value, in waiting.
The elimination of waste is entirely possible in meetings and calls. Being on time (and prepared) eliminates wasted time, particularly important when the meeting has multiple attendees or callers; for every minute one attendee is late, all are late. I once took an extreme approach to prevent late arrivals by telling latecomers to leave as soon as they arrived (although I deliberately used a “strong” choice of words to do so), regardless of their relative importance at the meeting. Compliance became the norm, very quickly. Waste eliminated.
In the production process, waiting is recorded as part of machinery downtime; waiting for raw materials or components. I will assume that most print businesses conduct some form of data collection, to understand how their operations are performing but how deep does the data analysis go (if not: start. Seemingly low levels of data collection and analysis will produce positive gains)?
In one print business I ran, the downtime chart allocated most time to “waiting for plates”. Analysis identified that the plates first given to press were scratched and further analysis showed a repeat of this issue, all creating a large tranche of waiting, or downtime. After designing an experiment, the cause was singled out as plates processed on one particular shift; further analysis provided us with the answer and the solution. One of the pre-press operators was left handed and the manner in which he took the plates from the end of the processor to the plate transporter created very fine, but ultimately damaging, scratches to the plate.
The anecdote above demonstrates the value of investing time to eliminate waste (we reduced wasted/downtime by several hours per week, just through this one exercise).
My point of this section is to highlight the need, again, for mindset change. If someone or something is not moving, then ask “why?”. OK, it might not be moving in the right direction but hopefully, the Spaghetti diagram and other techniques will identify that but when it’s not moving, it’s waiting and remember, “there can be no value attributed to waiting”.
If any reader would like to discuss this, or any of the other articles that I have written, please feel free to contact me.
© Andrew Malson is a highly experienced, committed and passionate Operations Executive/Director/Manager with a demonstrable reputation for creating the change required to deliver significant improvements in business performance through quality, service and productivity. He has invaluable strength in establishing and ensuring sustainable success of single, multi, and regional manufacturing sites by creating right and enduring cultural change through involvement and development of people. In the 30 years since beginning in the industry, Andrew has been responsible for the design and implementation of systems covering quality, people development, environmental standards and operational excellence. He brought his wealth of experience and invaluable knowledge to bear at WHERE To Print magazine in West Africa in its quest to positively influence and improve print purchase decisions with special focus on Lean Manufacturing Implementation; Organisational Effectiveness; and Sustainable Business Growth. Andrew welcomes your connection via wheretoprint@yahoo.com or directly vide andrewcmalson@gmail.com
