Question.3050 - 1-3 Short Paper: Process Waste For the processes (purchasing, accounting, design, manufacturing, customer service, call center, etc.) at your workplace, identify two (potential) examples for each of the seven forms of waste (the seven forms of waste need not be from the same process). Also, brainstorm with your colleagues and report a potential solution to eliminate/minimize each of the 14 wastes. Waste Type Example Potential Solution 1. Confusion 2. Confusion 3. Motion 4. Motion … … … 1. Inventory 2. Inventory FYI… The following are the seven forms of potential process waste, with examples: • Confusion ? Customer at a grocery store not knowing which aisle to go to for the protein bars ? Student at a university not knowing which form to use to transfer credits ? Nurse at a hospital wondering where to stock the abdominal pads • Motion ? Students being asked to go to another building for further help ? Receptionist having to walk or bend to reach the printer ? Patient being transported from room to room • Waiting ? Student at a university waiting for the advisor to respond to his email ? Patient waiting in the ICU to be transported to Radiology ? 1-800-number customer waiting for the call center representative to answer • Over-processing (Duplication of Work) ? Forms needing too many signatures of approval ? Asking the customer for the same information when transferred to another representative ? Patient being asked to give the same demographic information at multiple steps in the treatment process • Overproduction (Doing Unnecessary Work) ? CC-ing emails unnecessarily ? Making unnecessary photocopies ? Ordering lab tests for the patient “just in case” • Defects ? Cars being recalled due to safety issues ? Student taking the wrong prerequisite due to outdated information on the university website ? Dissatisfied customers due to late delivery of pizza • Inventory ? Ordering more office supplies than needed at this time ? Obsolete equipment in storeroom ? Outdated files
Answer Below:
1 st Waste Type: Confusion This type of waste normally originates from lack of clear understanding of the company’s processes, product offerings, services and details of the usage of the product. The customers of the company suffer from incomplete understanding related to the usage of the product. Examples of Confusion with potential Solution ? Accounts assistant in the accounts department not knowing the exact accounting head in which the figure is to be transferred or charged. This is a common error where the accounts assistant does not have the complete know-how related to the exact account which is to be charged. Solution: The accounts assistant should be provided specific and detailed training related to the system and processes by which he could identify the account head in which a particular figure (expense or income) is to be transferred. This training should be in line with the established accounting norms and policies of the company and matches the statutory requirements. ? When the person in the customer service section gets a call from a client regarding repair work, he gets confused related to which person he should transfer the call. He does not know which person is correct to handle the customer query. Solution: The person in the customer service section should be provided a complete view of the major work being handled by the team members of the customer service section. He should be made aware of the likely queries of the customer and the manner in which he could respond to them for prompt response. 2 nd Type of waste: Motion This type of waste emanates from unnecessary and wasteful movement of employees or stakeholders in an organization which leads to waste of time and resources Examples of Motion with potential Solution ? A call centre employee being asked to travel each week to separate location for weekly training and brainstorming session. Solution: Such a waste could be removed by making provision of having the training and brainstorming session within the normal work building itself or having the training session through conference calls which eliminates the wasteful motion of the employees. ? An engineer having to travel to records room each time to access plans, construction drawings, etc for assessment. Solution: At times records like construction drawings, plans, etc are stored at a central location and engineers have to travel to such records room to access these documents on a regular basis. This wasteful travel could be eliminated by providing duplicate copies to concerned engineers for easy and faster access of the requisite documents 3 rd Type of waste: Waiting This type of waste generates from improper scheduling of the work which leads to unnecessary waiting period for the stakeholders like employees, customers, etc who have to wait for an unnecessary period before they could move to a next process. Examples of Waiting with potential Solution ? Suppliers wait at accounts department before their payment check is located and issued to them. Solution: In such a scenario the accounts department’s officials could have a proper system of arranging the checks of the suppliers in a systemized manner to ensure that waiting period is eliminated. The accounts department could ideally arrange the checks before the suppliers approach for payment so that waiting period is eliminated to the least. ? Customers waiting for response from customer service department through email or call after having submitted his query. Solution: This process could be hastened by proper work allocation in the customer service department and by setting a benchmark for responding to customer queries. This shall reduce and eliminate the wasteful waiting period of the customers. 4 th Type of waste: Over-processing (Duplication of Work) Over-processing waste is related to wasteful duplication of work wherein same information is collected or work flow is repeated within various divisions of the same company. This leads to wastage of time, cost and energy. Examples of Over-processing with potential Solution ? Making the suppliers fill in the same information related to the product in a number of forms for various sections of the manufacturing division. Solution: This waste could be eliminated by having a standard form for suppliers which shall take into account all the information of the supplied product. This form is to be made available to all relevant sections of the manufacturing department to ensure reduction and ultimate elimination of over-processing. ? Asking customers to provide personal information like name, address, etc when booking different product from the same company. Solution: This waste could be eliminated by having a singular customer account, which could be used by all product lines within the same company. This shall reduce the necessity for having separate information from same customers each time he buys a new product of the company. 5 th Type of waste: Overproduction (Doing Unnecessary Work) Such waste is generally experienced from unwanted work that adds no value to the work processes. Examples of Overproduction with potential Solution ? Having unwanted photocopies of orders in the purchase department which leads to unnecessary costs and confusion. Solution: This over-production of order documents could be removed by having a single file which contains photocopy of the orders issued to suppliers. This shall ensure that the need for unnecessary multiple photocopy is removed. ? Forwarding emails containing specific guidelines meant for few employees to all the team members Solution: The employees should be prohibited from forwarding specific emails to all as it creates an unnecessary overproduction of work by those employees who are not expected to do the work. 6 th Type of waste: Defects Defects normally generates from poor quality of product, services and/or processes. Examples of Defects with potential Solution ? Falling levels of customer satisfaction in a retail shop due to lack of adherence to time of delivery Solution: Timely delivery of goods from a retail shop to the customers is extremely important and hence, retail shop has to schedule delivery of the orders of the clients to ensure timely delivery. This is necessary to contain falling customer satisfaction. ? Increasing return of products in a furniture showroom due to poor quality of workmanship Solution: The defect in the quality of workmanship has to be tackled by proper monitoring of the workers in the manufacturing department and ensuring that these employees are provided requisite training and mentoring to reduce and eliminate defects in the goods. 7 th Type of waste: Inventory This form of waste generally happens due to unnecessary stocking of goods and supplies over and above the normally required amount. Examples of Inventory with potential Solution ? Having multiple back-up copies of files and folders Solution: This waste can be eliminated by having a proper policy related to back-up and storage of required files and folders. Old and unnecessary files and folders could be removed as per the pre-decided system. ? Stocking obsolete spare parts in the stores department Solution: The stores department should make an assessment of the spares and remove those spare parts whose machines have become obsolete and have gone out of use. References Takeda, H. (2006).The Synchronized Production System. Kogan Page Publishers. Poornima, C. (2009). Total Quality Management. Pearson Education. Stewart, L. (n.d.). Types of Waste Defined. Retrieved from http://manufacturing- works.com/lean/eight_wastes.php Kastle, B. (2010). Learning to Recognize Process Waste in Financial Services. Retrieved from http://www.isixsigma.com/methodology/lean-methodology/learning-recognize-process-waste- financial-services/More Articles From Ethics
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