MUDA Walk for a Month - Week 4: 09/24 - 09/28
This week we will look for Muda of waiting
This is the last week of the Muda Walk for a so give it your best effort. When employees or equipment are WAITING, it is waste. They may be waiting on processes or other equipment to finish installation or for an upstream activity to be completed. Examples of this waste are crews are waiting for inspections, field instructions, or material; a worker is waiting for the coil line to fabricate material; or payroll is waiting for late time sheets. Waiting in the field can happen due to incomplete material deliveries, unanswered RFIs or a failure of another trade to be reliable in fulfilling a commitment. Waiting is often caused by poor communication between the field, support functions and/or suppliers; when people are unsure what is to be done; and/or because of poor coordination between trades. Waiting also includes work waiting for workers. We looked at that as inventory in week 2 but sometimes we don’t think as work waiting to be installed as inventory. At job sites look at any material not installed and look for and work ready to be done but no one is doing it.
Every Muda walk this week look for people waiting or work waiting and drive to the root cause to eliminate it. We want the material to FLOW to installation with no or as little waiting as possible.
Remember try to do a Muda Walk for one hour each day. If you can’t do that - do what you can.
Ways to reduce waiting include:
Go and See – Ask Why – Show Respect – Do No Harm
This week we will look for Muda of waiting
This is the last week of the Muda Walk for a so give it your best effort. When employees or equipment are WAITING, it is waste. They may be waiting on processes or other equipment to finish installation or for an upstream activity to be completed. Examples of this waste are crews are waiting for inspections, field instructions, or material; a worker is waiting for the coil line to fabricate material; or payroll is waiting for late time sheets. Waiting in the field can happen due to incomplete material deliveries, unanswered RFIs or a failure of another trade to be reliable in fulfilling a commitment. Waiting is often caused by poor communication between the field, support functions and/or suppliers; when people are unsure what is to be done; and/or because of poor coordination between trades. Waiting also includes work waiting for workers. We looked at that as inventory in week 2 but sometimes we don’t think as work waiting to be installed as inventory. At job sites look at any material not installed and look for and work ready to be done but no one is doing it.
Every Muda walk this week look for people waiting or work waiting and drive to the root cause to eliminate it. We want the material to FLOW to installation with no or as little waiting as possible.
Remember try to do a Muda Walk for one hour each day. If you can’t do that - do what you can.
Ways to reduce waiting include:
- Using the Last Planner System® and make sure all tasks are ready (CAN DO) to be done prior to committing to do them.
- Scheduling shop deliveries so the crews have what they need when they need it. (It helps to give the shop the real need times not ones with contingency built in)
- Arranging the shop flow so that pieces go from one tool to the next without waiting on tables or the floor.
- Using the 5S’s to organize the work area/gang boxes so that any tool or piece of equipment can be found quickly. (Use the 30-second test.)
- Sorting out un-necessary parts, tools, materials, etc, so they don’t clutter the work area and slow the FLOW.
- Applying a Kanban system to consumable parts and material so that one never runs out while working but does not have excessive inventory. Use Min/max lines, dual bins, or other simple techniques.
- Designing the yard layout area so that material deliveries come in one end and exit another. Backing up is waste and unsafe.
- Reducing the size of material orders delivered from the shop or vendor so that the material can easily be unloaded and quickly installed the same day.
- Make sure all equipment (drills, meters,) are in working order prior to the shift start.
Go and See – Ask Why – Show Respect – Do No Harm
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