Muda Walk for A Month

Muda Walk for a Month has Ended

2011-10-04T15:31:00.000-07:00

The Muda Walk for a Month for 2011 ended Sept 30th. Based on the feedback already received it was a great success for those who participated. Thanks for trying. This years event included participants from Canada, Russia, South Africa and the USA.

And the winners are:
Glenn Lamb of Dee Cramer, Inc. wins Lean Thinking by James Womack
Mark Kleist of Bassett Mechanical wins Gemba Kaizen by Masaaki Imai

As I compile the results from the Muda Walk logs and feedback I will post it on this blog. But just because the Muda Walk for a Month has ended does not mean we should stop doing Muda walks. Many of the participants said they plan to continue on their own because it was so valuable. It's never too late to start looking for and driving out waste. Feel free to contact me with your Lean questions and ideas.

Feedback from a Muda Walk for a Month Participant

2011-09-21T20:38:00.000-07:00

The last couple of years we have tried to do this with just myself and my shop foreman and to be honest, we didn't do well with it, as we kept forgetting to do this or could not get the uninterrupted time to do it right. This year I have taken a different approach and it is providing real value for the effort.

I recruited 5 key people from the shop office and production floor to be the observers and left myself out of that role (having the boss watch seems to make people nervous anyway). I shared with them what the goal was of this exercise and my counterpart from last year supported the idea, but reinforced how poorly he and I had done in the past. We then decided on our format and set up our process. I gave them some chalk (got it from you a few years ago) and we set up two circles on the fabrication floor. One in our Square production area and one in our round production area. Each team member was to spend 1/2 hour in each circle once a week. They were coached using your guidelines and asked to just write down what they observed. They could make a suggestion on their notes about a better way or a fix, but not to stop the observation until the 1/2 hour was up.

After two weeks it was voted on by the team to move the circle in the square production area, which we did last Friday. So now we will get a new perspective for that area, which is exactly what we need.

My thoughts when I set this up was to find a way to get the observations done with the least impact to daily activity. Also, since my foreman and I did not seem able to make the time last year, I needed people that we could just make it a part of their job for the week, no excuses. The real benefit I knew I would get (which is proving to be true) was the different perspectives by each of the people. Each of the team members is being given the weekly information that you send, we do a brief meeting on Friday to gather the notes for the week and you would enjoy the enthusiasm as we discuss the next weeks goal.

My plan is to compile all of the observations/notes, looking for the common ones first. Then I will meet with the team to see if these are items that need addressed or not, look at any suggestions, then decide if they are simple adjustments/fixes or long term tasks. We will then put them on our agenda for our normal weekly shop lean meeting. The team has agreed that we should carry this activity on after this month is over, so we are trying to determine the format, but agree we will continue to do this.

It has proven to be a real benefit having the people that are so busy that they do not get to just watch what is going on around them, observe. They really do see, understand the movements and are providing very good comments. Also, a couple of minor adjustments to a process or tool location were done already, by the lead person that observed the need. My only regret is that I didn't do it this way last year. Thanks

Muda Walk for a month - Week 3: 09/19 to 09/23

2011-09-20T15:05:00.000-07:00

The theme this week is: Reduce the Waste of Movement of people and the transportation of material & tools

This is going to be a great week – if you make it so!

Your Muda walk this week is to look for treasure hunts AKA the waste of motion. Moving around is not work! Value is not being added while people are walking around. Watch for people looking for things; ask why and why and why again. Why is this happening? Why are the tools, equipment, forms, etc. not located closer to the work area? Or where the tools are needed? Go to the shop or a job site at the start or end of a shift and watch for wasted motion. Watch how much time is spent in getting ready or cleaning up? How much time should be spent? Look for ways to reduce this time. Look for workers making trips to the yard, or for people walking around the shop, or even look for when someone has to go to a hardware store to buy material or tools. Look at how often the crews run out of small supplies or consumables. Look for tools that are missing or broken causing people to find new ones.

Look too for the Waste of transportation of goods. This is related to treasure hunts. Any time anyone is moving material, tools or things this is waste. Unless something changes the material or product to add value while it is moving, it is waste. Ask yourself and the workers how to change or reduce the movement or the distance moved. If you can’t change the distance moved – try changing how it is moved to make it safer, easier and faster. Don’t blame anyone but look for systems, policies or old layouts that causes transportation waste.

Go watch for Muda. Record your improvements. Implementing visual controls and the 5S’s can help eliminate these wastes.

Go and See – Ask Why – Show Respect – Do No Harm

My Muda Walk Story #2

2011-09-15T20:24:00.000-07:00

While walk through a job site I observed workers coming to this table looking for stuff. They would spend sometimes 10 minutes searching through the boxes. I did not see it on this walk, but I am sure at some point soon after my walk the general contractor demanded that they move this table. How much time do you think they would spend moving it? This is the Muda of inventory, movement (treasure hunts) and if they have to move the table it will also be the Muda of transportation. It uses resources but produces not value - that’s Muda.

This is my Muda Walk story – what is yours?

Week 2: 09/12 to 9/16 – Look for the Waste of Waiting

2011-09-10T10:27:00.001-07:00

The theme is the Waste of Waiting. We want value to flow and never wait. When employees, equipment or even customers are WAITING, it is waste. They may be waiting on processes or other equipment to finish work or for an upstream activity to be completed. Examples of this waste are: when crews are waiting for inspections, field instructions, another trade or material; when a shop worker is waiting for the shear to cut material; or when payroll is waiting for late time sheets. We worked to reduce inventory last week, BUT we never want to have a crew waiting because of no material to install – some strategic inventory is needed and no more.

Waiting in the field can happen due to incomplete material deliveries, unanswered RFIs or a failure of another trade to be reliable in fulfilling its commitment. Waiting is often caused by poor communications 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.

During every Muda walk this week look for 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. Talk with your employees – ask them:

What creates waiting?
What keeps them from doing the work?
What barriers get in their way?
How would they remove the barrier?

Remember that every problem they surface is real to them. Thank them for bring it up. Let them know it is a legitimate problem and you are serious about helping them solve it. Resolve the problem immediately if you can. Employee will trust you more when they know you are listening and taking action. They will share more ideas with you.

Remember try to do a Muda Walk if possible for one hour each day. If you can’t do that - do what you can.

Record your improvements.

Read the Muda Walk for a Month Blog. You can read the weekly theme, see examples and even post your own comments or pictures. Go to http://mudawalkforamonth.blogspot.com/

Best wishes in spotting Muda. Go and See – Ask Why – Show Respect – Do No Harm

Muda Walk for a Month – Week 1: 09/01 to 09/09 - Reminder

2011-09-07T08:59:00.000-07:00

The focus for this week is: Eliminate Overproduction and Reduce Inventory

Have you seen any of these?

Stacks of material at the job site?
Rental equipment not being used?
Trailers full of fabricated or ordered material?
Stashes around the work area?
Job site trailer closets stuffed with supplies?
Piles of fabricated material in the yard?
Boxes of paper goods stacked in the hallways?
Fabricated product on pallets in the warehouse?

All of these and many more are indicators of overproduction and they are inventory. Inventory is a double serious waste because it produces or hides other wastes. We don’t want the crews to ever run out of material, but we want to avoid as much inventory as possible while still allowing the work to FLOW.

When you spot these waste ask WHY – why do we have to keep this inventory? Why do we have so much inventory? Why are we over-ordering material? Keep asking why until you find the root cause and implement countermeasures.

Ways to reduce inventory are:

Better job site planning and coordination. Use the Last Planner System® of look-aheads and weekly work plans.
Use a Kanban method. It means a signal to refill the inventory. This is especially useful for consumables in the shop, field and even office supplies. Use a min/max marker. Use an inventory card with a dual bin system so when one bin is empty you pull the card and keep using the 2nd bin while the 1st bin is being refilled.
Work with suppliers to service your material needs and include them in identifying how much material to stock.

Remember: Go and See – Ask Why – Show Respect – Do No Harm

Just DO IT

Muda Walk story

2011-09-03T14:11:00.000-07:00

This comes from Glenn Lamb - Fabrication Division Manager, Dee Cramer:
Gene has incorporated the material order forms onto the board, and painted it, and the brooms the color of the area they belong.

Muda Walk for a Month – Week 1: 09/01 to 09/09

2011-09-01T19:05:00.000-07:00

Muda Walk for a Month – Week 1: 09/01 to 09/09
(This is a bonus week and includes a holiday in the USA)

The Theme this week is to attack Over Production and Inventory

We are starting the Muda Walk for a month by looking for the waste Mr. Imai says is the mother of all wastes: OVER PRODUCTION. Over production usually leads to many other wastes especially inventory. Over production in construction is not the same as making too many parts like they do in manufacturing. Hopefully, we don’t fabricate more parts than are ordered. In construction we over produce when we order material or fabricate too much or too soon. For example, when the shop fabricates duct ahead of schedule just to keep the shop busy, there is excess material at the end of the day somewhere. It is either taking up room in the shop, out in the yard or it may be shipped to the job site. There it is unloaded by workers who really should be doing install – aka value added work. Storing fabricated material at a job site runs the risk of the General Contractor asking us to move it. We have to move it several times before it is finally installed. (Moving material is another waste.) Stockpiling material or parts either in a warehouse or at the job site is inventory caused by over production.

INVENTORY itself is waste. It costs money – more than you think! Some inventory may be called strategic inventory – inventory that is necessary to keep the crews installing. Any additional inventory is excess and waste. The challenge is to “see” the difference. Any material or parts not currently being used by the customer is waste. This includes raw material, work in process and final fabrications. This type of waste includes extra parts, excess space and unused tools. Look for stashes and workers’ own stockpiles - they are inventory (waste) too.

Inventory is a double serious waste because it produces or hides other wastes. Companies and job sites often accumulate inventory because of unreliable support from their shop, vendors or the material delivery function or because of efforts to save money through a bulk buy. Usually the money saved in bulk buys is spent by the hidden, but real, costs of holding inventory. Companies also accumulate inventory because of weak planning and poor job site coordination.

Go look for over production and inventory. Over production is often spotted by stacks of material, parts or tools. That may be in a warehouse, a trailer, in the yard or at the job site. Stacks, piles or loads of material is caused by over production and are non-value added from the customer’s viewpoint. Ask “Why” do we have these stacks? Ask why enough times to get to the root cause.

Implement improvements. Try something; if it doesn’t work try something else.

Record your improvements.

Remember: Go and See – Ask Why – Show Respect – Do No Harm

Just DO IT

Muda Walk tips

2011-08-15T16:41:00.000-07:00

Tips for doing better Muda walks based on feedback from previous walks

o Involve more people so they can become aware of waste in the construction business.

o Tell employees in advance you will be doing the walk, why and that you want their opinions

o Do training for these in the company who will be doing the walk on how to conduct a Muda walk.

o Set up a MUDA blog page on your company website.

o Have the entire company participated.

o Involve the others in the department in suggesting problem areas in their world that might tip us off to a small, or maybe larger, area for potential improvement.

You can win a copy of Lean Thinking by James Womack and Daniel Jones or Gemba Kaizen by Masaaki Imai by sharing comments or posting pictures on this blog. Each entry weekly on the blog puts your name in the drawing for one of these must read books.

2011-08-09T07:18:00.000-07:00

What participants said were the best parts of the 2010 MUDA Walk:

Start times for one area need to be consistent; currently they are not which results in waits for PM’s, and interruptions to the other staff member who shares similar responsibilities. We also have to look at our paperwork and implementing error-proofing methods so information is not missed, which results in delays, waiting, and wasted motion.

Having guys meet at the shop and car pool to long distance job sites. Seeing 6 vans on a site 60 miles from the shop was disappointing.

I think all the action that was taken on all the Muda walk were small but good improvements

Identifying same day fab by flagging the fab with red stickers so everyone in the shop would know this fab is priority.

Schedule sales to operations turnover meetings in a timely fashion to reduce waiting

Setting up a standard checklist for how the estimator/project manager conducts a job site visit with the team leaders (foremen). It helps keep the est/pm on track and makes sure he touches all the important topics. It also helps the team leader understand what is important and gives him a guide for running the jobs as well as an agenda for the meeting.

Improvement #1 was our weekly input to payroll from the service department. We do payroll weekly and start on Monday morning in a normal week. The input from the service department comes from their “transmitting” daily work orders to the system. Because of the complexity of the pay rates necessary, there is editing that has to be done before the data can be imported into the system. We were waiting for the input every week because the service technicians were not transmitting their work orders when they were completed and we had to chase their input to completion. While still not perfect, reemphasis to the technician about the timing of the process has helped shave 24 hours off the cycle and putting it in sync with the rest of the payroll input.

We discovered that there is a significant amount of over processing between drafting and our pipe shop (with regards to BOM). Drafting is now rounding pipe up to the nearest full length on the master BOM and this has eliminated the wasted time from our shop foreman. I think the MUDA walks are very valuable and I have them on my calendar to do once a month to keep them on my “to do” list.

Sheet Metal

3 Machines needing to be inspected for maintenance or replacement

2 flaws in process

1 preventative maintenance issues

2 new pieces of equipment are needed

Piping

1 request for maintenance by maintenance department or Pipe Fitters needed

8 flaws in process

1 problem with building

3 problems with Engineering Services

3 flaws in process in the SPE department

My partner in the shop and I did try to do a MUDA walk daily, ended up doing something about twice a week and did not do a good job of documenting/logging. He focused on movement of workers and I focused on inventory and movement of material. We did find some areas that we felt could be improved on, as we always do and have implemented a couple of changes. We are monitoring these to see if there is any impact. Simple things like moving machines for better flow, and trying very hard to keep everything moving in one direction. Sounds easy but not always accepted.

On inventory, it was interesting to watch material be prepared for process and then sit on a rolling bench for 3 days. This bench would get moved out of the way at least twice a day and then the items were looked for and finally processed on the third day. I have met with the decision makers for the shop to discuss ways of releasing work and lead time needed for preparation of material. All in all, the MUDA Walk for a Month process is a great reminder for us to go look at what is happening on a more regular basis.

2011-07-16T20:31:00.000-07:00

I asked Mr Masaaki Imai (Kaizen) to share a thought about Muda walks since Muda Walk for a Month was started in honor of him. He wrote:
Kaizen starts from identifying Muda, which is any thing that does not not add value. Taiichi Ohno once told me that there are actually far more than 7 types as written in his book, since Muda is everywhere around us. At the time of talking with the ghost writer who wrote his book, he casually mentioned 7 types as the number 7 was a lucky number in Japan. He laughingly told me, that now that 7 types have come out in the print and become very popular, he found it difficult to alter it as an author. Therefore, I encourage the participants of the walk to find how many more types of muda they can find.
To sign up to do the Muda Walk for a Month send an email to dennis@YourQSS.com

Muda Walk 2011

2011-06-28T11:11:00.000-07:00

The 5th Annual Muda Walk for a Month is coming - September 2011. This year will include a drawing for a free book - Gemba Kaizen and new ideas about spotting waste. The main point is that it provides a reminder in a fun way to get out and look for ways to improve your operations and drive out waste. To sign up to do the Muda Walk for a Month send an email to dennis@YourQSS.com. The service is free, but the time is your investment in continuous improvement. Watch this blog for more details.

Muda Walk for a Month 2010 Summary of Feedback

2010-12-01T09:35:00.000-08:00

This is the 4th year I have facilitated the Muda Walk for a Month event. This year had the highest participation yet. Individuals from 36 different companies signed up to participate. Some companies had several people participant and several companies had everyone in the company invited to participate. The average number of improvements reported per company/individual was 16. One company reported 51 opportunities for improvement.

One or more individuals from the following companies signed up for the Muda Walk for a Month 2010:

A. Zahner Company

Baker Group

Big J Enterprises, LLC

BMC Construction

CCI Mechanical, Inc.

Climate Engineers

D. D. S. Industries

Dee Cramer, Inc.

DPR Construction, Inc.

Grunau

Hill Mechanical Corporation

Holder Construction

J. H. Findorff & Son Inc.

James Sommerville Construction

Kinetics Systems

Limbach Facility Services, LLC

MacDonald-Miller Facility Solutions, Inc.

McKenney's, Inc.

Midwest Mechanical

Miller Bonded Inc.

Oscar J. Boldt Construction

Pankow

Plenums Plus

Shoemaker Air Conditioning

SMACNA Mid-Atlantic

Taft Electric Co.

Technical Building Services, Inc.

Tekia, Inc.

The Jamar Company

The Waldinger Corporation

Vipond, Inc.

Vision Mechanical

Western Allied Mechanical

Yearout Mechanical & Engineering Inc.

While not everyone who signed up actually did the walk in October, here is some of the feedback from those that did.

What worked best in doing the Muda Walk?

o Staying focused on just the department I am responsible for and those working directly for me. In the warehouse several departments overlap and it’s easy to muddle waste that you can’t control up with waste you can control.

o Talking to the labor while at the job sites worked well. They seemed to want things to get better and were willing to share the things that were wrong.

o Just showing up, mostly unannounced.

o I do think this was a good experience. We all try to reduce waist, but this makes you look a little longer and harder at each process.

o Watching the task for awhile, then asking the guys if they thought the process could be improved, tell them what I saw and then finishing with asking the guys if they see a better way to do it.

o Reviewing our everyday processes and trying to determine, is this the best way to do something. I have done a few Muda walks and I feel very seasoned on my way of doing them. My walk may not last a whole hour, and on the same note it could last longer. I review, analyze, then ask questions. Most are very simple questions. But when you ask employees why, then ask for input on the why, it sure does make them feel like there opinion means something. That is big.. It actually makes them think about other processes.

o Over the past 5 weeks I have identified several deficiencies in my shops. I have just finished organizing the MUDA for this year and will take these one at a time to make the shops better. Please send me the MUDA email next year.

o Staying focused on my mission – I found the toughest part was trying to stay focused on the purpose of what I was doing. It becomes so easy to be distracted with the everyday interruptions like phone calls from Customers and other TBS Employees or even the everyday thoughts of what had to be done that week. I found by staying focused you really put thought into how much time and money is lost with these findings whereas before you just take it for granted that this is just the way things work.

o I found the “WASTE AND WAITING” AND “WASTE OF MOTION” to be the most beneficial. We identified several items that needed to be addressed and came up with solutions and implemented them.

o Asking employees for their feedback on how to improve an MUDA walk issue

o For me it seemed to be thinking about what caused the most irritation to our daily workflow. What did we have to keep checking on in order to meet certain deadlines. The administration department receives input from many other departments and then processes further. This was where we found our best hits.

o We set up a MUDA blog page on our company website. The entire company participated. While the length of the list is not all I had hoped for, the term “MUDA” is firmly planted in our vocabulary. Another step on the Lean Journey.

What was one of the best improvements you made or plan to make as a result of the walk?

o Giving access to all of our forms and requisitions to all requestors outside of our area.

o Start times for one area need to be consistent; currently they are not which results in waits for PM’s, and interruptions to the other staff member who shares similar responsibilities. We also have to look at our paperwork and implementing error-proofing methods so information is not missed, which results in delays, waiting, and wasted motion.

o Better trouble Shooting practices – The need to approach service problems with an open mind and not a preconceived thought of what the problem is. We sometimes over look the obvious and waste numerous hours approaching the problem from the middle instead of where it should have been started (The Beginning)

o Identifying same day fab by flagging the fab with red stickers so everyone in the shop would know this fab is priority.

o Schedule sales to operations turnover meetings in a timely fashion to reduce waiting

o Setting up a standard checklist for how the estimator/project manager conducts a job site visit with the team leaders (foremen). It helps keep the est/pm on track and makes sure he touches all the important topics. It also helps the team leader understand what is important and gives him a guide for running the jobs as well as an agenda for the meeting.

o Improvement #1 was our weekly input to payroll from the service department. We do payroll weekly and start on Monday morning in a normal week. The input from the service department comes from their “transmitting” daily work orders to the system. Because of the complexity of the pay rates necessary, there is editing that has to be done before the data can be imported into the system. We were waiting for the input every week because the service technicians were not transmitting their work orders when they were completed and we had to chase their input to completion. While still not perfect, reemphasis to the technician about the timing of the process has helped shave 24 hours off the cycle and putting it in sync with the rest of the payroll input.

o Improvement #2 was a similar case of waiting for input of vendor invoices. We rely on input of vendor invoices at the end of the month in order to more accurately portray job cost for the completion of the financial reports. The purchasing department had, over time, begun to focus on other tasks at the close of the month forcing delay of financial statement preparation. Reiterating the importance of their input and their original requirements has gotten them back on track for invoice input, at least for this month.

o We discovered that there is a significant amount of over processing between drafting and our pipe shop (with regards to BOM). Drafting is now rounding pipe up to the nearest full length on the master BOM and this has eliminated the wasted time from our shop foreman. I think the MUDA walks are very valuable and I have them on my calendar to do once a month to keep them on my “to do” list.

o MUDA FINDING

Sheet Metal

3 Machines needing to be inspected for maintenance or replacement

2 flaws in process

1 preventative maintenance issues

2 new pieces of equipment are needed

Piping

1 request for maintenance by maintenance department or Pipe Fitters needed

8 flaws in process

1 problem with building

3 problems with Engineering Services

3 flaws in process in the SPE department

o Observations Walk 1 – Pipe Fabrication Shop

We are inefficiently moving materials in our pipe shop (moving finished fab more than twice after completion and before loading). We are cutting faster than our welding operations can support. Raw material unloading was very inefficient

Tools used: Spaghetti Charts

Corrective Actions

Introduced QA/QC in drafting (drafting issues were one of the root causes of poor raw material handling).

We are trying to cut only what we need and use the free worker to clean up / properly stage material.

Re-assigning loading and unloading bays to prevent multiple material movements. I am in the process of checking and adjusting these changes now.

o Observations Walk 2 – Engineering / Drafting Department

QA/QC needed for shop drawing preparation

Shop drawing methods are not standardized

Corrective Actions

Add visual management to post current first pass drawing results

Institute feedback loop from shops to engineers

Develop measures to track

Build a plan to standardize drafting procedures

o Observations Walk 3 – Material Purchasing

Many people handle each order

Last planners feel like they don’t have control over materials

Processing orders takes a long

Orders are checked multiple times before being placed

Corrective Actions

Redraw purchasing value stream

Automate reporting processes as possible

o My partner in the shop and I did try to do a MUDA walk daily, ended up doing something about twice a week and did not do a good job of documenting/logging. He focused on movement of workers and I focused on inventory and movement of material. We did find some areas that we felt could be improved on, as we always do and have implemented a couple of changes. We are monitoring these to see if there is any impact. Simple things like moving machines for better flow, and trying very hard to keep everything moving in one direction. Sounds easy but not always accepted. On the inventory, it was interesting to watch material be prepared for process and then sit on a rolling bench for 3 days. This bench would get moved out of the way at least twice a day and then the items were looked for and finally processed on the third day. I have met with the decision makers for the shop to discuss ways of releasing work and lead-time needed for preparation of material. All in all, the MUDA Walk for a Month process is a great reminder for us to go look at what is happening on a more regular basis.

What could we (you or I) have done different to make this experience better?

o Make it the Muda walk for a year….LOL. No kidding sorry. I think we should make it mandatory for all people to do a Muda walk once per month in their areas and identify waste.

o I could have scheduled more time. I tended to leave if there was nothing to ‘watch’; I also felt like an intrusion at times. Watching office people type requires some level of interaction: ‘what’s that? How do you get the information, etc.”. I felt unproductive just watching.

o I like the way it was handled. I just wish I hade more time for it.

o I did enjoy the weekly communications from you; they were helpful.

o I can’t think of something to make the experience better but as for the purpose of doing the search, finding the waste is the easy part, following up and making the proper corrections to prevent from happening again is the harder. Maybe implement a follow up of success stories.

o A far as I know, there is probably nothing we could have done better. It was unfortunate that the timing of the Muda Walk came at a time where the shop was in disarray because of the construction taking place. The waste of waiting and the waste of motion made me focus a little harder on eliminating the obstacle coarse as soon as possible.

o Post items that other companies have found, prior to start of September, so companies have a springboard as to what they might want to look for right off the bat in their organizations

o Next year I will conduct a short meeting prior to the Muda walk month with more detailed information on what we are trying to accomplish and maybe some goals and reporting systems.

o One thing that would have helped was to involve the others in the department in suggesting problem areas in their world that might tip us off to a small, or maybe larger, area for potential improvement.

Would you be willing to do it again? Why/why not?

o Yes, depending on the timing and my schedule. Intermixing a Muda walker into another department would be an interesting concept.

o No, I did not have the time it required to do the best possible job at it. We are doing more with less these days and MUDA walk time is hard to come by.

o Yes. I would like to see it done more often. This actually has opened that door for me with my team and they expect that I will be showing up now and again. I don’t plan to wait for these formal opportunities to arise. I hope that as a result, we eventually become comfortable going to another dept. and doing the same, with their permission of course.

o Yes, I think every job has its own problems and ways to overcome the problems.

o Yes we will continue doing Muda walks throughout the year but not through an outside-organized program.

o Muda walks are always a good thing to do to just watch and see processes. Just because we started doing it this way a couple years ago, it may not work as good now as it did then. I will be willing to do it again.

o Yes I would, I think the findings are important to address and fix. I look at my findings as substantial, when combined with others findings it’s got to be very substantial in wasted time and money.

o YES! STILL WORK IN PROGRESS ON SOME ITEMS IDENTIFIED WITH LITTLE ACTION TAKEN

o yes. Uncovers real inefficiency in a short time

o We will definitely do the walk next year. I am planning on doing some training on how to conduct a Muda walk for everyone in the mean time. Any ideas of resources for training would be greatly appreciated.

o Sure…As I mentioned above, I think I would involve more people in my department in the search. If you could pick out or identify one thing at a time and pursue to completion or even a stymie. While the big hits are enticing, there are numerous small things that might pop up that would certainly add up over time.

o yes, but I will be looking forward to it more once I have moved into our new facility.

The Last Word – YES we will do the Muda Walk for a month next September too.

For more details contact dennis@YourQSS.com

Muda Walk for a Month is Over

2010-10-05T09:09:00.000-07:00

This year's walk is over and I am gathering the results. Already I know that more people participated in it than in past years.

Some examples of what was observed during a Muda walks are:

- Workers looking for duct work without job# or job name

- Picked up filters at the venders warehouse - they off loaded them from their truck and reloaded them in our truck

- Looked over some of our inventory that we had stored for more than a few years

- Left over trim pipe and fittings that we have saved over the years was taking up to much room and the pile just kept getting bigger

These are not hugh problems but all are opportunities to improve. More examples to come

Muda Walk for a Month – Week 5: 09/27 to 10/01

2010-09-27T08:11:00.001-07:00

The Theme this week is: Overproduction

This is the last week of the Muda Walk for a Month 2010. This week we are looking for the wastes of OVERPRODUCTION OF GOODS. This waste is connected to the waste of Inventory – theme for week three. We order or fabricate too much or too soon. so we have to store it somewhere causing inventory to build. For example, when we fabricating duct ahead of schedule to keep the shop busy, this causes us to stockpiling material either in a warehouse or at the job site. This waste can also include printing extra blueprints or making more copies of bids, material orders or financial reports than needed. Overproduction is a service truck restocking parts to a greater level than needed. It is having the supplier deliver products to the job site weeks ahead of when it will be used. (this leads to the other wastes of excess inventory and transportation of material and movement of people.) Overproduction can even mean calling for more crews or workers than is currently need on the job site. Masaaki Imai says overproduction is the root cause of most wastes.

Look for signs of overproduction. It is often seen as stacks of material - either in the warehouse, in trailers, in the yard or at the job staging areas. Ask WHY enough times to get to the root cause. Why do we have these stacks? Why are we producing orders too soon or why do we order too much? The root cause may even be in our estimating system – keep looking.

Record your improvements. Find the root cause. Implement improvements. Try something; if it doesn’t work try something else.

Stay with the Muda Walk this last week.

dennis sowards
Quality Support Services, Inc.
Office: 480-835-1185
Cell: 602-740-7271

Muda Walk for a Month – Week 4: 09/20 to 09/24

2010-09-19T18:58:00.000-07:00

This week’s theme is Over Processing

This is the 4th week of the Muda Walk for a Month and possibly the hardest waste to spot. Over processing exists in every company. it includes over-engineering; requiring additional signatures on a work order; multiple handling of forms; duplicate entry of data; and entering information that is not needed. It can include doing reports that no one uses or making excess copies of reports, invoices or files. It is often caused by not keeping processes current and poor communications when changes are made. To see over processing one must look deep into how the processes are done. Try the following:

Follow a company form from start to finish – forms such as expense reports, payroll changes, rental equipment orders, service orders, submittal changes, tools purchase request, change orders, or material requests (“Be” the form itself and walk to each work station it goes to and discuss how the form is processed. Look at what information is added, changed and/or used.) Look for non-valued added steps or requirements.
Review the process of preparing monthly reports and/or closing the financial books. Examine (means watch and see) at each step and how it is actually processed.
Look at the way estimates are prepared. Challenge the factors used – how do they compare to actual work?
Review your preconstruction process – who does what and when? Are there duplication of efforts?
Watch how detailed drawings are prepared and sent for fabrication.
Review your customer invoicing process.
Look at how materials are received, stored and used at job sites.
Walk through your process of handling customer complaints, do you have a process?
Study how jobs are closed out – what are the steps and who does what at each step?
Pick your own process & study it.

In all cases – look at how the work is really done, not how someone thinks it is done. Follow the handoffs, often workarounds exist because of poor handoffs. Is the information, report, drawing or document done “right” when first handed-off? Question everything. Looking for waste here is much harder than looking at treasure hunts, but hidden treasures also exist in many processes we use every day.

Record your observations and look at ways to improve. One more week to go after this week so keep up the good work.

dennis sowards
Quality Support Services, Inc.
Office: 480-835-1185
Cell: 602-740-7271

Reminder - Week 3 of Muda Walk for a Month

2010-09-15T09:08:00.000-07:00

Week 3: 09/13 to 09/17
The Theme this week is: Reduce Inventory
Have you seen any of these?

Stacks of material at the job site?
Rental equipment not being used?
Trailers full of material?
Stashes around the work area?
Job site trailer’s closets stuffed with supplies?
Piles of fabricated materials in the yard?
Boxes of paper goods stacked in the walk ways?
Fabricated product on pallets in the warehouse?

All of these and many more are inventory. Inventory is a double serious waste because it produces or hides other wastes. We don’t want the crews to ever run out of material, but we want to avoid as much inventory as possible while still allowing the work to FLOW.

When you spot inventory waste ask WHY – why do we have to keep this inventory? Keep asking why until you find the root cause and implement countermeasures.

Ways to reduce inventory are:

Better job site planning and coordination. Use the Last Planner System of look-aheads and weekly work plans.
Use a Kanban method. It means means a signal to refill the inventory. This is especially useful for consumables in the shop, field and even office supplies. Use a min/max marker. Use a card that is on a dual bin system so when one bin is empty pull the card and keep using the 2nd bin while the first bin is being refilled.
Work with suppliers to service your material needs and include them in identifying how much material to stock.

Record your improvements. Find the root cause. Implement improvements. Try something; if it doesn’t work try something else.

Muda Walk - Week 3 - 09/13 to 09/17

2010-09-12T20:57:00.000-07:00

The Theme this week is: Reduce Inventory

This week we are looking for the waste of Inventory. This waste is tied to the waste of over-production. We order or fabricate too much or too soon. so we have to store it somewhere causing inventory to build.

INVENTORY itself is waste. It costs money – more than you think! Some inventory may be called strategic inventory – inventory that is necessary to keep the crews installing. Any other inventory is excess and waste. The challenge is to “see” the difference. Any material or parts not being used by the customer is waste. This includes raw material, work in process and final fabrications. This type of waste includes extra parts, excess space and unused tools. Look for stashes and personal stockpiles - they are inventory too.

Inventory is a double serious waste because it produces or hides other wastes. Companies and job sites often accumulate inventory because of unreliable support from the shop, vendors or the material delivery function or because of efforts to save money through a bulk buy. Usually the money saved in bulk buys is spent by the hidden, but real, costs of holding inventory. Companies also accumulate inventory because of weak planning and poor job site coordination.

When you spot inventory waste ask “WHY” – why do we have to keep this inventory? Keep asking why until you find the root cause and implement countermeasures.

Record your improvements. Find the root cause. Implement improvements. Try something; if it doesn’t work try something else. Stay with the Muda Walk.

dennis sowards
Quality Support Services, Inc.
Office: 480-835-1185
Cell: 602-740-7271

Muda Walk - Week 2

2010-09-05T21:40:00.001-07:00

Week 2: 09/06 to 09/10 – a short week with the holiday (in the US)

Theme: Reduce the Waste of Motion – Reduce Treasure Hunts using Visual Control and Work Place Organization .
Good morning. This is your 2nd week of doing the Muda Walk and a short week too. I hope your first week went well. What did you discover?

Your theme this week is to look for the waste of motion. In construction (and most other work) this is commonly called “ treasure hunts.” Mr. Imai* says that moving is not work! Value is not being added while people are walking around. Look for people looking for things; ask why and why and why again. Why is this happening? Why are the tools, equipment, forms, etc. not located closer to the work area? Or where they are needed? Go to shop or a job site at the start or end of a shift and watch for wasted motion. Watch how much time is spent in getting ready or cleaning up? How much time should be spent? Look for ways to reduce this time. Look for trips to the yard, or for people walking around the shop, or even look for trips to a hardware store to buy material. Look at how often the crews run out of small supplies or consumables. Look for tools that are missing or broken. Causing movement to find new ones.

Go watch for Muda. Record your improvements. Implementing visual controls and the 5S’s can eliminate or reduce treasure hunts.

dennis sowards
Quality Support Services, Inc.
Office: 480-835-1185
Cell: 602-740-7271

* FYI - Masaaki Imai wrote the books Kaizen and Gemba Kaizen. His birthday was last Wed. Sept. 1st. He turned 80 this year. He is a great Muda Walker and taught me so much when I had the opportunity to shadow him a few years ago. I do the Muda Walk in a Month every September in honor of his birthday.

Reminder - Week 1 Muda Walk

2010-08-31T21:42:00.000-07:00

This week’s theme is the Waste of Waiting.

Hopefully by now you have had a chance to look for Muda. Lean is about “knowing by seeing” not just “thinking we know” - you must GO and SEE. Here are some of the observations Muda walkers saw last year, have you seen similar?

Crews having to wait or return to complete a job due to the warehouse running out of material.
Need a Kanban * system? Eyeballing the shelves does not seem to work.
Crews having to wait until the morning of for instructions on where to go next. They are forced to load job specific material for next task that morning.
Crews waiting on information/instruction from office about a particular job. The wait takes place due to the difficulty of finding job folders in a paper environment or by not providing timely action (waiting until the last minute or neglecting to answer the cell phone).
Crews having to wait for a material delivery from vendor. Vendors are backordering a lot of necessary material to complete a phase or job.
Controls vendors are not giving the owner/operator adequate control of control systems. If a simple set-point needs to be changed at a site, most of the time, it requires a phone call to the vendor. If the vendor is not there, it requires another phone call. If trial and error is required, then multiple more phone calls are required to the vendor to make necessary adjustments.

Here are some ways to reduce waiting include:

Use the Last Planner System ** and make sure all tasks are ready (CAN DO) to be done prior to committing to do them.
Schedule shop deliveries so the crews have what they need when they need it. (Giving the shop the real need times helps.)
Arrange the shop flow so that pieces go from one tool to the next without waiting on tables or the floor in batches.
Use 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.)
Sort out un-necessary parts, tools, materials, etc, so they don’t clutter the work area and slow the FLOW.
Apply a Kanban system to consumable parts and material so that crews never run out while working but do not have excessive inventory. Use Min/Max lines, dual bins, or other simple techniques.
Design the yard layout area so that material deliveries come in one end and exit another. Backing up is waste and unsafe.
Reduce the size of material orders delivered from the shop or vendor to the site so that the material can easily be unloaded and quickly installed.
Make sure all equipment (drills, meters, etc.) are in working order prior to starting the shift.
Map out the steps in your process and look at where delays (waiting) happen. Determine the root cause and work to make value flow.

Remember one hour of watching for Muda. Record your improvements.
Post your observation here.

Muda Walk Week 1 - 08/30 to 9/03 – Look for the Waste of Waiting

2010-08-29T12:32:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Muda Walk for a Month

This is your first week to do a Muda Walk. The theme is the Waste of Waiting. We want value to flow and never wait.

When employees, equipment or even customers are WAITING, it is waste. They may be waiting on processes or other equipment to finish work or for an upstream activity to be completed. Examples of this waste are when crews are waiting for inspections, field instructions, another trade or material; when a worker is waiting for the coil line to fabricate material; or when 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 communications 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.

During every Muda walk this week look for 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. Talk with your employees – ask them:

What creates waiting?
What keeps them from doing the work?
What barriers get in their way?

Remember that every problem they surface is real to them. Thank them for bring it up. Let them know it is a legitimate problem and you are serious about helping them to solve it. Solve immediately if you can. Being listened to and seeing action will build trust and they will share more ideas with you.

Remember try to do a Muda Walk for one hour each day. If you can’t do that - do what you can.
Record your improvements.
Best wishes in spotting Muda.

2010-08-23T07:12:00.001-07:00

What wastes do you see here?

Muda Walk Practice - Picture 2

2010-08-16T10:40:00.000-07:00

What waste do you see in this picture?

Practice for Muda Walk for a Month

2010-08-11T10:01:00.000-07:00

What waste (Muda) do you see? Why?

Muda Walk for a Month is Coming

2010-08-06T12:49:00.000-07:00

Muda Walk for a Month is Coming
There has never been a better time to attack waste and increase productivity. One study estimates that 57% of the time in construction is waste! Reducing waste can make you more competitive. The Fourth Annual Muda Walk for a Month is coming this September. This event is not just about driving out Muda (Japanese for waste), but is to create a culture of continuous improvement. High-performing contractors thrive on continuous improvement. Last year one contractor had all of his project managers participate in this event and they discovered many improvements.

How it works - during September I will email participants the weekly theme to use while doing a Muda (waste) walk in one’s company. The walk may be at a job site, in the shop, office or even a service truck. During the walk, participants will look for ways to eliminate waste and improve operations. The Muda Walk challenge is to do a walk at least one hour a week and best if it is done one hour each day. That may sound like a hard commitment to make, but those who invested the time in past years have reaped useful rewards. I ask that participants log the problems and improvements, and share them with me at the end of the month.

This is a free service, but participants must sign up by Aug 27, 2010. The first week of the Muda walk will start on August 30th. To register, just email your request to dennis@YourQSS.com