The Concept of Lean Waste

Companies are always looking for new ways to improve business efficiency and increase quality. To run a business at optimal capacity, you need to reduce or eliminate waste from processes and improve production flow. In this course, you’ll learn about Lean strategies to reduce waste by determining which operations add value and which don’t. You’ll explore the concept of continuous flow, and discover how to balance work processes to make production flow more efficient. You’ll define what waste is, where it exists, and what causes it. You’ll also examine aspects of Muda, continuous flow, line balancing, value and non-value-add, and practical Lean techniques for improving Operations Management.

What is waste in Lean Manufacturing?

A core principle in lean methodology is the removal of waste within an operation. And in any business, one of the heaviest drains on profitability is waste. Lean waste can come in the form of time, material, and labor. But it may also be related to the utilization of skill-sets as well as poor planning. In lean manufacturing, waste is any expense or effort that is expended but which does not transform raw materials into an item the customer is willing to pay for. By optimizing process steps and eliminating waste, the only true value is added at each phase of production.

Today, the Lean Manufacturing model recognizes 8 types of waste within an operation; seven originally conceived when the Toyota Production System was first conceived, and an eighth added when the lean methodology was adopted within the Western World. Seven of the eight wastes are production process-oriented, while the eighth waste is directly related to management’s ability to utilize personnel.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN to

1. classify production activities as a value-add, non-value-add, or necessary non-value-add.
2. identify strategies for eliminating waste caused by overproduction and inventory.
3. identify strategies for eliminating motion, waiting, and transportation waste.
4. identify elimination strategies for waste caused by overprocessing and defects
5. match cycle time and takt time to their descriptions
6. identify the final three steps for balancing a production line