Productivity in companies: factors that limit it according to the Lean philosophy:
In this post we will briefly describe each one of the changes that an organization can incur and which must be eliminated or at least minimized.
To begin with this entry we have to indicate that the highest or lowest productivity index of an organization is the indicator of success or failure of it.
World-class companies tend to have higher productivity (in some cases exaggerated) than those that are not. There are three factors, according to the LEAN philosophy, that limit the productivity increase of organizations. It will be the first point that we will address in this post.
Factors that limit productivity according to LEAN
There are three factors that limit the productivity of a company: Overload (Muri), Variability (Mura) and Waste (Muda).
Overload – Muri
This factor occurs when the productive capacity of the resources (human, machinery, etc.) used by the organization to produce its products or services are working above its nominal yield levels, with the risk of being saturated or overflowing with the demand from its customers.
Variability- Mura
This factor occurs when the inputs (eg the raw material) that enter the transformation processes of an organization are subject to strong variations (physical volume, fragility, weight, etc.) and chemical (composition, texture, etc.,) between some games and others.
This causes this lack of uniformity and corresponding variability to be transmitted to the transformation processes and even be reflected in the final products or services.
As long as this variability is controlled within limits allowed by the organization, and these are assumed by the client, this factor can not be understood as limiting productivity, but before attempting to standardize the variability of all processes must be controlled.
Waste – Mute
This factor appears when a task or activity within a process does not bring a useful value (defining useful as being perceived positively by the customer) to the final product or service.
Types of LEAN Seedlings
The LEAN philosophy recognizes eight types of waste, the last of them, according to our point of view, the most important of all, and this was the one to which we dedicated a particular entry earlier in this Logistics Blog. Let’s go with them.
Waste or Mute Overproduction
It is considered one of the two worst wastes. It is produced as a result of manufacturing products or services in larger quantities than requested, before being requested, and faster than what is needed.
Solution to stop this waste
Produce what is needed, when it is needed and where it is needed.
Waste or Change of Waiting times or downtimes
It is considered the most common and hidden waste in an organization. It occurs as a result of the resources (human or not) are stopped in an awkward way or waiting to start working.
These delays can be caused by: maintenance shutdowns of machines, lack of supply of information, lack of raw materials, inaccuracy of work orders, etc.,
Solution to stop this waste
The most expensive resource of a company is, and will always be the employee, therefore, it will be necessary to design the processes, and all their activities directly or indirectly related in such a way that reduce the times of inactivity of the workers.
Waste or Unnecessary Inventory Shift or Over-Inventory
It is considered a habitual waste to hide a bulky inventory problems of quality, bad programming, deficient forecasts of demand, etc.
It occurs as a result of storing excessive stock of: raw material, products in process, and finished product.
Solution to stop this waste
The inventory is the shelter of other waste, you have to try to reduce the amount of accumulated stock to discover what is doing wrong in an organization.
Increasing the turnover of goods in warehouses, tightly scheduling production and maintaining the minimum stock so that processes can be carried out effectively is the key to eliminating this waste.
Waste or Shifting Unnecessary Moves
It occurs as a consequence of any movement of employees that is not related to an activity that adds value to the final product or service: movements without any sense of employees by the facility, search for materials, tools or documents misplaced and that the employee need to locate, etc.
Solution to stop this waste
The processes must be focused on the employee or worker, and the materials, tools, information, etc., that they need, must be It is produced when a product or service finishes the processing process in a defective way or that does not meet the quality requirements (required by the organization, by the regulations , or by the final customer). This results in a repetition and even correction of the product elaboration process, and also a return management of defective products, if they are returned by some subsequent process that must be performed on the defective product , or by the customer who returns it. Solution to eliminate this waste. The defects must be analyzed until reaching their source to obtain the final solution. Waste or Transport Change of Materials, Equipment or Tools It occurs when there is an unnecessary movement of materials, equipment or tools that is not related directly or indirectly to any activity connected to the final product or service. An example of this waste occurs when they move materials, machinery or tools by the production plant without a clear motive or destination. We can also observe this waste in a warehouse during the process of storing raw material or processed product, or when picking a product in a warehouse. Solution to eliminate this waste. The movement of material, equipment and tools does not add value to the final product or service, the more these movements are minimized, the less waste will occur. Waste or Overproduction Changes or Unnecessary and / or Inadequate Processes a process has one or several stages with inne activities (inspections, lack of standardization, etc.) or when features (quality or functional) are added that are superior to the customer’s requirements. This type of waste is usually corrected by simplifying, reducing, combining or even eliminating these unnecessary activities, although in most cases it is not easy to do this.Solution to end this wasteReview periodically if the objective, requirements and result for which the process was created has changed or is no longer necessary. Processes have to be treated as living entities that evolve over time as a function of customer demand and requirements.
Human Talent Dismantling is considered the most important waste because it neglects the talent and internal knowledge that employees have or can contribute to or to the organization and their professional experience in the same. It occurs when an organization does not encourage the development of the talent of its staff. It is usually ignored all that contribution of knowledge and experience that can come from the most operational scope of the business structure.We will not go much further in this because we dedicate a single entry to this muda.Solution to end this wasteDeveloping formulas for worker participation or employees in making business decisions.
This will encourage the motivation among the organization’s HR, its sense of belonging to the organization, and help to make each employee understand the importance of doing their work well within the functional structure of the company. In addition to participatory formulas will need to design and implement training programs to train workers in multidisciplinary tasks according to what the LEAN philosophy dictates