Every industry is prone to having certain wastes which can become incredibly problematic if left unchecked, and the manufacturing industry is no exception. In fact, manufacturers are so used to combating wastes that they have created two mnemonics to help them define and identify the seven most common wastes found in the manufacturing process: Tim Wood, or Wormpit (Transportation, inventory, motion, waiting, overproduction, over-processing, and defect wastes if using Tim Wood).
If you are Japanese, or work for Toyota, you might know the Tim Wood process already as something called “Muda”, which is a Japanese word for wastefulness. The Japanese word itself refers to manufacturing process waste, of which Muda can be one of two types. The first type of Muda is non value-adding waste that is necessary for the end-customer. An example of this would be quality control services. The second type of Muda is non value-adding and also unnecessary for customers. These are the wastes that should be eliminated when looking for Tim Wood.
Since being constantly reminded of a pit of worms while reading is not pleasant, this article will be addressing Tim Wood and his seven deadly wastes that have been caught on camera at manufacturing plants all across the country. And we are sure that Tim Wood is at your facility too, hurting your productivity and costing you money. Without further adieu, here are the seven deadly wastes which together create Tim Wood.
The Seven Deadly Wastes
Transportation Waste – Workers seen driving forklifts and walking around due to deficient plant layouts and poorly designed processes. Tim Wood moves raw material from one end of the plant to the other, intermediate parts from one building to the next, and finally the finished goods all the way back to the shipping and receiving area where the raw material originally came in.
Inventory Waste – Inventory seen piling up on shelves until more shelves are needed. No matter how many shelves are built, they never seem to be enough. All due to Tim Wood’s poor process control and inventory management.
Motion Waste – Workers have to bend down or climb up on step ladders, to access parts or tools that Tim Wood stored inconveniently. Excessive inventory must be maneuvered around to make room for more inventory. Inefficient processes require lots of trips back and forth from one shelf or bench to another.
Waiting Waste – Workers or machinery wait idle for upstream processes to complete. Material shortages cause work in process to wait in staging areas, unable to be completed. Equipment shortages result in workers waiting idle for their turn on the forklift, so they can move even more inventory around the plant.
Overproduction Waste – Excessive batch sizing or purchase quantities cause already crowded inventory areas to overflow. Tim Wood’s deadliest waste of overproduction can be seen causing a cascade of other wastes.
Overprocessing Waste – Workers spend a great deal time sorting through Tim Wood’s stack of paperwork, but never seem to find what they need. Poorly organized staged parts are sorted and re-sorted by many different workers looking for the particular materials they need.
Defect Waste – Workers seen heading to the scrap bin with tubs full of rejected parts.
Without a camera system for process improvement to give you hard evidence, Tim Wood will continue wreaking havoc at your plant. To get more information on how we can help bring some accountability to your plant, call us today or fill out our online request form and we can help you in eliminating Tim Wood with security cameras.
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