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Lean University --
Lean Articles
Improving
quality through waste elimination
by
Andy Carlino
Total
quality - you've heard the words.
You've seen the acronym. But, what does it mean
within the framework of lean manufacturing systems?
The
majority of quality efforts focus on two things: quality
control, based on
standards and inspection, and quality prevention, based on
techniques such as error proofing. Most people do not
realize the effect that the overall manufacturing system has
on quality. Waste elimination in the manufacturing
environment, usually thought of in terms of cost reduction,
can have a dramatic positive impact on improving quality.
Systematic
waste elimination is a cornerstone of lean systems thinking.
Unfortunately, waste elimination is typically viewed as an
opportunity to improve efficiency vs. the equally important
measure of effectiveness. A relentless focus on eliminating
waste will have a profound effect on the quality of the
service or product you provide. Just examine the seven
wastes categories and their impact on quality:
Inventory
Excess inventory, either in finished goods or
work-in-process, delays the detection of defects and fosters
the storage of undetected defects. Often the quality problem
is not found until the product reaches the customer. Then
you have to go back through your inventory to detect where
the defect originated, weeks or even months after the defect
first occurred.
Over-processing
By following
tighter specifications or by simply providing more than a
customer wants in order to satisfy form, fit and function
ultimately adds more complexity and more variation to a
process, both of which lead to more chances for error.
Over-production
Providing a product or service before or in a greater
quantity than the customer requires prohibits early
detection of a defect and subsequently embeds the defect in
every product until detected.
Motion
There is a simple rule of thumb that applies here. You can't
make as many mistakes in 10 handoffs as you can in 100
handoffs. In every handoff, in every move, there is another
chance for a mistake to occur.
Transportation
See Motion.
Waiting
The longer it takes to detect a defect, the more likely it
is that it will be repeated. Problem identification needs to
be as close to the point of activity as possible. Not
finding out about a problem until a customer files a
warranty claim is a long time to wait before knowing there
is a problem.
Defects
Even quality has its own waste category.
And,
just what is the cost of systematic waste elimination in
order to improve quality? Nothing. It's free when properly
planned and implemented. Additionally, the cost of poor
quality is frequently underestimated. Often the cost is
hidden in overhead or absorbed in indirect costs without
recognizing the true cost of its impact.
Now,
don't get me wrong. There is an investment. It will be an
investment of dollars and human resources. The difference is
that cost is an expenditure of resources whose benefits
decrease over time. With investment, the situation is easily
reversed.
So,
there is a necessary investment in developing a common lens
and language for waste in order that the entire organization
can identify opportunities to eliminate waste everyday.
Seldom does the initial investment have any negative
short-term financial impact, while in the long term, there
is a substantial increase in benefits that continually
multiplies over time.
My
words of advice are: "Don't start a quality program.
Start a quality culture."
Develop
a shared set of mental models that focus on waste
elimination to improve quality. Figuring out what you want
to do to improve quality is easy. It's harder to figure out
how. But, the rewards are well worth the effort: improved
quality, lower cost, competitive advantages, exceptional ROI
and much more.
Some
of you may think that you are already pretty good at
eliminating waste, and you probably are. So why the
relentless pursuit of waste elimination? Because good is not
good enough. As Jim Collins says in his book Good to
Great, "Good is the enemy of great." To stand
above the crowd, to stay competitive, and to stay
profitable, you must pursue greatness.
The
Lean Learning Center was founded in early 2001 to address
the gaps and barriers that are holding back companies from
successful lean transformation. In combination with
corporate partner Achievement Dynamics, a provider of
management consulting, the companies provide a full
complement of lean transformation services. To request a
curriculum brochure or for more information, call
248-478-1480 or visit www.leanlearningcenter.com.
Copyright. The Lean Learning Center 2003.
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