Compared to manufacturing processes the operation of maintenance areas face particular challenges: The scope per workpiece varies a lot. Levelling of workload must be flexible, due to unpredictability in urgency and required man hours. The idea of Takt is can’t be implemented easily because physical and/or technical constraints, paired with the problems mentioned above, might…
Month: May 2014
VSM, Swimlane and Flowchart: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Imagine you are analysing a value stream and instruct your team to create a VSM (Value Stream Map) for any kind of administrative or software development process. When you return a couple of hours later, all you see is a giant flow chart. “That’s not a VSM, that’s a Flow Chart”, you might say. But usually you…
7 types of waste in Lean Manufacturing and Lean Services/Lean IT
How does Lean Services/Lean IT differ from Lean Manufacturing? Do we actually have the same types of waste? While everyone is comfortable with the 7 types of waste in Lean Manufacturing, there seems to be a lot of confusion regarding the classification of waste in the service and IT sector. I often hear comments that the…
Graphic: 7 types of waste in services/IT
A simple illustration of the 7 types of waste in Lean Services: Overproduction, Handover, Searches/Movement, Overprocessing, Waiting, Backlog, Errors.
Graphic: 7 types of waste in manufacturing
A simple illustration of the 7 types of waste in Lean Manufacturing: Overproduction, Transport, Movement, Overprocessing, Waiting, Inventory, Defects.