1. Introduction
The Kaizen system of continuous improvement has as one of its fundamental pillars the continuous fight in the elimination of waste and waste (silent in Japanese).
kaizen-detection-prevention-and-elimination-of-waste-a-strategy-for-the-reduction-of-costsA relentless and relentless struggle in the need to eliminate the factors that generate unproductivities, high costs, long cycles, costly and long waits, wasted resources, loss of customers, and quality defects, all of which originate the loss of participation in the market, with a drop in profitability and consumer satisfaction levels.
Undoubtedly, adopting the decision to implement kaizen in the company, the first guiding axis, and actions to be taken, will revolve around the detection, prevention and systematic elimination of the various types of waste and waste that plague organizations are These are public or private, for-profit or non-profit. It is what is called the “phantom” organization or factory.
Carrying out such an all-out struggle implies the need for strong leadership, participatory administration, discipline and work ethic, firmly conceived plans and strategies, measurement and information systems appropriate to these needs, and a strong management conviction to generate and support ongoing training plans.
Awareness of the different types of waste and the importance that they assume for the company, as well as fully convincing both managers and staff about the need to identify and destroy the generators of waste is the priority goal. Without a firm conviction and a clear understanding of the situation and the dangers that this entails not only for the organization, but also for its managers, employees, consumers and society as a whole, it is not possible to establish and emerge victorious in that fight.
Fighting waste implies that through the continuous improvement of each and every one of the processes and activities involved in the management of the company, the performance levels previously obtained must be constantly exceeded. Fewer defects, higher levels of productivity, lower costs, better levels of satisfaction, shorter delivery times, and shorter design and market cycles are essential today for companies to be considered World Class, and therefore be able to compete within the global economy.
The formation of large trade blocs, the fall of customs or protectionist barriers, the fast and economic information systems, the great reduction in transport costs and the increasing level of information by the population, requires that companies produce innovative, low-cost, high-quality goods and services, that is, high-value products and services that reward consumers for their acquisition and subsequent use or consumption.
Generating an environment in which the employees and technicians of the organization actively participate in the detection, prevention and elimination of the various types and modalities of waste constitutes one of the main objectives of the Directors.
Consumers are no longer willing to finance or take responsibility for mismanagement of businesses. They vote every day in the market with their money, depositing it in companies and products that give them higher levels of satisfaction. In this way they decide which companies will survive, which ones will be victorious and which ones will disappear. The market was always unforgiving, but today it is even more so. Only companies willing to increase their total quality levels, thus achieving more productivity and lower costs, will be able to remain active and project into the future. A company that does not control its waste, that has no notion of it, and that therefore does not adopt measures to prevent it or eliminate its causes, will produce poor quality products and services, with high costs and poor services,that is, goods with a low value for customers, so they will not be willing to purchase it or will only do so at a very low price.
- What should be understood by waste or waste?
A production process makes use of raw materials, machines, natural resources, labor, technology, financial resources, generating products or services as a result of their combination. In each process, value is added to the product, and then it is sent to the next process. Resources in each process add value or do not. The muda (which in Japanese means waste or waste) involves activities that do not add economic value.
Wasting capacities, resources, and even more, wasting opportunities to generate wealth, as well as wasting the most important of all resources and that "time" is not counted, should not only be taken into account by all members of the organization, but must also be the subject of a specific policy aimed at its elimination. Not doing it as previously said prevents a higher level for the company and its members, but it also depends on its continuity and therefore the jobs. For this reason, waste must be the object of attention and care both on the part of government authorities, and of society as a whole. Lower levels of waste means higher quality, more productivity,lower costs and therefore lower prices, this generates both greater consumption by local consumers, as well as greater foreign demand, which implies a greater number of jobs and in turn greater profits for companies and greater domestic consumption. As can be seen, combating waste generates a virtuous circle or spiral of growth.
So waste in this context is any misuse of resources and / or possibilities of companies. Both work hours are wasted due to inefficiency in the scheduling and planning of tasks, as well as opportunities to gain new markets due to lack of quality products or due to excess production costs.
3. The seven classic categories
These arise from the classification developed by Ohno (mentor and creator of Just in Time), and include:
- Overproduction move Inventory move Repair change / defective product rejection Move move Processing move Hold move Shipment move
Molt due to overproduction . It is the product of excess production, a product, among other factors, of: flaws in sales forecasts, production at maximum capacity to take advantage of production capacities (greater use of fixed costs), achieving optimum production (lower total cost), overcome problems generated by demand peaks or production problems. Whatever the reason, which in traditional factories is usually the sum of all these factors, the total cost for the company is higher than the costs that in principle can be reduced in the operations sector. In the first place we have the costs corresponding to storage, which entails both the physical space, as well as the handling tasks, controls and insurance.But in addition, the financial costs due to money with little turnover accumulated in high levels of stored overproduction must also be taken into account very especially.
Move due to excess inventory. It has many reasons, and in it the inventories of inputs, such as spare parts, products in process and inventory of finished products are computed. The optimal point of orders, such as wanting to make sure of supplies, raw materials and spare parts due to problems of strikes, lack of receipt at the end of the same, remittances with quality defects and wanting to take advantage of low prices or build stock in the event of possible price increases, are the reasons for this important waste factor. In the case of products in process, stocks are formed to guarantee the continuity of tasks in the event of possible machine failures, preparation times and quality problems. To the factors pointed out for overproduction must be added losses due to breakages, expiration, loss of qualitative and quantitative factors, and out of fashion.
Change of repair and rejection of defective products. The need to recondition parts in process or finished products, as well as to recycle or destroy products that do not meet optimal quality conditions, cause significant losses. To this must be added the losses generated by the expenses of guarantees, technical services, product replacement, and loss of customers and sales. It is what in terms of Poor Quality Costs is called costs for internal failures and costs for external failures.
Muda caused by movements. This refers to all waste and waste caused by physical movements that staff perform excessively due to, among other reasons, a lack of ergonomic planning. This not only motivates a lower production per unit of time, but also causes fatigue or muscle fatigue that causes low levels of productivity.
A poorly designed workstation causes staff to waste energy on unnecessary movements, constituting the sixth type of waste. Thus, for example, placing the departments that provide assistance to value-added work in offices away from the people that produce added value increases unnecessary movements. The tools, equipment, materials and instructions needed to get the job done should be placed in the most convenient place for the operator to save energy. In world-class companies, front-line personnel do not have to go for help, but rather demand it so that it comes to them.
Processing molt. Waste generated by flaws in the layout, physical layout of the plant and its machinery, errors in production procedures, also including flaws in the design of products and services.
Waiting mute. Mainly motivated by: the preparation times, the times in which a piece must wait for another to continue processing, the queue time for processing, loss of time due to repair or maintenance work, order waiting times, delivery times. waiting for raw materials or inputs. They are also given in administrative tasks. All these times cause lower levels of productivity.
Change of transport. Waste linked to excesses in internal transport, directly related to errors in the location of machines, and the systemic relationships between the various productive sectors. This causes expenses for excess handling, which leads to an over-use of labor, transportation and energy, as well as spaces for internal transfers.
In the first place, overcoming these waste requires an improvement both in quality, as well as in maintenance work, improvement in preparation procedures (long preparation times lead to excess inventories of products in process), the best selection and long-term contracting with suppliers, and a better route of inputs and parts during the production process.
On the other hand, a continuous simplification process is required, for which it is essential to constantly improve quality and productivity levels via continuous improvement. In turn, continuous improvement requires yes or yes of a training and training process that allows staff to understand, understand and become aware of the different types of waste and how each of them must be combated.
For all this, it is of fundamental importance both the improvement in the planning processes, as well as the application of benchmarking.
4. The new changes
Among the most common identified in the various companies we have:
- Waste of energy (be it electricity, fuel or steam) Excessive expenses due to unproductivities due to lack of Management Control Poor management of treasury, credits and collections Losses caused by lack or ineffectiveness of internal controls Hire people to Tasks that can be mechanized or assigned to less skilled people Design. Produce products with more functions than necessary Overinvestment for required production Failure to properly investigate and analyze the wishes, needs and tastes of consumers, as well as their purchasing power Monitor or control all processes Imbalance in the load of job.
Waste of energy. The plain or bad absence of planning in the use and control of energy leads to an overconsumption of electricity, gas or other types of fuels. Losses, the non-use of the most economical means, the non-use of the most efficient systems for both generation and consumption of energy lead to high costs that degrade the generative capacity of resources by the organization.
Excessive expenses due to unproductive activities due to lack of Management Control. The most common mistake in organizations is to proceed only to authorize and then account for the various expenses, and at most it is then proceeded to an analysis using Activity Based Costing. There is a lack of statistical control of the frequency of the different types of repairs by units, of the yields by productive units (call them: machines, vehicles, buildings). In this way, it will be possible to detect both the misuse of resources, such as errors in maintenance, defects in repairs, wear of the production unit and minimum operating costs.
Bad management of treasury, and of credits and collections. Failure to properly manage monetary resources, either due to their application to lower-performing activities, due to not properly evaluating opportunity costs and cost of capital, as well as not carrying out a cost-benefit analysis, generates significant losses. Proper cash flow management is essential to minimize financial costs. The same is true, and within the same analysis structure, it is appropriate to aim for the management of credits and collections. Well-designed products, a high level of productive efficiency and good logistics management, but lacking a good management of financial resources, poor credit management and poor collection management leads companies to significant imbalances that bring them closer to their closure or early bankruptcy.It is not enough to have good profitability indices, it is also necessary to shore up its financial solvency.
Losses caused by lack or ineffectiveness of internal controls. Large amounts of resources are periodically wasted in companies, both due to poor preventive aptitude, and the absence of reliable controls. Thus, a lack of compliance with regulations of different natures is detected, as well as certain basic principles in terms of security. In the latter case, the fraudulent actions of staff, managers, clients or third parties to the organization can cause such significant losses that they put the continuity of the company at risk. Go only as examples, what happened to the Baring Bank or the introduction of cyanide in the bottles of Tilenol in the case of Johnson & Johnson.
Talent. Hire people for tasks that can be mechanized or assigned to less skilled people.
Design. Produce products with more functions than necessary. It generates an extra cost and therefore a higher price at which consumers are willing to pay based on the value they perceive of the product or service based on their needs and purchasing power.
Expenses. Overinvestment for required production.
Failure to properly investigate and analyze the wishes, needs and tastes of consumers, as well as their purchasing power. It is one, if not the fundamental, of the guiding principles to consider. Believing that by making a better mousetrap customers will come in large numbers to buy them is a serious mistake. It is essential to study both the needs of customers and consumers, as well as their purchasing power. It is useless to generate good products if they are not to the liking of consumers, or if they do not like them, they lack the ability to acquire them. This point is undoubtedly directly related to the main strategic waste that consists of the lack of planning.
Supervise or control all processes, in the event that something goes wrong it is a waste of time and effort. Any automatic cycle process or machine must be reliable enough for the operator not to have to control them during the cycle. Something similar can be observed, for example, in administrative activities where staff must monitor printers while printing the job to avoid jamming sheets. That time spent controlling the printer instead of continuing with other tasks is wasted time or wasted resource. Making printing processes more reliable will dramatically increase productivity in office work.
The imbalance in the workload. It is a disability typical of conventional companies, in which there are always people or departments that have more work than others, causing the employment of more people and times than necessary. The application of the principles of synchronized production tend to overcome such wastes, achieving a more profitable use of resources.
5. Strategic waste
The same so-called strategic moves are made up of:
- Lack of employee skills Lack of focus and positioning Time Information Environment opportunities Company strengths Customers / Consumers
The level of sacrifice responds to the amount of financial, material, human and time resources that must be used to apply the strategy or action of solution and correction. This level can be High or Low.
While the probability of success responds to how much probability there is of achieving the results. So the best options are those with a low level of sacrifice and a high probability of success. The opposite alternative is that of a high level of sacrifice and a low probability of success.
Attacking the root causes of problems, preventing their reappearance, is essential in order not only to avoid waste in the processes, but also so that the improvement process itself is not also a clear waste of resources.
The evaluation of the results achieved in the application of different strategies aimed at solving and overcoming waste in the organization's processes is critical when deciding whether to standardize processes or if there are still corrections to be made to improve these results.
The PREA process involves continuous action tending to achieve new levels of performance. Making it feasible requires an ethical commitment, and great work discipline.
As for the Internal Control Matrix, it constitutes a methodology aimed at preventing, weighing, evaluating and eliminating the various types of waste that can take place in the company. Its systematic methodology allows a control and evaluation of the various types of risks, as well as the different events that generate waste.
- Elimination of waste
Starting from the seven classical changes of Ohno, they have been established thanks to the work of important Japanese consultants among which is Ohno himself, as well as figures such as Shigeo Shingo, Mizuno and Toyoda, tools and methodologies aimed at the prevention and suppression of the various types of waste and waste. The elimination of waste includes the application of the systems: Just in Time, Total Productive Maintenance, Total Quality Management, small group activities (quality circles, improvement teams, teams for detection, prevention and elimination of waste), systems of suggestions, and deployment of policies. All these systems that make up and allow the development of Kaizen. Within the Just in Time system (Just in Time we have the Shojinka, the Soifuku and the Jidoka.
- Stage 1: Know the real conditions of the preparation to improve. Stage 2: Separate internal preparation from external preparation. Stage 3: Convert internal preparation to external. Stage 4: Perfecting all aspects of preparation.
- Annexes Bibliography
- Kaizen Strategy - Lefcovich, Mauritius - www.gestiopolis.com - 2004 Internal Control Matrix - Lefcovich, Mauritius - www.monografias.com - 2003 Quality - Lefcovich, Mauritius - www.ilustrados.com - 2004 Kaizen - Lefcovich, Mauritius - www.ilustrados.com - 2004 Cost Reduction - Kaizen Costing - Lefcovich, Mauricio - www.monografias.com - 2003 Cost Reduction - Critical Analysis - Lefcovich, Mauritius - www.gestiopolis.com - 2004 Kaizen - Continuous improvement applied to administrative-bureaucratic activities and processes - Lefcovich, Mauricio - www.monografias.com - 2003 Control and Cost Reduction through Statistical Process Control - Lefcovich, Mauricio - www.monografias.com - 2003 Kaizen - Continuous improvement and integral command - Lefcovich, Mauricio - www.monografias.com - 2003 Quality Management for Excellence - Lefcovich, Mauritius - www.ilustrados.com - 2004 Six Sigma - Towards a new paradigm in management - Lefcovich, Mauritius - 2004 Kaizen applied to computer activities and processes - Lefcovich, Mauritius - www.sappiens.com - 2003 Internal Audit - A systemic approach and continuous improvement - Lefcovich, Mauritius - 2004 Kaizen and the Learning Curve - Lefcovich, Mauritius - www.ilustrados.com - 2004 Management Control through Database for reduction of costs and increased profitability - Lefcovich, Mauritius - www.gestiopolis.com - 2004Kaizen - Continuous improvement applied to Quality, Productivity and Cost Reduction Lefcovich, Mauritius - www.monografias.com - 2003Kaizen - Continuous improvement applied to Quality, Productivity and Cost Reduction Lefcovich, Mauricio - www.degerencia.com - 2003 Consumer satisfaction - Lefcovich, Mauricio - www.ilustrados.com - 2004.
