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 or visit www.leanlearningcenter.com. Copyright. The Lean Learning Center 2003.

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