The 8 Wastes You Want to Avoid in Manufacturing

V I S U A L K N O W L E D G E S H A R E
DIGITAL WORK INSTRUCTIONS FOR SMART FACTORIES
By Berenice Mengo
Online Marketing Specialist
Visual Knowledge Share (VKS) Ltd
The 8 Wastes You
Want to Avoid in
Manufacturing

Welcome to the Fourth
Industrial Revolution!
Commonly referred to as Industry 4.0,
the current industrial revolution
attempts to reach nothing less than
perfection in manufacturing.
This might sound unrealistic but today’s
smart factories are experiencing
unprecedented levels of productivity,
thanks to technology.

It is now a matter of
survival to stay competitive
in markets where quality is
more valued than cheap
prices.
The Zero-Defect Mentality and Lean Manufacturing are
examples of the ongoing quest towards excellence in
manufacturing.
QUALITY
CHEAP PRICE

Origin of the 8 Wastes
The 8 Wastes are well-known among lean
manufacturers. Inspired by the Toyota Production
System (TPS), Lean manufacturing is a systematic
method for the elimination of waste within a
manufacturing system.

Lean manufacturing implies
minimizing defects, if not
eliminating them completely. 8
specific wastes have been
identified and the acronym
DOWNTIME helps in
memorizing them: Defects,
Overproduction, Waiting,
Non-Utilized Talent,
Transportation, Inventory,
Motion, and Extra-Processing.
Defects
Overproduction
Waiting
Non-Utilized Talent
Transportation
Inventory
Motion
Extra-Processing
8 specific wastes

Defects
Defects are the effort created by inaccurate
information, waste and rework. Unfitted to a
customer’s standard, defects make companies
waste the time and material invested in producing
that good. Moreover, you spend more time and
money to process it again. Finally, business
relationships with valuable clients may be
jeopardized. That’s a lot of risk to deal with.
Eliminating defects becomes a top priority in order
to sustain viable businesses.

Overproduction
Production overflow generates unnecessary goods at
inefficient times. The result is that companies spend
time manufacturing goods that may not be sold, and
one has to store and maintain them. Those enterprises
end up bargaining their products, and this is not always
a successful business model. Today’s smart factories
produce goods according to the customer’s needs so
that every manufactured good is already sold. Time left
is used to train employees, maintain the facility, and for
continuous improvement projects.

Waiting
Waiting time is wasted time. This is usually one of
the easiest wastes to fix and one that can generate
valuable benefits. If your work depends on the
previous step to be completed by another resource,
and the situation is causing unused time, then your
process or maybe somebody in the production line
isn’t efficient enough. Efficiency in time
management is key for successful operations.

Non-Utilized Talent
Companies today realize that happy employees are their
most valuable asset. Underutilized skills may lead to a
high turnover rate or generate staff’s demotivation. It is
important to encourage employees uniqueness and
creativity, not by overexploiting them, but by making the
best out of them. You never know, one of your
employees may have a great idea that can benefit your
company! Encouraging your employees regularly is less
expensive than frequently hiring and training new ones.

Transportation
When you have to deliver physical goods, transportation
is unavoidable. Inefficient logistics in transportation can
lead to waste when there are pointless movements of
goods and materials. One innovative way may be to
produce the goods directly into the customer’s facilities
if this is an option. Transportation is then limited to very
few movements. Optimizing transportation also implies
making the information surrounding the transportation
the most fluent possible, as it can have a significant
impact on the process.

Inventory
This is the most visible and maybe the
worst of all wastes because it leads to
several others. Extra products and
materials that are not being processed
are a direct consequence of
overproduction. Inventory also leads to
waiting, defects as products may
expire, and extra-processing.

Inventory
Furthermore, inventory needs to be stored
somewhere. If not stored correctly, it can be
damaged or become a health and safety
hazard. The ideal would be to have no
inventory at all, but the reality makes that
waste almost impossible to eliminate
completely. Optimized work methods are
essential to reduce inventory.

Motion
This can be a waste if your personnel spend
time doing unnecessary movements due to
unclear work instructions, inefficient
multi-level processes, and more. For
example, shifting papers in a printed
guidebook to find the correct work
instruction is a waste of time when you can
simply upload the visual instructions by
scanning the correct barcode.

Extra-Processing
Extra-processing occurs when there are
inefficient processes in your workflow.
Other wastes might be involved such as
overproduction, inventory or defect. As
an example, reworking a product is a
waste when the good could have been
successfully made in the first place.
Clear and relevant work instructions
help hit the target the first time.

Extra-Processing
Extra-processing is also a waste
when efforts are made to deliver
goods of a higher quality than
expected by the customer. Expensive
quality and productivity failures can
refrain manufacturers from gaining
their return on investment.

VKS is the solution!
Visual Knowledge Share (VKS) is a visual work
instruction software that helps companies
increase their productivity, quality, and profitability.
In addition to visually displaying your best
practices in a user-friendly interface, VKS monitors
performance within your factory, giving you live
reports and traceability data to better control your
production. In force in over 30 countries, VKS is
helping customers dramatically minimize wastes
as well as meeting their business goals!

Dealing with wastes?
Let VKS help you!
BOOKA FREE DEMO
TODAY!
Try one of these easy steps:
Book online: vksapp.com/services
Call us: 1-855-201-4656
Email us: info@vksapp.com

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The 8 Wastes You Want to Avoid in Manufacturing

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