Can you improve this work process?

There was an old story about three lumberjacks sent into the forest. The first lumberjack chopped down a massive tree, wiped the sweat from his brow and walked away, leaving the log right where it fell.

The second lumberjack arrived and dragged the heavy log about 50 yards across a clearing, carefully setting it down on a flat patch of grass. The third lumberjack lifted the heavy log off the grass, carved it into neat planks and carried it all the way back down the road, while passing the original stump on his way out.

When a nosy traveler stopped to watch this bizarre lumber relay, he chuckled with an interesting question: “Why don’t you guys just cut and carve the wood right where it falls instead of giving this poor log a guided tour of the forest?”

The three men stopped as they slowly let the realization sink in. They had just spent half their day giving themselves back injuries and moving heavy lumber in circles, all because of a plan laid out by a boss who was three miles away enjoying an extended breakfast.

Today, this lesson in unnecessary motion and transporting logs played by the lumberjacks can be repeated daily on modern manufacturing floors when managers accept inefficient processes as normal.

They continue to do their work in wasteful layouts and redundant tasks hiding in plain sight disguised as everyday normal operations. Now, imagine the following illustration.

Consider a 30-square-meter workstation on a rented factory floor containing two machines, a conveyor belt and three operators. Worker A feeds a raw workpiece into Machine 1.

The processed piece exits near Worker B, who picks it up and transfers it onto the conveyor belt. Worker C picks up the workpiece from the conveyor belt and loads it into Machine 2.

At first glance, it looks like an organized, functional and well-thought-out assembly setup.

Regular readers of this column who may have acquired the critical lens of Kaizen and Lean Thinking (KLT) on waste reduction or elimination know what to do.

Hidden waste

So, let’s identify the hidden waste and explore how restructuring can unlock cost savings and ensure higher productivity. Let me open your eyes. Under KLT, the above illustration shows several non-value-adding activities that could be reduced, if not totally eliminated.

These are:

1. Motion and transportation waste. Rethink. Worker B’s role consists of lifting a workpiece from Machine 1 and placing it onto the conveyor belt. Same thing with Worker C who picks up the same workpiece from the conveyor belt to place it into Machine 2.

The task of moving a workpiece onto and off the conveyor belt has zero value to the product itself. It merely shifts its location without transforming the workpiece. In fact, it delays the operations, consumes space and needs the help of two workers, among other issues.

2. Excess labor and underutilized human talent. Employing three operators for a two-machine setup creates unnecessary labor costs and can turn them into operational bottlenecks. Worker B is merely doing a repetitive manual transfer of a workpiece between Machine 1 and the conveyor belt.

Conversely, Worker C performs the same transfer mode of feeding a workpiece from the belt to Machine 2. Both represent the underutilization of workers’ time, effort, skill and intelligence which should be channeled to other tasks where they matter the most.

3. Space and overhead waste. Excessive floor space in a rented factory represents a continuous, recurring overhead expense with a conveyor system solely used to bridge the physical gap between workstations. It introduces excessive spatial waste and destroys floor space utilization without contributing any non-value-added benefit.

Therefore, what’s the solution? The conveyor belt consumes floor space without adding value. Why not explore moving the two machines so the task can be performed by one person instead of three.

Don’t terminate the two workers’ employment. They should be reassigned to other areas where they are needed most. Otherwise, dismissing them would mean management losing support to these ideas.

In conclusion, management should rethink the new system by asking the question: “If our visiting customers see this operation, would they be willing to pay for our hidden waste?”

Rey Elbo is a quality and productivity activist. Send your comments, questions or stories to [email protected] or via Facebook, LinkedIn, X or https://reyelbo.com.