The seven deadly wastes from the Toyota Production System (Lean) are one of the first things people learn on their improvement journey. And there is great debate in Lean circles as to how to how to build a Lean culture in an organisation, and not just throw the tools at everybody and expect them to use it.
The good news there is something that can help and remind you to teach both the tools and the culture, and increase the speed of your Lean transformation at the same time.
That something is the eighth waste.
The Appearance of the Eighth Waste
A good friend of mine was a great Lean sensei in England, and made the bold move to Australia with his family to live. He told me that when he boarded the plane in England, there were the seven standard wastes of the Toyota Production System, and when he arrived in Australia, everywhere he went, there had magically appeared an eighth waste! As funny as the story sounds, the addition of the waste itself has serious implications for your business.
The waste that appeared is “Non-Use of Team-mates’ Time and Talent”. In other words, ensuring our team-mates are taught the Lean problem solving tools, and are using them when they can, to improve their job.
The eighth waste makes sense from a few perspectives. First, it makes the “wastes” much easier to remember, because we can use the acronym “DOWNTIME”, or Defects, Over production, Waiting, Non-Use of Team-Mates’ Time and Talent, Transport, Inventory, Motion and Excessive Processing.
If that reason seems too arbitrary, there is a far more important reason: That of building a problem solving culture within your organisation. When we use the time and talents of our people to solve problems in our process, every single day, the compounded results can be astounding. In fact, if you are familiar with the theory of compounding and the ability to turn something very small into something very large and powerful, the results can be beyond astounding.
Avoiding the eighth waste means teaching your people the Lean tools and methods, so they can use them to reveal problems that were hidden (but still painful). It allows them to frame problems in the Lean way and solve them efficiently. Fixing your process, and building your people, are two of the most important pillars of building a Lean culture.
And it’s all done with the knowledge of the eighth waste.
Sound simple enough? Now, how about your company? Is your organisation guilty of the eighth waste? What can you do ensure your team-mates have the power to fix their process? If you have any wins or challenges, I’d love to hear from you.
Yours in change,
David McLachlan