Lean System requires eliminating Muda, Muri, Mura

We all have heard that lean is all about waste (or muda) elimination. Muda is any activity that does not add value. Lean methodology requires eliminating all such wasteful activities. Almost every organization that implements Lean talks about waste elimination.
Yes, removing waste (muda) is the most important aspect of Lean implementation. However, equally important are Muri and Mura. Actually Muda, Muri and Mura work together in a Lean enterprise.

So what is Muri and Mura?
Muri is pushing people or machines over the limit causing breakdown or defects.
Mura is unevenness in production due to fluctuations causing irregularities in production volumes. Fluctuations could be external or internal to the enterprise. External fluctuation is due to variation in customer demand whereas internal fluctuation is due to machine downtime, missing parts or people required to operate machines or defects.

Lean implementation requires a balance between Muri and Mura to remove Muda.

Have you thought about Muri and Mura in your lean implementation? How do you balance overburdening people/equipment and production irregularities to remove waste?
Write to us at info@sybeq.com about your lean journey.

To Err is Human

'To Err is Human, to forgive divine' a famous quote by Alexander Pope considers the underlying truth about human nature that it is human to make mistakes but it is extraordinary to forgive the mistakes.

In today's world, it is necessary to understand the importance of this quotation because nothing or no one should assume to be perfect. If there are humans working mistakes are bound to happen. We just have to design systems that can handle these mistakes and ensure mistakes are caught and corrected before they go to customers. Error Proofing techniques provide the necessary tools for catching mistakes.
There are two types of approaches for error proofing - Warning and control.

Let's understand the difference between the two error proofing approahes using a simple example.
Microsoft word catches grammatical mistakes and indicates them by underlining the sentence. It also suggests changes by providing examples. This is an example of the warning approach.
Word finds and fixes spelling mistakes in a document right away. This is the control approach. Some folks don't like this feature in Word but I love it as it helps me in two ways. 1. I don't have to remember spelling of difficult words 2. I don't have to worry about my document have spelling errors.

Today the industry uses simple poka yoke devices to sophisticated systems to error proof the systems used by front line staff. The article Errors and Mistake Proofing explains this topic in detail.
Do you use poka yokes in your process? What type of error proofing approach do you use? We would love to hear from you. Just drop us a line at info@sybeq.com.