My Pink Spree

Distinctive areas of waste inefficiencies that could be a threat to any company’s profitability, and therefore to sustainability, has been identified by Toyota, one of the leading auto manufacturers in the world. Essentially, these areas could kill a company’s sustainability due to excesses that could pull down profit, including: poor quality control, movement (or motion), transport, waiting time, overproduction, process and inventory.

It can be deceiving to think that just because you can’t see any waste, then waste is not there. Overproduction waste is a glaring example and it’s true today that most companies pay only token lipservice to the concept of waste production. In fact, many organizations believe that overproduction is a necessary part of doing business.

Overproduction waste is simply the production of goods in quantities that are greater than demand. This position will be especially aggravated during an economic slowdown and will become very difficult to reverse. Remember that for an item to be “overproduced” it will have incurred additional elements of waste all the way down the life cycle process, including administrative and financial loss.

In corporate culture, there is a feeling that if a production line is not utilized 100% of the time, or if particular employees are allowed to be idle at all, that this is more wasteful than letting them operate 24/7. This is a very common misconception which needs a more intelligent assessment of equipment ROI.

If overproduction waste and excess is endemic in the organization, the company will be hemorrhaging resources. Remember that every item produced carries a cost in terms of backup, support, administration, finance and other overheads and as it sits on a shelf, the company’s profit potential also gathers dust with it.

Systemically, overproduction waste can be reduced or eliminated if a management system is incorporated to reveal excesses and also to correlate production to the work order pipeline. Quite simply, if a sale is not made or projected, the production equipment should be constrained from engaging.

Every company in the near future will be compelled to address environmental responsibility due to the economic pressures that would be a consequence of environmental neglect. While carbon emissions may be the poster child of sustainability, the concept includes waste reduction, water use consolidation and elimination of excess, wherever it may be found.

Comprehensive management tools for sustainability will help organizations better understand their position in terms of being able to identify areas of inefficiencies and excesses, like overproduction waste. Such systems will almost always pay for themselves in short order.