Lean manufacturing focuses on improving efficiency by identifying and eliminating waste. According to Taiichi Ohno, the man behind the Toyota Production System (TPS), waste can be put into three distinct yet connected categories: Muda, Mura, Muri. This article aims to provide a clearer understanding of these waste categories and the best way to eliminate Muda, Mura, and Muri on your shop floor.
What is Muda, Mura, Muri, or 3M in Lean Manufacturing?
Muda, Mura, and Muri are the three primary categories of waste in lean manufacturing systems.
Muda
Muda refers to wastefulness as processes and activities that consume resources but do not add value to a product or service. This can be further broken down into 7 types of waste:
- Transportation: This refers to unnecessarily moving materials or products from one place to another.
- Inventory: This includes all the raw materials and partially manufactured components that are not being processed.
- Motion: This refers to employees or machines performing unnecessary movements.
- Waiting: It refers to the time between consecutive steps in the manufacturing process. Common reasons include a machine that is yet to finish a set of steps, missing inventory, etc.
- Overproduction: This is waste generated by manufacturing more than the required amount of a product or component.
- Overprocessing: This refers to putting in more work than required to complete a manufacturing process.
- Defects: Defects include all the finished components and products that do not meet expected quality standards.
Together, these 7 types of Muda are often referred to by the acronym, ‘TIMWOOD’. The addition of the 8th waste in lean manufacturing, non-utilized talent, is referred to as ‘DOWNTIME’.
Mura
Mura can be defined as waste in the form of irregularities and inconsistencies. Such unevenness may be caused by several factors. This includes:
- Nonsystematic processes
The absence of standardized processes allows employees to act independently. They may take their own initiative to complete their tasks. This could lead to a variation in finishes and affect product quality.
- Uneven workloads
If you cannot track demand, inventory levels, and production rates effectively, you might see managers suddenly ramping up production to meet demand. This can tempt employees to take shortcuts and skip steps that, in turn, affect product quality.
Muri
Muri is a reference to tasks that overburden workers or machines. For employees, this could mean being tasked with something beyond their capability or needing to work overtime. Not giving employees the proper tools for a task could also result in Muri, as their task would take longer than necessary.
Using the wrong tools could also damage the product. For machines, this overload could be seen as operating beyond 100% capacity. This can cause errors, reduce efficiency, and affect overall performance.
The Importance of Eliminating Muda, Mura, Muri on the Shop Floor
The 3Ms; Muda, Mura, Muri, often have a cause and effect relationship. For example, the absence of standardized processes (Mura) can cause a system overload (Muri) and lead to poor quality products (Muda). Hence, they must be addressed and eliminated simultaneously. This can help:
- Reduce the time taken to complete tasks and thereby increase productivity.
- Eliminate unnecessary costs and thus make workflows more cost-efficient.
- Reduce unplanned downtime to improve consistency.
- Improve customer satisfaction rates by delivering better quality products and services.
- Increase the value proposition and thereby give the company a competitive edge.
- Foster a culture of continuous improvement and boost employee engagement.
5 Proven Methods to Eliminate Muda, Mura, Muri in Your Factory
There are many different lean manufacturing tools that can help identify and eliminate the 3Ms. They include:
- Value Stream Mapping
Value Stream Mapping helps visualize the flow of materials and information from the beginning to the end of a process. Here, a flowchart-like diagram maps out each step. This makes it easy to differentiate between activities that add and do not add value to the process. Simultaneously, it highlights activities that may be generating waste. For example, unnecessary transportation of materials, bottlenecks that increase wait time, etc.
- Gemba Walks
Gemba walks involve physically visiting and spending time on the shop floor to observe how work is being done. This allows managers to observe processes, gather firsthand information, and understand their team’s on-ground challenges. Walks also encourage communication and help leaders engage with employees.
- 5S Methodology
The 5S Method stands for 5 steps to organize the workplace for better efficiency. These are:
- Sort
This involves removing any unnecessary materials, tools, or equipment to declutter the shop floor.
- Set in order
The remaining materials and tools must then be arranged to complement the workflow.
- Shine
This involves keeping the shop floor clean so that it is easier to spot potential issues with equipment and product defects.
- Standardize
This step refers to establishing standardized processes and rules to ensure consistency.
- Sustain
Finally, establish systems to ensure that the practices followed for the above 4 steps become routine activities.
- Just-In-Time
This is an inventory management system that drives need-based production. Rather than manufacture excess, here, companies manufacture inventory based on when it is needed and the quantity required.
Similarly, rather than order raw material in bulk and store it, managers order material as per demand. This improves operational efficiency. It also cuts down on costs associated with storage and warehousing.
- Kanban
A Kanban board maps key processes to visualize and manage workflow. In turn, this prevents bottlenecks and helps assess performance. The workflow is typically depicted in the form of columns with color-coded cards for individual tasks.
As the team completes each step of a process, they move the task card from one column to the next. The task cards may also mention the employee/ team responsible for it as well as other information. This includes the number of work hours, deadlines, etc.
Tools to Help Eliminate Muda, Mura, Muri More Efficiently
Eliminating waste is not a one-time exercise. It must be seen as a continuous exercise. Having the right tools can play a big role in making this a sustainable process. In today’s world, digitization is the way forward. This is where digital visual management boards can help.
As compared to manual charts or individually maintained Excel sheets, these boards make real-time information easier to access. In turn, this facilitates easier identification of potential issues and supports data-driven decision-making for quicker resolutions.
Digital visual management boards can support all of the above-mentioned methods to eliminate Muda, Mura, Muri. On one hand, these boards can display and share value stream mapping and Kanban boards.
On the other hand, managers can use them to make system updates and raise issues observed during their Gemba Walks. They may also be used to display standard operating procedures (SOPs) to fight inconsistencies and act as training aids.
Taking the First Steps to Eliminating Muda, Mura, Muri
Identifying and eliminating the 3Ms paves the way for operational excellence. Whether you choose to use value stream mapping, Gemba walks, 5S methods, or Kanban boards, digital visual management boards like fabriq can make your techniques more effective and impactful. fabriq helps engage the entire workforce in Muda Mura Muri elimination measures. It also centralizes data management, and empowers teams to keep track of critical KPIs.
Request a demo today and discover how fabriq can make an impact on your waste elimination initiatives.
