Q. 123  The wastes that are categorised in seven categories in Toyota and remembered as WORMPIT or TIMWOOD widely, were categorised as ten types called CLOSED MITT at Boeing. Compare and contract CLOSED MITT with the classical seven wastes. 

 

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Two questions come to mind.

 

The first is whether the Seven forms of Waste have been a help in reducing waste, and whether they required the additions and modifications that CLOSED MITT represents. (I am also concerned about the image CLOSED MITT conjures up: closed to new ideas!)

Thanks to George A Miller we know that Seven is the “magic” number, the number of things (+/-2) that the average human being can hold in working memory.  So why increase the categories to 10 unless they improve our abilities to see Waste in all its forms?

My feeling, unless an army of Boeing’s Gemba workers have passionately bought into CLOSED MITT, is to stick to the Seven and INCLUDE the Eighth, the most corrosive of all the Wastes: unutilised human ability.  What is revealing about Boeing’s leadership is that this Eighth waste is excluded from CLOSED MITT.  Hummmm……

 

My second question is who exactly is CLOSED MITT aimed at?  The people of the Gemba, or their supervision, management and leadership?

 

Do we really need Labor (or Labour) which is a waste of the workforce’s time and a combination of waiting and walking (VELACTION’s definition: https://www.velaction.com/closed-mitt/)?  Surely, the biggest source of wasted labour time is poor (not Lean) leadership.  A now retired Master Coach I know at Toyota was trying to get the management in his factory to behave in a “consistent, congruent” way.  Has anyone defined the waste of poor leadership which tends to lead to a host of different forms of waste?  If not, why not?

 

Space: surely, if one considered Inventory as a Waste (boldly standing up to Accountants who think it is an asset) space would be freed up as a consequence of good, sustainable inventory reductions.  I don’t think it is needed.

 

Energy: a guarded yes, if the workforce (including those nice people with titles beginning with “Chief”) is disciplined about turning off computers and lights. But that may just be the mote. Are we ignoring the beam of unnecessary transportation and the carbon footprint of the leaders flying across the world at the drop of a hat in this digital age?

 

Materials: I can’t help feeling this is a duplication of Inventory and ignores what a really good 5S programme can do.  Yes, Henry Ford had people looking for unburnt coal along the tracks of the Rouge estate, but looking in the dumpster for scraps might be distracting.  Where this form might have value is not smashing old computers in dumpsters because of software licencing agreements.  This is a real example and cause great distress to the workforce and the security guard who was tasked to do the smashing.  There were and possibly still are schools and communities who could have benefited from those old computers.

 

Idle Inventory: is this just replacing Inventory to make a good acronym?  I’m not sure what increased value it adds over good old Inventory?

 

Time: I cannot help feeling that this is potentially pious nonsense. If the management were trained to be “Consistent and congruent” in their behaviours think of the time this would save.

 

Complexity: the great Peter R Scholtes (The Leader’s Handbook; arguably the best book written on Lean without mentioning the term once) describes Complexity as a waste a combination of “waiting, unnecessary motion and correction”.  Yes, it could be considered a waste, which will lead to other forms of waste such as defects and waiting, but again, I would like to k,now just who this form is aimed at: the people of the Gemba or their leaders?

 

If this is an opportunity to discuss the various forms of waste, may I suggest another defined by Peter Scholtes: Bureaucracy!  Peter quotes Russel Ackoff defining bureaucracy “as a form of waste which is the result of what happens when people with no real work to do impose needless demands on those who have real work to do”.

 

The Seven or Boeing’s CLOSED MITT?  Well it would depend on how effective they have been in developing a kaizen culture within Boeing.  The question I ask organisations when they say they are Lean is how many improvements per person are done every year.  And by “per person” I include the leadership.  The most common response is that they do not have this as a KPI and so they do not track it.  If that is the case, then I’m not sure either TIMWOOD or CLOSED MITT is of any real and sustainable benefit.

 

Here is a challenge!  The way these definitions are usually used is to improve the work on the shop floor or in the supply chain.  Yes, they are of benefit, but think how much more waste could be eliminated if we had a list of the forms of waste that management create knowingly and unknowingly.  Can we please define Consistent & Congruent leadership?

 

 

Focused Area	Lean Wastes	Closed MITT	Relationship
Business Processes & Manufacturing Processes	-	C-Complexity- It describes the business processes and its interaction between processes. The process should be as simple as possible with minimum lead time to complete the processes. Complicated processes consume more times and they need highly skilled employees to perform the processes. It is a kind of managerial process waste as well as manufacturing process. Ex. CAPEX Approval. It is a tedious process and the approval takes in every desk more than one month, this entire complex process may halt the entire project and lead to project delay	This is the unique waste addressed by Boeing, however this can be well addressed in our 7 waste reduction methodology under "Exessive motion". By designing optimized process will avoid motion and complexity of process.
People	Motion: Operators/Processes motion waste is frequently caused by a badly organised work processes, unsuitable equipment and poor working conditions.Ex. Taking any items from left side and move to right side for any processes, instead keeping the item at right side.  It is also consider 8th waste of under utilized talent / skills	L -Labour - Reduce peoples walking / motion  from one place to another place for collecting raw material, tools, and other accessories for manufacturing process.	Need to be deployed right people according to the nature of job and people's skills to perform the task to meet the organizational objectives/ goals. Both concepts are addressing this requirements as a waste and that has to be reduced
Production	Over  Production: Product what customer wants or willing to take. Produce something and kept as an inventory is an one of the waste. The inventory cost will go up when they kept as a finished product , because the cost of production completely loaded on the finished product	O-Over production:  CLOSED MITT also demand to produce the parts as required. Producing parts sooner, faster or excess quantity will be considered as a waste	In practical, when there is no pull system from customer, we need produce parts and kept ready for customer order. This is the situation where more lead time to procure the parts from supplier either fom domestic or overseas. For a batch production company this waste can not be eiminated.
Space utilization		S-Space:  Using space is a cost to the company. If  the floor space can not be utlized effectevely, the overheads will go up. This is well addressed in CLOSED MITT and missing in traditional 7 wastes	Most of the companies are, presently not focusing on effective usage of floor space. A proper layout system help to design and use the floor effetively
Energy conservation	It is not mentioned in traditional seven wastes, but indirectly it has addressed through overproduction, over processing  and transportation	E-Energy : This is a waste does not get neary any attention like running machine idly, unnecessary lightings, fans, leaks from air connectors etc	This is adding up company overheads and affect the bottom line of the company, CLOSED MITT addressed this waste in their process
Rejection prevention	Defects : In manufacturing terms, defects occur when the product has something wrong with it, such as not meeting the drawing  requirements. Any manufacturing company, defect prevetion is the paramount in their operational control processes	D-Defects: Do it right the first time. Rework and rejection are adding their cost to the company as a watse	Both system are well addressed as this is a one of the  important wastes
Material consumption	It is directly link to the "defects"waste	M- Materials: It is a unique waste identified in Boeing waste reduction process. It can be a replacement of rejected parts and exessive material used to complete a production process.Look for effective way of raw materials usage
Material storage	Inventory:  Inventory is a waste in form of storing excess raw material, WIP and finished products. All this costing up to the company by means of inventory carrying cost, storage space and handling / preservation cost	Idle Materials: It is a another name of inventory.  It is also saying another wastes like  Non moving stock, Slow moving stock, idle material for next processess.	Inventory is addressed well in both system
Time management	Waiting: Waiting involves que of manpower, machines for next processes, like waiting at airport for an hour to get board on. Waiting also a waste at customer point of view to receive the parts from the seller	Time: Time is another non-renewable resource, but it is vague. Wasted manhours / machine hours can be considered as a waste appropriately. But not sure time can be considered  as waste
Material movement reduction	Transportation: Unnecessary movement of material and people between processes. This can be considered as a waste.	Transportation: Unnecessary movement of material and people between processes. This can be considered as a waste. Eg, Forklift moving one place to another place is time and energy consuming process in manufacturing process
Process Design	Overprocessing: Design the optimum process to achieve the customer requirements at minimum cost. Say example surface roughness is 0.8 Ra, choose the best process to achieve it, rather than designing conventional process of grinding. It costs up the production cost	When the process is being designed as simple and effective, we may address the energy and complexity in closed MITT

7 wastes and closed MITT.xlsx

To understand CLOSED MITT and 7 types of waste there is need to go back in the history of Lean Manufacturing. After world war 2, during reconstruction of automobile industry in Japan, Toyota Production System introduced the concept of Lean Manufacturing. The term 'Lean' was promoted by James P. Womack and Daniel T. Jones in their book Lean thinking. 

Lean manufacturing involves never ending efforts to eliminate the waste by using different tools and techniques like poka yoke, Jidoka, One piece Flow, Kanban, 5S, Autonomation and many more. TPS has defines the seven types of waste which is generally called MUDA, that has been sufficient in steering Toyota to as a global leader. The acronym for 7 types of waste is WORMPIT or Tim Wood. 

 

1. WAITING: people or parts tag are waiting for a work cycle to be completed. 

 

2. Overproduction : to produce more or faster than customer requirements or downstream processes.

 

3. Rework: produce rework in parts or parts with defects leads to very less first time yields and need to rework those parts to fulfill requirements. 

 

4.Motion: unnecessary movement of parts, people, machine 

 

5. Processing : processing done beyond standard required by customer.

 

6.Inventory: it includes raw materials, work in progress and FINISHED Goods which is not value added and customer is not willing to pay for it. 

 

7. Transportation :unnecessary movements of parts/produccts between units, departments, processes because customer is not ready to pay for transportation.

 

Coming to CLOSED MITT, which is used by Boeing to categorize water in their organisation. Let's see how CLOSED MITT is different from MUDA or 7 types of waste and what us reason behind that Boeing categorize waste into 10 types rather than 7 types. These are below:

1: Complexity : processes should be very simple to understand and run. We can see if there are so many process which is added otherwise or repeated to finish a product, it makes that process too much complex to understand and execute it. Here also adding three more types of waste to 7 types also making itself more complex to define and execute the same.

 

2. Labor: manpower resource should not be wasted. It includes waiting, walking and all. Motion waste can be considered as a water of labor or under utilisation of talent which is usually 8th waste can also be considered as a waste of labor. 

 

3.Overproduction: this is the worst form of waste which is produced more than demand and us the top lost in 7 types of waste too. 

 

4. Space: if space is not utilised effectively then it can be considered as a type of  waste and it is inventory type of waste for which we are paying. We should use as little as possible efficiently because we need space for everything to store inventory which is required to. Run the process and to run other facilities. 

 

5. Energy: it costs money and it is a type of waste for which we didn't had enough attention in seven type of waste. To run any plant, machinery and other equipment we run lot of things simultaneously and during this we ignore to save energy which is used to run all facilities and this type of waste can get considered in one way as Processing waste as we use more resources than necessary and all processes needs energy in any firm to run them. 

 

6. Defects:it is one of the seven waste which says that do it right first time otherwise we will have less first time yield and our output will be affected. To overcome this we have to deployment manpower to repair or replace them fir fulfilling the requirement of customer which is waste activity. 

 

7. Material : it is either the waste of defect or any processing in case of extra material used to produce products. Raw materials should be used efficiently and effectively both for more yield. 

 

8. Idle Materials : it can get seen as Inventory type of waste which includes all inventory from raw materials to finished goods for which we need extra space to store it. Idle materials are classified here as which are adding no value to it and customer is no more willing to pay for it. 

 

9. Time: it is type of waste but if too much broad yo explain it. It can human time for waiting or processing time. We Dan consider it in Motion or processing waste depending where is wasted. 

 

10. Transportation : it is one of the seven types of waste which adds no value and customer does not pay for it. 

 

 

What is Waste ?

 

Waste is something that adds no value to a process. It is not worth to pay for an action which does not acts any value. The important aspects of removing waste is that improving profit is a necessity as far as a business is concerned but it should not be by charging higher prices but reducing the costs or to be precise eliminating the unwanted costs that occur which adds no value, which is regarded as waste. The basic objective of a firm is to deliver on time, with perfect quality at the right price, which can only be achieved by the elimination of waste in the process.

 

Toyota Production System and TIMWOOD or WORMPIT

 

T – TRANSPORTATION

I – INVENTORY

M – MATERIALS

W - WAITING

O – OVER PRODUCTION

O – OVER PROCESSING

D - DEFECTS

 

 

The Toyota Production system was invented in Japan by two Industrial Engineers, Mr. Taiichi Ohno and Mr. Eiji Toyoda and has been successfully implemented in the Car manufacturing Industry. The TPS is based on three principles :- 

         1.       Design out Overburden (muri)

         2.       Design out inconsistency (mura)

         3.       Eliminate Waste (muda)

There are 7 kinds of waste or “muda” as per the TPS to be eliminated in order to run the production process in a reduced cost without compromising on the quality. The seven wastes to be eliminated as per the TPS are as below :

1. Over production – Producing goods even before a requirement is ascertained is referred to as overproduction. The TPS finds this as a waste according to their system, of JIT (Just in Time) as it incurs costs on different spheres. It creates excessive lead times, high storage cost and difficulty in detecting defects. Schedule and Produce as per requirement is what TPS follows in order to avoid this waste.

2.       . Waiting – Waiting may be referred to as a situation where in the process gets a halt due or slowdown as goods may not be in the flow of the process is on a wait. The Batch and queue system is where in such kind of a waste is observed to a large extent. A minute of waiting is to be considered as total loss to the entire production unit. The reasons for such waste are due poor movement of materials, long production runs and long distances between work centers.

3.       .Transportation – This cannot be avoided in a production system but the transportation of product in a process is cost incurring without adding any value to the product. Excessive movements and Handling may lead to damages and deterioration of quality of the product to an extent. The flow of materials should be in such a pattern that it is transported to the next location or process at the minimal cost and time for which the layout and the material handling equipment should be put at the right place.

4      . Inappropriate Processing – The Production System of Toyota stress on the usage of the right process for the right output. It would be an additional burden on the organization to use high precision equipment for simple process. Usage of flexible equipment with low cost automation is the best way to eliminate waste in a process.

5.       . Unnecessary Inventory – Excess inventory creates high lead times, takes up productive floor space, makes it difficult to identify defects and inhibits communication. The mentioned factors contribute to poor operating performance in the system.

6.       . Unnecessary or Excess Motion – Motion does not add value to a product in the system. It can be either of people or machines. Inefficient layouts results in excessive motion wherein no value is created and the energy of human efforts are wasted.

7.       . Defects – It is an easily detectable waste. It is referred to as the most significant manufacturing wastes because they can actually lead to the generation of additional wastes such as Overproduction, Transportation and Excess Processing. It includes wastes like scrap parts, products that require rework etc.

In addition to this the Toyota Production System has identified another waste which actually is not manufacturing specific but is very much related.

Non utilized talent is a waste that was identified as the 8^th waste. This kind of a waste occurs in a manufacturing environment when the potential of an employee is not completely utilized or his efforts are in such a manner that it is not providing any value in the process.

 

Boeing Production System and CLOSED MITT

 

C – COMPLEXITY	L - LABOR
O – OVER PRODUCTION	S – SPACE
E – ENERGY	D – DEFECTS
M – MATERIALS	I – IDLE INVENTORY
T – TIME	T - TRANSPORTATION

 

 

The Boeing Production System in 2000 was designed through the customization of the Toyota Production System. They also follow the principle of cost reduction through the elimination of waste and follows the JIT style. The basis of their production is based on the Pull system. In 2003, they expanded the base of their system of production by the implementation of the 5S Concept related to Safety and in 2005 they reemphasized the elimination of waste in their production system foundation which constituted the finding of additional waste other than those observed in the Toyota Production System. The wastes thus detected were :-

1    . Energy – This was a waste that was not getting sufficient attention and was not addressed earlier. It was observed that equipment power and person power was going in vain the production process constituting no value to the product. The problem was to be addressed and it was necessary to avoid false efficiencies, excessive power utilization and unproductive operations

2    . Space – Space is a resource for a production unit and has to be effectively utilized. It is necessary to utilize the available space to maximum utility so that the layout is properly designed without any unwanted elements. Conservation of the space in the area in done by the proper arrangement of machines, people, workstations, storage etc.

3    . Time - Though Waiting was mentioned in the Toyota Production System, BPS observed time as an important constituent in the production system. They had the concept that time is a non-renewable resource and wastage of it in any form was a loss to the production system as a whole. They identified time in the form of waste in the process of waiting, shutting down key processes, breaks or lunch breaks and waiting for communication.

In addition to the three wastes they also identified another important factor that could create waste based on their 2003 upgradation of their Production system by the addition of the Safety Concept (5S).

As per this parameter they say that, any situation, condition or environment that has the tendency to cause danger or safety hazard should be addressed. Thus an 11^th Waste as per the BPS was identified as Safety Hazards.

 

Mapping TIMWOOD with CLOSED MITT

 

It can be very well said that the wastes identified by the Toyota Production System stands as the base and all the new wastes identified by the Boeing Production System has been formulated by the in depth analysis of the basic parameters. The difference in the industry and the continuous improvement is what constituted to the advancement of the identification of the three new wastes as per the BPS. While mapping it can be seen that all the basic wastes that has been found out by the TPS stands aligned with wastes identified by the BPS.

 

TIMWOOD	CLOSED MITT	Mapping
Overproduction	Overproduction and Energy	The production should only be based on the customer need. Overproduction will lead to a wastage of energy of humans as well as machines constituting a total loss to the system.
Waiting	Labor and Time	It is necessary to avoid any wastage of time in a Production system whether in the case of humans or machines.
Transportation	Transportation	Movement inside a production unit should be made such that a product will receive value at minimum movement.
Excess Motion	Energy and Time	Excess motion by humans or machines constitute the loss of energy without adding any value to the product. An excess motion in certain cases will consume additional time which also constitutes a wastage.
Unnecessary Processing	Complexity	The Process should be in such a manner that they are as simple as possible with any complexity involved.
Unnecessary Inventory	Idle Inventory, Materials and Space	Raw material, components or finished goods in the form of inventory requires a huge sum for it to be maintained and space to be consumed.
Defects	Defects	Doing things twice constitute additional cost and therefor e it is necessary to avoid them and it would be much worse if those are not identified. The scrap waste and is a resultant of the improper usage of raw materials.

 

From the above mapping it can be compared and contrasted that the 7 wastes of TPS and 10 Wastes of BPS are inter related and that the classical 7 wastes is what has constituted to the advancement of the 10 waste concept.

Both are tried and tested methodologies. An organization can adopt either one depending on the nature of the industry. The choice is with the organization and the production system they follow. The selected methodology has to be implemented and diligently followed for it to succeed.

 

 

Hi,

 

I have given the categorization & my point of view in the attached.

CLOSED MITT vs 7 Wastes.xlsx

Faizel Ahmed's answer is the chosen best answer to the question for the detail and easily legible format for the comparison. Mathi and Owen's answers also provide a good comparison and are a good read.