I’ve mentioned before that my background in management consulting included being a trainer and practitioner in something called the LEAN Methodology. There are lots of elements to this, but it is basically about efficiency and removing all sorts of waste from what we do.
Now think about the home workshop where we are often our own worst enemy when it comes to waste. Waste itself can be split into a number of categories and as I briefly describe each one I’ll also give some examples from my own experience/behaviour:
TRANSPORT
Transporting materials and product from supplier to you and from you to your customer (which may be family). My major supplier is the big green shed (Bunnings), so in a typical week there will be a number of trips for things I need. I really should plan better and do one trip a week. When I sell something and it has to be posted, I have 2 options – drive down to the local Post Office or arrange for a courier to pick it up. The second option can be the same price (or cheaper) so it is the one I should use.
INVENTORY
Maintaining a level of inventory that keeps you doing the job at hand without having too much costly materials sitting around. Often this is not easy when items come packaged with multiples in the pack – but a decision can be made as to whether the item is a one-off (and hence minimize how much I buy, even if the unit price is slightly higher) or is it something I use regularly and the price benefit of a bigger lot size is worth it.
MOTION
Movement of yourself within the workshop as you go from task to task. My workshop was fairly restricted and some of my bigger equipment always required pulling out to make it accessible for a particular job. I sorted most of the workshop out and made the more common tools more accessible and set things up so it was easy to move from task to task.
WAITING
Waiting, when it stops you producing. I really can’t blame other people for any of my waiting, generally when I have waiting time during a job it is because of poor planning on my part.
OVER-PROCESSING
Doing more than is necessary. This often comes down to planning as well and working out the most efficient way to get to the end point. Also a clear understanding of the end use can be your best guide as to how much processing is needed. However, I also like to give my customers a little more than what they asked for – I call this ‘marketing’!
OVERPRODUCTION
Producing too much. This is something I can be guilty off. With my boards and platters I’ll produce lots of them and then have them sitting around while I try to find buyers (or someone to gift them to). But it can also stem back to inventory, if I have piece of timber that I can produce 6 boards/platters from I’ll make all 6 rather than only make a couple and have the rest of the piece of timber sitting in my timber stack.
DEFECTS
The old adage of getting it right the first time (or in carpenters terms, measure twice and cut once). Every thing we get wrong has a big impact, because not only have you wasted your time with it but you need to do it again and use more materials.
