Since the last article (5S Your Office Processes – Chapter 1), we used the time to think about the processes in the office and if they deserve the same attention we give the operations on the manufacturing floor. I am hoping you came to the realization that office functions are just as important if not more so than the manufacturing floor. I know, it has already been stated, the factory floor is where the value add is and the money is made, but where does it begin and end? Answer: The office process. Now the subject leads us to the 8 Wastes. You will gain a clearer vision of waste and where it resides in the office.
The Ordering Mishap
Let’s take the example of ordering a product online and you need this product delivered right away. It is a special Christmas gift for your loved one. It doesn’t matter that you (the customer) procrastinated the placing the order until the last-minute. You went online, saw the product is available, placed the order, paid with your credit card and expect delivery the next day. So, in this case, the product is already in inventory. The manufacturing floor is not tasked with making the product for you that day. All that needs to take place is for the office function to process the order. You immediately get an electronic confirmation that your order has been received and payment has been made. You can now wipe the sweat off your brow knowing your product will arrive in time so you can proudly give it to your loved one on Christmas Day.
Oh, but there a glitch you are not aware of. The operator who placed your order was multi-tasking, which is considered normal for office operations. Answering emails, filing paperwork, confirming orders, transferring orders (send) to the next process, drinking coffee, speaking with associates about their weekend plans, processing invoices, reconciling accounts, addressing who is up for promotion, discussing what the lunch plans are, etc. The operator placing your order was slightly interrupted before he/she confirmed all information was correct and inadvertently forgot to hit the Enter button. The order did not get placed
At the end of the day, several hours after you placed the order, the order log is reconciled in the queue. The operator notices your order is open and it was not transmitted to the warehouse for picking. Immediately trying to make amends, the order is confirmed and sent to the warehouse to pick the item and ship. Due to the Shipping Department standard of consolidating shipments by zip code, the window was missed and the transaction will be delayed until the next day. No big deal, right? Well not exactly, especially for you (the customer) because due to your procrastination, the holiday shipping schedule is already compressed and now your package will arrive after Christmas.
An office mishap created a constraint in the process flow and now has an unhappy customer that the Customer Service Department representative needs to make happy. The operator’s error is real but probably just goes unnoticed, although creating extra work for others. You can just write it off as a mistake, so that makes it all better. This is usually not the case on the production floor where associates are reprimanded for their errors.
Do you think this scenario could happen? Yes, it probably happens every day. I know from personal experience that a delivery of mine was delayed due to the supplier incorrectly transmitting the order into their system. No big deal, but little did they know, they just lost a customer for life. The lesson learned is that office operations are extremely important and need the same type of controls, checks and balances, standards and sense of urgency that exist in meeting customer demands as the manufacturing floor.
Office processing has the power to put a complete halt to manufacturing process because of delaying a purchase requisition. Production planning errors in scheduling can delay deliveries to your customer. Future sales may be impacted as your customer has lost trust in your company’s ability to meet their needs. Suppliers may stop doing business with you because of late payments, etc. You can add to the list if you like. None of these are processes that touch the physical product but their value is no less important, just because they are labeled as “administrative” functions. There is the old saying, “The job’s not done until the paperwork (either physical or electronic) is completed.”
Are we able to accept the error of our ways? Is there a better way? Are we too close to the forest to see the trees right in front of us? Let’s briefly check the wastes that exist in the office using the manufacturing categories identified as the 8 Wastes. While reading about them, see if any pertain to you.
8 Wastes in Administrative Processing
Defects
Everyone knows that a defect is a form of inferior work that is not to standard. The physical item or service is broken, partial, incomplete, marred, not meeting customer specifications, or not achieving quality expectations.
- Any form of correction. Having to re-do or completely start over what someone else had done or return it for more information or accuracy. (Typing a letter, completing a form, etc.)
- Information, service, or product is not to standard. (Incorrect electronic entries)
- Slipped through the “inspection” in the process (Billing error)
- Fat fingering an entry and then submitting to next process. (Typographical error)
Overproduction
Overproduction is the WORST waste because when it occurs it creates and snowballs into other wastes in the process. Overproduction breeds downstream waste.
- Making more than the customer needs
- Producing more, sooner, or faster than is required by the next operation.
- Results in over consumption of resources (materials, people, and time) slowing workflow stream. Inbox overload, no prioritization.
- Creating more hard copies than needed for the meeting (Note: Meeting cancelled anyway and all copies are now obsolete and are thrown away.)
- Everybody is CC’ed the report, just filing their email inbox with excessive information
- Any form of duplication which impacts filing and/or distribution in the office
Waiting
This form of waste runs a close second to Overproduction as no one is exempt from experiencing this condition of delay.
- Being on hold for anything
- Waiting for approvals
- Waiting for IT because system is done
- Waiting for your computer to boot up or complete its updating process
- Waiting for the HR Office representative to return to their office
- Waiting for data, information, or material from an upstream process resulting in a standstill.
- Process is constrained due to something you cannot control
- Waiting for confirmation, fax receipts, use of the copier, for conference room to clear, for staff to attend the meeting before it begins
Non-Utilized Talent of Human Resources
This form of waste is associated with a misuse of a person’s talent within the department or company.
- Skill set not being used (your brains, your degree, your ability)
- Decisions within the department are being made without the working associate’s input. Were you ever questioned on whether you thought the idea was a good or bad one? Asked if you have a better way of doing it?
- Your training is not being used as process efficiency benefit, i.e. you were trained as a Greenbelt and that training was never used
- The boss does not know what you do each day, your standard work, as well as other functions you perform for the department are just part of doing the job
- Your ideas for process improvements are not heard
Transportation
This form of waste addresses the distance a person travels to complete a task. It is usually a process that is just accepted to complete the task and very little thought is given to reducing the amount of distance or eliminating the steps entirely.
- Movement in the process that requires multiple steps to transfer information (a form) to the next process or to receive information.
- Processing a Purchase Requisition by physically delivering the form from your department, at the back of the plant, up to front office, at opposite end of the building.
- Collecting printed materials from the printer on another floor
- Long distance motion without a change in fit, form, or function to the product (your form) or process. Movement without value. You are just transporting the form or product and nothing is being done to it. Just maybe someone is required to sign it.
- Speed is measure of Distance/Time, therefore transportation becomes a delivery metric. Electronic signatures eliminate snail-like paper travel.
Inventory
This category of waste identifies the excessof materials in your system, be it in the form of raw material, work-in-process, or finished goods. Each level of excess has its own setbacks as well as a different dollar value associated with the excess. Inventory hides problems.
- Excess of anything (not needed to immediately satisfy customer requirements)
- Inventory takes up space, space that is needed for the things you absolutely need to complete the work
- Inventory looks like unnecessary storage in cabinets, on your hard drive and desk drawers. It represents a hoarding characteristic that only results in additional delays when a person is specifically looking for a single item while filtering through a mass of information or files.
- Inventory is having extras copies and forms, maybe just for convenience. What happens when these items become obsolete due to revisions in the system?
- Inventory is perceived to be a good thing because it provides a CYA safety net
- Computers often hold files that are obsolete but instead of purging the files, it is likely more storage is added or flash drives are used to hold the information
- Inventory is expensive
- Extra storage
- Extra containers
- Extra handling
- Extra time
- Extra damage and/or lost time
- Extra carrying costs
Motion
This class of waste is like that of transportation because it involves travel and distance but on a smaller scale. It is centered around your direct work area, your desk, your cubical, your office.
- Any unnecessary motion is and should be considered as waste
- Any activity that is not necessary for completing a customer need is waste. (Example: Printing and retrieving a copy from the printer for your files.)
- Unnecessary searching through files or papers stacked on your desk or stored in cabinets or on tables. The goal is to handle something just once.
- Walking to fax machine versus using your PC to email a document. Take a photograph of the document, load it on the computer and attach it as file in your email.
- The layout of the office and your desktop, dictates many forms of wasted motion.
Extra Processing
This particular type of waste is one of the most difficult to find, particularly in the office. How do you know someone is doing more than he/she should, in completing a task? Isn’t it better to exceed customer expectations? The answer is yes but not at the extra cost of time, material and resources, of which are not accounted for in completing the task.
- Checking someone else’s work is extra processing
- Having redundant signatures or approvals on an expense report
- Faxing, emailing, and/or mailing the same document
- Any form of duplication, having electronic and hard copies of reports
- Frequent entry and/or revision of forms to offer latest updated information
- Reconciling older versions of documentation
- Making a presentation pretty by adding color and special effects when it just needs to be simple, clear and concise.
- Over doing it because you think it is necessary when your customer could care less.
The 8 Wastes in the order they were defined can easily be recalled by the acronym DOWNTIME.
Downtime is expensive because work is stopped and the service or product is delayed which may snowball into more waste such as overtime. Think about these wastes in your office and rank the ones that create the largest frustration in your day. Then meet as a staff to discuss ways to drop these from daily work. Until next time.