Waste of Motion

Have you ever wondered how much productive time is lost in walking from point A to point B? I reviewed a year's worth of data on industries like healthcare and distribution and found that nearly 50% of the total time in the work day was spent in motion.

What does this cost us? Let's assume we have 600 nurses in our organization, or 600 pickers in a distribution center. If 50 % of the time is spent in motion, then we have lost the ability of over 300 people to create value. If you put $ to this question, we are speaking in the millions annually.

How much does it cost to eliminate the waste of motion? Usually by a simple redesign (like relocating equipment, supplies, materials, and information) motion can be reduced by about 50%. In terms of the example above, this is the equivalent of 25 % of your total personnel count or 150 people! With savings like this, it might be time to cancel the open requisitions for new hires!

The tool that is commonly used to show the waste of motion is the spaghetti map. Creating a spaghetti map involves getting a scaled drawing of the work area and then drawing lines that show where a person goes to complete one cycle of work. When you review the lines at the end of your direct observation, you get a map that looks like a plate of spaghetti. Hence the name "spaghetti map".

An example of the spaghetti map is posted below.



Once you understand the current condition from an analysis of your map, the team can then identify the sources of the motion and develop strategies to eliminate or reduce. This activity is lean at its core, "seeing and eliminating waste".

The spaghetti map can also be used to track the movement of materials, but this would be the waste of transportation, and we'll save that topic for a later blog.

So get your pencil, find a great place to observe, and start mapping. Wasted motion can be eliminated or reduced and resources are scare.

Lean Blessings;

Ron Bercaw
www.breakthroughhorizons.com