Page 138 - Six Sigma Demystified

Chapter 6 a n a ly z e S tag e 119

The outcomes of movement and space reduction include
• Decreased distance from supplier to customer. Both internal and external
suppliers and customers are affected. This relocation reduces the wastes
of unnecessary movement and wait time associated with the movement.
• Less departmentalization and more multifunction work cells. Within com-
pany walls, you may reassign individuals so that they work within multi-
functional work cells rather than functional departments. In small
companies, cross- training may eliminate the need for some specialized
functions. For example, instead of a customer- service representative for-
warding an order to accounts payable, customer- service representatives
could create and e- mail a completed invoice to the customer while the
customer is still on the phone. This improves the flow of the process
(whether a physical product, paperwork, or even ideas) so that work is not
batched up at each department. Multifunction work cells reduce the
waste of waiting and improve the visibility of slowdowns, barriers, or inef-
ficiencies that occur in the preceding or following steps.
• Reduced overhead costs and reduced need for new facilities. As space is used
more efficiently, overhead costs are reduced, as is the need for new facili-
ties if new equipment or labor is acquired.

Level loading, to match the production rates of the process steps, also reduces
NVA cycle times. Level loading of serial processes will remove all work in prog-
ress. The flow becomes batchless, with a shorter cycle time, increased flexibility,
decreased response time, and an increase in the percent of VA activities. “Start
an item, finish an item” is the mantra.

Batches are not nearly as efficient as they appear from either a systems’ or a
customer’s perspective. As ironic as it may seem, a major reason processes con-
tain waste is because of historical attempts to drive efficiency. One commonly
accepted fallacy is that processes become more efficient by creating specialized
departments that process work in batches. These departments become efficient
from a process standpoint, with economic lot quantities designed to minimize
setup time or material delivery costs, but they lack efficiency relative to specific
product value streams. Waste is created in waiting for the batch to begin its
departmental processing, and waste is additionally created when particular
units of product, for which customers are waiting, must wait for the remainder
of the batch to be processed.
The attempts to improve the departmental efficiency can create additional