Transfer inovci 29/2014
CREATING FLOW AND ELIMINATING WASTE IN LEAN PRODUCT
DEVELOPMENT
Ing. Klaudia Mund, DTech
51 Charlbury Road, OX2 6UX Oxford, UK
email: DrKMund@gmail.com
Abstract
Both, lean manufacturing and lean product
development emphasize waste-free processes
consisting of value-added activities, which are
interconnected into a flow. Waste identification and
elimination become a key element in any process
improvement effort. The aim of this article is to
synthesize information regarding various types of
waste occurring on the production floors and which
can be also found in product development (PD).
The practical relevance of office waste to PD
environment will be discussed and few practical
examples will be provided. The challenge is to
determine the role and identify what implications
flow and waste entail for PD. Toyota utilizes
powerful tools and techniques to create flow in
order to make processes more controllable and
specific techniques will be presented.
Key words: Lean manufacturing; Lean product
development; Lean thinking; Flow; Waste
INTRODUCTION
Japanese lean thinking and lean practices
are rapidly spreading worldwide across various
industries. The publications Womack, Jones and
Roos (1990) and Womack and Jones (1996) have
been used as fundamental guides for lean
transformation consolidating lean thinking into five
lean principles:
1. Define and specify value from the customer
perspective
2 Identify and map the value stream
3. Create flow and eliminate waste
4. Establish pull from customer
5. Pursue perfection
Once the customer value is understood, the
whole process - the value stream - needs to be
identified and the steps and activities analyzed if
they are either value-added or non-value added.
Process mapping makes it possible to identify
redundancy and to eliminate waste and
consequently allows creation of flow of value-
added activities. Each product should be produced
when a customer pulls it - order it - and it should
comply with customer expectations for what he is
prepared to pay. Perfection emphasizes the journey
of continuous improvement of the products and
processes.
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The lean methodology is all about
identifying and eliminating non-value-added
activity or waste reveals Cooke (2009:42). Clearly,
value-added activity is any action adding value to
the product or changing the process. On the other
hand, activities that add costs but do not add real
value are non-value-added and therefore constitute
waste. Waste can be defined as: anything that does
not add value to the product or to the operation.
The term anything could represent for example a
part, material, waiting time or walking.
However, it would be misleading to see the
lean concept only from this perspective. Because,
based on five lean principles, the lean approach is
also about clear identification of customer value,
which is the starting point in a lean system. The
customer value in its turn leads to waste
identification and creation of flow.
WASTE IN MANUFACTURING AND IN
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
ENVIRONMENT
Manufacturing and product development
environments have some similarities and the
management principles of the Toyota Production
System (TPS) can be applied to any technical or
service process; thus the lean practices can also be
extended to PD (Morgan & Liker 2006:5). While a
manufacturing process consists of repetitive
activities organized into serial value streams,
product development process consists of many
interdependent activities and a series of parallel
work streams. Huge challenge in PD is to identify
activities and tasks which are repeatable. Another
challenge is management of the flow of invisible
information, as opposed to a flow of visible
physical products in manufacturing. The invisibility
and non-repetitive activities makes the
identification of waste difficult. Waste
identification and its elimination becomes an
important step in establishing flow in a process.
The success in Toyotas product design
and development begins with seeing and
understanding this as a process, which is a
necessary prerequisite for such a process to be
standardized and continuously improved. PD is a
complex environment and it can be viewed as a
repeatable step-based process interrupted by waste
(Morgan & Liker 2006:70). Bhasin and Burcher
(2006:58) emphasize that lean product development
(LPD) is concerned with reducing waste at all
levels; but it is also about changing corporate
culture.
Waste has been discussed in the lean
literature (Bicheno & Holweg 2009:21; Dennis
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2007:20-24; Greasley 2006:299; Kobayashi This table includes in the middle column
1990:52; Locher 2008:15; Morgan & Liker examples of waste identified in PD, all derived
2006:72) predominantly in a connection to TPS. from 7 Ohnos manufacturing waste.
Taiichi Ohno, the father of TPS (Ohno 1988),
Although waste on the production floor is
identified following seven categories of
more tangible and therefore easy to see and waste
manufacturing waste abbreviated in consultancy as
in PD is more complex the point is to start
TIM WOOD (Table 1):
systematic waste reduction right at the source: in
7 Ohnos waste categories the PD process (Ball & Ball 2005:18; Kennedy
2003:13). Beyond the 7 Ohnos categories of
1. Transportation manufacturing waste there are specific types of
4. Waiting
Defects waste reflecting the unique aspects of PD
environment. Cooke (2009:42) identified following
2. Inventory 5. Over-production
categories: Disruption and distraction;
3. Motion 6. Over-processing Communication barriers; Using inappropriate or
poor tools; Inaccurate handover of information;
7. Defects Generating useless information; Missing the
unvoiced customer requirement (testing to
Table 1: 7 Ohno's manufacturing waste categories
specification) and Regenerating discarded
Over the years lean researchers and information (results of failures).
practitioners worldwide have continuously
Morgan and Liker (2006:19) concur and
discovered new categories and added them to this
identify two broad categories of waste in PD.
original list, such as: knowledge disconnection
Firstly, waste created by poor engineering results in
(Dennis 2007:20-24), unused employee creativity
low levels of product or process performance.
(Liker 2007:60), underutilized people (Locher
Secondly, there is waste in the PD process itself.
2008:15), waste of management (Jones 2010) and
Additional waste categories specific for the PD
waste of knowledge (Ward 2009:30). A
environment were identified in the literature
comprehensive list with various waste categories in
(Reinertsen 2005:45; Schuh, Lenders & Schning
manufacturing and new types of waste is provided
2007:7; Bicheno & Holweg 2009:27) and are
in Table 2.
summarized in Table 3 below:

Table 2: Overview of waste categories

Source: Researchers own construction based on literature study

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Table 3: Overview of waste categorization in PD
Source: Researchers own construction based on
literature study
WASTE IN OFFICE ENVIRONMENT AND
THE IMPLICATIONS FOR PRODUCT
DEVELOPMENT
Apart from manufacturing and PD waste
Venegas (2007:10) has identified categories of
waste in office environment. Four main types of
waste according to compartmentalization of offices
are distinguished: information, process, physical
environment, and people. Each of these areas
contains its own sub-categories, which are
summarized and visualized in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Waste categories in office environment
Source: Researchers own construction based on Venegas (2007)
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Based on personal experience and the facts
discussed above most of the office waste also
occurs in PD environment, as discussed in
following examples from an R&D department at a
vehicle manufacturer.
Information waste occurs in various forms
and leads to obstructions in the flow of value. For
example, redundant inputs or outputs of identical
data can easily happen in work on development
projects, owing to the vast number of components
and change releases. Data are repetitively fed into
systems: this takes time and resources without
adding any value. The important point with regard
to information systems is that they need to be
compatible.
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Many problems occur between
departments if they use separate and incompatible
systems, for example when tracking releases of
parts and product changes. Teams are not able to
share data and many of the redundant inputs and
outputs mentioned earlier happen regularly.
Another problem occurs with insufficient data
available on the system: this may occur when some
departments update their data periodically and
others do not. Moreover, the causes for the
existence of incompatible systems might be
various, such as when there are inadequate skills
and training to operate the systems or insufficient
system implementation.
People waste refers to misuse of peoples
energy and time in terms of the human dimension
in any process improvement. Despite people being
the most valuable asset in organization, many
companies remain unaware of even the most simple
root causes of people-related problems leading to
waste. All stakeholders in a PD process need to
have a clear definition of their roles and
responsibilities. If the responsibility, accountability
and authority for a particular role are not clearly
defined and communicated many problems can
occur. For example, there could be conflicts
between project teams and groups, tentative
behaviour, lack of commitment, duplication of
work, or performance ambiguity and time delays.
Waste in the physical environment is
related to safety issues and to the movement of
people or objects. Obviously, organizations pay
more attention to safety issues on the shop floor so
as to protect workers from injuries. For example,
moving machinery, manipulators, welding
equipment or conveyor belts can cause injuries or
damages if not appropriately used. The physical
environment for PD is basically the office and also,
in the later stages of PD the factory floor. Testing
of components or prototypes is mainly carried out
in the pilot halls located within production plants.
Any injuries on a shop floor or in the office
environment can be costly in loss of productivity
and in payment of allowances and compensations.
Indeed, any organization needs to care for people
and keep the working environment safe.
Process waste does not require further
discussion, as the waste categories listed in Figure 1
are derived from 7 Ohnos manufacturing waste.
TECHNIQUES AND STRATEGIES TO
CREATE CONTINUOUS FLOW
One of the most powerful ways to reduce
lead time while increasing development speed is the
creation of flow in PD process. Flow considers
value streams: these include all work and functional
expertise required to take the product from the
planning phase - and then through design, prototype
and testing phases - to product launch, known as
Start of Production.
2014
Flow in PD process refers to flow of
information and knowledge (Locher 2008:65) and
can be improved by adopting concepts such as:
cross-functional teams, obeya (large room) and
shared resources. Locher (2008) also identified
benefits of flow in PD:
1. process lead time can be reduced by 50-90%
2 .process quality can be improved by 30-90%
3. process time can be reduced by up to 40%.
Toyotas methods and techniques used for
establishment of continuous value stream and flow
in PD are described by Morgan and Liker (2006:83-
97):
Process logic refers to a framework for
coordination of a development programme and
related human resources. Process logic defines
tasks, activities and their sequences and contains a
step-by-step process description that generates
schedules and determines personal responsibilities
and time constraints. Although this framework
consists of PD process requirements and decisions
that must be taken at each milestone, it does not
provide specific details or instructions on how to do
the work.
Workload leveling is a critical
component of effective resource utilization during a
development programme, which considers the
leveling of resources and product planning before
the execution phase. Workload leveling is
determined by scheduling of resources and product
portfolio planning. The product strategies must be
aligned with the business strategies and must ensure
the best use of available resources.
Platform strategy refers to the use of
common product platforms and families of product
variants, which are derived from modular
architecture. This involves the use and re-use of
sets of engineered components, design alternatives,
available tools and manufacturing processes from
previous programmes. This can lead to advantages
in economies of scale and also to product
innovation.
Staggering vehicle launches is concerned
with the cyclical scheduling of vehicle development
projects, and engineering redesigns of vehicles
(facelifts) included in the product portfolio. The
purpose is to level and balance workloads related to
engineering resources, development programmes
and manufacturing facilities over a lengthy period
of time.
Cross-functional synchronization is
required for synchronization of activities between
functional departments and development teams.
Effective synchronization must be both inter-
functional and intra-functional. It all depends on an
understanding of work details and instructions,
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specific activities and their sequences - and roles
and responsibilities for each stakeholder in the
programme. The effective way to synchronize
cross-functional activities is their integration and
alignment in cross-functional teams, created from
selected experts and around specific vehicle
subsystems.
Flexible capacity system allows
allocating extra resources in a development
programme when they are required to enable
workload control and leveling of resources. One
strategy used is that of flexible staffing, which deals
with sharing of highly skilled technical staff across
multiple projects. The requisite high level of
flexibility in a programme can be only achieved by
rigorous standardization of skills and design and
through the process itself.
Detailed scheduling deals mainly with
the schedule discipline of all stakeholders and their
commitment to programme milestones. The sense
of attentiveness to intermediate target dates is
crucial for effective sharing of resources and for
managing multiple projects simultaneously.
Staggered releases attempt to manage
and facilitate design and release processes. LPD
uses a design-release stagger where large and
more complex parts requiring more time are
designed and released first while smaller
components are released later.
Management cycle time refers to regular
time schedules or deadlines, where managers track
and control progress in engineering work. In an
LPD process the management cycle time occurs on
an almost daily basis, which means that
management requires daily meetings to review
programme status and discuss open issues. Thus,
the managers have an opportunity to make
decisions and develop effective counter-measures
immediately when problems arise: this also allows
them to align teams accordingly.
Jidoka is a concept used in lean
manufacturing and is applicable to PD. It refers to
the practice of recognizing abnormal conditions and
detecting failures and more importantly, it involves
quick rectification and deletion of errors before
they create waste in a process.
Poka Yoke is another concept known
from lean manufacturing and enhances flow in a
process. The concept of Poka Yoke is applicable to
PD in various forms including checklists, standards,
quality matrices or standardized processes. These
concepts provide design guidelines, test and timing
requirements and quality characteristics that assist
engineers to prevent errors before they occur.
Pull system is a further concept adapted
from manufacturing applicable to PD. It refers to
identifying and delivering the right information and
knowledge to the right engineer at the right time.
The engineers working on development
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programmes are responsible for pulling information
they require, in order to locate and extract it.
Engineering cadence (takt time) although
this concept is commonly utilized in lean
manufacturing it is more difficult to apply it in PD.
Takt is a German word, with its origin in music,
and means a precise interval of time or uniform
pace.
According to Dennis (2007:53)
manufacturing takt time is calculated as follows:
Takt time = Daily operating time/Required
quantity per day
Keyte and Locher (2004:69) and Locher
(2008:60) use a similar formula for calculating takt
time in PD:
Takt time = Effective working time in a period/
Demand in a period
Morgan and Liker (2006:93) write that takt
time in PD process is a crucial mechanism to
establish engineering cadence and coordinate
activities at a regular pace. Engineering cadence
mechanisms are achieved through rigorous design
reviews scheduled at regular intervals. Input into
the design and tool manufacturing process is
provided at a later stage through scheduling
physical prototype builds and part coordination
events.
The methods originate from lean
manufacturing and from the successful TPS.
However, it is also possible to adopt and adjust the
majority of them to the requirements of a PD
environment. Through implementation of these
techniques an organization can develop flow and
create controllable and predictable design processes
and focus on waste elimination and continuous
process improvement.
CONCLUSION
Product development processes can be
managed and improved as any other business
process but there is a need to understand the
process logic and to identify several critical
characteristics of this specific environment. Waste
is one of the first concepts which organizations
address when they embark on a lean journey, as it is
easily understandable and delivers quick wins and
tangible outcomes. Once people understand this
concept they learn to see waste in their working
environment and start to eliminate it in their daily
jobs. Basically, all types of waste need to be
identified and continuously eliminated, as they can
cause significant financial losses and penalties, time
delays and communication problems.
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