TIMWOOD

What Does TIMWOODS mean?

To summarize the 8 wastes of lean, TIMWOODS is a lean acronym that stands for Transportation, Inventory, Motion, Waiting, Overproduction, Overprocessing, Defects, and Skills. Its purpose is to help businesses identify potential wastes in the lean methodology to avoid bottlenecks by eliminating these wastes. 

The concept of TIMWOOD originated from the Toyota Manufacturing company that originally founded the 7 wastes of lean production. The recent 8th addition is from the principles of lean production categorizing Skill, which points to “unused talent” or “unused potential or skills from human resources”. 

To summarize the 7 wastes of lean production, you can easily use the TIMWOOD lean acronym as a starting point to target crucial areas in the production process and work towards devising solutions to eliminate these wastes.

The Summary Of The TIMWOODS Lean Acronym And 8 Wastes Of Lean

The 7 wastes of lean refer to weak points in the value stream of every manufacturing process. Let’s go over the types of waste found in lean manufacturing:

Transport: Displacing the product, from one warehouse to another, unnecessarily is a waste of time and effort which results in the product getting damaged. 

Inventory: A stocked inventory can eliminate bottlenecks at the beginning of the process, however, any unused materials are wasted capital.

Motion: The excessive workload of workers responsible for transporting the products from one place to another pointlessly. Throughout this process, the machinery, the workers, and the products are under constant strain. 

Waiting: Once the value product is completed, it should be immediately assigned to be delivered. If you keep the customer waiting, it may lead to them bouncing to another business that can meet customer demands. 

Over-processed: Making unnecessary additions to the product can increase the steps in the manufacturing process. Doing more than required is a common type of waste in lean manufacturing.

Overproduction: Taking a proactive approach to meeting customer needs is a good idea, however, it can lead to making more products than required. So, you’ve lost more than you’ve gained. 

Defects: Faults found in the products require additional work which can lead to halting production causing excessive burden on workers to eliminate the defect. 

Skills: Improper designation or employing more workers than required can hinder employees from reaching their true potential. 

Understanding The 8 Wastes Of Lean

Now that you know what the meaning of TIMWOOD wastes is. Let’s study the seven types of waste found in lean manufacturing in detail with examples. 

Lean Waste - Transportation:

Unnecessary movement is the first waste found in the seven wastes of lean.

Unnecessary movement is the first waste from the TIMWOODS lean acronym. From the seven types of waste in lean manufacturing, the unnecessary movement of people, materials, or equipment contributes to delayed production processes. During the transportation process, the likelihood of damage to the products increases tenfold. 

TIMWOODS Transportation Example:
In business, transportation waste points to the kind of movement of high-value products that leads to no outcome. Simply shifting the products from one warehouse to another will cause the finished goods to turn into defects under constant strain. 

Sometimes in the manufacturing industry, workers responsible are not aware of the fragility of the product causing it to get damaged or lose its value in the process. Shipment of defective products can result in sufficient loss and can damage the name of your business. 

Lean Waste - Inventory

Unlike transportation, Inventory waste is easily identified. It’s crucial to understand the exact amount of raw materials needed for the completion of a portion of finished goods. Unused materials can be a dent in the funds of the company as they have no value until they are manufactured into finished goods. 

TIMWOODS Inventory Example:
Maintaining your inventory is a crucial part of operating your business. Raw materials have potential however, they are not valued by the customer. Purchasing raw materials in bulk is a type of waste in lean manufacturing. There are purchase costs, storage costs, depreciating costs, and expired costs which can lead to the loss of the business. If you are an automated business that keeps its inventory management on the cloud, you might experience expensive cloud storage costs as well. 

Lean Waste: Motion

You’d think of motion as the same as transportation, however, motion involves the movement of people and machinery while transportation specifically covers the movement of goods. The difference between the two is crucial to understanding the types of waste in lean your business suffers from. 

TIMWOODS Motion Example:
To identify the different types of waste in lean manufacturing, leaders should visit the actual place of the work done rather than hearing reports from the managers. By analyzing the production process, you can identify the weak points along the value stream that impede efficiency and productivity. So, the movement of the managers to the leader’s office is an unnecessary motion that adds no value. The right kind of motion would be the one in which leaders visit the site of the manufacturing process to help eliminate bottlenecks and eliminate waste. 

Lean Waste - Waiting

The period in which finished goods are waiting for delivery is the most dangerous type of waste in lean. This waiting period of the customer waiting for the product to arrive is the most largest and frustrating kind of waste in lean manufacturing. 

TIMWOODS Waiting Example: 
Waiting occurs when two separate but interlinked business procedures aren't synchronized well. As each procedure flows onto the next through the value stream, each procedure must be conducted accordingly to avoid waiting. For instance, to finalize the shipment of finished goods, managers normally need to sign the shipment off. However, if a signature is delayed for two days, then the finished goods have been occupying sufficient space in the inventory along with customers waiting for their product to arrive. 

Lean Waste - Over Processing 

Knowing the value of the product is an important concept of TIMWOODS, by doing so you can avoid waste in lean manufacturing. By doing more than necessary, you are providing more than what the customer is paying for. In the long run, this can deplete your funds for the production of the product. 

TIMWOODS Over Processing Example:
Working too hard to polish a finished product is not a bad way to stand out, however doing so when the customer only asked for one option in your production of hair dryers but you went out of the way to add three more, can be an easy example of overprocessing. The addition of three options in a hair dryer will cost the company more time and money.

 However, if you deliver a product that is better than what you originally agreed, it can become a standard that customers may expect. When you choose to cut back on the additions to the product as they cost more money, your customers may deviate to other companies. 

Lean Waste - Overproduction 

One of the most popular types of waste in lean faced by manufacturing is over-producing. This can lead to an influx of finished products which have exceeded the demands of the customers. 

TIMWOODS Example Of Overproduction:
Consumers choose to invest in a particular object due to its popularity, so companies produce them in bulk thinking they will meet customer demands. However, customer requirements change abruptly and frequently leading to an excessive and overflowing inventory. These finished products will either have to be sold at a much lower price or require disposal due to no value. So, you’ve wasted both monetary and human effort during the process of overproduction. 

Lean Waste - Defects 

Experiencing defects or small mistakes is a part of the production process. These faults will have to be sent back to rectify them or require additional work to eliminate them. 

TIMWOODS Defects Example:
Minor faults can lead to irreversible mistakes that would require you to dispose of the final product. It’s crucial to point out these defects in the early stages before they move on to the next process. A common example of this kind of TIMWOOD waste would be if a supply of poor-quality raw material is purchased then the entirety of the finished goods would not live up to the expectations of the products. 

This can lead to bad reviews and cause problems for your company to operate smoothly. As the tiniest difference can make the biggest impact, the kind of waste in lean should be handled promptly. 

Lean Waste - Skills:

The recent addition of the 7 wastes of lean production. This refers to unused potential, interest, or tapping into potential capabilities and interests. 

TIMWOODS Skills Example:
The last waste from the seven categories of waste, this kind of waste can lead your company to never progress from where you stand today. In a competitive and fast-moving market, businesses ensure their survival by doing the best they can or hiring people who can do the work for them

A waste of skills would be assigning people with poor organizational skills to leading or managerial positions based solely on their educational background. This can lead to a waste of skills for individuals better suited to ensure your manufacturing processes flow in an organized manner.

Identify Lean Wastes Using TIMWOOD

If you want to help your business reach the top, applying TIMWOOD in your lean business can be a productive first step. Understanding the 8 lean wastes can help you identify potential wastes in your business to eliminate defects and find better ways of working that can benefit you.