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Waste out > Waste in = Calories out > Calories In

by Jamie Flinchbaugh on 06-06-11

When is waste elimination enough? At what point do we run out of waste to eliminate? I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard this line of inquiry.

Here is one of the many fundamental flaws in this belief:

 

 

Waste is always creeping back into our process and our organization.

It comes in through many different doors. New people come into the business who haven’t learned the best way to do things. Customers expectations change requiring reactions. New problems are experienced, requiring new workarounds. There is a constant flow of waste in. New products are launched that are performed at far from ideal standards.

We only have one path. Our efforts to eliminate waste must progress at a faster pace than waste creeps into the business. Only then do we really make progress. This means we have to achieve the following:

Waste out > waste in = waste reduction

The is the same basic formula for dieting. There are so many different diets out there. But in the end, our human bodies fundamentally work from the following formula:

Calories out > calories in = weight loss

Yes, there are many layers of complexities beneath that for both of these formulas. But our waste elimination efforts must be done at speed. They must outpace the rate at which waste creeps into our business. And no matter how hard we try, how well we design our processes, waste will creep back in.

Comments

  • Great analogy to dieting. Just posted a few articles myself on the same theme, using a spaghetti diagram to reduce carbs and a fishbone to bump up the omega 3’s!

    leansimulations June 6, 2011 at 8:46 am
  • Great analogy to dieting. Just posted a few articles myself on the same theme, using a spaghetti diagram to reduce carbs and a fishbone to bump up the omega 3’s!

    leansimulations June 6, 2011 at 8:46 am
  • Great analogy to dieting. Just posted a few articles myself on the same theme, using a spaghetti diagram to reduce carbs and a fishbone to bump up the omega 3’s!

    leansimulations June 6, 2011 at 8:46 am