This article will focus on waste walks as a part of the discovery process. I suspect most of my readers know what a waste walk is, but I would still like to start by providing my own definition. The rest of this article will focus on how waste walks differ from other forms of discovery and why waste walks provide their own unique value among the broad set of techniques used for discovery.
Waste walk in simple terms is a formal observation of a narrowly scoped process specifically searching for Eight Wastes. There is a link embedded for anyone not familiar. This is not causal observation, but active search. A Master Black Belt that I previously worked with, @Jeff Janas, would encourage learners to consider it a kind of game. Try to find at least one of each of the wastes in the process that is being searched. He would say, “You know that if you look close enough you should be able to find at least one of each.” I like Jeff’s approach because it is intentional. We know that these wastes are lurking in every process, so do not stop searching until you have found one of each. This is a very focused method of discovery. It is not just okay to find waste, but an expectation because we know that it is present in the process.
When I teach waste walks, I require that my learners go to the operation environment with a form for data collection. They fill out a description of each waste they see. The form has a field to populate an observation for each of the Eight Wastes. This approach creates more accountability to capture each of the wastes. Anyone can use the form on our site. Click here to access the tool: https://cimm.chalmersst.com/.
This method is well known by many people in the process improvement space. How much use does it get? Before you answer the question, let’s not confuse Gemba Walks with waste walks. These are two different approaches with two different purposes. A Gemba Walk is broadly scoped, typically across all the processes that a leader has responsibility over. Gemba Walks are important in getting leaders to spend time physically in the operation. Often, these walks are an opportunity for operators to bring an issue to the attention of a leader and for that leader to see the problem in the “real work environment.” Gemba Walks are important. We require Gemba Walks in all of our Leader Standard Work documents. They are not as thorough as the waste walk. The somewhat loose and broad nature of Gemba Walks mean that findings are driven by chance observation. Waste walk is a search for waste. This is an intentional search for all Eight Wastes, so that we can identify improvement to our production process.
While frequent Gemba Walks are commonly required for mid-level managers, I do not often see the same requirement for waste walks. Given the targeted nature of a waste walk it is most often the case that I see them performed at the front end of an improvement project. They are great to provide ideas on where we might focus the improvement effort. This is an appropriate use of waste walks, but there is a missed opportunity when we apply them infrequently. We need to step back and reflect on the operations regularly, frequent scheduled waste walks are a great way to take a hard look at operations. There is value to doing this on a regular frequency.
As I reflect on my own clients, I believe the best recommendation is to work with the teams in operations to set a specific frequency of waste walks, once per week or once per month depending on the availability of time. Build the practice into Leader Standard Work or Managing for Daily Improvement practices. I suggest creating a list of processes in the operation and keeping a record of the last time that a waste walk was performed on each of the processes. The findings from the walk become part of the ongoing list of items to improve. There is always something that needs improvement. The problem is gaining visibility to these opportunities. The power of the waste walk is that it creates a forcing function, a motivation to go and see, record, and take actions. This is a catalyst to creating sustained continuous improvement.
A waste walk spans a gap between a very general daily observation of the operation, such as Gemba Walk and the very specific form for process observation focused on a small set of steps in the process. This was described in a previous newsletter. It is a powerful way to get people to search for the range of problems that are likely lurking around in their work. It addresses the problem that most days we are too busy to really dig in and see the waste… and much less, do something about the waste. For this reason, waste walks are a tool that I think need to be used more often and can be employed just about anywhere on the shop floor.