Eliminating Muda (Waste) in Lean Management by Working Time Standardization

Abstract

Process improvement is a constant search for opportunities to improve the processes in the daily operations of the company, and to enhance the relationships between processes. One of the concepts of continuous improvement is the Lean Management approach. Lean management is the way to achieve the perfect level of the organization through the gradual and ongoing, which is characteristic for continuous improvement approach, elimination of waste (“muda” in Japanese) and losses in all the aspects of business, and the integration of activities connected with the stream creating customer value. The approach to classification of wastes dominating in the literature comprises seven groups. The authors focused on just the last type of waste that is on the under-utilization of the potential of employees. However, according to the author’s interpretation, thinking of “muda” is not using the available working time of employees. In the opinion of the authors, this loss is due to a lack of standardization of working time of employees In order to eliminate wasted time at the workplace, the authors suggest using the techniques of work analysis and standardization. The purpose of this article is to present the methods mentioned and focus on the possibility of their inclusion in the concept of Lean Management, in the context of elimination of waste in the form of under-utilized potential of employees. The above approach combines the Japanese approach in terms of improvement of processes and European approach in the context of research on work.