Nonvalue-added Activities Research Articles

The practical relationship between continuous flow and lean construction in SMEs

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the applicability of lean construction (LC) concepts and tools in necessary, but non-value-added activities (NVAA) in small and medium-sized enterprises (SME). The application of the lean tools in this way facilitates the flow of information and handling material, improving productivity, quality and performance. Finally, practical results motivate a discussion on the real potential of LC principles and on the challenges related to its implementation. Design/methodology/approach The methodology makes use of direct involvement in the environment under study. Some of the activities performed were the value stream mapping and time and motion studies of the company’s process selected, identification of wastes and the proposition of improvements to be implemented. Findings The main findings are related to the benefits of the application of LC not only in value-added activities but in activities that can influence the development and workforce planning, especially for SME businesses. This company should be able to achieve better management decisions and results after implementing the LC principles, overcoming the limited resources. Originality/value This proposed method helps in overcoming the lack of systematic procedures, enabling LC in activities that not add value properly. It has the advantage of integrating existing tools and models effectively, which not only improve the shortcomings of the conventional methods but also result in more convenient calculation and application.

Waste assessment using a lean approach in receiving process of container terminal: a case of Teluk Bayur Port

This paper aims to assess wastes in receiving process of container terminal using lean approach at Teluk Bayur port. It begins with developing the Value Stream Mapping (VSM) of receiving process of a container terminal in Teluk Bayur port. Value Added Assessment (VAA) is used to identify the wastes that classified into Value Added (VA), Non-Value Added (NVA), or Necessary but Non-Value Added (NNVA). Finally, Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) is applied to evaluate the failure modes of wastes and develop the proposed improvements. Through the VSM stage, it is identified eight processes with a total of 28 activities in the receiving process of a container terminal in Teluk Bayur port. The results of VAA show there are a total of 14 non-value activities consist of nine NVA activities and five NNVA activities. In FMEA, it is obtained four failure modes with the highest Risk Priority Number (RPN) related to failed in open stack process, machine problems, failed to manage documents of receiving card and system crashes. It is suggested to update the information in website and notice board, perform regular maintenance to machines, upgrade the machines, provide the proper information of receiving process procedure, conduct routine maintenance to the website, and provide generator engines.

Lean approach in precast concrete component production

Purpose This study applied the lean approach to the reinforcement work process in the component production of industrialised building system precast concrete construction (IBSPCC). The purpose of this paper is to identify and eliminate non-value added (NVA) activities to enhance the efficiency of the production process. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected via a case study of six-storey precast concrete building. A mapping of the reinforcement work process was conducted based on observations using time study technique and time-lapsed video, complemented by semi-structured interviews. Findings Through this application, several NVA activities, such as unnecessary inventory, excessive movement and coordination issues, were identified. Production performance could be enhanced by implementing Just-in-Time, Kanban, and layout improvements, which would address NVA activities. Research limitations/implications Due to the complexity of the construction process, only specific process elements were observed. To map the complete process, comprehensive observation must be conducted from beginning to end, which, though worthwhile, would be very time and resource intensive. Originality/value This paper focusses on strategies for improving the efficiency of the IBSPCC production process in Malaysian construction by developing a conceptual framework of the lean approach for the reinforcement work process. Certain aspects in the process such as layout and inventory need to be redesigned and simplified by minimising NVA activities.

Using Rapid Cycle Improvement (Plan, Do, Study, Act) to Design a Scalable Appointment Scheduling System for Complex Oncology Clinical Trials at an Academic Cancer Center.

This study's purpose was to optimize the efficiency of and to design a scalable research scheduling team to meet the growing demands of an academic cancer center with increasing clinical trial accruals. The Plan, Do, Study, Act improvement methodology was deployed to increase the efficiency of research scheduling, to reduce non-value-added (NVA) activities, and to reduce cycle time to meet takt time. In the Plan phase, voice-of-the-customer interviews were conducted. In the Do phase, the baseline workflow was mapped and billing data were analyzed. In the Study phase, cycle time, takt time, and capacity analysis metrics were calculated at baseline. In the Act phase, interventions were implemented to increase efficiency by reducing NVA activities and increasing value-added activities, and metrics were reassessed after intervention. An 8% increase in appointment requests was noted from baseline to after intervention, and the cycle time for appointment scheduling decreased by 11%, demonstrating increased efficiency. Process steps decreased from 15 to 10, eliminating NVA activities and rework and waiting, two types of waste. Although efficiency increased, the number of total appointments scheduled weekly increased by 4%, resulting in a reduced takt time, or a shorter time to schedule each appointment to meet demand. A capacity analysis demonstrated that even after interventions, an additional 0.5 full-time employee is required to reduce cycle time to equal takt time. Capacity analysis creates a scalable framework for the scheduling team and facilitates movement from reactive to proactive staffing, which can be applied throughout the research enterprise.

Enhancing efficiency of production cost on seafood process with activity based management method

The efficiency of production costs has an important impact maintaining company presence in the business world, as well as in the face of increasingly sharp global competition. It was done by identifying and reducing non-value-added activities to decrease production costs and increase profits. The study was conducted at a company engaged in the production of squid (seafood). It has a higher product price than the market as Rp 50,000 per kg while the market price of squid is only Rp 35,000 per kg. The price of the product to be more expensive compared with market price, and thereby a lot more consumers choose the lower market price. Based on the discussions conducted, the implementation of Activity Based Management was seen in the reduction of activities that are not added value in the production process. Since each activities consumers cost, the reduction of nonvalue-added activities has effects on the decline of production cost. The production’s decline costs mainly occur in the reduction of material transfer costs. The results showed that there was an increase after the improvement of 2.60%. Increased production cost efficiency causes decreased production costs and increased profits.

Value Stream Mapping to Improve Workplace to support Lean Environment

In recent years, lean manufacturing is being followed by various sectors in order to keep their competitiveness in the global markets. Lean manufacturing plays a vital role in improving the efficiency of operation by eliminating or reducing wastes. Nonetheless, most of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) lack sufficient knowledge or information on the benefits of implementing lean manufacturing. The main objective of this study is to apply value stream mapping, one of lean manufacturing tools, for improving the productivity in a SME by eliminating non-value added activities. In this study, lean manufacturing was adopted at a SME, particularly a food industry. Value stream mapping was served as main tool to identify the wastes and improvement opportunities in production line. Subsequently, different lean manufacturing tools such as Kaizen Burst, one piece flow, and 5S were applied to eliminate or reduce identified wastes. Based on the future state value stream mapping, final results showed that the total operation time and non-added value activities time were successfully decreased from 1993 seconds to 1719 seconds, and 234 seconds to 104 seconds, respectively. The findings of this study indicate that value stream mapping is an effective approach to eliminate the wastes and improve the productivity.

Lean Tools Implementation for Lead Time Reduction in CNC Shop Floor of an Automotive Component Manufacturing Industry

Objective: To examine the existing system of a production line in a shop floor of steering gear box manufacturing industry and to improve the productivity using lean methodology without much affecting current working systems. Method/ Analysis: An extensive range of lean manufacturing tools are available to take care of all kinds of issues faced by different manufacturing industries. It also helps for successful cost reduction of the manufacturing component and to assure the quality of manufacturer and customer. Findings: The critical Non-Value added Activities (NVA) were recognized and probabilities required for development has been recognized. Value Stream Mapping (VSM) has the reputation of finding waste during manufacturing and business process which facilitate to identify and remove or stream the value added steps and to eliminate the non-value added steps. Application/Improvements: After accomplishment of appropriate lean tools, it was found that the total setup time was condensed by about 180 minutes and cycle time was condensed by about 98 minutes which ultimately reduces the lead time and increases the productivity.

The Elimination of Transfer Distances Is an Important Part of Hospital Design.

The objective of the present study was to describe how a specific patient flow analysis with from-to charts can be used in hospital design and layout planning. As part of a large renewal project at a university hospital, a detailed patient flow analysis was applied to planning the musculoskeletal surgery unit (orthopedics and traumatology, hand surgery, and plastic surgery). First, the main activities of the unit were determined. Next, the routes of all patients treated over the course of 1 year were studied, and their physical movements in the current hospital were calculated. An ideal layout of the new hospital was then generated to minimize transfer distances by placing the main activities with close to each other, according to the patient flow analysis. The actual architectural design was based on the ideal layout plan. Finally, we compared the current transfer distances to the distances patients will move in the new hospital. The methods enabled us to estimate an approximate 50% reduction in transfer distances for inpatients (from 3,100 km/year to 1,600 km/year) and 30% reduction for outpatients (from 2,100 km/year to 1,400 km/year). Patient transfers are nonvalue-added activities. This study demonstrates that a detailed patient flow analysis with from-to charts can substantially shorten transfer distances, thereby minimizing extraneous patient and personnel movements. This reduction supports productivity improvement, cross-professional teamwork, and patient safety by placing all patient flow activities close to each other. Thus, this method is a valuable additional tool in hospital design.

Lean manufacturing within critical healthcare supply chain: an exploratory study through value chain simulation

Modern goals of supply chain management (SCM) are related to the integration of logistic features with customers and product management, the so called value chain management (VCM). The present work is focused on the implementation of lean principles and value chain concepts into SCM, within a firm supplying power generators for hospitals and humanitarian camps. The aim is to realise a simulation environment to improve firm’s strategies and performance analysis to reduce costs and improve the levels of service and sustainability of the supply chain (SC). In particular, lean manufacturing principles of waste reduction and non-value added activities (NVAA) elimination can be well suited to be implemented by value chain operation reference (VCOR) model. An analysis concerning productivity and product development issues is performed by design of experiments (DOE) techniques, highlighting weakness and strength points in health sector supplying.

A value-based approach to the ex-ante evaluation of IT enabled business process improvement projects

In this study, we propose a value-based management approach for assessing the potential for process improvements enabled by an information technology (IT) solution. Based on activity based management concepts, we perform a granular, process level analysis on workflow structure and associated resource consumption to provide quantifiable measures of potential improvement prior to system implementation. The proof of concept of this approach is illustrated in a southern United States county in need of integrating different government branches through an ERP implementation. Based on prior research, we first provide a catalog of non-value added (NVA) activities that can be used in management control and governance procedures for the systematic identification of process inefficiencies. Next, by breaking down processes to the level of atomic activities, we show that minimizing NVA activities provides a systematic means to mitigate process inefficiencies. A significant observation is that different NVA activities may impact process performance to varying degrees. Consequently, line items in the request for proposals (RFP) should be weighted accordingly during the vendor selection process, contrary to the common practice of treating all line items equally.

ANALYSIS OF THE POTENTIALS OF ADAPTING ELEMENTS OF LEAN METHODOLOGY TO THE UNSTABLE CONDITIONS IN THE MINING INDUSTRY

Mining industry like other sectors of the global economy, is a subject of the general laws of market economics, management, organization, etc. However, due to its specific character, it adapts in a different way to the needs of modern management concepts. Mining industry, and in particular underground mining, is far different from other industries. The different specificity of mining companies is mainly caused by the fact that the manufacturing process is carried out in the natural environment such as the subsurface and consists in extracting ore from the deposit. This activity is inherently characterized by high volatility and uncertainty. This affects directly the technology used to operate, the organization of the production process, its continuity in time, its efficiency can be controlled mining production quality and product quality. If not for this difference, the mining industry could be more competitive and efficient in comparison to other industries. This competitiveness could be reached by using some elements of Lean Methodology. Lean Methodology is a concept whose basic message is to avoid any kind of waste through a continuous process of rationalization of the entire company and its relationship with the environment, which consists of reducing the scope of the internal functions of the company to what is strictly necessary. It is a concept involving the elimination of the nonvalue-added activities. Lean Production methodology is now commonly used worldwide in many industries. Is successfully implemented in industrial enterprises, which brings great results including through streamlining production processes and business processes, which in turn leads to cost reduction, increased flexibility of processes and gain competitive advantage [3].

Lean analysis of a pediatric intensive care unit physician group rounding process to identify inefficiencies and opportunities for improvement*

A physician group in a pediatric intensive care unit faced challenges when moving to a larger unit. Challenges included increased time for rounds, nonbillable attending physician hours, poor communication with pediatric intensive care unit staff, and meeting resident physician duty hours and teaching requirements. The purpose of this analysis was to identify waste and opportunities for improvement to improve physician efficiency. Human factor (observational data collection) techniques were used to capture >60 hrs of rounding data. Twelve attending physicians and their rounding teams were shadowed to capture rounds on 130 pediatric intensive care unit patients. Rounding events, times, and patient interactions were recorded. Lean methods and scenario analysis were used to analyze the data and identify opportunities for improvement. Rounding events were categorized to determine value-added and nonvalue-added activities. Value-added activities were subclassified as essential or nonessential to morning rounds. Thirty-bed pediatric intensive care unit in a children's hospital with academic affiliation. PATIENTS OR SUBJECTS: Eight attending pediatric intensivists and their physician rounding teams. Eight attending physician-led rounding teams were observed for 12 rounding events and a total of 130 patient contacts. Large variation existed in the rounding process. Nonessential activities was highly correlated with physician preference and created a wide range in rounding time per patient. Essential activities showed the least variation and represents a "lean process." Scenario analysis was used to determine the impact of removing waste and reallocating the nonessential activities outside of rounds. Results of the analysis indicated that rounds could be reduced by 42% and that plan of care completion would be timelier (decreased from a mean of 157 to 82 mins). In a large physician group, essential activities showed the least variation. Practice variation focused on minimizing nonessential activities could have dramatic impacts on standardizing practice. Further study is indicated to determine whether standardizing rounds to focus on essential activities can lead to more effective processes that require fewer resources while improving outcomes for all stakeholders.

Developing a value stream map to evaluate breakdown maintenance operations

Maintenance management has found new vigor and purpose to increase equipment capacity and capability due to increasing focus on lean manufacturing (lean) in today's competitive environment. Tremendous efforts have been made to develop different types of maintenance strategies for enhancing the performance of equipment but nothing has been done to actually streamline Breakdown Maintenance Activities (BMA). This refers to systematically evaluating the Non-Value Added (NVA) activities within BM. The primary lean tool that provides insights on identifying and analysing NVA activities is Value Stream Mapping (VSM). However, traditional VSM cannot be utilised 'as is' because the BMA do not completely correspond with VSM terminology. Therefore, this paper develops a VSM to evaluate BM operations.

Redesigning an assembly line through lean manufacturing tools

The implementation of a lean manufacturing strategy represents a robust contribution to the phase sequence that leads to operational excellence and the continuous improvement through the elimination of nonvalue-added activities. Therefore, lean practices contribute substantially to plant operational performance. This paper studies the use of value stream mapping (VSM) as a tool in lean manufacturing implementation and a framework of improvement activities, in particular for an efficient introduction of kanban and milkrun techniques. A case study illustrates VSM use, as well as kanban and milkrun systems application on an assembly line. Finally, the results obtained show the path of improvement, measured through the lean rate (LR) and dock-to-dock time (DtD).

The Balancing Act

With demands to improve patients' clinical outcomes and decrease the escalating costs of inpatient care, nurse executives are focusing on how nurses spend their time rather than just raising staffing levels to positively impact patient outcomes. Because nursing wages constitute a high proportion of a hospital's budget, understanding the costs of nursing activities is critical to managing them. An activity-based costing approach was used in 14 medical-surgical nursing units to study nursing activities and their related costs. Time use for 4 patient care activities (assess, teach, treat, provide psychosocial support) and 2 support activities (coordinate care and manage clinical records) including the percent of non-value-added (NVA) time for each of these activities was identified through focus groups, interviews, and timed observations. Annualized wage costs were assigned to these activities to determine average wage-related costs of each activity as well as NVA-related costs. More than one-third of nurses' time was considered NVA, averaging dollars 757,000 per nursing unit in wage costs annually. Nurses spent more time on support activities (56%) than in providing patient care (44%), with the least amount of time being spent on patient teaching and psychosocial support. Findings indicate a huge opportunity to both improve clinical outcomes in these units and, at the same time, reduce costs by focusing on processes to reduce the high amount time spent performing NVA and support activities and increase patient care time, particularly patient teaching and psychosocial support.

Bumpy road to lean enterprise

Every company owner, CEO, and manager wants to make their business process as lean as possible by reducing the number and proportion of Non-Value Adding Activities (NVAA) among all business operations. This would reduce wasted time and money, provide them with highest Return on Investments (ROI) and eventually earn the highest profit – the major goal of any profitable business. However, most of the above-mentioned people would not be able to answer the questions: How much ‘lean’ would they want? What degree of leanness is actually achievable? What sequence of actions and in what intensity should be conducted? How to plan the lean activities with clear understanding of the goals, schedule, and effect of the results? Let us try to answer these questions. Starting from definition and measurements we go through the basic application of TQM and ISO principles that lead to standardization of work through creation of SOP. Application of Six Sigma philosophy creates an environment with customer driven cost and quality. Special time studies of every applicable micro-operation would illustrate the proportion of Non-Value Added Activities within every operation and determine clear opportunities for improvement.

Benchmarking Drilling Performance of MODU Operating Practices for Deepwater Drilling

This article, written by Assistant Technology Editor Karen Bybee, contains highlights of paper SPE 92235, "Benchmarking Drilling Performance: Achieving Excellence in MODU's Operating Practices for Deepwater Drilling," by Hugo Valdez, SPE, and Jurgen Sager, Transocean, prepared or the 2005 SPE/IADC Drilling Conference, Amsterdam, 23-25 February. Practical and straightforward application of continuous-improvement and bench-marking techniques to monitor, document, analyze, and detect best practices during the drilling process can improve operational efficiency and reduce well costs significantly. The full-length paper describes how a rigorous approach to performance benchmarking, with documented objectives, user-friendly and meaningful reports, and critical process and task analysis, can help identify nonvalue-added activities and performance gaps in the well-construction process. Introduction Since the early days of offshore drilling when operators first mounted land rigs on piers, mechanization and automation gradually have changed the way oil wells are drilled. As the industry moved into deeper waters, while targeting even deeper pay zones and requiring large wellbores to achieve the production rates to support costly projects, drillpipe, casing, and riser sizes and weights continued to increase. Safety considerations drove the need to mechanize pipe handling and minimize manual intervention. Drilling-rig technology evolved from the traditional rig-floor configuration of slips and tongs to the highly sophisticated mechanized multi-activity designs found on the latest generation of semisubmersibles and drillships. While significant improvements in safety have been achieved by use of more mechanized and automated equipment, some critical-path operations—particularly those involving moving drillpipe, casing, and tubing into and out of the wellbore—were slower than expected. After noting that rigs with exactly the same capabilities performed differently when operating under similar conditions, an internal benchmarking program was launched to identify, understand, compare, measure, and adapt best practices from top-performing mobile offshore drilling units (MODUs) to help improve performance of a particular drilling rig.

A Context-Based Quasi-Experimental Evaluation of a Computer-Supported Product Development System

This paper deals with the design and development of a computer-supported collaborative work (CSCW) system to support product development, and its evaluation using a quasi-experimental approach in an industrial environment. The evaluation compared the performance of eight different subgroups using the CSCW system with their performance using the existing product development system. Task completion time, non-value added (NVA) time, and certain subjective measures were recorded for each of the two systems tested. Despite their minimal experience with the CSCW system, the subgroups took less time to perform five of the eight tasks with the CSCW system than with the existing system. These time savings were primarily a consequence of a substantial reduction in NVA activities. The mean percentage of total task time devoted to NVA activities dropped from 44% with the existing system to 6% with the CSCW system. Users also rated the CSCW system more favorably than the existing system in terms of the subjective measures.

A technical note on using work sampling to estimate the effort on activities under activity-based costing

Activity-based costing (ABC) assumes that activities consume resources and products consume activities. It uses the two-stage procedure to calculate the product costs: it traces the resource costs to the activities, and then traces the costs of activities to the products. In the current practice for first-stage cost assignment, effort (labor) costs are traced to the activities by the estimates of effort expended on activities, and these estimates are often derived from information gathered from interviews, questionnaires, and time cards. However, it is not objective to achieve these estimates from interviews or questionnaires. It is too time-consuming to use time cards to acquire these estimates in some situations although it is the most accurate method. The purpose of this paper is to explain how to use work sampling to estimate objectively the effort spent on activities under activity-based costing. The results of work sampling study also indicate percentages of nonvalue-added activities, which provide the best opportunities for continuous improvement.