Logistyka - nauka

Paulina Golińska-Dawson1
Monika Kosacka2
Karolina Werner-Lewandowska3
Faculty of Engineering Management, Poznań University of Technology

How to find a potential for improvements? – Muda

checklist as a lean tool for manufacturing companies

1. INTRODUCTION
Process is ”a collection of activities that takes one or more kinds of input and creates an output
that is of value to the customer” [7]. There are many different processes in a company, which
determines their existence. These different kinds of processes have one thing in common: they are an
object of improvements. The significance of processes is a result of benefits for business including:
becoming more competitive, enabling a growth and the core of the business – driving profitability.
This all makes process improvements a key issue.
Each company exists in challenging conditions: dynamic changes in the environment, variable
demand, strong competition, changes in customer behavior, enhanced requirements. It is difficult to
achieve a success, but it is possible. The road to the success is full of many internal obstacles, which
are waste (muda in Japanese language). The possibility of achieving better effectiveness of processes
realized in a company is identifying the weaknesses of the purpose of their elimination. To improve
processes, there should be taken some actions, only such that there is a chance to introduce real
changes. It was assumed that the potential for improvements is hidden by muda.
In this paper the lean management concept became a platform for searching a potential for
improvements in the context of sustainability. The purpose of the paper is to present a muda checklist
as a lean tool for searching a potential for realistic improvements taking into account sustainability.

2. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND – LEAN AS CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

CONCEPT
In the literature there are two main possibilities of process improvement [14]:
 radical, resulting in alterations and reconstruction of processes (e.g. Business Process
Reengineering),
 continuous, involving the introduction of changes, step by step, what results in gradual
improvements.
The Lean conception is example of continuous improvement. The origin of the lean concept can
be traced back to Japan in Toyota Motor Corporation [10, 11]. The success of Toyota Production
System (TPS) shows and proves that lean techniques are powerful and significant.
The “lean” term was first used by Womack et al. [17] in their seminal book “The Machine that
Changed the World”. The word “lean” refers to lean manufacturing or lean production as it uses less of
resources such as: people, tools, machines, energy, buildings etc. compared to mass production [1, 17].
Pettersen [12] stated that there is no consensus on a definition of lean production among
the experts. He defined over 30 lean production characteristics which were addressed by the most
cited authors in this field (based on results from Scopus and ISI). Only continuous
improvement and set-up reduction were discussed by all the analyzed authors [5].
1
Paulina.golinska@put.poznan.pl
2
Monika.kosacka@doctorate.put.poznan.pl
3
Karolina.werner@put.poznan.pl

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In many papers lean concept is presented as a concept of maximizing the process effectiveness
with the use of waste eliminating [1, 2, 17]. In this paper it is assumed that process is more sustainable,
if there will be efficient utilization of the resources, what depends on waste of resources creation.
Hines et al. [8] distinguished strategic and operational dimensions of lean. The strategic
orientation refers to the customer - centered thinking on the strategic value chain (value creation
and understanding requirements of customers). The operational orientation is closer to internal
dimension of the company. It should be focused on application of the shop-floor tools to reduce waste
in order to improve quality, cost and delivery (QCD) [8]. The focus should be on operational issues of
lean implementation from the perspective of improving. The operational approach emphasizes
"shop-floor-focus" on waste and cost reduction. This can be translated into better utilization of
resources, what will be friendly for the Environment. What is more lean focus on human relations
management, related to achieving the social dimension of sustainability thanks to improvements [5].
The basic issue of lean concept is muda - waste. That problem is well – known in the literature
[11]. Ohno has identified seven types of waste including [11]:
 Overproduction;
 Waiting;
 Unnecessary motion;
 Transportation;
 Inventory;
 Inappropriate processing;
 Defects.
Some of researches [9, 16] identify ‘new’ waste: Waste of underutilized people. Eight areas of
waste/muda are explored as opportunities with the same significance for process improvement in the
context of sustainable development.
There are many definitions of sustainable development (e.g.[3]). Each of them emphasizes the
balance of three components: People, Economy and Environment. Waste is an obstruction for
effectiveness, what can result in the long term destabilization of balance in terms of sustainable
development.
The reference model for the enterprise is to achieve “zero muda” state. The basic question is:
“How to eliminate muda?. The first step is to identify waste, what causes some problems. In this paper
there is presented a method for muda identification in the context of sustainability.

3. ASSESSMENT OF MANUFACTURING PROCESS LEANNESS – A WAY TO

FIND A POTENTIAL FOR IMPROVEMENTS
The work on the method has started within the framework of the SIRO project (Sustainability in
Remanufacturing Operations)4.
The potential for improvements is the result of work that was carried out according to the scheme
presented in Figure 1.
To identify potential for improvement it is relevant to have a knowledge about the processes and
products of these processes. The next step is performed modified RPA analysis, resulting in the list of
weakness, which is analyzed by Muda Checklist (MC) to discover the potential for improvements.
Each step of the method is described in details in the following subsections.

4
financed by the Narodowe Centrum Badan i Rozwoju in the framework of the German-Polish cooperation for sustainable
development, project ”Sustainability in remanufacturing operations (SIRO)”, grant no WPN/2/2012

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Input Processing Output

Process STRENGHTS
PROCESY
Recognition RPA
PRODUK Improvements’
Products WEAKNESS
TY potential

IDEF0, VSM Muda Checklist (MC)

Fig. 1. Method of leanness assessment for manufacturing process

Source: Own elaboration based on [3]

3.1. Stage 1: Process and products recognition

The first step of the method is crucial from the perspective of the result. Process and products have
to be well - recognized. It is relevant to have a knowledge about process and its effects. There should
be used in that stage such as technics as IDEF0 or Value Stream Mapping (VSM).
3.2. Stage 2: Modified RPA analysis
In order to assess the leanness of the production facilities the modified Rapid Plant Assessment
(RPA) was applied. RPA has been elaborated by Goodson [6], as a tool for assessment of the leanness
of a plant. The traditional RPA method consists of the two forms in the following order [6]:
 The leanness score matrix (RPA rating sheet),
 The leanness questionnaire.
Researches have modified RPA method in respect of order of the analyzes and including a
sustainability issues. The first tool is The leanness questionnaire (Figure 2).

Plant Rapid Plant Assessment Date

No Table 2--Assessment Questionnaire Yes/No
1 Are visitors welcomed and given information about plant layout, workforce, customers, and products?
2 Are ratings for customer satisfaction and product quality displayed?
3 Is the facility safe, clean, orderly, and well lit? Is the air quality good and noise levels low?
4 Does a visual labeling system identify and locate inventory, tools, processes, and flow?
5 Does everything have its own place, and is everything stored in its place?
6 Are up-to-date operational goals and performance measures for those goals prominently posted?
7 Are production materials brought to and stored at line side rather than in separate inventory storage areas?
8 Are work instructions and product quality specifications visible at all work areas?
9 Are updated charts on productivity, quality, safety, and problem solving visible for all teams?
10 Can the current state of the operation be viewed from a central control room, on a status board, or on a CRT?
11 Are production lines scheduled off a single pacing process with appropriate inventory levels at each stage?
12 Is material moved only once as short a distance as possible and in appropriate containers?
13 Is the plant laid out in continuous product flow lines rather than in "shops"?
14 Are work teams trained, empowered, and involved in problem solving and ongoing improvements?
15 Do employees appear committed to continuous improvement?
16 Is a timetable posted for equipment preventive maintenance and continuous improvement of tools and processes?
17 Is there an effective project management process, with cost and timing goals, for new product start-ups?
18 Is a supplier certification process--with measures for quality, delivery, and cost performance--displayed?
19 Have key product characteristics been identified and fail-safe methods used to forestall propagation of defects?
20 Would you buy the products this operation produces?
Total number of Yeses
Fig. 2. The leanness questionnaire
Source: [6]

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The RPA questionnaire provides 20 yes/no questions to determine if the plant uses best practices.
After answering those questions, there is higher probability of adequately assessment in The
leanness score matrix. Those forms are connected. The relationship between those forms is presented
in Table 1.
Table. 1. Relationship matrix of leanness questionnaire and leanness score matrix
Questions from Category from leanness score matrix
leanness Total Share [%]
C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11
questionnaire
Q1 X 1 2,5
Q2 X X 2 5,0
Q3 X 1 2,5
Q4 X X 2 5,0
Q5 X 1 2,5
Q6 X X 2 5,0
Q7 X X X 3 7,5
Q8 X X 2 5,0
Q9 X X 2 5,0
Q10 X 1 2,5
Q11 X X 2 5,0
Q12 X 1 2,5
Q13 X 1 2,5
Q14 X 1 2,5
Q15 X X 2 5,0
Q16 X 1 2,5
Q17 X X 2 5,0
Q18 X 1 2,5
Q19 X 1 2,5
Q20 X X X X X X X X X X X 11 27,5
Total 2 4 8 2 4 3 5 2 3 2 4
Share [%] 5,1 10,3 20,5 5,1 10,3 7,7 12,8 5,1 7,7 5,1 10,3
Source: Own
Some of the questions are linked to only one category, but it was noticed that a few question are
associated with a few categories.
The second tool is the leanness score matrix (Figure 3). Scoring is rather general and elaborated
for production company taking in consideration 11 areas [6]. The company is scored from “poor” to
“best in class” for each category. The scale for scoring includes 6 options assessed by increased of 2
points for each subsequent grade, example “poor” equals to 1 point, “below average” equals 3 points,
“average” scores 5 points and so on. The maximum assessment is 11 points [6].
The result of the assessment is identification the categories (broad areas) of strengths and
weaknesses. Categories with low ratings are having the potential for improvement, they should be a
subject of immediate action to provide the leanness [15].

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Rated by:_______________
Person Rapid Plant Assessment
Tour Date:______________
date Table 1--Rating Sheet Plant:________________
Below Above Best in
Ratings Poor Average Excellent
No Average Average Class
Measure Score 1 3 5 7 9 11 Scores
1 Customer Satisfaction
Safety, environment, cleanliness, &
2
order
3 Visual Management Deployment
4 Scheduling system
Product flow, space use & material
5
movement means
6 Inventory & WIP Levels
People teamwork, skill level, &
7
motivation
Equipment & tooling state &
8
maintenance
Ability to Manage Complexity &
9
Variability
10 Supply Chain Integration
11 Quality System Deployment
Totals
Fig. 3. The leanness score matrix
Source: [6]
The categories from RPA Rating sheet were assigned to the three dimensions of the
sustainability (Table 2):
 economic (ECON),
 ecological (ECO),
 social (SOC).
Table. 2. Categories of the RPA assessment
DIMENSION NO CATEGORY
ECON/SOC C1 Customer Satisfaction,
SOC C2 Safety, environment, cleanliness, & order,
SOC/ECON C3 Visual Management Deployment,
ECON C4 Scheduling system,
ECON/SOC C5 Product flow, space use & material movement means,
ECON C6 Inventory & WIP Levels,
SOC/EKON C7 People teamwork, skill level, & motivation,
ECON/ECO C8 Equipment & tooling state & maintenance,
ECON C9 Ability to Manage Complexity & Variability,
ECO/ECON C10 Supply Chain Integration,
ECON/SOC C11 Quality System Deployment.
Source: [5]
It can be noticed that most of the C1-C11 categories are related to more than one dimension
of the sustainability (e.g. ECON/SOC), what presents that analysis as multifaceted analysis.
What is more there was made survey about the correlation between categories from RPA rating
sheet and muda types [4]. The results are presented in the Table 3:

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Table. 3. Classification leanness results (RPA) into muda type

RPA Q RPA CATEGORY MUDA TYPE
C1 Q1,2,20 Customer Satisfaction Defects/ Underutilization of Employees
C2 Q3-5,20 Safety, environment, cleanliness, Unnecessary Motion/Transport
& order
C3 Q2,4, Visual Management Deployment Unnecessary Motion / Inappropriate processing/
defects/ Overproduction/ Excess inventory/
6-10,20 Underutilization of Employees
C4 Q11,20 Scheduling system Excess inventory
C5 Q7,12,13,20 Product flow, space use & material Excess inventory/Transport/Waiting
movement means
C6 Q7,11,20 Inventory & WIP Levels Excess Inventory
C7 Q6,9,14,15,20 People teamwork, skill level, & Overproduction/Underutilization of Employees
motivation
C8 Q16,20 Equipment & tooling state & Inappropriate processing
maintenance
C9 Q8,17,20 Ability to Manage Complexity & Overproduction/defects
Variability
C10 Q18,20 Supply Chain Integration Defects
C11 Q15,17, 19,20 Quality System Deployment Underutilization of Employees/
Overproduction/defects
Source: [4]
The waste identification questions was divided into 8 muda types (waste). RPA categories
became a linkage between muda type and sustainability dimension. The result of the second stage is
completed RPA rating sheet (Figure 3). All categories with the score 1 or 3 are weaknessess of the
company.
3.3. Stage 3: Identyfying the potential for improvements
All weaknesses discovered with the RPA rating sheet became an object of improvements. The
process of seeking the potential of improvements is presented in the Figure 4.

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MUDA
CHECKLIST 4 Priority
0
1
2
Qualifying 3
question Potential for
improvement
RPA Rating sheet Priority
Muda Q1
C1
C2 1 2 Muda 1
... 0
1
2
P1

C3
C4
WEAKNESS
Cn
Muda n 3 3 ...

C5
Muda Priority
C6
Qualifying
C7 C ... Muda 1 0
question
1
C8 2
C9 Muda n Q1 3
C10 ...
C11 Priority
0
5
1
2
3

Fig. 4. Determining the potential for improvements

Source: own
There are presented all steps required to achieve the information about areas with the potential for
improvement to increase effectiveness of process, including:
1. Selection categories representing company’s weaknesses (rating 1 or 3 achieved in RPA Rating
Sheet).
2. Weakness’s analysis from the perspective of types of identified muda related to specified category.
3. Verification of each identified muda with the use of Muda Checklist (Table 4). Identified types of
muda are the object of further analysis.
4. Reviewing all qualifying questions for identified muda. Each question describes the situation which
is characteristic for specified muda. There are two possibilities of the answer (Appearance):
a) No – the specified situation is not existed in a company;
b) Yes – the specified situation appears in a company. It requires assessment of the importance
analyzed situation within the following scale:
 0 - no importance;
 1 - small waste;
 2 - large waste;
 3 - very large waste.
5. The greatest attention should be paid to large and very large waste (score equal 2 or 3). These waste
indicate the direction of corrective actions - the potential for improvements.

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Table. 4. Muda Checklist

Appearance
Muda

Priority
(M)

QUALIFYING QUESTION (Q) Sustainability

No Yes (0-3)

- lack of production planning; ECON

- production plans/task for workers are often changed; ECON
- long refitting time; ECON
- make to stock; ECON
Overproduction

- overcapacity; ECON
- unbalanced production flow (e. g. different daily standrads for ECON
workplaces);
- permission to bigger production to maximize the productivity; ECON,ECO
- blocked material flow; ECON
- increasing inventories; ECON, ECO
- big production size (batch); ECON
- breakdowns; ECON, ECO
- manufacturing defects ECON,ECO
- there is not enough place in a warehouse; ECON, ECO
- product inventory/WIP partially block the passage of the SOC
workplace;
- storaging parts in the workplace in an amount greater than the SOC,ECON
Inventories

current needs (for example. the daily production);

- there are formed bottlenecks during waiting for ECON, SOC
documents/decisions/materials processing;
- increasing inventories; ECON,ECO
- products lose their value in use (e. g. expiry date); ECON, CO
- there is not enough space for waste; ECON,ECO
- incorrect materials requirements planning; ECON
- waiting for the machine; ECON, SOC
- waiting for information / instructions from superiors / staff ECON, SOC
from other positions;
- waiting for the material from previous workplace; ECON, SOC
- waiting for tools used by other workers; ECON, SOC
Waiting

- waiting for the means of transport; ECON, SOC

- absence of workers is high; ECON, SOC
- unbalanced production line; ECON, SOC
- there are delays in the tasks realization according to the plan; ECON
- high specialization of workers; ECON, SOC
-delays in deliveries of parts used in assembling; ECON
- breakdowns; ECON
- performing more actions than it is required; ECON, ECO
Inappropriate

- unclear/lack of customer’s specification; ECON

processing

- usprawnienie produktów przewyższające wymagania klienta; ECON, ECO

- lack of procedures; ECO, SOC
- poor control in the case of many product configurations; ECON, ECO
- wrong order of operations SOC, EC0,
ECON
- large distance between the workplaces; ECON, SOC
- worker carries material / parts between workstations; ECON, SOC
Transportation

- required repeatedly transport and unloading/ loading materials ECON, SOC, ECO
during the work;
- subsequent operations are performed at workplaces in ECON, SOC
different parts of the company;
- purchasing materials / parts in large batches; ECON
- many different storage places; ECON, SOC, ECO
- several-step movement; ECON, SOC, ECO
- component are often damaged during transport; ECON, SOC, ECO
Source: Own

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What is more Muda Checklist includes three dimensions of sustainability:

 ECO – ecological issues;
 ECON – economic issues;
 SOC – social issues.
Association of the questions identifying muda to specific aspects of sustainable development has
been identified on the basis of brainstorming. Each sustainability dimension was ordered to the
question on the basis of explicit assignment. It was not examined the strength of belonging each
sustainable dimension to the question, as what noted by Relich in his work [13]
As part of the created Muda Checklist, taking into account researches of Relich [13], it could be
better to determine the degree of membership of a particular aspect of sustainability to questions
identifying muda, what could be a direction for further research. Companies become a winner because
they have a knowledge: where to start improving process, how it is relevant and for who it is relevant –
People, Economy or Environment? Muda Check list is a lean tool helping to be more sustainable.

4. CONCLUSIONS
Companies are looking for possibilities of increasing their effectiveness to achieve higher profit, to
be more competitive. That results in the requirement for tools helping to discover the areas of potential
improvements. In this paper, there was presented the method of discovering internal potential of
companies according to lean approach.
The basis was RPA method connected with muda and sustainability pillars. That hybrid allowed to
create interesting tool - Muda Checklist which is an answer for searching the potential for
improvement with continuous sustainability consideration. Proposed approach of exploration potential
optimization has got an universal dimension, due to the fact, that we can find muda in each company.
Through presented method increasing process’ effectiveness can be easier and faster. What is
more it brings the company to the level of “sustainable company”.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This paper refers to the research financed by the Narodowe Centrum Badan i Rozwoju NCBiR (National Centre for
Research and Development) in the framework of the German-Polish cooperation for sustainable development, project
”Sustainability in remanufacturing operations (SIRO)”, grant no WPN/2/2012.

Abstract
The lean production is a well-known managerial concept with the critical point which is value creation. Adopting and
implementing the lean approach focused on waste reduction, leads to more sustainable operations. In this paper it is
assumed that each process is more sustainable, if there will be efficient utilization of the resources. Waste is an firewall for
the efficient and sustainable use of resources, what means that there is hidden potential for optimization.
In this article there is presented a new method of identifying all types of muda from the perspective of the dimensions of
sustainability: social, economic and environmental development with the use of Rapid Plant Assessment. Registered types
of muda became a platform for creating a questionnaire – Muda checklist, which contain the information about areas with
the potential for improvements.
Keywords: Lean, Rapid Plant Assesment, Sustainability, Muda checklist

Jak znaleźć potencjał do usprawnień? – Lista kontrolna muda jako narzędzie koncepcji lean
dla przedsiębiorstw produkcyjnych

Streszczenie
Szczupła produkcja jest dobrze znaną menadżerską koncepcją zarządzania, w której najważniejsze jest kreowanie wartości.
W trakcie realizacji koncepcji lean szczególny nacisk kładzie się na usuwanie strat, co skutkuje tym, że operacje zyskują
wymiar bardziej zrównoważonych. Założono, że wraz ze wzrostem efektywności wykorzystania zasobów, wzrasta poziom
zrównoważonego rozwoju w kontekście wykonywanych operacji. Straty stanowią blokadę dla efektywnego i
zrównoważonego wykorzystania zasobów, stanowiąc przez to ukryty potencjał do optymalizacji.

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W artykule zaprezentowano nową metodę identyfikacji strat (muda) z perspektywy zrównoważonego wykorzystania
zasobów w wymiarze: ekonomicznym, społecznym, ekologicznym. Zidentyfikowane typy strat w przedsiębiorstwie
stanowią podstawę dl budowy formularza – Listy Kontrolnej Optymalizacji (Muda Checklist), która zawiera informacje o
obszarach z potencjałem do zmian.
Słowa kluczowe: Lean, Rapid Plant Assesment, zrównoważony rozwój, lista kontrolna optymalizacji

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