How to overcome IT waste that hinders operational efficiency

In information technology, any roadblock to efficiently and effectively deliver value to the customer is considered as waste. Often acronym DOWNTIME is used to define several factors that contribute to IT waste. It's important to have a thorough understanding  of all the parameters contributing to such waste. Once identification is complete, efforts can be made to eliminate these wastes from our business.

1.       Defects: 

Why should we worry about defects? 

Defects lead to rework. Every process requires analysis to ensure that the customer is not provided with defective service. Within each process we need to put checks which leads to increased cost of providing the service. Completely eliminating the defects is a major challenge but we should concentrate on reducing them. First step towards defect reduction is finding the root cause of the defect.

 

Root causes of the defects may be:

§  Lack of quality checks

§  Weak system controls

§  Faulty inputs

§  Lack of training

§  Absence of documentation

Preventive measures:

§  Robust quality checks in place

§  Early detection of defects using techniques like Poka-yoke(mistake-proofing)

§  Documentation of standard operating procedures

§  Proper training of staff 

2.       Overproduction 

Overproduction results in situations where production is not directly related to customer demand. It ends up blocking working capital and wastes time on non-productive tasks.

 

Root causes for over-production may be:

§  Unclear customer demands

§  Ineffective forecasting

Preventive measures:

§  Aligning production with customer demand

§  Establishing a reasonable workflow 

3.       Waiting

Waiting results from the idle time in the process chain that could be due to pending approvals or over-whelming of the next stage.

Root causes for Waiting may be:

§  Poor Communication

§  Unplanned downtime

§  Insufficient staffing

§  Poor process quality

§  Long set-up time

Preventive measures:

§  Provide adequate staffing

§  Standardize work

§  Well-defined issue resolution process

§  Minimum downtime 

4.       Non-Value-added processing 

 Unlike over-production which is linked to customer demand, non-value-added processing or over-processing is linked to internal processes. It’s when we perform unnecessary or excessive work.

Root causes for over-processing may be:

§  Multiple approvals in place

§  Excessive reporting

§  Duplicate entry of data at various stages

§  To-and-fro flow of queries

Preventive measures:

§  Eliminate unnecessary documentation

§  Removing redundant sign-offs

§  Standardize processes 

5.       Transportation

In Information technology Transport refers to unnecessary movement of work or information during production. More the number of hand-offs more the transportation waste.

Root causes for transportation waste may be:

§  Unnecessary steps in the process

§  Poor process flow

Preventive measures:

§  Simplification of processes

§  Efficient hand-offs

§  Minimum back and forth process steps 

6.       Inventory

Inventory results due to excess of supply over demand. This also includes significant levels of work in progress (WIP) in production and/or waiting for delivery to customer. There is a need for a lot of resources to maintain inventory and ensure proper upkeep, record and safety that costs money and effort.

Root causes of Inventory waste may be:

§  Ineffective monitoring systems

§  Gaps in supplier/vendor management

§  Improper demand forecasting techniques

Preventive measures:

§  Putting effective monitoring mechanisms in place

§  Use of lean techniques like Kanban

§  Effective vendor/supplier management 

7.       Motion

Motion is unnecessary movement that may increase risk or wear and tear.  Looking at motion waste in information technology, this is often attributed to excessive movement of gathering data from multiple data sources or too many "clicks."

Root causes of Motion waste may be:

§  Shared resources/tools

§  Workstation congestion

§  Operating in Silos

§  Lack of standards

Preventive measures:

§  Ensure requisite resource/tool availability

§  Logical and ordered work areas

§  Easier accessibility

§  Centralized availability of required data 

8.       Employee unused knowledge

Knowledge is of immense importance in today's fast-paced environment and failure to realize its significance may contribute to under-utilization of employee potential.

     

Root causes of unused employee knowledge may be:

§  Improper methods of task assignment

§  Poor Communication

Preventive measures:

§  Stop micromanaging

§  Empowering employees

§  Increase training

All these needless IT wastes raise our costs and increase our delivery time. Identifying these wastes is the first step, after identification focus can be shifted towards elimination. Only after eliminating these IT wastes can we ensure efficient customer delivery which is the key to success for any business in today’s world.