The 3M’s of Lean
The 3M technique for TPS (Toyota Production System) is called so in view of the three Japanese words utilized by Toyota to depict 3 undesirable kinds of process issues from their producttion/creation/service floors. These are…
Muda: Means “Wastage” this is refers to various kinds of wastages that occur during a production or a service life-cycle, and there are a quite a few lean tools that in one form or the other try to take out “muda” out of our processes, be these waiting between process steps or rework or excesses of any type such as inventory or motion or extra checks in our processes.
Muri: Means “Overburden” and while this can also be an outcome of muda it may also be attributed to other factors. A consistent stay in this state will unavoidably bring about breakdowns or non-appearance in equipment and individuals respectively. Muri can bring about diminished quality just as decline in security of both machine and man, hence it is highly advisable to have a “Just / Fair” resource loading, so as to dispense with Muri conditions in a work environment.
Mura: Means “UnEven or lopsideded” it can allude to lopsidedness in resource work loads in both man and machine. Differences between loading and synchronization between various production stages causing lopsided cycle-times and passover to next stage or excess production at one stage and very low production at some other stage, Difference in training levels of individuals can also lead to Mura. Mura can also result from lopsided/fluctuating client requests or issues with Supply-Chain. Mura is a vital M to be kept in focus and especially while designing, re-structuring or streamlining process-streams, else even this can lead to Muda 🙂
A simple infographic illustrating 3M:
You can learn many such simple tools and industrial best practices via ProSigma’s Lean Six Sigma Trainings in Delhi. An intermediate program/workshop that covers this is the Six Sigma Green Belt in Delhi and NCR or as an Online workshop.
Till next time,
Cheers,
ProSigma
