Paper Example on Maximizing Quality with Muda: A Sprint/Verizon Case Study

Introduction

Total Quality Management is an endless work carried out by the top management of a company and its employees to safeguard long-term customer fulfillment and loyalty. A satisfied customer tends to woo more customers, unlike a disappointed customer that will tarnish the reputation of the company by spreading negative words to potential as well as current customers.

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What does MUDA mean, and how could it be used with a cellular company (Sprint, Verizon, etc.)?

Muda means processes in a production line that are wasteful, useless, and futile, controverting the value-addition process required on a production line. Some of the methods in Muda are non-value adding but are vital for a customer. For example, Sprint Telecommunication Company that offers messages and wireless voice services can occasionally do inspections and testing to ensure the privacy of the customers. As much as the inspection is necessary, it does little in terms of adding value to the services required by the customers.

How would you use MUDA at home or at your work environment? Explain using all 7 deadly wastes.

Overproduction in a home environment can involve preparing food in excess. It is, therefore, necessary to prepare what is enough for the family to avoid wastage. Excessive electricity is required to preserve excess food, or it is bound to go bad.

Waiting in a home or at work can result in stalled projects. The cause of this is usually a shortage of labor or scarcity of raw materials. This can be fixed by hiring workers who are capable of multitasking or are diverse in their field of expertise.

Transportation waste in a workplace result as a failure to reduce the distances covered trying to secure materials or supplies from stores. Digitization has perfectly worked in minimizing movements.

Non-Value Added Processes in a workplace are caused by a lack of understanding of the customers' needs. Therefore, a standard procedure should be used in addressing the customer needs to minimize the resulting volume of documentation.

Inventory waste occurs if the workplace holds into materials in excess that lead to high costs of storing. Tackling this requires a clear understanding of the trends in the market place and adjust the process accordingly. At home, this can be seen through excessive buying of groceries that are bound to spoil with time and to keep them fresh, and it requires refrigeration, which is expensive.

Defects at a workplace can be a result of a lack of well-trained employees. To solve this, it is vital to hire qualified employees based on their merit alone. The employees can be further trained to improve their performance.

Employee underutilization of employees is common in many work environments. Thus, it is advised to give employees work that is adequate, and the overqualified and skilled employees given tasks that match their expertise to maximize their productivity.

Explain the 3 primary ingredients of Just in Time and how it can be used in a transportation company.

Just in time is a system in which an entity receives goods exactly when they are needed. The three ingredients of Just in Time are flow production, takt time, and a pull system.

Flow production – inflow production, items are processed in small numbers and consecutive steps. In a transportation company, flow production is used in such a way that there is an efficient and effective flow of materials to the production unit in the required quantities only at the required time.

Takt time – takt time in a transportation company is applied in the case of loading of trucks. Such that if vehicles have to leave the yard at a given time, the time before their departure can be divided so that loading of each truck takes a certain amount of time to avoid delays. For example, if you have ten trucks to load in 3 hours, it implies that each truck will be loaded in 18 minutes to be on schedule.

A pull system – this system ensures that activities are done in the required sequence. For example, in a transportation company, it is necessary for the order to be received and verified before loading is done. If packing is done before the verification of the order, it can result in overloading or underloading, which might force the loaders to unload or add more goods on the truck, thus leading to time wastage.

Explain lean control in a school setting.

Lean control is applied in a school setting to encourage teachers and other employees to swiftly pinpoint and solve the problems that hinder the students from having exemplary performance. For lean to adequately work, the teachers should be empowered to be fully capable of understanding the students in terms of how they value education and how to translate the value of education into processes that can be followed by the students. Besides, the teachers must be empowered to stop any learning process in case a problem arises that needs to be addressed so as the quality is maintained.

What are the lean principles? Explain each one in terms of a manufacturing facility (Toyota, Ford, etc.).

Lean, as applied in a manufacturing facility, is aimed at increasing the production efficiency and consequently improving the quality of the resulting product. The lean principles were introduced by Ford and later advanced by Toyota. In the principles of Ford, Toyota introduced further changes that gave room for variations in the production process while maintaining an undisrupted workflow.

Standardization – standardization entails following a given way of doing things and not deviate from it to avoid inconsistencies in the product.

High Wages – the employees are handsomely paid for their services, as it is from them that the company can generate huge profits.

Wasted movement – to reduce unnecessary movements by the workers during the production line. The production line was therefore designed such that there is minimal movement by the workers as they perform their tasks.

Wasted Materials – this principle requires that a company device an alternative use for the raw materials that are not used in the production.

Just-in-Time Manufacturing – a company needs to understand the importance of producing just what is required at that particular time. This helps in cutting the costs that result in the storage of the raw materials and the processed materials.

Customer service – customer satisfaction is vital for any company. As advanced by Ford, a company should strive to meet the demands of the customers in terms of quality of product and timely delivery.

What are the 7 deadly waste of Muda? Explain each one in terms of it being used at a store like Walmart, HEB, etc.

Defects – Goods often go bad after their dates of expiry, and frequent inspection of the inventory is required to detect any defects in the goods on the shelves.

Overproduction – overproduction mainly occurs in the bakery section of the stores. To avoid the losses that are likely to be incurred, it is necessary to understand the customer needs.

Waiting – waiting waste can be used in a store in the cases of unforeseen maintenance activities. This maintenance usually results in a long queue as some of the service lines are down. This calls for regular maintenance to avoid such incidences.

Transportation – goods sold in a supermarket are required to be transported from manufactures or even farms to the store. It is vital to reduce the cost of shipping as it does not add value to the products. Transportation of goods should be efficient in such a way that it does not waste time and result in the products spoiling on the route like the case of perishable groceries.

Inventory – inventory waste arises mainly if the store supplies more goods than the actual demand in the given area. Oversupply is usually as a result of weak market forecast.

Motion – motion waste in a supermarket can occur during the unloading of goods from trucks to the stores. If the design does not allow for reducing the distance between the parked truck and the stores, it means there is more time the workers cover without actually being useful.

Employee Utilization – underutilization of employees arises when the store hires more cashiers. Thus at any given time, you find cashers who are not serving customers as the number of customers is not overwhelming. Another factor is that lowers the productivity of employees is poor pay, and it reduces their morale of serving customers

Why is lean associated with Toyota Motor Corporation? How is this transferred to other industries, and does it work? Explain and defend in your own words.

Lean is associated with Toyota because the company pioneered it. Lean has been gradually introduced into different industries, like service and construction. It has proved to be a success to given lengths, however lack of clear guidelines on how it can be implemented has been the main reason for resistance and little adoption of it.

What are some lean applications you can use in a medical facility? Explain.

Transportation – unnecessary movements in a medical facility include movement of patients, medical supplies, and equipment. Uncalled for movements from one department to another, either looking for supplies or transporting the patient pose risks to both the patient and caregiver. Lean can be used to minimize such movements, thus saving time, reducing injuries caused as well as improving the patient's flow.

Overproduction – In hospitals, it is common to find avoidable processes like repetitive data entry being undertaken before a patient is treated. Through lean, this process can be eliminated and replaced with a single entry of data that can be used during the treatment process.

Reduce waiting time – it is common to find long ques of patients waiting to be attended to in a hospital accustomed to a piled waiting list as a result of latecomers. It is another are that lean can be applied to help reduce the waste.

What does "Lean in the Office" mean, and if you could improve this process, what would you change (explain why)?

Lean in the office means applying the lean principles in an office setting to modernize and remove waste from the administrative methods and consequently add value.

In trying to implement lean in the office, I would change that tendency to the abrupt introduction of lean in the office and replace it with a gradual introduction. Because of the lean tools are introduced at once, it often faces resistance from the team hence unsustainable results. The gradual introduction usually leads to a sense of ownership of the tools by the target group, and therefore the value of introducing it will be seen.