Motion Waste: The Steps Your People Take That Add Nothing

What is motion waste?

Motion waste is the movement of people that the work does not need: walking, searching, bending, reaching, turning and lifting. It tires people and takes time from real work. It is rarely a problem of effort. Most often it is a problem of how the workplace is set up.

When an operator walks far for a tool, we say, "He is slow." But he walks because the tool is far. Change the place and the walking stops.

Is motion the same as transportation?

No. Transportation moves material. Motion is the movement of the person. A forklift carrying a crate is transportation. An operator walking to the tool room is motion. Transportation has its own article in this series.

Where do we see it?

In the shop

• Walking to the tool room for an insert, then again for a gauge.
• Bending to pick parts from a crate on the floor.
• Searching for a spanner, a gauge or the drawing.
• Turning around to read a drawing that is kept behind the machine.
• Lifting heavy parts by hand where a lifting aid would do.

In the office

• Walking to the printer many times a day.
• Searching for a file on the computer.
• Clicking through five screens to find one number.

What does it cost? An example

A lathe operator goes to the tool room for inserts, gauges and the setting sheet. He goes 8 times a shift. The tool room is 60 metres away.

• Walking: 8 trips × 120 metres (there and back) = about 1 km a shift.
• Time, including waiting at the window: about 25 minutes a shift.

(These numbers are an example.) The plant placed a tool trolley and a shadow board at the machine, with the inserts, gauges and setting sheet for the day's jobs. The trips came down to one, at the start of the shift.

The operator did not start working harder. His day was redesigned.

When people take unnecessary steps, look at the layout first, not at the person.

Why does it happen?

• Poor layout. Tools and parts are far from where they are used.
• No 5S. There is no fixed place for each tool, so people search.
• Central tools for everyone. One tool room serves the whole plant.
• Parts at the wrong height. They are on the floor instead of at waist height.
• No standard way of working. Each person does the job differently.

How do we reduce motion?

1. Use 5S, especially Set in Order. Give every tool a marked place, close to where it is used.
2. Make a shadow board. The outline of each tool shows where it belongs and what is missing.
3. Prepare a tool trolley for the day's jobs. The operator starts the shift with what he needs.
4. Put parts at waist height on racks or stands, not on the floor.
5. Write the standard way of working, including where things are kept.
6. Mark the empty place. Put a card in the empty place on the shadow board, so a missing tool can be traced and brought back. The aim is to find the tool, not to blame a person.
7. Separate scrap at the source. Metal, plastic, paper and wood in separate bins can each be sold. Mixed scrap earns nothing and looks untidy at an audit.

When 5S is in place, three wastes fall together: transportation, motion and searching.

How do we see motion?

Stand near one workstation for 30 minutes with a notebook. Note each time the person walks, bends, reaches or searches. Draw their path on a sketch of the area. Do it with the person, not behind their back. Tell them that you are studying the workplace, not them.

You will see patterns quickly. The same tool is fetched four times. The same drawing is turned around to read.

How to start in your plant

1. Pick one machine with heavy operator movement.
2. Observe one shift and count the walks and searches.
3. Move the tools and gauges used every day to the machine.
4. Mark a place for each, with a shadow board or painted outline.
5. Count again after two weeks, and show the result to the operator first.