Eliminate the three Ms of inventory

- Shigeo Shingo is one of the most quoted experts on lean principles. He once said, "The most dangerous kind "of waste is the waste we do not recognize." He means that you must first clearly identify waste before you can work to eliminate it. Fortunately, lean helps you do that by classifying three types of waste. It's important to understand each of these types, how they apply to inventory management, and what solutions are offered to eliminate these wastes. The first type of waste is muda, which is the Japanese word for any activity that does not create value for your customer. For example, unnecessary movement of inventory within the factory adds no value. In fact, additional steps can slow down the process and cause late deliveries to your customer. This can also lead to higher inventory levels because the flow of material is slowed down by the additional steps. In order to streamline this we can apply an approach called kaizen. Kaizen, which means improvement, can help you…