I have seen a few of these reason of why over production occurs in the company I work at. Which is very risky, one time we over produced a product, then find out a new rev change will occur and now we were stuck with obsolete product.
I work in a Distribution environment, at times we have to handle the 'result' in overproduction from our owned manufacturing facilities as well as from our purchasing buying forward from our overseas partners ... net result is in influx of material that can take up space and resources ... downstream impacts that neither the production facilities or purchasing have to deal with.
While a few of the reasons for over-production are based on a genuine motivation to save and protect the company's interests (materials price or availability, safety cushions of stock), many of the reasons for over-production are based on self-interest, lack of effort, pride, and greed. All of the negative qualities cause a price that is paid by the company, not the employee. Thus, accountability for deliberate wastes should be imposed to intimidate such decisions and actions. And if those penalties drive away bad actors, the company benefits.
Interesting video explaining reasons for over production. Like others have commented, the identified drivers of overproduction are surprisingly common in the workplace.
As inflation increases and competition grows, the need to implement these changes also increases. Falling victim to not innovate with the times will only hurt your company and leave you further and further behind.
I thought Overproduction was a safety net! Yet now I understand from a Lean ensure consistent improvement leads to quality both customer and internal personnel. Lack of relationship with customer, not having a understanding of spikes, pressured with quotas (I've been there!) , local view as opposed to Company-Wide. Leads to TIMWOODS. Thank you Sir!
I was unaware of the pitfalls associated with over production and how the minimal metrics of over production and how they will bleed your forecasted budgets. It is eye opening to see the least. Though it goes to show how disconnected every department is from the organizational point. Meeting quotes, pushing profits, while invoking over production or ensuring your workers maintain a steady work stream will not aid the company. The manager ensuring that there is adequate work without consulting other parties to ensure that their metrics can become extremely costly in all facets. Simply won’t work if you are excessing the complete picture of T.I.M.W.O.O.D.S., and not a portion of it. Yee-Haw!
Great explanation of the different ways of over-producing. I have seen this happen and I always saw positives and negatives of why do we do that! This video gave me a better understanding of that
7:03 Reminds me of a company in a case study that bought some expensive equipment that was supposed to improve productivity and efficiency. When it didn't, they resorted to overproducing parts and sticking them in inventory to make the equipment look like a better purchase.
Hi Rafael, this comes from a distortion in priorities and each department looking to look good by itself, which are symptoms of the departments operating as silos instead of as parts of the company system. Incredible but true, right?
Great video explaining on why company's over-produce. I never thought as to why companies over-produce, and it is very interesting to hear these key points.
We tend to hear that companies are always over-producing, but we never really know what the root cause is. This video clarified things on how we can prevent over-production for the well-being of our company.
Over-producing can be driven by many factors which filter down to production. In many instances, departments think they are saving money and time by using equipment and resources which in actuality is the opposite
Over-production does impact our company. It takes up valuable space in inventory and can potentially create excess wastes due to product having a limited shelf life.
'For the good of their own team/department/individual vs. for the good of the company' - this is such a challenge, especially when certain quotas are incentivized or focused on.
@@KristinaPostula indeed, incentivizing at the department level brings the risk of silo or fiefdom mentality and the breakup of the company as a working system.
Karla. I had the same thought. This just goes to show as a business owner how much you really have to put your trust into your leaders to make sure that their heart is in it for the good of the company and that they are really working to make sure quality and compliance are good instead of making sure their territory or portfolio goals are hitting the target for the sake of themselves.
Interesting information on why a company over produces. I was caught guard by equipment, production inefficiencies, and accounting reasons for over producing. These seem like obvious reasons and I would have thought would be to catch by a company.
These are some great examples shown. Time and time again, I hear about the over-production of goods and the issues various companies undergo. By adhering to a few simple changes, this can all be solved.
What other actions can you take in a scenario where the forecasting is not good enough to prevent overproduction but the customers won't/can't give any better forecast information?
@Dan, avoiding over-production is not an isolated effort but has some pre-requisites such as dependable forecasting, demand leveling (heijunka), and healthy relationships with your suppliers so they may provide more accurate forecasts. Work on the forecasting problem by building stronger relationships with your suppliers -- go beyond the transaction and build the basis for a long-term collaboration. Also, see my answer to John Sciortino.
Francisco does a great job of providing concise examples of each type of waste. And every one of the 8 kinds of waste I feel like I've experienced during my career. Some good examples that he provides.
@@fkiQuality In a food manufacturing setting I witnessed the over production of certain cuts of beef. The two underlying factors that caused the over production of these cuts (i.e. SKUs) were a) that they were the easiest/quickest to produce and, b) because they were the top performing/selling SKUs the previous year. In any case there was no real connection with the market place/actual customer orders.
There can be so many ways overproduction can be damaging. I think communication is a key amongst other thisng. I like how you make this easier to understand.
The inefficiencies are maddening! One of the most important takeaways that I got from watching this was that companies NEED to be in touch with their customers and/or market. THAT should be the major driving factor in their business decisions (among others of course).
I want to thank you for clearing up the mystery of over production and why it is done. Having raw materials might create an urgency that causes factories to over produce because they have what they need now to make their product in excess for 2 reasons, they feel that they will have less defects and they will have enough product to negate the defects when they occur. Companies can over produce due to standing equipment that they feel the need to run at all times instead of just letting it be. Companies might over produce because they lack a clear relationship with their customers and assume to make more to meet unrealistic demands, not imposed by the customer but by their own perception. There are more but you explained them in clear and concise detail.
Francisco does a great job describing how different areas of the business can contribute to over-production. There are many factors that play into waste and I have experienced them all at some point throughout my career.
Over-production is an on-going problem and usually stems from I'm just trying to keep my job and look busy. This breakdown really explains the various areas which management, sales and production teams need to focus on. That focus might just curb the notion of I have to stay busy to stay employed.
The questions that I threw were answered in this video. Within Pharma, we lose so much time in cleaning for cross contaminationbetween product. In order to minimize the time, we sometimes make extra. Many times, we were able to forecast properly and sell all on time, but sometimes it expires leading to all 8 waste. I am very impressed with how you can catergorizeto include all the issues that happen to all production.
I learned of many different angles on why we over-produce. I appreciate the mention of stretch goals demanded by management as another reason for over-production. This shows the crucial need for training of supervisors and upper management on the need for waste awareness, management and its consequences.
Maintaining good customer relations is so important to preventing over-production. Not only for an increase in sales, but to have consistent orders. This improves the accuracy of forecasts too.
Thanks again for another enlightening video. It is really important to have great communication between the different departments of a company as well as their customers, among other things, to prevent over-production and therefore waste.
The consequences of not having what is needed is a driving factor. Fine tuning the real issues as you pointed out and knowing that all products will be there when needed will provide the confidence to avoid as much over production waste.
It is amazing how much waste is produced from over production per your discussion. What this highlights is the absolute necessity for company management or key decision makers to meet regularly to ensure all areas are in sync with one another and have one aim. Working to run the business with a just in time approach is much more efficient than managing issues created by the 7 wastes from over production.
I appreciated the slides with the examples as there were so many so it was nice to be able to document that. I think the summary really said it all. There are so many times when financial drive operations and have an adverse effect so they end up costing more money vs. saving the company money. I think a better understanding of waste could greatly benefit any company at all levels of the organization.
Excellent video showing why companies overproduce. Interesting to realize from how many different departments overproduction can come from (e.g. Purchasing, Production, Accounting, Sales, etc.), and why.
This is a real eye opener. I didn't realize how much waste is involved. This makes me question if the company uniquely wants to look for a solution or keep cost down when in reality it is costing them not only money, but time and talent.
in business processes the worst effect of overproduction is the unevenness of workloads -- think of accounting departments at the close of each month ... and then it ends ...
A good example of individual quotas causing waste: In a previous line of work at a thrift store I had, we were given a quota to price about 800 items per day per person from the crates of donations. The managers said if we met production goals, then we will meet sales goals. This meant pricers were influential to the number of sales made in one day. This production goal was achievable if we really focused 100% of the time, but it was very straining in some situations if we kept opening donation crates with low quality goods that day (we were not allowed to price anything broken, damaged, or dirty), or if there were other emergency duties that pulled us off the production line eating up the limited daily time we had to produce. In order to fulfill the daily quota in these cases, we would sometimes cheat by pricing very small items such as arts and crafts materials individually instead of as a bulk item in a box or bag. This was a jackpot boost to our numbers, and it made the bosses happy because it looked like we were producing well, but in the long run those items never sold and always ended up in the trash bin. This was evident by days when we did meet or exceed production goals, but we did not meet sales goals. We might have sold 1 bag of 20 spools of thread, but no one wanted to buy 20 individual spools of thread. However, we got 20 points on our production numbers instead of 1. On top of not meeting sales, those items also took up precious sales floor space, and cluttered the shelves (which can cause the store to lose attractiveness to shoppers). Thrift store shoppers are very messy sometimes, so a worker then had to declutter the shelves every night after closing by either reorganizing the entire sales floor items neatly or scooping up all the unsold clutter to throw away or recycle. Having to spend time on the valueless junk, it expends many resources on tasks that did not add value to the store. Daily goals should add value when reached, and be careful to not become a potential cause for waste.
Thanks for this excellent example, Nick, you show how having goals can backfire when they are unachievable and people simply cheat to reach them, unwittingly creating a chain of negative consequences, such as meeting a production quota but not meeting a sales target.
i liked the "maximize their own benefit [department] rather than the whole company". I have seen this so much in my work and it leads to unnecessary costs.
This reminds me of my first year at Men's Wearhouse picking rental tuxedo orders. We over-produced out of every department, but were constrained as to how much we could get through final quality control and out to the customer. We constantly fought against orders waiting to move just to get our jobs done. It was counter productive and un-safe. It was difficult to convince my boss that we could produce more by producing less. Once we reduced over-production, it was easier to work and everyone was happier.
Having all departments focus on reducing waste like overproduction is important. Production is often the department that feels the pinch when this happens, but often, they are simply responding to bad input they are receiving from the other departments. All departments have a role.
Great video about all the internal drivers to waste and over-production that I have unfortunately seen in my company. Really shows the importance of having everyone on the same page and having a good communication network as well.
One of the biggest problems at my old company was over-production. Production would normally make more than needed to try and combat defects and future orders. This usually resulted in inventory sitting for months at a time and a lot of money tied up in inventory. Looking back on it, it really is a band-aid fix, instead of looking at the problem in the process that's causing this problem.
Adam, this is true, trying to combat defects by making more stuff will only produce even more defects unless the quality yield has increased, and trying to address future orders is a risky game of thinking you have a crystal ball.
The most common underlying theme in each of the factors that lead to over-production seems to revolve around individual quotas. I noticed that in each example of over-production there was a sense of self-preservation or fear so not to lose one’s job. However, when all these factors compound the result is the opposite, where at first, employees or department heads were trying to protect their job, may have inadvertently contributed to a reduction in force or mass layoffs.
Yes, good point Victor, lack of coordination between departments for a number of reasons, including miscommunication, will lead to production imbalances and thus over production.
This is very relevant to my industry. We must carefully calculate how much we can sell because unlike a window or other mechanical item pharmaceuticals expire in a relatively short time. So we would be dumping product down the drain if we over produce.
The point of over-production is not caused by customer demand, but by rather internal decisions and internal-drive resonated with me and my experience in the work place. One point I would add to poor forecasting is possibly poor knowledge of your vendors, or poor vendors in general. If you cannot trust vendors to deliver on time, then you might be forced to over produce and keep safety stock of finished goods. I have been part of production teams where production is heavily driven by the appearance of looking busy.
as a finance professional the question many ask is "do we sandbag our numbers" and look good when we beat the forecast? this actually can cause more work thru overproduction to meet the higher probability that we beat the lower forecast. So the sandbagged numbers might lead to over-production/fire drills. Great seeing how all of these factors play into over-producing.
It is frightening how many reasons you identified for why we often waste time and money on over-production / over-processing /etc., and sad to realize that it is not a list of all possible reasons. I observe that the great majority of these reasons are tied to fear: fear of losing our jobs, of looking foolish, of missing out, of not using available resources, of not taking advantage of opportunities, of not making quotas, of being judged poorly, etc. I can see why LSS will not work in an environment dominated by fear - it motivates us to do the wrong things, and to remain silent about it, lest we draw attention to ourselves.
Very good video bringing to light the waste components identified using Lean and the connection between each other. I can see value in using this video as an introduction to Lean as it can set the tone and direction for the teams participating in the improvement efforts within the organization.
It is very true. It often even affects the market itself. Many times there is such an amount of unsold product out there, that has been pushed to the retailers, just because it was produced, but not because it was really requested by the final consumer. And at the end those amounts of unsold products, if not recycled in different ways, were destined to the garbage....what a waste!!!
This was helpful and relatable to all working environments. Letting finance costs determine next steps in a business proposal happen too often as opposed to looking further into the root causes. I liked Francisco’s point regarding the broken thought process of over producing (and operating without high quality) to meet a desired goal- sure the business meets their quota for a customer, but the process and number of defects has not been addressed. Very relatable.
Great explanation of overproduction. Companies need to be aware of the negative impacts of overproduction and realize when they are experiencing this waste. Continue to focus on the customer demand and produce what is needed. Creating standards and goals will support achieving a target production goal.
Throughout my career I have seen many of the "internal drivers" in action. I think by far the most prevalent drivers I've seen are the shielding against forecast deviations and the quotas. Another very good summary!
This is a great explanation of the consequences of waste and specific to using financial goals as the driver. I've seen in many companies the Sales dept. fight hard for a product without regard to operations or supporting it. This in turn creates division between Sales and Operations/IT Support instead of coming together for the common cause of the company.
This video makes you think about why we overproduce from various perspectives all ultimately showing the disadvantages of departments working in silos as well as the negative impact of how personnel are evaluated and rewarded.
It's clear through the 8 Wastes discussion that relationships and communication and the human capital in an org are the key to everything. Nearly all of the "Why's" are answered by decisions based on individual motivation, KPI/compensation maximization, poor communication or coordination between departments. At the core of things, people perform the work and are the creators and destroyers of value. It's not the machine and it's setup time, in the pareto chart of what to focus on to improve operations, we need to consider "the way we work together."
This is so true and sadly enough this seems to happen in almost every company more often than everyone would like. Thanks for emphasizing how important to ensure that team's goals should be aligned to the firm's goals to minimize wastes.
It is very interesting to see all of the factors that can lead to over production. Production typically gets blamed for it, however many departments contribute to it. It appears that the best way to combat it is to have each department’s goals aligned along with a strong relationship with internal and external customers.
great explanation of toyota's 7 wastes. In their company, they believed overproduction was the most important waste to get rid of. What's interesting is that a majority of the causes of overproduction are coming from outside of the production line itself. With bad information coming in, the production line is set up for failure. Knowing your customer is what I believe is the most important factor. If you know your customer, you can accurately forecast quantities needed, so you should not run into a situation of overproduction, and all of the wastes that subsequently follow
At the company that I work at, we very often over produce because of our 'fear' of our quality department rejecting parts that we make. We also overproduce by justifying the production due to a difficult set-up. We have to be aware of our immediate needs and look at our long term forecasts. Some of the concepts in this video are definately re
Understanding the causes of over-production and how over-production drives the other seven forms of waste clarifies why a just in time approach is so benefical.
Eliminating "over-production" on a manufacturing line was huge for me. I was able to improve product quality but not over producing. By keeping control of production, the number of defects found at a later stage in the manufacturing process was minimal.
The reasons why we over produce make sense. I think the most difficult thing ( at least within my team) is identifying the cost of that over production.
Interesting to see the detail of why companies over produce. The details behind various accounting/inventory practices amongst others shows you have to speak up when you see problems and managers need to listen and act on deficiencies reported to them.
This was a fascinating video that explored the internally-driven, non-value act of over-production. I found it interesting that many of the reasons Francisco explained are rooted in fear (e.g. stockouts, sell with confidence, make "things" to keep looking busy, materials management/"urgency,"quality issues) or lack of understanding/knowledge of the business (inaccurate forecasts, lack of close relationships with customers, unbalanced quotas, production inefficiencies, quality issues, inefficient processes being driven by excessive production costs or other financial issues).
Each person in the company wants to appear as useful as possible and so the appearance of making as many pieces as possible or running a process even when it is not warranted, is a huge driving factor to over production. The employee believes that if they look good on paper then they must be doing a good job, but they don't see the big picture.
The idea of making more of something to compensate in advance for defects is such a widely used concept. It makes me wonder where would we start to change the minds of those involved.
After watching the video it made me think about the auto industry. I remember growing up and going to the car dealer with my parents and they picked out exactly what they wanted in their car and they ordered their car in which it came in "x" amount of time. Now you go to the dealership and they have 100s of cars on their lot to choose from so you can go home that day with your new car-I don't know when the mindset changed but it just seems the auto industry is loaded with wastes and it reflects the disposable society that we live in. If these manufacturing companies started producing quality goods that last more than a few years I think we'd all be a little better off ;o)
I never thought of these reasons but it does make sense that these factors are company driven reasons, it is a basically a perceived potential waste, ie the protecting against stock outs and perceived waste with the buying raw materials on sale and equipment depreciation.
Over-production is common in many companies that operate blindly; every department reports numbers, outputs, and are not aware of the waste they are creating and the lack of connection with other departments.
Great job explaining this different ways to over produce. Very good information. Thanks Francisco
good information, things to use and think about in the production planning dept
Great lesson.
I have seen a few of these reason of why over production occurs in the company I work at. Which is very risky, one time we over produced a product, then find out a new rev change will occur and now we were stuck with obsolete product.
I work in a Distribution environment, at times we have to handle the 'result' in overproduction from our owned manufacturing facilities as well as from our purchasing buying forward from our overseas partners ... net result is in influx of material that can take up space and resources ... downstream impacts that neither the production facilities or purchasing have to deal with.
While a few of the reasons for over-production are based on a genuine motivation to save and protect the company's interests (materials price or availability, safety cushions of stock), many of the reasons for over-production are based on self-interest, lack of effort, pride, and greed. All of the negative qualities cause a price that is paid by the company, not the employee. Thus, accountability for deliberate wastes should be imposed to intimidate such decisions and actions. And if those penalties drive away bad actors, the company benefits.
Good breakdown of why a company might over produce product.
Interesting video explaining reasons for over production. Like others have commented, the identified drivers of overproduction are surprisingly common in the workplace.
As inflation increases and competition grows, the need to implement these changes also increases. Falling victim to not innovate with the times will only hurt your company and leave you further and further behind.
This is a great video for me especially, a production controller, to learn how to plan and schedule effectively!
Good explanation of how KPIs can drive behavior that causes overproduction.
Its easy to see how company culture can have an impact in these areas. Also, the cost of poor quality (COPQ).
I thought Overproduction was a safety net! Yet now I understand from a Lean ensure consistent improvement leads to quality both customer and internal personnel. Lack of relationship with customer, not having a understanding of spikes, pressured with quotas (I've been there!) , local view as opposed to Company-Wide. Leads to TIMWOODS. Thank you Sir!
I was unaware of the pitfalls associated with over production and how the minimal metrics of over production and how they will bleed your forecasted budgets. It is eye opening to see the least. Though it goes to show how disconnected every department is from the organizational point.
Meeting quotes, pushing profits, while invoking over production or ensuring your workers maintain a steady work stream will not aid the company. The manager ensuring that there is adequate work without consulting other parties to ensure that their metrics can become extremely costly in all facets. Simply won’t work if you are excessing the complete picture of T.I.M.W.O.O.D.S., and not a portion of it. Yee-Haw!
Very interesting to actually hear why companies might over produce.
Great explanation of the different ways of over-producing. I have seen this happen and I always saw positives and negatives of why do we do that! This video gave me a better understanding of that
Interesting. So many ways to overproduce, it really highlights how important it is to have folks within a company utilizing these teachings.
7:03 Reminds me of a company in a case study that bought some expensive equipment that was supposed to improve productivity and efficiency. When it didn't, they resorted to overproducing parts and sticking them in inventory to make the equipment look like a better purchase.
Hi Rafael, this comes from a distortion in priorities and each department looking to look good by itself, which are symptoms of the departments operating as silos instead of as parts of the company system. Incredible but true, right?
Great video explaining on why company's over-produce. I never thought as to why companies over-produce, and it is very interesting to hear these key points.
Great explanation! Even when you think you are ahead, you are slowing down. Thank you for your concise explanation.
We tend to hear that companies are always over-producing, but we never really know what the root cause is. This video clarified things on how we can prevent over-production for the well-being of our company.
Over-producing can be driven by many factors which filter down to production. In many instances, departments think they are saving money and time by using equipment and resources which in actuality is the opposite
Great information!
This video is a clear indicator of the many factors that foster over production and the other subsequent wastes driven as a result of it.
Over-production does impact our company. It takes up valuable space in inventory and can potentially create excess wastes due to product having a limited shelf life.
Communication between all departments and the customer is key in meeting production goals and not over producing.
Great explanation. I never thought of these many reasons for Overproduction.
'For the good of their own team/department/individual vs. for the good of the company' - this is such a challenge, especially when certain quotas are incentivized or focused on.
@@KristinaPostula indeed, incentivizing at the department level brings the risk of silo or fiefdom mentality and the breakup of the company as a working system.
This video helped to better understand the need to manage waste better. Along with the diagram from the first video, very helpful.
This makes me think about how important leadership, controls and open communication is in an organization
Karla. I had the same thought. This just goes to show as a business owner how much you really have to put your trust into your leaders to make sure that their heart is in it for the good of the company and that they are really working to make sure quality and compliance are good instead of making sure their territory or portfolio goals are hitting the target for the sake of themselves.
Interesting information on why a company over produces. I was caught guard by equipment, production inefficiencies, and accounting reasons for over producing. These seem like obvious reasons and I would have thought would be to catch by a company.
Very beneficial to learn more about why there is over production occurs.
Great simplistic explanation in a quick digestible amount. i must be damaged because i wanted more. Glad i am taking your course for more content.
Amazing how many of these over producing reasons I've seen in the work place.
Quality management related video - ruclips.net/video/8zteKSxDyt4/видео.html
These are some great examples shown. Time and time again, I hear about the over-production of goods and the issues various companies undergo. By adhering to a few simple changes, this can all be solved.
What other actions can you take in a scenario where the forecasting is not good enough to prevent overproduction but the customers won't/can't give any better forecast information?
@Dan, avoiding over-production is not an isolated effort but has some pre-requisites such as dependable forecasting, demand leveling (heijunka), and healthy relationships with your suppliers so they may provide more accurate forecasts.
Work on the forecasting problem by building stronger relationships with your suppliers -- go beyond the transaction and build the basis for a long-term collaboration.
Also, see my answer to John Sciortino.
Interesting! Company must produce what is only needed.
Francisco does a great job of providing concise examples of each type of waste. And every one of the 8 kinds of waste I feel like I've experienced during my career. Some good examples that he provides.
Adam, which types of Over-producuction waste have you seen and why do you think it was happening?
@@fkiQuality In a food manufacturing setting I witnessed the over production of certain cuts of beef. The two underlying factors that caused the over production of these cuts (i.e. SKUs) were a) that they were the easiest/quickest to produce and, b) because they were the top performing/selling SKUs the previous year. In any case there was no real connection with the market place/actual customer orders.
There can be so many ways overproduction can be damaging. I think communication is a key amongst other thisng. I like how you make this easier to understand.
The inefficiencies are maddening! One of the most important takeaways that I got from watching this was that companies NEED to be in touch with their customers and/or market. THAT should be the major driving factor in their business decisions (among others of course).
This is a good explanation of why companies feel the need to overproduce.
Good analogy on reasons for over production that creates waste
Great insight on how many factors may result in Over production.
I want to thank you for clearing up the mystery of over production and why it is done. Having raw materials might create an urgency that causes factories to over produce because they have what they need now to make their product in excess for 2 reasons, they feel that they will have less defects and they will have enough product to negate the defects when they occur. Companies can over produce due to standing equipment that they feel the need to run at all times instead of just letting it be. Companies might over produce because they lack a clear relationship with their customers and assume to make more to meet unrealistic demands, not imposed by the customer but by their own perception. There are more but you explained them in clear and concise detail.
Francisco does a great job describing how different areas of the business can contribute to over-production. There are many factors that play into waste and I have experienced them all at some point throughout my career.
Over-production is an on-going problem and usually stems from I'm just trying to keep my job and look busy. This breakdown really explains the various areas which management, sales and production teams need to focus on. That focus might just curb the notion of I have to stay busy to stay employed.
The questions that I threw were answered in this video. Within Pharma, we lose so much time in cleaning for cross contaminationbetween product. In order to minimize the time, we sometimes make extra. Many times, we were able to forecast properly and sell all on time, but sometimes it expires leading to all 8 waste. I am very impressed with how you can catergorizeto include all the issues that happen to all production.
I learned of many different angles on why we over-produce. I appreciate the mention of stretch goals demanded by management as another reason for over-production. This shows the crucial need for training of supervisors and upper management on the need for waste awareness, management and its consequences.
Maintaining good customer relations is so important to preventing over-production. Not only for an increase in sales, but to have consistent orders. This improves the accuracy of forecasts too.
Thanks again for another enlightening video. It is really important to have great communication between the different departments of a company as well as their customers, among other things, to prevent over-production and therefore waste.
The consequences of not having what is needed is a driving factor. Fine tuning the real issues as you pointed out and knowing that all products will be there when needed will provide the confidence to avoid as much over production waste.
It is amazing how much waste is produced from over production per your discussion. What this highlights is the absolute necessity for company management or key decision makers to meet regularly to ensure all areas are in sync with one another and have one aim. Working to run the business with a just in time approach is much more efficient than managing issues created by the 7 wastes from over production.
I appreciated the slides with the examples as there were so many so it was nice to be able to document that. I think the summary really said it all. There are so many times when financial drive operations and have an adverse effect so they end up costing more money vs. saving the company money. I think a better understanding of waste could greatly benefit any company at all levels of the organization.
Excellent video showing why companies overproduce. Interesting to realize from how many different departments overproduction can come from (e.g. Purchasing, Production, Accounting, Sales, etc.), and why.
This is a real eye opener. I didn't realize how much waste is involved. This makes me question if the company uniquely wants to look for a solution or keep cost down when in reality it is costing them not only money, but time and talent.
Totally agree that overproduction can be a type of major wastes for an organization and have numerous negative impact on the overall productivity.
in business processes the worst effect of overproduction is the unevenness of workloads -- think of accounting departments at the close of each month ... and then it ends ...
A good example of individual quotas causing waste:
In a previous line of work at a thrift store I had, we were given a quota to price about 800 items per day per person from the crates of donations. The managers said if we met production goals, then we will meet sales goals. This meant pricers were influential to the number of sales made in one day. This production goal was achievable if we really focused 100% of the time, but it was very straining in some situations if we kept opening donation crates with low quality goods that day (we were not allowed to price anything broken, damaged, or dirty), or if there were other emergency duties that pulled us off the production line eating up the limited daily time we had to produce.
In order to fulfill the daily quota in these cases, we would sometimes cheat by pricing very small items such as arts and crafts materials individually instead of as a bulk item in a box or bag. This was a jackpot boost to our numbers, and it made the bosses happy because it looked like we were producing well, but in the long run those items never sold and always ended up in the trash bin. This was evident by days when we did meet or exceed production goals, but we did not meet sales goals.
We might have sold 1 bag of 20 spools of thread, but no one wanted to buy 20 individual spools of thread. However, we got 20 points on our production numbers instead of 1.
On top of not meeting sales, those items also took up precious sales floor space, and cluttered the shelves (which can cause the store to lose attractiveness to shoppers). Thrift store shoppers are very messy sometimes, so a worker then had to declutter the shelves every night after closing by either reorganizing the entire sales floor items neatly or scooping up all the unsold clutter to throw away or recycle. Having to spend time on the valueless junk, it expends many resources on tasks that did not add value to the store.
Daily goals should add value when reached, and be careful to not become a potential cause for waste.
Thanks for this excellent example, Nick, you show how having goals can backfire when they are unachievable and people simply cheat to reach them, unwittingly creating a chain of negative consequences, such as meeting a production quota but not meeting a sales target.
i liked the "maximize their own benefit [department] rather than the whole company". I have seen this so much in my work and it leads to unnecessary costs.
This reminds me of my first year at Men's Wearhouse picking rental tuxedo orders. We over-produced out of every department, but were constrained as to how much we could get through final quality control and out to the customer. We constantly fought against orders waiting to move just to get our jobs done. It was counter productive and un-safe. It was difficult to convince my boss that we could produce more by producing less. Once we reduced over-production, it was easier to work and everyone was happier.
Smaller factors having an impact on larger. Communication on all levels.
Having all departments focus on reducing waste like overproduction is important. Production is often the department that feels the pinch when this happens, but often, they are simply responding to bad input they are receiving from the other departments. All departments have a role.
Interesting to see how over-production creates waste in many ways.
Great video about all the internal drivers to waste and over-production that I have unfortunately seen in my company. Really shows the importance of having everyone on the same page and having a good communication network as well.
One of the biggest problems at my old company was over-production. Production would normally make more than needed to try and combat defects and future orders. This usually resulted in inventory sitting for months at a time and a lot of money tied up in inventory. Looking back on it, it really is a band-aid fix, instead of looking at the problem in the process that's causing this problem.
Adam, this is true, trying to combat defects by making more stuff will only produce even more defects unless the quality yield has increased, and trying to address future orders is a risky game of thinking you have a crystal ball.
Very interesting how each other interconnect. Makes you think in the overall picture in a given process
The most common underlying theme in each of the factors that lead to over-production seems to revolve around individual quotas. I noticed that in each example of over-production there was a sense of self-preservation or fear so not to lose one’s job. However, when all these factors compound the result is the opposite, where at first, employees or department heads were trying to protect their job, may have inadvertently contributed to a reduction in force or mass layoffs.
Communication is definitely key in order of controlling over production between many departments.
Yes, good point Victor, lack of coordination between departments for a number of reasons, including miscommunication, will lead to production imbalances and thus over production.
It is amazing how individual department goals, can actually hinder the overall organizational goals in the long run.
This is very relevant to my industry. We must carefully calculate how much we can sell because unlike a window or other mechanical item pharmaceuticals expire in a relatively short time. So we would be dumping product down the drain if we over produce.
The point of over-production is not caused by customer demand, but by rather internal decisions and internal-drive resonated with me and my experience in the work place. One point I would add to poor forecasting is possibly poor knowledge of your vendors, or poor vendors in general. If you cannot trust vendors to deliver on time, then you might be forced to over produce and keep safety stock of finished goods. I have been part of production teams where production is heavily driven by the appearance of looking busy.
as a finance professional the question many ask is "do we sandbag our numbers" and look good when we beat the forecast? this actually can cause more work thru overproduction to meet the higher probability that we beat the lower forecast. So the sandbagged numbers might lead to over-production/fire drills. Great seeing how all of these factors play into over-producing.
Surprised by not only can there be so many different reasons for over-production, but many seem to be borderline professionally and morally unethical
It is frightening how many reasons you identified for why we often waste time and money on over-production / over-processing /etc., and sad to realize that it is not a list of all possible reasons. I observe that the great majority of these reasons are tied to fear: fear of losing our jobs, of looking foolish, of missing out, of not using available resources, of not taking advantage of opportunities, of not making quotas, of being judged poorly, etc. I can see why LSS will not work in an environment dominated by fear - it motivates us to do the wrong things, and to remain silent about it, lest we draw attention to ourselves.
Very good video bringing to light the waste components identified using Lean and the connection between each other. I can see value in using this video as an introduction to Lean as it can set the tone and direction for the teams participating in the improvement efforts within the organization.
Jorge Cifuentes, good idea to use this as a general intro to Lean, considering how important is the effect of waste in any work activities.
It is very true. It often even affects the market itself. Many times there is such an amount of unsold product out there, that has been pushed to the retailers, just because it was produced, but not because it was really requested by the final consumer. And at the end those amounts of unsold products, if not recycled in different ways, were destined to the garbage....what a waste!!!
This was helpful and relatable to all working environments. Letting finance costs determine next steps in a business proposal happen too often as opposed to looking further into the root causes. I liked Francisco’s point regarding the broken thought process of over producing (and operating without high quality) to meet a desired goal- sure the business meets their quota for a customer, but the process and number of defects has not been addressed. Very relatable.
This is thought provoking. Companies overproduce to fill quotas and to keep people busy.
The fear of not meeting quotas is a powerful thing. The pressure to meet demand can put a strain on not just raw materials, but also the environment.
Great explanation of overproduction. Companies need to be aware of the negative impacts of overproduction and realize when they are experiencing this waste. Continue to focus on the customer demand and produce what is needed. Creating standards and goals will support achieving a target production goal.
Throughout my career I have seen many of the "internal drivers" in action. I think by far the most prevalent drivers I've seen are the shielding against forecast deviations and the quotas. Another very good summary!
Over-production is important to understand as one addresses waste in their system.
This is a great explanation of the consequences of waste and specific to using financial goals as the driver. I've seen in many companies the Sales dept. fight hard for a product without regard to operations or supporting it. This in turn creates division between Sales and Operations/IT Support instead of coming together for the common cause of the company.
This video makes you think about why we overproduce from various perspectives all ultimately showing the disadvantages of departments working in silos as well as the negative impact of how personnel are evaluated and rewarded.
It's clear through the 8 Wastes discussion that relationships and communication and the human capital in an org are the key to everything. Nearly all of the "Why's" are answered by decisions based on individual motivation, KPI/compensation maximization, poor communication or coordination between departments. At the core of things, people perform the work and are the creators and destroyers of value. It's not the machine and it's setup time, in the pareto chart of what to focus on to improve operations, we need to consider "the way we work together."
Overproduction has systemic effects and it’s interesting to hear how individual motivations can drive poor decisions to overproduce.
Yes, especially inward-driven reasoning that does not contemplate the needs of customers.
This is so true and sadly enough this seems to happen in almost every company more often than everyone would like. Thanks for emphasizing how important to ensure that team's goals should be aligned to the firm's goals to minimize wastes.
It is very interesting to see all of the factors that can lead to over production. Production typically gets blamed for it, however many departments contribute to it. It appears that the best way to combat it is to have each department’s goals aligned along with a strong relationship with internal and external customers.
great explanation of toyota's 7 wastes. In their company, they believed overproduction was the most important waste to get rid of. What's interesting is that a majority of the causes of overproduction are coming from outside of the production line itself. With bad information coming in, the production line is set up for failure. Knowing your customer is what I believe is the most important factor. If you know your customer, you can accurately forecast quantities needed, so you should not run into a situation of overproduction, and all of the wastes that subsequently follow
At the company that I work at, we very often over produce because of our 'fear' of our quality department rejecting parts that we make. We also overproduce by justifying the production due to a difficult set-up. We have to be aware of our immediate needs and look at our long term forecasts. Some of the concepts in this video are definately re
Understanding the causes of over-production and how over-production drives the other seven forms of waste clarifies why a just in time approach is so benefical.
Eliminating "over-production" on a manufacturing line was huge for me. I was able to improve product quality but not over producing. By keeping control of production, the number of defects found at a later stage in the manufacturing process was minimal.
The reasons why we over produce make sense. I think the most difficult thing ( at least within my team) is identifying the cost of that over production.
Interesting to see the detail of why companies over produce. The details behind various accounting/inventory practices amongst others shows you have to speak up when you see problems and managers need to listen and act on deficiencies reported to them.
great video 5 stars
This was a fascinating video that explored the internally-driven, non-value act of over-production. I found it interesting that many of the reasons Francisco explained are rooted in fear (e.g. stockouts, sell with confidence, make "things" to keep looking busy, materials management/"urgency,"quality issues) or lack of understanding/knowledge of the business (inaccurate forecasts, lack of close relationships with customers, unbalanced quotas, production inefficiencies, quality issues, inefficient processes being driven by excessive production costs or other financial issues).
Each person in the company wants to appear as useful as possible and so the appearance of making as many pieces as possible or running a process even when it is not warranted, is a huge driving factor to over production. The employee believes that if they look good on paper then they must be doing a good job, but they don't see the big picture.
The idea of making more of something to compensate in advance for defects is such a widely used concept. It makes me wonder where would we start to change the minds of those involved.
After watching the video it made me think about the auto industry. I remember growing up and going to the car dealer with my parents and they picked out exactly what they wanted in their car and they ordered their car in which it came in "x" amount of time. Now you go to the dealership and they have 100s of cars on their lot to choose from so you can go home that day with your new car-I don't know when the mindset changed but it just seems the auto industry is loaded with wastes and it reflects the disposable society that we live in. If these manufacturing companies started producing quality goods that last more than a few years I think we'd all be a little better off ;o)
I never thought of these reasons but it does make sense that these factors are company driven reasons, it is a basically a perceived potential waste, ie the protecting against stock outs and perceived waste with the buying raw materials on sale and equipment depreciation.
Over-production is common in many companies that operate blindly; every department reports numbers, outputs, and are not aware of the waste they are creating and the lack of connection with other departments.