Where Material Handling and Value Stream Mapping Meet

By Scott Rempala

In manufacturing businesses, sometimes it feels like most of the time and effort on the plant floor is spent just moving things around. Bins are moved, loaded, moved again, unloaded, parked empty on standby, loaded again, moved to shipping, unloaded, and moved back to the beginning. It’s not always anyone’s fault that processes become inefficient, because processes are often in continuous flux. Of course, moving physical objects, and heavy objects, does takes actual time. And many plants try to shorten distances between stations whenever possible. But my experience in the organic finishing industry has taught me that there are still many overlooked areas where material handling can be made more efficient with a little “engineering” of the production line.

Value Stream Mapping

When I began consulting with finishing companies to make their operations more efficient and profitable, I started applying a value stream mapping process to find where there was wasted time and effort on plant floors. Our industry relies on large paint racks and heavy duty hooks as our primary material handling solution. They work well, but only as well as the workers that are using them and the processes built around them. Value stream mapping is a lean-management philosophy that tries to eliminate waste by studying current operations and finding where there are opportunities for improvement. Sometimes it takes the analytical mind of an engineer to break down processes into the smallest steps. You have to ask the right questions and define actions and processes comprehensively. The areas of waste that are easiest to identify are when there is excessive employee idleness, when conveyance can be shortened, and when there is unnecessary motion or duplicated motion. Of course, value stream mapping sets up an ideal that is not always achieved, yet aiming for that ideal always brings operations closer to maximum efficiency. Scott Rempala is Mighty Hook's President & CEO. Read Scott’s full LinkedIn Article here.