Scrap Reduction: 5 EASY Keys!
In this post, you will find all the tools you need to drastically reduce your scrap while making your company more profitable in the process. It’s not hard or complicated— in fact, you can start right away! If you put a few key steps into practice, you can stop literally throwing money away on bad parts! Scrap reduction is actually one of the FASTEST ways for manufacturers to make more money!
The Greenest “Green”
“Going Green” is all the trend now. Nobody cherishes the idea of their great-grandkids living on an overly-polluted, unhealthy planet because of poor choices we make today.
Fortunately for us, perhaps never has “going green” proved to produce more “green” $$$ for your wallet than in manufacturing! By reducing the amount of scrap that your company produces, not only will your company NOT be producing tons of unnecessary toxic waste to harm the environment, but you will also NOT be throwing away money unnecessarily in the process! Scrap reduction is a win, win scenario for everyone!
Five Key Steps to Reducing Scrap Waste
Reducing scrap does not have to be difficult. While it may seem like an insurmountable task at the start, with a little bit of practice, you’ll find yourself reducing scrap waste without even thinking about it!
I have developed 5 easy keys to eliminating scrap fast. If you put these practices into motion, your excess and unnecessary scrap will be gone in no time.
1. “5S” Everything
This is a simple 5-step process designed to help you organize your business in an efficient way. 5S is a term for the following 5 “s-words” that are key for lean manufacturing.
- Sort
- Set in order
- Shine
- Standardize
- Sustain
Essentially, you want to clean up your workspaces and train your employees to follow a process similar to a programmed robot. If you are unfamiliar with this process, or want to learn more about it, check out my video explaining 5S in detail!
2. Measure Your Scrap Accurately
Making accurate measurements will allow you to understand when and where you are producing the most scrap. Once you know where it’s coming from, you can take steps to cut back more easily.
Make sure to measure all your scrap by operator, by hour, shift, and time. How much scrap is operator number 2 throwing away? Do you have any idea how much is coming from line number 3? How much scrap is produced at 3pm, or 5pm? Take into account every variable.
3. Make a Pareto Chart of Your Scrap
This graph allows you to sort everything out with bars and lines. Used to analyze data, you can take this chart and sort the information found in step 2. Rank everything from largest to smallest, and you’ll have a pretty good idea of where to start with the next step.
4. Make a List of Projects
Once you have your Pareto chart, you can visually see where your scrap is coming from.
“If the top bar of your Pareto is “scrap due to length”, then your first project is going to be to reduce this scrap due to length”. Share on X
Using the Pareto chart, you can make a list of projects in order of importance, and know exactly where and why to start.
5. Solve These Projects!
The last step is pretty straightforward: follow through with the work!
“It may sound simple, but there are so many people that have the Pareto chart and don’t actually dive into the projects and solve them.” Share on XThat’s like training for a big hike, and never getting around to the actual climb. You’ve put in the hard work of getting prepared, now go for it!
If you don’t have an expert problem-solver on staff, or you have a project that is seemingly impossible to solve, I would love to help! Give me a call or write me an email, and let’s start knocking out that scrap problem today!
“Maybe your scrap rate is 3% or maybe it’s 93%, give me a call and I’ll help to get it down. I would love to work with you to make a custom plan of action perfect for your company.” Share on XI always love to read comments from fellow professionals like yourself! Let me know in the comments below if you have any pointers for reducing scrap fast!
