Lesson 1 A: The Battle of the Mnemonics - TIMWOOD Vs WORMPIT

Hi guys, in my previous post I wrote about TIMWOOD being an easy mnemonic to remember the seven wastes in Lean Manufacturing. Early today, one of my juniors called me up and said that he would never forget TIMWOOD as it was very easy for him to remember it. So I told him that there is another mnemonic to remember the seven wastes in Lean apart from TIMWOOD, which is WORMPIT. This post mainly focuses on one of the major differences between both the mnemonics.

TIMWOOD Transport Inventory Motion Waiting Over Production Over-Processing Defects

WORMPIT Waiting Over Production Rejects Motion Processing Inventory Transport

The only difference between the mnemonics is that Defects (D) from TIMWOOD has been replaced by Rejects (R) in WORMPIT.

But here it is very crucial to understand that an identified 'Defect' in a product can always be reworked, modified, rectified or rejected but a 'Reject' product is a waste that only has to be disposed off as scrap because it cannot be reworked, modified or rectified.

EXAMPLE

In a car manufacturing facility, suppose you find  a dent in the door of the car, during assembling, there are two possibe scenarios:

Scenario 1

You take the door of the car, identify the defect and start reworking to rectify the defect. If you are successful and the door is perfect and conforms to standards, then the door is no longer a 'defect.'

Scenario 2

You take the door of the car, identify the defect and start reworking to rectify the defect. If you are unable to rectify the defect and the door fails to meet standards, the door is a 'reject'.

Hope the difference is convincing enough for you all. If you have anything else in mind, please feel free to comment below.

(image source: https://www.freepik.com)