11th May, 2023
Muda is one of three recognized deviations that can prevent organizations from achieving their goal of optimal allocation of resources.
The word is Japanese for “waste” and it encompasses every aspect of production that utilizes resources yet adds no value.
A leading Hotel chain invited Mr. Masai Imai from Japan to hold a workshop for its staff. The staff were very skeptical- the hotel was doing excellent business, this person from Japan had no exposure to hotel industry- what exactly was he going to teach?
But everybody as planned gathered for the workshop in the conference hall sharp at 9 am.
Mr. Masai was introduced to them- a not so impressive personality, nor the English all that good; spoke as if he was first formulating each sentence in Japanese and then translating it into rather clumsy English.
“Good morning! Let’s start work. I am told this is a workshop; but I see neither work nor shop. So let’s proceed where work is happening.
Let’s start with the first room on the first floor.” Mr. Masai, followed by the senior management, the participants, the video camera crew trouped out of the conference room and proceeded to the destination.
That happened to be the laundry room of the hotel. Mr. Masai entered the room and stood at the window, “beautiful view!” he said. The staff knew it; they need not invite a Japanese consultant to tell them this!
“A room with such a beautiful view is being wasted as a laundry room. Shift the laundry to the basement and convert this into a guest room.”
Aa Haa! now nobody had ever thought about that!
The manager said, “Yes, it can be done.”
“Then let’s do it.”, Mr. Masai said.
“Yes sir, I will make a note of this and we will include it in the report on the workshop that will be prepared.”
“Excuse me, but there is nothing to note down in this. Let’s just do it, just now.” said Mr. Masai.
“Just now?” asked the Manager
“Yes, decide on a room on the ground floor/basement and shift the stuff out of this room right away. It should take a couple of hours, right?” said Mr. Masai.
“Yes.” replied the Manager.
“Let’s come back here just before lunch. By then all this stuff will have got shifted out and the room must be ready with the carpets, furniture etc and from today you can start earning the few thousand that you charge your customers for a room night.”
“Ok, Sir.” The manager had no option.
The next destination was the pantry. The group entered. At the entrance were two huge sinks full of plates to be washed.
Mr. Masai removed his jacket and started washing the plates.
“Sir, Please, what are you doing?” the manager didn’t know what to say and what to do.
“Why, I am washing the plates”, Mr. Masai.
“But sir, there is staff here to do that.” Manager Mr. Masai continued washing, “I think sink is for washing plates, there are stands here to keep the plates and the plates should go into the stands.”
All the officials wondered – did they require a consultant to tell them this?
After finishing the job, Mr. Masai asked, “how many plates do you have?’
“Plenty, so that there should never be any shortage.” replied the Manager.
Mr. Masai said, “We have a word in Japanese-‘Muda’. Muda means delay, muda means unnecessary spending. One lesson to be learned in this workshop is to avoid both. If you have plenty of plates, there will be delay in cleaning them up. The first step to correct this situation is to remove all the excess plates.”
“Yes, we will say this in the report.” replied Manager.
“No, wasting our time in writing the report is again an instance of ‘muda’. We must pack the extra plates in a box right away and send these to whichever other section of the hotel require these. Throughout the workshop now we will find out where all we find this ‘muda’ hidden.”
And then at every spot and session, the staff eagerly awaited to find out muda and learn how to avoid it.
The key takeaway here: if you’ve been wondering how to approach certain business problems but can’t get past a certain roadblock, it might be time to reconsider your processes. But be careful not to fall into the mindset that the roadblock is happening because something is missing. Instead, look for what is already there but shouldn’t be.
Find your Muda, remove it & stay blessed forever.