WIP stock reduction
Work in Progress or Work in Process - WIP are those products that are in different stages of production and are not yet completed, they are not yet transformed into finished products, such as: components, semi-finished products or materials.
Their management is essential for production areas because it can generate increased manufacturing time, the risk of producing non-compliant products, delivery delays and ultimately additional costs for the company.
The most common causes of the uncontrolled accumulation of WIP stocks are:
- processing times of workstations or equipment are not balanced
- unplanned shutdowns or equipment failures
- unapproved fluctuations in customer requirements such as volume or type of product
- delays or lack of components, materials
- insufficient monitoring of materials or semi-finished products in production
To control and reduce WIP stocks, companies can implement different actions:
- analyzing the production flow to identify "bottlenecks" in the process
- identifying and eliminating activities that do not add value
- carrying out time studies for each step in the process to adjust the capacity of equipment and personnel for efficient balancing
- implementation of systems for monitoring the levels of WIP stocks in production
- more frequent monitoring and collaboration with material suppliers to ensure deliveries on time and in the required quantities, implementation of a supplier performance evaluation system
- analysis and optimization of the production layout to reduce the movements and transport of materials, semi-finished products
- the use of a Kanban system to manage the demand and the level of production materials
- training employees to improve their knowledge and skills related to the types of production waste (MUDA) and the management of WIP stocks
Reducing WIP stocks contributes to improving efficiency, increasing product quality, eliminating the risk of delivery delays, thus reducing costs and improve customer satisfaction.
