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Just a thought, but I think your case may still have merit Michelle,
however, the root may lie further down, to the level of “Why inventory
so many parts?” And if the answer is “because we always have”
that is a P2 opportunity In the Stanley Tool P2 example here at Oregon DEQ, we process-mapped
the facility and found they were spraying on rust preventative in order to
inventory parts, then using a voc cleaner to take the preventive off to add value
at another step in the process. This was done so many times with so many parts
that they had a Title V permit for air emissions. We asked “why are you inventorying so many parts?” They
were able to go to real-time or just in time inventory and through the
process eliminated the rust preventive and organic cleaner and the Title V
permit! The real time inventory requires up front planning to get a handle on
and ahead of customer demand, but in this case they could plan for the number
of parts they need to have on hand based on demand. The inventory got pushed
back to the parts caster who now also plans production based on Stanley’s
demand schedule…. David From:
owner-p2tech@great-lakes.net [mailto:owner-p2tech@great-lakes.net] On Behalf
Of michelle gaither I
am looking for a good example of drilling down with 5 why's - relating to a
chemical issue. here
is an example, but i don't like this example because we don't have a
solution. (a few alternatives/potential solutions to this one would be
great - or a completely different example. Thanks
in advance for any suggestions. -------------------------------------------- Asking
“why” five times is a simple way to identify the root cause of a
waste, and that makes it easier to identify ways to reduce or eliminate the
waste. Here is an example: ü Why
is the solvent a waste? Because the solvent is contaminated with oil. ü Why
is it contaminated with oil? Because the solvent was used to clean oil
off the parts. ü Why
are the parts oily?
Because the manufacturer puts a coating of oil on them before shipping them to
this facility. ü Why
does the manufacturer put a coating on them? To prevent the parts from corroding
after manufacture. ü Why
is this type of corrosion protection absolutely necessary? There is no other
way to protect the parts from corrosion. In
this example, the root cause of the solvent waste is corrosion protection.
Source: Arizona Department of
Environmental Quality, Pollution Prevention Analysis and Plan Guidance
Manual, March 2006, www.azdeq.gov/environ/waste/p2/download/first.pdf.
Michelle Gaither | environmental engineer Pacific Northwest Pollution Prevention
Resource Center |