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The Toyota 3M model: Muda, Mura, Muri.

When you ask a number of people to explain Lean Manufacturing in one sentence, most of them will answer:
eliminate waste. The reason is that eliminating waste, or Muda is a relatively easy way of indentifying the low
hanging fruits for improvement in an organization. However, Muda is not the only M Toyota has built its famous
Toyota Production System around, there are two more: Mura (Variation) and Muri(Overburden).
The three Ms, Muda Mura and Muri are influenced by each other. Most organizations only focus on eliminating
Muda because they can be found by using a number of tools, but also by close observations. Not putting any
effort in the other two Ms may lead to problems in the long run. To describe these problems, lets look at a
general approach for implementing Lean:

Reduce inventories
Reduce head count
Reduce Motion and redistribute tasks among people
Step back and wait.

The result usually includes overburdened employees and machines (Muri) because customer demand is uneven
(Mura). When either employees- or machine cycle times are fully optimized, without any slack time, the smallest
variation in customer demand can lead to numerous problems (Liker, 1994). Both overburdened people as well as
overburdened machines lead to more defects one of the eight wastes in which case you counteract to your
eliminating waste policy.
To prevent a situation like this from happening, a organization should focus on eliminating all three Ms
continuously, but how?
MUDA, waste:
Can be defined in eight types, 7 defined by Toyota and non utilized skills. These are: Defects, Overproduction,
Waiting, Non-used Talent, Transport, Inventories, Motion and Excess processing. As Mnemonic device, the first
letters of these wastes form the acronym DOWNTIME.
There are numerous tools available to identify and remove waste from your process, which include Poke Yoke,
Kanban, Takt Time, SMED and One-Piece flow. In the article Finding Muda (waste) in your process each of the
types of waste are described and linked to tools which can be used to eliminate them systematically.
MURA, unevenness:
Can be found in fluctuation in customer demand, process times per product or variation of cycle times for
different operators. In production environments with low-volume, high product variation, flexibility is more
important than in high-volume, low-product variation environments. When Mura is not reduced, one increases
the possibility for Muri and therefore Muda. Mura can be reduced by creating openness in the supply chain,
change product design and create standard work for all operators. These are described in the article: Finding Mura
(variation) in your process.
MURI, overburden:
Can result from Mura, and from removing too much Muda (waste) from the process. When operators or machines
are utilized for more than 100% to finish their task, they are overburdened. This means breakdowns when it
comes to machines and absenteeism when it comes to employees. To optimize the use of machines and make
sure they function properly, preventative- and autonomous maintenance can be implemented. To prevent
overworked employees, safety should be the focus of all process designs and all standard work initiatives. For
more information about Muri, go directly to the article: Finding Muri (overburden) in your process.
This is 1/4 from the series The 3M model

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Finding Muda (waste) in your Process

According to Taichi Ohno, there is only one way to find the hidden wastes in your system: by observation. In his
famous exercise he asks managers to stand in the circle he draws on the shopfloor and lets them look around
from the circle until they see a problem. I personally really believe in finding wastes by observation at the Gemba,
but I also believe in using tools to systematically find and eliminate wastes. In this article I will describe each type
of waste and the tools that can be used to eliminate them.
DEFECTS are the first type of waste. Firstly, one should always prevent defect products to reach the customer,
because it wont make him happy. Secondly, to prevent defects from reaching the customer, organizations
implement quality control points and rework to reduce the change a customer will receive a defect product and
minimize the costs of defects. At least two tools can be used to prevent defects from happening: Poke Yoke and
Standard Work. Poke Yoke is the Japanese method of eliminating the possibilities of building defect products. One
example is the USB stick and port. There is only one way the stick fits in a computer slot, therefore it is almost
impossible for a person to connect the USB stick to the computer the wrong way. Standard Work means each task
should be described in detail in the so called Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). When tasks are performed in
a standard order, chances one task is forgotten reduces. Next to that, variance due to different operators
performing the same tasks are reduced.
OVERPRODUCTION exists when a workstation produces more than customer demand. This could be done to
cover up for possible defects (as written above) or because it is economically interesting to produce large batches.
One can recognize overproduction in large inventories and WIP. This type of waste can be reduced using tools like
SMED and Kanban.
SMED is an abbreviation of Single Minute Exchange of Die, which basically means Quick Changeover. When
changeovers are short, it can be economically interesting to produce smaller batches. SMED at high level consists
of two steps: 1) Do as much tasks as possible when the machine is still running on the current batch and 2)
Reduce the number of time needed to do tasks with the machine offline. This can be done by eliminating tasks, or
doing some tasks in parallel. The second tool which can be used to reduce overproduction is Kanban.
With Kanban, signals are sent from the end of the process (customer order) in which it specifies exactly how much
of a product is needed. Every workstation receives its own signal from its downstream workstation, where for
each signal the number of inventory already in stock can be deducted. For example, when customer demand is
100 products, the last workstation receives a 100 item Kanban signal. Assuming there is 20 products stock in the
production line, the first workstation only receives a kanban signal to produce 80 items (instead of the full order
size of 100).
WAITING is the third form of waste. Waiting time can be the time a product spends on the shop floor without
value being added to it. People and machines can also have waiting time in their working cycle when they have to
wait for information, instruction or materials. Tools that help find waiting time in a process are time studies, Takt
time and Line balancing. Time studies describe the entire process in different types of time. One can define
Process times, waiting times and lead times. Process time is the sum of cycle times where value is being added to
the product. Waiting times are the times where a value is not added to the product, for instance when it is waiting
for a process step to start, of being moved to another station. The lead time of a product is the total time a
product spends on the shop floor, process times plus waiting times, from input materials until the product is sent
to the customer. By measuring and visualizing these different times, improvements (or Kaizen) can be focused on
a single point in the process at a time.

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Takt Time is the beat in which the customer actually demands the product. For instance, when customer demand
is 365 product a year, Takt Time is 1 product a day. This means the factory should ideally produce 1 product a day,
to stay flexible for changes in customer demand. When production is faster than Takt, products have to wait in the
warehouse until they can be shipped to the customer. When production is slower than takt, even worse, the
customer has to wait for his order. The third tool to reduce waiting times in a process is Line Balancing. This tool is
used to balance a line in a way that all sequential workstations have equal Cycle times. When the cycle time or
station 2 is larger than station 1, every product that comes from station 1 has to wait, or station 1 has to wait until
station 2 has finished its cycle. A visual way to balance a production line is theYamazumi.
NON USED TALENT is not one of Ohnos original wastes but is in my opinion one of the most important wastes.
The form in which this waste exist is the unused knowledge and skills of operators working in the factory. The tool
to reduce this non-used-talent is Training. Everyone in the organization should be trained to use tools
like 6S (Safety + 5S), Standard Work, Communication cells and Kaizen. Within these four tools, the kaizen loop
supports incremental improvements done by the operators, which can be shared using the communication cells
and documented in Standard work and the 6S standard. For more information about these four tools I would like
to refer to the series of articles: Lean House for the shopfloor. Next to these tools, employees should be trained in
practical problem solving using 5x Why to get to the root cause of a problem instead of fixing symptoms.
TRANSPORT is the fifth type of waste en has to do with moving products, materials and tools needed to perform
the necessary tasks in production. A way to visualize the different transport movements are the Spaghetti
diagram. Tools to reduce transport in production is creating a production line or work cells. To minimize transport
of tools by people, 6S can be implemented. With Spaghetti Diagrams, one can draw all movements of products
and tools with a pen on a plant map. This is a perfect moment to use the circle of Ohno. Observe every movement
and draw them on the map. One way to reduce the amount of transport in production is by changing the layout of
the plant into production lines in which a product flows through the same workstations in the same order. A
second option is the use of work cells, where small production lines are built in a U-shape. Input and Ouput of
each workstation should all be on the same side to reduce distance between cells. A product can flow through the
cells needed for that particular product. Finally, the transport of tools by operators can be reduced by using 6S.
When every workstation has a standard location to keep all the tools needed at that workstation, in the form of
shadow boards for example, the operator does not need to walk around and look for a tool needed.
INVENTORY includes all products and materials on the shop floor where no value is being added at the moment.
Waiting products and materials if you will. Inventory is waste because the materials are paid for by the company,
but the customer has not yet payed for the final product. Tools which can help reduce the amount of inventory in
production are the already described workcells and Kanban. A third tool to reduce inventory is creating OnePiece-Flow. Within a One-Piece-Flow, batches are reduced to 1 item. This way you immediately reduce the
amount of WIP with a factor of the size of the current batch size.
MOVING is waste number seven. Moving can again be found in both people and machines. Movement is related
to transport, but the difference is that with moving, the product stays where it is. Its the moving of machines and
people around the product. Movement can be found for instance in a operator having to reach high to get a
certain part, or press a certain button. Tools which help you reduce the waste moving include the tools Standard
Work, 6Sand Spaghetti Diagrams, which are all described above.

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EXCESS PROCESSING describes the final waste, and includes all non-value-adding activities. These are activities
the customer is not willing to pay for. These can be rework activities to fix a side-effect of other production steps,
or the temporary storage of a batch of product. Some non-value-added activities are necessary, for instance
transport between the factory and customer, and a certain level of quality control. The tool that can be used to
systematically find non-value-adding activities is a Process map. This is a kind of flow chart with six types of
symbols; process step, delay, inventory, descision, measurement and transport. The best way to create a process
map is by observation, to make sure you draw all the hidden wastes in the process which are not written in the
official way of working.
By using the tools described in this article, finding and eliminating wastes can become a structured activity. The
use of tools can create focus on a specific type of waste or department which helps to gain measurable results
relatively quick. Also, by using these tools, improvements can be visualized and results might even be quantified
financially.

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Finding Mura (variation) in your Process

The Toyota Production System is a system built around minimizing three factors influencing a
process: Muda (waste),Mura (variation) and Muri (overburden). These three together form the 3M Model. This
article offers some more theory on Mura variation and how to reduce it. Variation exists in many forms and
influences efficiency of a process in multiple ways. There is variance in customer demand, variance in product
mix, variance in production methods within a plant or within processing times and variance in way of working.
Hopp & Spearman (2000) describe, among others, the following two laws concerning (production) variance:
1. Variability will always degrade performance of a production system
2. Variability in a system will be buffered by some combination of inventories, capacity or time.
To reduce the these types of buffers, there are roughly two things you can do: reduce variation in customer
demand (1) or reduce variation in your processes (2).
Influencing the VARIATION OF CUSTOMER DEMAND has everything to do with cooperation in a supply chain.
When organizations in a supply chain do not share information about customer demand or inventory levels,
the bull-whip effect emerges whenever customer demand fluctuates. This effect describes how a small change in
customer demand from end customers can lead to a high change in order size upstream in the chain, which in
turn leads to large inventories in the overall supply chain. Each link in the chain will have the tendency to order
extra when an order cant be met due to an unexpected shift in customer demand, especially when a backlog
exists. The longer the total lead time in the supply chain (hence, delivery times between the links) , the higher the
bull-whip-effect. Also, the higher the number of links in the chain, the higher the bull-whip-effect. In this sense,
each link in the chain is a customer of the link upstream in the chain.
Three recommendations to reduce the variation of customer demand are:
1.Reduce the number of links in a supply chain. External warehousing or moving parts of a plant is not a good idea
in this sense.
2.Reduce delivery times between links. Offshoring across the world? The possible six weeks of transport times
are killing for inventories and lead times in the chain.
3.Create transparency between links in the supply chain when it comes to order portfolios. This will reduce the
tendency to increase the order size at every link.
There are different methods to reduce VARIANCE IN THE PROCESS. The variation in product mix has relatively low
impact on a production process when the processing times are balanced for different products. There are at least
four methods to reduce this form of variance: Modular product design at design level (1), Production leveling in
production planning (2), building Flow at production-level (3) and standard work and 6S on workstation level (4).
At the level of production design, the variation between products can be minimized by using modular
designs. Using standard modules will reduce the number of possible material routings in the factory and a number
of inventory items. One example of modular design is a series of wardrobes at IKEA where a choice between a
number of drawers, doors and handles lead to a relatively large amount of combinations for end customers to
buy.

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A method to reduce the impact of customer variance in the production planning is the (Lean) tool
Heijunka (production-leveling). With Heijunka one defines a fixed interval in which all product types can be
produced. The shorter the intervals, the more often a product is produced and the shorter the lead time of each
product will be. Because the lead time is reduced, the uncertainty in customer demand reduces as well. When
yearly customer demand is cut in smaller pieces, changes in customer demand can be smoothed out between the
different production runs. To implement Heijunka, changeover times should be minimized to minimize cost of
changeovers. A tool which can be used for reducing changeover times is SMED (Single Minute Exchange of Die).
Next to optimizing product design and production planning, the way products move through the plant should be
optimized. Ideally, products flow through the plant, which means products never have to wait to be worked on as
they move between the necessary workstations. When the processing time of workstation 2 is larger than
workstation 1, either every product coming from workstation 1 has to wait before station 2 can work on it, or
station 1 has to wait for free capacity at workstation 2. A graphical way of visualizing the line balance is the
Yamazumi.
At workstation-level all operator handling should be optimized to minimize production variation. Standardizing
procedures and lay-out prevents different work cycles for different operators performing the same task and
employees to search for materials or tools they need. Standard work describes the safest and efficient method to
perform a certain sequence of tasks while 6S describes the safest and most efficient lay-out for a workstation.
Reducing variation is one of the reasons Standard Work and 6S form the basis of every Lean implementation,
which is why they are the foundation of the Lean House for the Shop-Floor.
Reducing Mura (variation) is important for every Lean organization. Variation is always buffered by either
inventories, capacity, time, or a combination of those. More Mura therefore leads to more Muda (waste).
Eliminating waste will lead to higher results if variation is also reduced. By applying (a number of) the tools
described in this article, the impact of variation on any production process can be reduced. The lower the impact
of variation on your process, the higher the flexibility to respond to changes in customer demand.

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Finding Muri (overburden) in your Process

Muri (overburden) is one of the three factors in the Toyota 3M model [the other two are Muda (waste) and Mura
(variation)]. Overburden can happen with both Man and Machine. When people are overburdened they feel
Stress or even burned-out. Overburdened machines result in breakdowns and faster wear-out. The 3Ms are
interrelated; both forms of Muri can result from Mura (variation) and both forms of Muri can lead to Muda
(Waste). This article describes which tools can be used to minimize Muri in a production environment.
Since Muri rises as a result of Mura, the best way to minimize Muri is to MINIMIZE MURA. Tools that can help
reducing Mura systematically are creating Flow, leveling production load with Heijunka, and standardizing product
design (Modular Product Design). More information concerning these tools and minimizing Mura can be found in
the article: Finding Mura (variation) in your Process.
Unfortunately, most processes have some form of variation in their processes despite all efforts to reduce it.
Therefore it is important to know how to handle variations and the way people and machines respond to them.
PEOPLE RELATED MURI can be minimized by implementing 6S, Standard work and using Jidoka principles.
6S (Safety, Sort, Straighten, Sweep, Standardize & Sustain) is the Lean method to create a safe working
environment which facilitates the most efficient way of performing a task. For instance sorting makes sure only
the necessary items can be found at a workstation andstraightening makes sure that all necessary tools and items
are always at hand when you need them. A organized workstation prevents people from having to search for
materials or tools and therefore reduces stress. Information on how to implement 6S can be found in the
article: 6S in Practice.
Standard Work is the second tool to use to minimize people related Muri. It describes the most safe and most
efficient method of performing a task. Having clear Standard Operating Procedures prevents people from doing
un-safe actions to get the job done, by using a machine the wrong way or moving too heavy products by hand.
More information on Standard Work and its implementation can be found in the article: Standard Work in
Practice.
Jidoka describes the possibility to stop the production line whenever there is a problem. At Toyota, this translates
into the so called Andon, a cord hanging above the production line. Whenever an employee pulls the cord,
production is stopped across the entire line. All employees are notified by visual- and sound signals telling them
where the problem occurred. With the line stopped, people can completely focus on solving the problem at hand.
Stopping the line also prevents the error from infecting multiple products or batches and therefore more defects.
The Jidoka principle is described in four steps. Find a deviation (1), Stop production (2), Fix the problem (3) and
analyze the root cause of the problem & prevent it from happening again (4).
MACHINE RELATED MURI can be minimized by maintaining all machines as effectively and efficiently as possible.
Maintenance can be divided in three types: Corrective-, Preventative- and Autonomous Maintenance.
Preventative
and
Autonomous
Maintenance
are
the
methods
to
minimize
Muri.
Preventative Maintenance means a machine should be checked and lubricated regularly, no matter what the
quality of the output is. By maintaining the good shape of the machine, break-downs can be prevented which
would otherwise lead to defects. The underlying thought here is that preventative maintenance is cheaper than
waiting for the machine to break down and corrective maintenance is necessary. Preventative maintenance does
not only reduce Machine Muri, it also reduces Mura for the technical staff because the number of unplanned jobs
they receive.

5 Basic Lean Principles

There is a lot of misconception about the principles of the Lean philosophy . In the past 30 years, the term Lean
was implemented in different ways within organizations and described in literature various ways. After 2.5 years
of learning and experimenting at my current employer, I would describe the Lean philosophy using five basic
principles which should prevent lots of confusion, questions and disappointments during a Lean implementation:
Lean is a culture (1), the goal of Lean is to satisfy your customers (2), Lean focuses on reducing Mura, Muri and
Muda (3), Lean improves task autonomy and responsibilities for operators (4) and Lean transforms the entire
organization (5).
1. Lean is a culture in which people use tools to continuously solve problems
Many lean implementations fail because tools are implemented without using them for the purpose they were
invented: to be used by people to continuously improve their processes (Rother, 2010).
In a Lean organization, tools are used to visualize problems and people are trained to solve these problems. For
instance, the purpose of Kanban is to eliminate itself (to optimize the delivery time) by improving the product
flow. The purpose of Heijunka (production leveling) is not to force the organization to produce each product every
day, but a tool for people to learn how to improve changeovers, which results in a reduction of changeover costs
and improved flexibility.
2. The goal of Lean is to provide customers exactly what they want, how they want it and when they want.
The highest priority of an organization is to deliver to its customers. After all, customer provide the necessary
revenue and cash flow needed to secure the future of the organization (Balle & Balle, 2010).
Lean tools help the organization in becoming more flexible and efficient, for example by reducing inventories, but
it should never result in reduced reliability to your customers.
3. Lean focuses on reducing Mura (variation), Muri (overload) and Muda (waste)
Muda is not the only M which Toyota is trying to minimize to produce efficiently. Muda is caused by Muri, which,
in turn, is caused by Mura (Liker, 1994). Therefore, the best method to reduce Muda is to reduce Mura.
Available tools to reduce each of the 3 Ms are described in the series of articles: The 3M model Toyota Muda
Mura Muri.
4. In a Lean organization, work of operators is autonomous and divers.
Employees often think that using standard work to reduce Mura leads to monotonous work for operators. This is
not the whole truth. In a Lean organization, reducing non-value-adding activities results in freeing up time which
allows operators to perform other tasks like autonomous maintenance on machinery or further improving their
processes through Kaizen.
Because improvement and maintenance activities can be done by operators, support groups like the quality
department and technical support groups can focus on more complex improvement projects.
5. Lean helps to transform the entire organization
Lean does not only implies improvements in production. Mangement-waste that arises within support groups can
be reduced through Hoshin Kanri (KPI breakdown) and defining an accurate steering and accountability structure.
As a result, only the problems that arise at the shop floor are discussed in the organization and only actions that
directly
contribute
to
the
long-term
organizational
objectives
will
be
set
out.
Additionally, all employees contribute to continuously improving processes, for example by regularly
performing Kamishibai (mini-audits) to learn what problems arise at the shop floor and help colleagues in finding
and solving the next problem.

The five principles described are based on five misconceptions about Lean, which are based on literature,
discussion groups on linked-in and my personal experience. A Lean implementation based on five principles will
increases the chance of achieving the great results which are often associated with Lean Production.
Autonomous Maintenance is the next step after preventative maintenance. It means that operators maintain
their own machines to some extent. The underlying thought is that operators work with the machines all day, so
they notice abnormalities instantly. Next to that, they (again) reduce the workload of technical staff. Implementing
Autonomous Maintenance is described in seven steps: Initial Cleaning (1), Prevent Contamination (2), Create
cleaning standards (3), total machine inspection (4), Standard Interval for total machine inspections and cleaning
(5), Preventing defects to ever reach other workstations (6) and focused improvement activities to increase OEE
for the machine (7). (These 7 steps are elaborated in the articale about Antonomous Maintenance)
Muri (overburden) is one of the 3M which should always have management focus because whether it is Man or
Machine related, it will result in Defects. Lean tools and principles such as 6S, Standard Work, Jidoka,
Preventative- and Autonomous Maintenance will help the organization to minimize Muri and therefore improve
production performance for the long term.

REFERENCES:
Ball, F., Ball, M.,2005, De Goudmijn een Roman over Lean Transformatie, Driebergen (NL): Lean
Management Instituut
Liker, J., 1994, The Toyota Way, 14 management principles from the world greatest manufacturerNew York: McGraw Hill (summary)
Rother, M., 2010. Toyota Kata: Managing people for Improvement, Adaptiveness and Superior Results, New
York: Mc-Graw Hill