TechHelp News
Does TIM WOODS Inhabit Your Food Processing Facility
Dr. Janna Hamlett Writes About Finding & Eliminating Waste in Food Processing Facilities
TechHelp is thrilled to share this snippet of an article written by our own, Dr. Janna Hamlett, and published in FoodSafety Magazine on July 18, 2022. You can read the entire article in FoodSafety Magazine
If you look around, you may find many examples of ‘TIM WOODS’ in a food processing facility. TIM WOODS is an acronym for the ‘eight wastes’ that can plague a processing facility. In lean manufacturing, waste is any cost, effort, or material that is used in a processing facility that does not directly lead to a completed unit.
Most tasks can be broken down into one of two classifications: value-added or non-value-added. Value-added is something for which customers are willing to pay. The non-valued-added tasks are wastes that do not contribute to making a safe product that meets specifications. Although non-value-added tasks often cannot be completely eliminated, they must still be greatly reduced to keep a facility competitive.
The eight TIM WOODS wastes include:
- Transport
- Inventory
- Motion
- Waiting
- Overproduction
- Overprocessing
- Defects
- Skills
Contact TecHelp if you want to see if TIM WOODS is lurking in your facility or if you want to train your staff to be more proficient at finding and eliminating TIM WOODS.
Janna Hamlett, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor at the University of Idaho Extension and a Food Processing Specialist with TechHelp, Idaho's Manufacturing Extension Partnership Center. She has over 15 years of experience in the food manufacturing industry, with a background in quality and operations management including numerous certifications in lean processing management, personnel safety, and food safety and quality programs.
