8 Wastes of Lean Manufacturing in a Services

Identify one of the 8 wastes listed in the article and provide an example from a service industry company that illustrates the waste. Explain the potential negative impacts on the company.

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      Negative Impacts:
  • Employee Dissatisfaction and Demotivation:Talented agents who are not challenged or given opportunities to utilize their full skillset can become bored, frustrated, and disengaged. This can lead to high turnover and decreased productivity.
  • Reduced Customer Satisfaction:Underutilized talent limits the ability of agents to solve customer problems creatively and provide personalized service. This can result in longer call times, frustration for customers, and negative customer reviews.
  • Missed Opportunities:By not empowering their employees, the company misses out on valuable ideas and solutions that could improve efficiency, customer service, and overall performance.
Addressing the Waste: The call center can address this waste by:
  • Providing ongoing training and development opportunitiesto help agents hone their skills and learn new ones.
  • Empowering agentsto make decisions within defined parameters, allowing them to personalize the customer experience.
  • Encouraging employee feedback and suggestionsfor process improvement.
By utilizing the full potential of their employees, the call center can improve customer satisfaction, reduce costs, and gain a competitive edge.  

Sample Answer

     

Waste of Talent: A Service Industry Example

One of the eight wastes in Lean manufacturing is the waste of talent. This refers to the underutilization of an employee's skills, knowledge, and abilities. Let's see how this applies to a service industry company:

Example: A call center employs agents who are multilingual and have strong customer service skills. However, due to a rigid script and limited decision-making authority, these agents spend most of their time reading pre-written responses and following a one-size-fits-all approach.