A lean approach to address material losses: materials cost deployment (MaCD)

In this paper, a novel lean approach to address material losses in production processes is presented. It is termed materials cost deployment (MaCD) and has the objective of identifying, analyzing, and reducing or eliminating material losses. Thanks to the modification of the manufacturing cost deployment framework, MaCD proposes an alternative structure for classifying and analyzing material losses, setting the focus on areas where the greatest losses are placed, and providing opportunities for greater efficiency and effectiveness in reducing and eliminating them. With the proposed approach, material losses within the factory are identified and classified into causal and resultant losses. Each loss is then quantified, also in monetary terms. The improvement actions to tackle each causal loss are identified and then evaluated by means of a quantitative measure in order to find the preferable ones. Finally, a practical decision procedure is applied to select which improvement interventions to start, and hence which causal losses to tackle, according to technical and economic factors. The effectiveness and practicality of MaCD in addressing material losses are shown by means of an industrial application concerning a European multinational group operating in the food and beverage industry.