Muda of motion has to do with how employees themselves move during a process. This type of waste is often relevant to people-powered processes in manufacturing, warehousing, shipping, delivery, or industrial fields, but waste of motion can even crop up in processes that are computerized.
For example, if a data-entry employee has to click back and forth between screens when entering information, this could be muda of motion. If the system is designed so that a number is to be entered in one window and a second number entered in a different window, the click between windows is wasting motion.
Other examples of muda of motion include a task that requires an individual to physically move back and forth between work, extra motion that stems from a poor layout of work, or movement that occurs when an employee leaves an area and has to return one or more times because he or she forgot something.
Streamlining company processes eliminates muda of motion, and data must be collected and analyzed to identify unnecessary movement.
A common tool used in manufacturing and similar environments to track movement is known as a spaghetti diagram, Begin with a basic, bird’s eye drawing of the workspace. Include furniture, computer stations, machinery doors, and walls. Observe an actual process, tracking any and all movements with a line on the diagram. The diagram looks like a string of spaghetti fell onto your page. Once the process is complete, you can look at the diagram to see where the movements cross paths multiple times or go out of the way unnecessarily. This helps you find opportunities for streamlining the movement in a process