This process looks fine – until you do the math

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December 30, 2025 | 12:00am

Here’s a classic factory issue. The current work process (see illustration below) appears normal to many people, but not to Kaizen and Lean Thinkers. You may ask – could this be solved by Six Sigma black belters?

Short answer: Yes. Except that this is better solved by Kaizen and Lean Thinkers (KLTs) without heavy statistical analysis because it’s a common-sense problem.

The process looks perfectly respectable. There are three workers, two machines, and a conveyor belt – a sign that some factory managers are unmindful of their problems.

If you squint hard enough, you might understand why KLTs have a cruel habit of asking questions like: Is there a better way? Why does a single work piece need to be handled by three different workers?
Why does it have to travel several meters between two machines that clearly belong together? And why are we paying rent so a work piece can enjoy a leisurely conveyor ride?

Welcome to the fascinating world of invisible wastes – where activity is mistaken for progress. Let’s do a recap.

Worker A loads a work piece into Machine 1. The processed part exits near Worker B, who picks and places it onto a conveyor belt.

The conveyor faithfully transports the part to Worker C, who finally loads it into Machine 2.

The entire workstation occupies about 30 square meters of rented factory space. No value is added while the part is being carried, conveyed, or admired in transit. Yet time passes. Labor is consumed. Rent is paid. From a critical thinking perspective, this is not a process – it’s a guided tour.

Productivity illusion

Conveyors are fascinating devices. They move things efficiently, predictably, and continuously. Unfortunately, they also have a talent for hiding bad layouts. In many factories, conveyors exist not because they are needed, but because machines were placed far apart once upon a time, and nobody ever questioned that decision since then.

In many cases, the conveyor becomes an admission of guilt for a poor layout. As KLTs like to say: transportation is waste – especially when it’s automated.

Then, there’s Worker B who is neither producing nor processing. He’s merely transferring a piece. This is tragic. From a financial standpoint, it’s worse. When a human being performs a task that gravity or proximity could solve, something has gone wrong.

Worker B’s job exists only because the machines are far apart. Remove the distance, and the role quietly disappears. No drama required. This is not about reducing the number of workers. It’s about freeing people from non-value adding work so they can do something meaningful, or at least less boring.

Enter the U-cell

Imagine a radical but deceptively simple idea: move the machines closer together.

Instead of lining them up like polite strangers on a bus, we arrange Machine 1 and Machine 2 in a U-shaped work cell. Only one operator stands inside that cell. A small turn to the left loads Machine 1. A small turn to the right loads Machine 2.

No conveyor. No long walks. No handoffs. The workpiece no longer travels. It simply flows. This is the essence of a Lean U-cell: compact layout, short distances, and one-piece flow. The product stays within arm’s reach.

Corollary to the Lean U-cell is the one-piece flow: the underrated superpower. With the U-cell, the process naturally shifts to one-piece flow. Each part moves directly from Machine 1 to Machine 2 without waiting for its friends to catch up on the conveyor.

Shorter lead time, faster feedback when something goes wrong, and less work-in-process cluttering the floor. Problems can no longer hide in piles. If something breaks, everyone knows now, not tomorrow. As an added bonus, supervisors lose the comforting illusion that “everything is fine” just because the conveyor is full.

The deeper lesson

The original setup occupied 30 square meters of a rented factory. The U-cell can often do the same work in half that space. Factory space is not free. Even if you own the building, it has an opportunity cost. Every unnecessary meter is an area you light, clean, protect, secure, and insure.

Lean layouts don’t just save time; they save real money quietly, every month, without the help of the most popular motivational speaker. Fewer people occupying space has more value. Depending on cycle times, the U-cell can be operated by one person, or at most two.

This does not mean people are eliminated but redeployed to other tasks. In simple terms, we didn’t fire the worker; we fired the waste.

One caveat. Objectively, the U-cell is not a universal solution. It depends on machine compatibility, plus a lot more if we’re to consider vibration, heat, or safety requirements.

The proposed improvement here is having a radical mindset. KLTs ask us to stop admiring motion and start respecting flow. Therefore, if a process needs three people and a conveyor to move one part a few meters, the problem isn’t manpower – it’s imagination.

Wishing you a New Year of meaningful wins – big and small!!!

Rey Elbo is a quality and productivity enthusiast. Email [email protected] or DM him on Facebook, LinkedIn, X or via https://reyelbo.com. Anonymity is guaranteed to those who don’t want to change.