Jason Thistlethwaite
2.1 KiB
A water spider or ”mizusumashi” in Japanese is a person who has a prescribed set of tasks to keep materials in stock at the point of use in production areas and reduce Buffer Time of regular production activities.
A water spider's purpose is to handle the replenishment tasks so the production-oriented personnel can focus on revenue-generating activities.
They should make their rounds the same way and perform replenishment tasks identically each and every time. They take finished goods from the work area, drop kanban cards, refill bins from central locations, and remove waste materials. All of these tasks keep the operators in their work areas and keep production flowing.
Warnings about using water spiders
- A water spider might not perform their role full-time, but it's critical for them to make their rounds at regular, expected intervals.
- Water spiders move between different areas with different leadership, making standardization much more important. Visual guides and nomenclature must be standardized for water spiders to function well. For example, 5S lists should be standard in each area the water spider will operate.
- During their rounds a water spider should only do their prescribed tasks. There is a tendency for managers to think of water spiders as secondary to production, which can tempt managers to assign water spiders additional tasks. Don't treat a water spider as an excess person or a floater.
General tasks of a water spider at LDR
A water spider should circulate the whole production floor on a set interval, stopping in each key production area to handle any replenishment needs. In between intervals, the water spider should be focused on STOW.
The water spider is expected to circulate the production floor on a regular basis and resolve the following issues at each production area:
- Make note of low supplies or consumables, such as tape, packing materials, printer paper, etc. and replenish low supplies.
- Monitor the central distribution point of supplies for low quantities and report them to the Quality Manager.
- Break down boxes and remove trash.
- Replace spent racks/bins with new ones.