Data center asset management is easily transformed when you identify waste in the process.
With the 8 wastes DOWNTIME framework adapted from the work of Taiichi Ohno and the Toyota Production System you can systematically – and surprisingly easily – diagnose the waste in data center asset management.
When applied to data center asset management the 8 wastes are:
Defects - Incorrect, old or incomplete data.
Overproduction - Unnecessary work, complexity, inventory. Fines, lawsuits.
Waiting - Time spent waiting for something to happen or be done.
Non-utilized Talent - Underutilizing people (capacity, skills, knowledge).
Transportation - Unnecessary or inefficient movement of assets.
Inventory - Too much or too little inventory.
Motion - Unnecessary movement of people.
Excess - Having more of anything than is needed.
Real world examples of waste include:
Defects - Assets not where they should be.
Overproduction - Manually auditing assets or verifying inventory.
Waiting - Waiting for audits to be done & errors to be fixed.
Non-utilized Talent – Manually counting, auditing, reporting assets.
Transportation – Assets sent to sites that don’t need them.
Inventory - High capital cost of inventory.
Motion - Time spent walking around data centers manually auding assets.
Excess – High capital cost of assets in storage.
Why identify waste?
For your people it could be higher productivity and job satisfaction (do the real value-add stuff that better utilizes skills and knowledge).
For your business it could be money – reduce the risk and impact of fines and lawsuits and get a better return on any capital or operational investments.
Increased performance; ability to scale to absorb growth...the list goes on.
Happy waste reduction.
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