Four loss families poster

A loss is any cost the product does not need. Most plants sort losses into four families: machine or equipment losses (the machine is not making good parts), people (time that adds no value), material (more material used than the product needs) and energy (energy used when nothing is made). Naming losses the same way in every department lets them be added up, compared and ranked. This poster shows the four families with three common losses in each.

Download the poster

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Four loss families poster — 24 x 36 in18 x 24 inA2A3LetterA4PNG 300 dpi

The words on the poster

Where cost is lost

Four families of loss. Call them by the same names in every department.

Machine Not making good parts. Breakdowns and small stops Changeovers and running slow Startup and quality losses
People Time that adds no value. Walking, searching and waiting Work unbalanced between people Checks and rework by hand
Material More than the product needs. Scrap and yield loss Supplier defects Consumables and tools used up
Energy Used when nothing is made. Machines left running idle Compressed air leaks Heat and light in empty areas

Machine losses after Nakajima's six big losses; families as commonly grouped in cost deployment.

On the floor

How to use it

Putting the Four loss families poster to work

1
Put it where losses are logged, so everyone books them under the same names.
2
Use it on a loss walk: find one example of each family in the area.
3
Use it before a cost deployment cycle to agree the loss list.
4
Pair it with the free six big losses worksheet and loss tree worksheet.

Where the poster goes and how to teach with it, in the order to try them.

Which size to print

24 x 36 in or A2: a main wall or team board, read from a few metres away.
18 x 24 in or A3: a station or notice board. The A3 file also fits 11 x 17 in paper.
Letter or A4: a clipboard, binder or handout, on any office printer.

Every PDF is vector, so it stays sharp at full size. Nothing runs to the edge of the page, so no bleed is needed.

Sources and notes

Seiichi Nakajima, Introduction to TPM: Total Productive Maintenance (Productivity Press, 1988): the six big losses, which make up most of the machine family.
The grouping into machine (equipment), people, material and energy is common practice in cost deployment; see Yamashina and Kubo, Manufacturing cost deployment (2002).