MUDA, MURA, MURI

In it there is a Problem illustrating muda, mura, and muri through the use of a forklift example: "How best to move 6000 kg load with a forklift having a capacity of 2000 kg." The choices are
Muda: 6 trips 1000 kg, Mura: 2 trips 2000 kg plus 2 trips at 1000kg, and Muri: 2 trips 3000 kg. Then it says: "Best: 3 trips 2000 kg."


Muda is the waste in a process; these are the seven production wastes that Taiichi Ohno references. Transportation, Inventory, Movement, Waiting, Overproduction, Over-processing, and Defects. So, in the example muda is looking at unnecessary transportation.

Mura is the unevenness or fluctuation of the schedule. Variability… So, in the example mura is looking at the imbalance in the assigned task.

Muri is the overburdening of your people or equipment. So, in the example muri is looking at demanding that a forklift carry X+ weight when it is rated to carry X weight.


In the Muda example, we are wasting time and effort because we could potentiall carry more.

In the Mura example we have an imbalance in what we are transporting (which incidentally leads to more muda).

And in the Muri example we have overburdened the equipment.

So the ideal example is to transport three loads at the maximum capacity of the forklift and accomplish the task.