Lean Management – Types of Waste

The Main One

→Transportation →Inventory →Motion →Waiting →Over-production →Over-processing →Defects

Transportation

√ Definition: Any movement of materials, supplies or resources that does not add value to the internal or external customer needs

√ Characteristics

• Extra carts, fork lifts

• Multiple storage locations

• Complex inventory management

• Extra facility space

• Improper facility layout

Inventory

√ Definition: Any supply in excess to process requirements necessary to produce goods or services just in time

√ Characteristics

• Material between processes

• Additional material handling resources

• Additional investment / cost

• Storage space

• Perishable, damage and obsolescence

• LIFO instead of FIFO

Motion

√ Definition: Any movement of people, resources or machines which does not contribute/add value to the product or service

√ Characteristics

• Human motion

• Lack of visual controls

• Looking for tools

• Material too far apart (walk time)

• Machine motion

Waiting

√ Definition: Long period of inactivity for people, machine, or material waiting for each other

√ Characteristics

• Improper scheduling

• People waiting for machine or resources

• Poor material planning

• Late Deliveries

• Unbalanced operations

Over-Production

√ Definition: Producing faster or excess quantity than the internal or external customer needs

√ Characteristics

• Just-in-case reward system

• Large lot size batch processing

• Improper demand planning/Unbalanced material flow

• Producing early

• Inventory stockpiles

Over-Processing

√ Definition: Effort which adds NO value to a product or service. Enhancements which are not valued by customers.

√ Characteristics

• Lack of clear customer specifications

• Endless refinement

• Redundant approvals

• Extra copies or excessive information

Defect

√ Definition: Rework needed to rectify the defect in product or service to fulfill customer requirements

√ Characteristics

• Quality problems

• Extra resources to inspect/test/rework

• Insufficient training

• Inconsistent work methods, tools

• Excessive variation

Other type of Waste

Underutilized Skills

Wrong Use of Automation

Wrong Use of Metrics

Underutilized Skills

√ Definition: Any skill that is not utilized to its full potential leading to customer value

√ Characteristics

• Skills based compensation

• Over qualification

• Under performance

• Morale

Wrong Use of Automation

√ Definition: Any automation that is taking longer than manual work or creating additional work

√ Characteristics

• Over automation

• Under automation

• Unnecessary automation

• Automation defects/rejects

• Examples

Wrong Use of Metrics

√ Definition: Any metrics that is incorrectly measured, inappropriately used or misinterpreted is another type of waste

√ Characteristics

• Incorrect data collection

• Inappropriate use

• Misinterpretation

• Misaligned targets or goals

• Examples

Summary

√ Seven Main Types of Waste

√ Other Types of Waste

To Be Continue