17, August 2017
The Eight "Wastes" of Lean
The Eight Wastes of Lean
Lean defines waste, or muda, as anything in your organization’s processes that does not add value for the end customer. By identifying and eliminating waste using lean principles, manufacturers and businesses ultimately increase productivity and profit.
Lean recognizes eight types of waste, which can be remembered using the acronym DOWNTIME:
Defects: Defective products not only cause waste on the scrap, but also wasted time, human energy, and raw materials.
Overproduction: Producing goods you can’t sell requires extra time, money, and storage costs associated with excess product.
Waiting: Time spent waiting to complete the next step in the manufacturing process is time that could have been spent producing more product.
Non-utilized talent: Failing to recognize your employees’ skills can prevent you from realizing your full production potential.
Transportation: Excessive transportation increases the likelihood of damaged products, delays in delivery, and extra costs associated with shipping and handling.
Inventory: Excess inventory is a form of over production that leads to waiting and non-value added processing.
Motion: Too much unnecessary walking, pulling, and pushing can slow down your whole process.
Extra Processing: Manipulating products beyond what is expected and required leads to wasted time and effort the customer won’t pay for.
Learn more about how Impact can help your company streamline its processes and eliminate waste using lean tools.