8 Wastes of Lean

Lean manufacturing is a methodology derived from the Toyota
Production System that focuses on minimizing waste within
manufacturing systems while simultaneously maximizing
productivity.
Lean aims at eliminating the three types of deviations that
shows an inefficient allocation of resources.
The three types are :
• Muda (無駄, Waste)
• Mura (斑, Unevenness)
• & Muri (無理, Overburden)
Lean ManufacturingIntegrated sociotechnical approach for process improvement

Waste Muda
Waste is any action or step in a process that add cost but negates
value.
Muda takes into account the wastes and aims to integrate each
step of production into a holistic, efficient process that reduces
costs and improves overall revenue.
The original seven wastes (Muda) was developed by Taiichi Ohno,
the Chief Engineer at Toyota, as part of the Toyota Production
System (TPS). The seven wastes are Transportation, Inventory,
Motion, Waiting, Overproduction, Over-processing and Defects.
They are often referred to by the acronym ‘TIMWOOD’. The 8th
waste of non-utilized talent or ‘Skills’ of workers was later
introduced in the 1990s when the Toyota Production System was
adopted in the western world. As a result, the 8 wastes are
commonly referred to as ‘TIMWOODS’.TAIICHI OHNO
1912-1990

WAITING
Waste from time spent waiting for
the next process step to occur
MOTIONWasted time and effort related to
unnecessary movements by people
INVENTORY
Wastes resulting from excess
products and materials that aren’t
processed
TRANSPORT
Wasted time, resources & costs
when unnecessarily moving
products & materials
Wastes from making more product
than customer’s demand
OVERPRODUCTION
Waste from a product or service
failure to meet customer
expectations
DEFECT
Waste due to underutilization of
people’s talents, skills and
knowledge
SKILL
TIMWOODSMnemonic
Wastes related to more wok or
higher quality than required by the
customerOVERPROCESSING

Overproduction
Inventory
MotionWaiting
Transport
Useful
Work
Defects
Over Processing
Value Add Analysis
Typically less than 5% of what we do is adding
value to Useful Work
The companies profit lies in the selling price. Less the
costs, no matter how one think about the selling price it
is very much dictated by the market, not by the
company.
If a company charge too much, then the customers will
go elsewhere, even if you charge too little you may lose
customers as they will perceive there may be something
wrong with what you are offering. Therefore the only
way you have to improve your profits are to reduce your
costs, this means removing all elements of waste from
your processes.
In addition to improving your profits, you will find that
waste has a major impact on your customer’s satisfaction
with your products and services. Your customers want on
time delivery, perfect quality and at the right price.
Something that you cannot achieve if you allow the 8
wastes to persist within your processes.

Transport
MOVING GOODS FROM ONE LOCATION TO ANOTHER WITHOUT ADDING VALUE
Transport refers to the movement of people, tools, inventory,
equipment, or products further than necessary in between
processes. It refers:
 A cost incursion
 Adds no value to the product
 Wastes time and energy
 Can end up damaging the products themselves.
Excess transportation may be caused by:
 Poor layouts, Large distance between operations
 Lengthy, or complex material handling systems
 Working to faster rate than customer demand
 Multiple storage locations

Optimal Practices
 Utilizing most efficient routes (most obvious route may not be most efficient)
 Staging processes as close together as possible
 Optimizing material handling systems and consolidate storage areas
 Avoiding lengthy or complex material-handling systems
Transport

Inventory
Inventory waste is stock in excess of the requirements
necessary to produce goods or services ‘Just In Time’
Excess inventory increases lead times, consumes productive
floor space, delays the identification of problems, and
inhibits communication.
Excess inventory can be caused by:
 Over-purchasing
 Inventory Build-up between Processes
 Large Batch Sizes
 Stagnant Materials
 Overproducing
HAVING AN EXCESS OF MATERIALS THAT TIE UP STORAGE SPACE, CASH & RESOURCES

Optimal Practices
 Purchasing raw materials only when needed and in the quantity
 Reducing buffers between production steps
 Adjusting the production process to create a smooth flow of labor
 Observing the First-In-First-Out principle regarding stagnant materials
 Creating a queue system to prevent overproduction.
 Use Just-in-Time (JIT) inventory techniques
Inventory

Motion
 Poor Workstation Layout
 Poor Workplace Organization
 Large Batch Sizes
 Reorientation Of Materials
UNNECESSARY MOVEMENTS BY HUMANS OR MACHINES THAT COULD BE SIMPLIFIED
Any unnecessary movement of people, equipment, or
machinery which includes walking, lifting, reaching, bending,
stretching, and moving.
It can include repetitive movements that do not add value to
the customer, reaching for materials, walking to get a tool or
materials, and readjusting a component after it has been
installed. Wasteful motion is caused by:

Optimal Practices
 Improving workstation layouts to prevent excessive walking, bending, or
reaching
 Arranging methods to allow parts to transfer smoothly from one hand
to the other
 Redesigning the workplace layout to allow for less reorientation of
materials
 Placing equipment near the production location
 Putting materials at an ergonomic position to reduce stretching and
straining.
Motion

Waiting
IDLE TIME PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF LACK OF SYNCHRONIZAION B/W PROCESSES
Waiting involves any idle time produced when two
interdependent processes aren't completely synchronized.
This can be caused by machines, products, people, and
information that forces operators to wait or work inefficiently.
A lot of our time waiting for various reasons that may include:
 Previous operations running over their expected time
 Deliveries failing to arrive
 Unreliable people and machines
 Poor Man/Machine coordination
 Need for batch, instead of single product, completion
 Time required to rework a product

Waiting Optimal Practices
 Designing processes to ensure continuous flow or single piece flow
 Synchronizing processes (machine & human) as best as possible
 Leveling out the workload by using Standardized Work Instructions
 Increasing reliability of processes
 Reducing down time by improving efficiency
 Developing flexible multi-skilled workers who can quickly adjust in the
work demands

Overproduction
The Toyota Production System is also referred to as “Just in Time” (JIT) because every item is made just as it is needed.
Overproduction manufacturing is referred to as “Just in Case.” and cause huge losses
PRODUCING MORE THAN NECESSARY OR FASTER THAN SCHEDULED
Overproduction is to manufacture an item before it is actually
required. As it is tempting to produce as many products as possible
when there is idle worker or equipment time.
Overproduction costs high to a manufacturing plant as it not
only prohibits the smooth flow of materials but actually
degrades quality and productivity. This creates excessive lead
times, results in high storage costs, and makes it difficult to
detect defects.
Overproduction works in two forms:
 Producing something before it is needed
 Producing too much of a product, resulting in work-in-
progress and surplus stock

Overproduction Optimal Practices
 Balancing Supply and Demand
 Producing per actual demand rather than forecasted sales
 Adopting Just-in-Time (JIT) manufacturing philosophy
 Creating more reliable processes

Over Processing
PERFORMING PROCESSES BEYOND WHAT IS REQUIRED BY THE CUSTOMER
Over-processing refers to doing more work, adding more
components, or having more steps in a product or service than
what is required by the customer.
Which includes:
 Using a higher precision equipment than necessary
 Using components with capacities beyond what is required
 Running more analysis than needed
 Over-engineering a solution
 Adjusting a component after it has already been installed
 Having more functionalities in a product than needed
 Generating more detailed reports than needed
 Having unnecessary steps in the SOPs
 Duplicate entry of data in multiple documents

Over Processing Optimal Practices
 Clarifying Customer’s standards and expectations ahead of time
 Producing to the level of quality and expectation that the customer desires, and
make only the quantities needed
 Only performing the processes necessary to meet these standards and expectations
 Using appropriate processes (Avoid overly complex machinery or processes if possible)
 Standardizing best techniques for workers to follow
 Setting clear specifications and quality acceptance

Defect
Defects occurs due to variation in the standard operating
process & leads to manufacturing of product which is not fit
for use, resulting in either Reworking or Scrapping the
product. Both results are wasteful as they add additional
costs to the operations includes: Quarantining Inventory,
Re-inspecting, Rescheduling & Capacity Loss, without
delivering any value to the customer.
Defects are caused by:
CORRECTION WHICH INCLUDES ADDITIONAL WORK PERFORMED ON A PRODUCT
In many organizations the total cost of defects is often a significant percentage of total manufacturing cost
 Inadequate Training
 Skills Shortage
 Incapable Processes
 Incapable Suppliers
 Operator Error
 Excessive Stock
 Transportation

Defect Optimal Practices
 Developing a world-class quality assurance program
 Focusing on preventing defects rather than resolving problems post-production
 Seeking for the most frequent defect and focus on it.
 Designing a process to detect abnormalities and do not pass any defective items
along the production process.
 Standardizing work to ensure a consistent manufacturing process that is defect
free. Routine Training, Capable Suppliers, Reduce Excess Stock etc.
 Implementing a Poka-Yoke ("Mistake-Proofing") system to reduce defects

Unutilized Talent
WASTE OF UNUSED HUMAN TALENT AND INGENUITY
This waste occurs when organizations separate the role of
management from employees. In some organizations,
management’s responsibility is planning, organizing, controlling,
and innovating the production process. The employee’s role is to
simply follow orders and execute the work as planned. By not
engaging the frontline worker’s knowledge and expertise, it is
difficult to improve processes. As people doing the work are the
ones who are most capable of identifying problems and
developing solutions for them. Non-utilized talent includes:
 Insufficient Training
 Poor Incentives
 Not asking for employee feedback
 Placing employees in positions below their skills and
qualifications

Unutilized Talent
Optimal Practices
 Appropriate TNI & Sufficient Training to Employees
 Talent Based Incentives
 Routine employee feedback
 Placing employees in positions as per their Talent, Skills, & Qualifications

Creativity
An additional waste that you may find is the failure to harness the people in your company. One lean
manufacturing principle involves respecting employees and involving them in the improvement process.
Failing to do this is one of the most shortsighted wastes because:
 Employees know your business best and can come up with the optimal solutions for improvement
 Lack of ownership leads to sub-optimal performance
Resources
Wasting resources results when you don't use your facilities efficiently. A few examples include:
 Failing to turn off the lights and heat when they're not needed
 Leaving the machines running
 Not closing doors and allowing the heat to escape
By-Products
This waste is what happens when you fail to use the by-products from your process for something
productive. For instance, if you had a furniture factory, you could use your sawdust and off-cuts to generate
heat or electricity for the factory.
Additional Wastes

 The first step to reducing waste is recognizing its existence & having an effective process for identifying them
Value Stream Mapping (VSM) is a Lean management method for analyzing the current state and designing a future state.
It shows the flow of information and material as they occur. It effectively maps out the processes involved, displaying the
relationship between production processes in a visual manner separating value-added and non-value-added activities
 Using the VSM and start with the end customer in mind
 Working backwards from the end customer to the start of the production processes
 Documenting instances of the 8 wastes in the processes and develop a plan for eliminating or reducing them
 Continuing challenging the team to find more wastes and continuously improve your processes
 Engaging with the frontline workers and elicit their ideas for improvement
 As theteam begins reducing efficiencies they will gain more confidence in their problem-solving capabilities
and over time reducing waste becomes a part of their daily routine
Identifying and Eliminating the Wastes

“If you always do what you always
did, you’ll always get what you’ve
always got.”
– Henry Ford

References
Leanmanufacturingtools.org
leanop.com
en.wikipedia.org
leanmanufacturingtools.org
www.kainexus.com
Praneet Surti

8 Wastes of Lean

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