This document discusses various types of waste in lean management. It outlines the main seven types of waste as transportation, inventory, motion, waiting, overproduction, overprocessing, and defects. It provides definitions and characteristics for each of the seven wastes. The document also mentions other potential types of waste, such as underutilized skills, wrong use of automation, and wrong use of metrics. It concludes with a summary of the seven main types of waste and other potential waste types.

1. Lean Management

2. Types of Waste

3. Agenda
The Main Ones
Others

4. The Types of Waste
4

5. Transportation
• Definition: Any movement of materials, supplies or resources that does not add value to
the internal or external customer needs
• Characteristics
o Extra carts, fork lifts
o Multiple storage locations
o Complex inventory management
o Extra facility space
o Improper facility layout

6. Inventory
• Definition: Any supply in excess to process
requirements necessary to produce goods or
services just in time
• Characteristics
o Material between processes
o Additional material handling resources
o Additional investment / cost
o Storage space
o Perishable, damage and obsolescence
o LIFO instead of FIFO

7. Motion
• Definition: Any movement of people, resources or machines which does not
contribute/add value to the product or service
• Characteristics
o Human motion
o Lack of visual controls
o Looking for tools
o Material too far apart (walk time)
o Machine motion

8. Waiting
• Definition: Long period of inactivity for people, machine, or material waiting for
each other
• Characteristics
o Improper scheduling
o People waiting for machine or resources
o Poor material planning
o Late Deliveries
o Unbalanced operations

9. Over-Production
• Definition: Producing faster or excess quantity than the internal or external
customer needs
• Characteristics
o Just-in-case reward system
o Large lot size batch processing
o Improper demand planning/Unbalanced material flow
o Producing early
o Inventory stockpiles

10. Over-Processing
• Definition: Effort which adds NO value to a product or service. Enhancements
which are not valued by customers.
• Characteristics
o Lack of clear customer specifications
o Endless refinement
o Redundant approvals
o Extra copies or excessive information

11. Defect
• Definition: Rework needed to rectify the defect in product or service to fulfill
customer requirements
• Characteristics
o Quality problems
o Extra resources to inspect/test/rework
o Insufficient training
o Inconsistent work methods, tools
o Excessive variation

12. Other Types of Waste

13. 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

14. Wrong Use of Automation
• Definition: Any automation that is taking longer than manual work or creating additional
work
• Characteristics
o Over automation
o Under automation
o Unnecessary automation
o Automation defects/rejects
o Examples

15. Wrong Use of Metrics
• Definition: Any metrics that is incorrectly measured, inappropriately used or
misinterpreted is another type of waste
• Characteristics
o Incorrect data collection
o Inappropriate use
o Misinterpretation
o Misaligned targets or goals
o Examples

16. Summary
Seven Main Types of Waste
Other Types of Waste
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17. Knowledge Check

18. Knowledge
Check
A.
B.
C.
D.
1
Which of the following is not one of the seven wastes?
Overproduction
Transporting
Excess machine capacity
Waiting

19. Knowledge
Check
The correct answer is
A.
B.
C.
D.
1
The main seven types of waste do not include excess machine capacity. While it is in some form of potential waste of
resource, but it is not part of the seven main waste types.
C
Which of the following is not one of the seven wastes?
Overproduction
Transporting
Excess machine capacity
Waiting

20. Knowledge
Check
A.
B.
C.
D.
2
What are the main seven types of waste?
Transportation, inventory, motion, waiting, over-production, over-processing, defects
Money, software, entertainment, waiting, resources, under-utilized machines, excess machine
capacity
Inventory, storage, misalignment, overheating, electricity, chatting, communication
Transportation, inventory, motion, waiting, underutilized money, over-processing,
communication

21. Knowledge
Check
The correct answer is
A.
B.
C.
D.
2
The main seven types of waste are Transportation, inventory, motion, waiting, over-production, over-processing, defects.
A
What are the main seven types of waste?
Transportation, inventory, motion, waiting, over-production, over-processing, defects
Money, software, entertainment, waiting, resources, under-utilized machines, excess machine
capacity
Inventory, storage, misalignment, overheating, electricity, chatting, communication
Transportation, inventory, motion, waiting, underutilized money, over-processing,
communication