Lean principles can be applied to office environments to eliminate waste. The mnemonic "TIM WOOD" identifies common types of waste: transportation, inventory, movement, waiting, overproduction, overprocessing, and defects. Examples of waste in offices include unnecessary retrieval or storage of paperwork, open projects or unread emails, excess searching for files, waiting for responses, creating unnecessary reports, and data entry errors. Simple changes like organizing a desk efficiently, programming keyboard shortcuts, clearly labeling file cabinets, and managing electronic data can help reduce office waste.

1. John Hughes - Operations leadership

2. Many businesses see Lean as a manufacturing tool only.
If the deployment of Lean practices improves the velocity
through the workplace, why wouldn’t it work in an office
environment?
Lean seeks to eliminate waste leaving only value add activities.
A simple way to approach the identification of waste is to use the mnemonic “TIM
WOOD”
Transportation (goods) Waiting (time)
Inventory Over production (too much output too soon)
Movement (employee) Over processing (complexity that can be simplified)
Defects
John Hughes - Operations leadership

3. Does TIM WOOD work in your office?
John Hughes - Operations leadership
Waste Examples
Transportation Retrieving or storing paper libraries
Carrying or posting paperwork
Inventory Open projects, Unread emails
Office supplies, Unused records in the database
Movement Searching for files, handling paperwork
Extra keystrokes, Hand offs
Going to get approvals
Waiting System to come up, Customer response
Queue for printer, Handed off file return
Over production Failure to prioritise, too much time / output for the task
Creating reports no one reads, Making extra copies
Over processing Repeated manual data entry, Unnecessary steps, duplication
Elaboration; fancy documentation when a call would do
More information that the customer needs at that time
Checking and layers of approval
Defects Data entry errors, Incorrect pricing
Missing information

4. Some real life examples:
• I knew an operations director who had organised his
desk to such a degree that he had marked out spaces
on the desk for stapler, pen pot, in-tray, telephone etc.
Super extreme example but he could close his eyes and
put his hands on what he needed.
• Reprogramme the keyboard function keys to
automatically enter regular screen requirements. Our
planners needed to review material detail for just about
every part number. F1 was reprogrammed to type that
command with a single keystroke.
• Organise filing cabinets; label the doors to show what is
inside, label each shelf with what is located on it to
minimise Movement.
• Set electronic archive policies so that the data in the
system remains manageable.
John Hughes - Operations leadership