Lean and 8 Wastes

The 8 wastes defWhat is LEAN MANAGEMENT?

Lean Management is simply a method of streamlining a process, resulting in increased revenue, reduced costs and improved customer satisfaction.

Lean is achieved by removing  “WASTE” , which is activity not required to complete a process.

A Lean process:

  • Is faster;
  • Is more efficient and economical;
  • Delivers satisfactory quality

After removing every waste, only the steps required to produce a product or service that is satisfactory to a Customer will remain.

What is a WASTE?

A waste is any step or action in a process that is not required to complete a process (called “Non Value-Adding”) successfully. When Waste is removed, only the steps that are required (called “Value-Adding”) to deliver a satisfactory product or service to the customer remain in the process.

These are the 8 Wastes:

1. Defects – Products or services that are out of specification that require resources to correct;

2. Overproduction – Producing too much of a product before it is ready to be sold;

3. Waiting for the previous step in the process to complete;

4. Non-Utilized Talent – Employees that are not effectively engaged in the process;

5. Transportation – Transporting items or information that is not required to perform the process from one location to another;

6. Inventory or information that is sitting idle (not being processed);

7. Motion – People, information or equipment making unnecessary motion due to workspace layout, ergonomic issues or  searching for misplaced items;

8. Extra Processing – Performing any activity that is not necessary to produce a functioning product or service.