What are the 8 Wastes of Lean?

The 8 Wastes of Lean Manufacturing expand upon the original seven wastes identified in the Toyota Production System by adding an eighth category. These wastes represent activities that do not add value to the product or service from the customer’s perspective and should be minimized or eliminated.

The 8 Wastes of Lean Manufacturing:

1. Overproduction:

   • Producing more than what is needed or before it is needed.
   • This leads to excess inventory, higher storage costs, and potentially obsolete products.

2. Waiting:

   • Time lost when materials, information, or people are not ready.
   • Examples include waiting for equipment to become available, for parts to arrive, or for approvals.

3. Transport:

   • Unnecessary movement of products, materials, or information between processes.
   • This can increase lead times and risks of damage or loss.

4. Extra Processing:

   • Performing more work or higher quality than what is required by the customer.
   • Examples include unnecessary steps in production or redundant quality checks.

5. Inventory:

   • Excess products or materials that are not being processed.
   • High inventory levels can hide problems like defects, delays, and inefficiencies.

6. Motion:

   • Unnecessary movements by people that do not add value.
   • This includes excess walking, reaching, or searching for tools or materials.

7. Defects:

   • Effort involved in inspecting and fixing products that do not meet quality standards.
   • Defects lead to rework, scrap, and lost time, which can frustrate customers.

8. Unused Talent:

   • Underutilization of employees' skills, talents, and knowledge.
   • This waste occurs when employees are not empowered to contribute ideas for improvement or are placed in roles that do not fully utilize their capabilities.

Identifying and Eliminating these 8 wastes, organizations can optimize their processes, reduce costs, improve quality, and increase customer satisfaction.