The 7

WASTES of

LEAN
Eliminate Waste. Streamline Processes.

Improve Quality.
 Contents
3 | Executive Summary

4 | Motion

5 | Inventory

6 | Waiting

7 | Overproduction

8 | Transportation

9 | Overprocessing

10 | Human Potential

11 | Conclusion

2 Title of the book

 Executive Summary
Companies that utilize Lean methods and management practices
work endlessly to increase efficiency and improve quality by
eliminating waste.

This can be done in organizations of any size, in any industry,

anywhere in the world. Sometimes the waste is easy to spot;
other times it requires a careful eye for detail.

There Are Actually 8 The Wastes

The “7 Wastes of Lean” were originally of Lean:
categorized by Taiichi Ohno, one of the
fathers of the Toyota Production System.
He separated the waste he saw into 1. Motion
seven categories, which made them 2. Inventory
easier to identify and eliminate.
3. Waiting
Just as Lean companies constantly 4. Defects
evolve and adapt, so does the Lean
philosophy as it changes to accommodate 5. Overproduction
new situations and learning over time. 6. Transportation
As such, an eighth waste was recognized 7. Over processing
and added in the early 2000s – the 8. Human Potential
“Waste of Human Potential” or the “Waste
of Talent.”

3 The 7 Wastes of Lean

MOTION
unnecessary movement of employees
Wasted motion can be small, such as walking to a waste basket that’s
too far from the workstation, or large, such as sending employees out in
the field without the tools they need to complete their work.

CAUSE
Wasted motion occurs as a result
Waste of motion is of many things, including:
harmful to productivity,
the bottom line, and the Planning of Tasks &
efficiency of a process. Standard Work
If an employee needs to carry three
Wasted motion can result items from point A to point B, all
in physical injuries to three should (when possible) be
transported at once (or kept closer).
employees through
repetitious, unnecessary
movements. Poor Design of the Workspace

Streamlining movements When you know that Item X must be

used five times per hour, it should
allows them to reduce the
be located as close as possible to
process time and the point of use.
reallocate that time to
value-added activities.
Poorly Designed Software
When a doctor or nurse has to click
too many times in a system to
complete small tasks.

4 The 7 Wastes of Lean

 INVENTORY
more inventory than necessary
Wasted inventory can be as simple as having too much of one particular
supply so that it doesn’t fit in its designated space or having too much
work in progress in the flow of your production.

Poor Flow

CAUSES If the capacity of different steps in a

process is not balanced, inventory
will accumulate between steps.

Improper Supply Ordering Issues in the Supply Chain

Ordering enough eggs for 200 Buying excess simply because it’s
boxes of cookies “just in case” available or cheaper without
when you usually only sell 60. considering the cost of storing it.

Why It Matters:
Extra inventory takes up space that could be better utilized in
ways that add value. Managing that inventory takes more money
and resources.

Streamlining your inventory process enables you to clear

overcrowded spaces, free up available cash, and reduce the
amount of time your employees spend organizing, storing, and
locating materials.

5 The 7 Wastes of Lean

WAITING
too much downtime
This waste occurs when employees, processes, or customers are left
waiting for something to occur before they can continue.

When people are left waiting for others to finish upstream tasks or for
supplies to arrive, their entire work process can grind to a halt. This
quickly results in downstream effects, as others downstream from the
waiting are forced to wait as well, or fall behind in their own work.

Eliminating this waste streamlines processes and speeds the flow of

value to customers by allowing you to produce your goods or service
your customers at the required speed and timing.

Possible Causes:
• Process Design

• Scheduling Errors

• Insufficient Training

6 The 7 Wastes of Lean

OVERPRODUCTION
producing more products than needed
Overproduction results in excess inventory that can expire, take up space
and money to store and maintain, and tie up capital that could be more
productively utilized.

Schedule

CAUSES Insisting on producing to your

planned schedule because of
targets or incentives.

Poor Planning of Production Just in Case

Producing 200 items to get costs A company produces extra
down by spreading out overhead products ‘just in case’ they will
when you usually only sell 100. need them later.

Why It Matters:
Overproduction is one of the most damaging wastes because of
the slippery slope that affects other areas. It leads to an excess in
inventory, which causes more changes for defects, and then costs
more in transportation and management.

Money, time, space, and materials are valuable, and

overproduction drains all of them at once. Eliminating
overproduction helps alleviate waste in the other areas as well.

7 The 7 Wastes of Lean

TRANSPORTATION
excess movement in the transport of
products or personnel

A waste of transportation CAUSE

results in costs such as the The waste of transportation can
fuel, equipment, and time. occur as a result of many things:

Long transportation
Poor Logistics
distances also leads to
increased inventory, which A poorly designed transportation
can make defects harder route or supply chain network
to find quickly. extends shipping times and costs.

Eliminating unnecessary Poor Trip Planning

transportation helps to An employee was sent on a work
streamline processes trip without the correct tools and
and increase efficiency, was not able to complete work.
including reducing risks
Poor Layout
of damages to goods
A manufacturing plant requires that
and the cost of
a product be moved from one end of
transportation. the plant to another instead of in a
line.

8 The 7 Wastes of Lean

OVERPROCESSING
over-engineering or putting more effort
into a product than it’s worth

Overprocessing is sometimes difficult to find because you will need to

understand how customers use your product or service so that you can
put more effort into the parts of the product or service that get the most
use.

Overprocessing is also related to multiple redundancies in the production

process. For example, quadruple checking the product may be excess
and can be considered time consuming and a case of overprocessing.

Possible Causes:
• Misreading the customer’s needs
Ex. Developing a software feature that customers do not use or did
not want, or polishing a part that no one will ever see.

• Overdoing “quality”
Ex. When you don’t understand what the customer values, you might
put a product in a pretty box that’s hard to open, creating additional
work and frustration for the customer.

• Trying to fix what isn’t broken

Ex. When you know that a feature is used often and try to add to it
but end up removing or changing what people actually liked about it.

9 The 7 Wastes of Lean

HUMAN POTENTIAL
stifling the human potential in an organization
The waste of human potential results from a failure to engage people in
being their best selves by preventing them from doing their best work,
being fulfilled, and improving themselves and their work.

CAUSE
Wasted human potential occurs as
Having new ideas or a result of many things, including:
suggestions to improve
processes and the way Not Taking Input from Staff
that business is done and A frontline staff member may have
not taking advantage of a way to solve an issue, but their
them could be considered input is not taken into consideration
the biggest waste of them because “that’s not the way we’ve
always done it.”
all.
Discouraging Innovation
The waste of untapped
human potential could When an employer drills into an
offer improvements to employee that there is only one way
to do things, they stifle innovation
help eliminate the other
and participation.
seven wastes, therefore
reducing the financial and
Using Skilled Workers for
time-related costs and
Less-Skilled Tasks
increasing value to
customer. Nurses in a hospital taking out the
trash instead of employing enough
environmental services staff so that
nurses can focus on patients.

10 The 7 Wastes of Lean

 CONCLUSION
Eliminating the wastes of Lean requires a never-ending journey of
continuous improvement. Successful organizations implement an
intentional improvement culture based on leadership,
methodology, and enabling technology.

• Staff can easily capture and

implement opportunities for
improvement eliminating waste
with software that improves
communication, accountability,
and visibility. Of course,
empowering employees in this
way also reduces the waste of
human potential.

• Leaders establish that

eliminating wastes is a priority in
the organization, demonstrating
their commitment to the culture
of improvement by providing a platform built to specifically support it.

• The best continuous improvement software gives metrics and statistics to measure
the changes. When a staff member, team, or department can see the changes that
they implemented had tangible results, they are more apt to suggest improvements
in the future. These changes can be measured with financial implications, time
spent or hours worked and have direct connections to the wastes of Lean.

11 The 7 Wastes of Lean

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