WASTE

What is Waste?

Waste is anything that does not add value to existing process.We should avoid waste not only to reduce cost but also it increasing long term performance of a process.

Seven Types of Wastes (TIM WOOD)

I suggest that you keep in mind TIM WOOD (acronym for the 7 types of wastes) every time you do process analysis.

Seven Types of Wastes that we are trying to eliminate from our business processes:

Transport Waste - using mail where email could be used; we need to minimize the amount of movements (movement of paperwork is a type of transport waste).

Inventory Waste - forms waiting to be worked on, cash not used to generate income, office space not completely utilized, storing of unnecessary documents/obsolete forms.

Motion Waste - walking to deliver paperwork, non-ergonomic office layout (excess motion/ non-value added activities)

Waiting Waste - waiting for information from another person, waiting for approval, system downtime, waiting for shared equipment.

Over Production Waste - unnecessary paperwork, producing too much or too soon, more copies produced than needed, more data than needed on reports, extra "Just in case" steps.

Over Processing Waste occurs when we do something unnecessary; Redundant processes; Manual processes were still retained after automation.

Defect Waste - missing information, errors, client complaints; by reducing the number of errors, we reduce the amount of rework which in turn reduces costs and turn around time.

The Eighth Type of Waste

Unused Creativity People knowledge and skills that are not utilized by the company.

Source: QualityGuru