Today's Lean! Learning About and Identifying Waste (Revised Edition with Dropbox File Links to Worksheets‪)‬

Learning about and understanding waste is one of the first steps in any Lean project. To do this effectively employees should have a standard approach in taking this first step. Therefore, Today’s Lean! Learning About and Identifying Waste (Revised Edition) provides the following: 


1. A standard communication platform for the 12 wastes (which may be easily added-to or redefined given your industry) 

2. Examples of waste that may “trigger” ideas of wasteful processes in your organization 

3. Easy identification and elimination of waste at the source (if it is simple and obvious) 

4. Innovative ways to conduct a Waste Walk as well as the Dropbox file links to the supporting worksheets 

5. An example of a Waste Audit as well as the Dropbox file link to the worksheet 

6. A detailed case study on how one organization used the simple concept of waste to launch their Lean journey 


The following twelve various are explained in examples, helpful questions on how they can be detected, ideas for using Lean tools and concepts to eliminate them: 


1. Overproduction 

2. Inventory or Work In Process (WIP) 

3. Waiting or Delays 

4. Motion 

5. Transport 

6. Defects or Errors 

7. Overprocessing 

8. Skills and Knowledge 

9. Unevenness 

10. Overburden 

11. Environmental Resources 

12. Social Responsibility 


The worksheets included as links are: Kaizen Event Preparation Schedule 1, Kaizen Event Preparation Schedule 2, Kaizen Event Scorecard, Waste Audit, Waste Walk, and Waste Walk Summary. 


Don't go Lean without understanding these 12 wastes as well as leading questions to help identify them in your processes!