The Eight Elements of Waste

In this article, we will learn about the 8 types of waste that need to be identified and eliminated in our processes.

There are 8 types of waste in a process which can be remembered by the acronym DOWNTIME. Here D, stands, for defects. O stands for Overproduction, W stands for waiting, N stands for non-utilized talent, T stands for Transportation, I stands for Inventory, M stands for Motion and E stands for extra processing or over-processing.

The first waste is Defect: Defect refers to any effort that is getting wasted because of scrapping or reworking an item. The correction of defective parts needs additional efforts to produce a good item. Scrapping the whole part is a waste of resources in terms of machine time, man-hours, and materials. Having rejects on a continuous flow line defeats the purpose of continuous flow and reduces the efficiency of the operation.

The second waste is overproduction: Overproduction is producing too many items at a particular point in time. Producing items not required by the customer at that particular point in time producing more than what is needed by the customer or producing earlier than needed by the customer can be termed as Production.

The third waste is the Waiting time: Waiting occurs when an operator is ready for the next operation but remains idle due to machine downtime, lack of parts, unwarranted monitoring activities, or line stoppages. Waiting is characterized by idle operators, breakdowns in machines, long changeover times, uneven scheduling of work, Long and unnecessary meetings, and so on.

The fourth waste is non-utilized talent: All employees feel that their full capabilities are not utilized by their organization. The reasons for the non-utilization may be many like the practicality of implementing the ideas, alignment with the organization's goals, and support from peers, subordinates, and senior management.

The fifth waste is Transportation: This waste is caused by the unnecessary use of forklifts, conveyors, pallet movers, and trucks. This can be caused by poor plant layouts, poor cell designs, use of batch processing, long lead times, large storage areas, or scheduling problems. Wastage due to transportation should be eliminated whenever possible.

The sixth waste is Inventory: Maintenance spare parts, raw materials, work-in-process (semi-finished goods), and finished goods are all forms of inventory. Excess inventory is considered muda since it does not add value to the product. Inventory will require extra space in the work area, extra labor, extra interest on material cost, and extra transportation and will also result in the locking of working capital. Inventory in various process stages can also result in poor quality of items because of gathering dust getting wet or transportation damage. The items may become obsolete.

The seventh waste is Motion: The efficient use of the human body is critical to the well-being of the operator. Unnecessary motions of an operator are wasteful. Operators should not be forced to walk excessively, lift heavy loads, bend awkwardly, reach too far, repeat motions, etc. New tools should be designed to avoid strenuous body motions. Each workstation should be analyzed for ergonomic and motion requirements. Some guidelines for providing a better workplace include emphasizing safety at all times, fitting the employee to the job, designing the workplace so that neutral body positions are maintained, redesigning tools to reduce stress and injury, and rotating jobs every 2 to 4 hours.

The eighth waste is? Extra processing or Over-processing: Extra Processing consists of additional steps or activities not necessary in the process. Examples include Having to remove burrs from a manufacturing process, Reshaping a piece due to poor dies, Adding an extra handling process due to lack of space, Performing an extra inspection step, Repeating unnecessary product changes, taking extra copies of information, and so on.