Lean manufacturing

8 Wastes of Lean Manufacturing
Eliminating waste from the process of manufacturing—whether time, material, or labor—is a high priority, foundational task within a lean manufacturing strategy. There are eight standardized, defined forms of waste that manufacturers can examine that lead to a comprehensive view of where the organization is losing profits to inefficiencies.
We previously covered the eight wastes of lean manufacturing in an in-depth article, but below is a summarized version.

1. 
   Defects: When something isn’t working right, there is waste, and there is loss of profit. Poor quality or inconsistent products, poor machine repair, inaccuracies in inventory levels, and even a lack of documentation can all qualify as defects.
   
2. 
   Excess Processing: This occurs when processes move too slowly or are too cumbersome to be efficient, i.e. they are a hindrance to progress rather than a necessity. This involves things like slow approval processes, excess reporting, duplicate data, etc.
   
3. 
   Overproduction: Too much product and not enough need immediately results in waste. If customer needs aren’t clear or forecasting data is inaccurate, among a host of other issues, then overproduction can lead to waste in time, material, and labor alike.
   
4. 
   Waiting: Spending time waiting is called spending for a reason. There are plenty of reasons employees might have to wait around including unplanned downtime, idle equipment, poor process communication, and long setup times.
   
5. 
   Inventory: Safety stock is one place many manufacturers get in trouble with this form of waste. Inaccurate forecasting, overproduction, or poor communication between manufacturing and purchasing can all lead to inventory waste.
   
6. 
   Transportation: If all the things that you need to get to have huge gaps between them, then there is a lot of waste compared to optimizing spaces so that logically-relevant items are closer together. A transportation waste due to a poor factory layout can be a catalyst for other wastes such as waiting.
   
7. 
   Motion: If it gets moved when it really doesn’t need to, that’s waste. “It” here can refer to data, raw materials, people—anything really. Wasted motion comes from bending, squatting, and reaching just as it comes from siloed operations and poor production planning.
   
8. 
   Non-utilized Talent: If employees are undertrained and understimulated, there is waste. Employee talent could be underutilized due to poor management or communication as well as a failure to involve employees in design and development tasks