Management Lite & Ezy 39 – Ohno’s Seven Wastes

In lean production, waste refers to anything that does not add value to a product from the customer’s perspective.

Taicho Ohno, the Toyota’s executive who spearheaded Toyota Production System, identified seven categories of wastes which are to be reduced or eliminated. They are:

1. Overproduction – producing more than the customer orders or producing early (before it is demanded) is waste. Inventory of any kind is usually a waste.
2. Queues – idle time, storage, and waiting are wastes.
3. Transportation – moving material between plants, between work centers, and handling more than once is waste.
4. Inventory – unnecessary raw material, work-in-process, finished goods, and excess operating supplies add no value.
5. Motion – movement of equipment or people that adds no value is waste.
6. Overprocessing – work performed on the product that adds no value is waste.
7. Defective product – returns, warranty claims, rework, and scrap are wastes.

Reference:

Jay Heizer & Barry Render, “Operations Management”, 8^th edition