Waste
Waste, in lean thinking, is any activity that consumes resources without adding value from the customer’s point of view
What it means, how it is used and where it comes up, with its related concepts.
What it is and how it works
In Japanese it is called muda. Taiichi Ohno, one of the architects of the Toyota Production System, identified seven types: overproduction, waiting, unnecessary transport, over-processing, inventory, unnecessary motion and defects. An eighth, unused human talent, is often added.
Lean also distinguishes two other sources of inefficiency: mura, unevenness in the flow of work, and muri, overburdening people or equipment. Not everything that adds no value can be removed straight away: some tasks, such as certain legal checks, are necessary and are reduced instead. The concept is also applied to services, design and software development, for example features nobody uses or waiting time between teams.
Also known as
Muda