TUM School of Management

Production and Supply Chain Management

Prof Martin Grunow Technische Universität München

Seven Wastes of Lean

• Transportation
• Inventory
• Motion
• Waiting
• Over-processing
• Overproduction
• Defects

Holly Ott 6
 TUM School of Management
Production and Supply Chain Management
Prof Martin Grunow Technische Universität München

Transportation
• Unnecessary movement of materials or people within a process.
• Examples: temporary storage of work-in-progress instead of
moving the WIP to the next step, frequent transport of raw
materials or parts within the factory due to poor layout …
• Can cause production delays, handling damage, time for
transportation is not contributing to output.
• Long transportation impacts communication, resulting in delays
and this can also affect product quality.
• How to reduce transportation?
• Challenge the current layout and try to minimize the
transportation of material from one function to another.

Holly Ott 7
 TUM School of Management
Production and Supply Chain Management
Prof Martin Grunow Technische Universität München

Inventory
• Raw material, Work-In-Progress (WIP), or Finished Goods (FG)
• WIP stored to reduce time to complete new orders, FG waiting for
packaging, defective product waiting for rework…
• Inventory’s Dark Side:
• Often a symptom of problems in the process
that are hidden behind rising stock levels.
• Increases operational costs, including conveyance,
storage, risk of obsolescence.
• Increases production lead time
• How to reduce inventory?
• Define necessary inventory levels and minimize by reducing batch
sizes in production and limiting Work-In-Progress.
Holly Ott 8
 TUM School of Management
Production and Supply Chain Management
Prof Martin Grunow Technische Universität München

Motion
• Unnecessary movement of people or machines within a process.
• Examples: movement of people to fetch tools for a changeover
process, movement of machine operators between different
controls of a machine, necessity to stretch or bend over to
complete task…
• How to reduce wasted motion?
• Check: do manual and machine work cycles contain unnecessary
motion elements?
• Check: are the tooling, equipment and parts around work stations
optimized?
• Check: is the layout optimized for varying customer demands?

Holly Ott 9
 TUM School of Management
Production and Supply Chain Management
Prof Martin Grunow Technische Universität München

Waiting
• People or machines waiting for the completion of a work cycle.
• Examples: Waiting for raw materials to arrive, waiting for a process
to finish, waiting for maintenance…
• How to reduce waiting?
• Check: does the machine need to be monitored? Are there built-in
checks to stop the machine from producing defective products?
• Check: is the production line balanced so that people and
machines have minimal idle time?
• Check: can idle time be filled in other ways? (quality checks,
cleaning, material handling….)

Holly Ott 10
 TUM School of Management
Production and Supply Chain Management
Prof Martin Grunow Technische Universität München

Over-Processing
• Operation or process not required to meet customer demand.
• Examples: Producing to specifications tighter than the customer
requires, unnecessary quality checks, performing operations not
required to produce the final product…
• Over-processing often happens when standards are difficult to
define (polishing, painting, etc.).
• How to reduce over-processing?
• Clear understanding of the customer’s expectations and correct
translation into specifications, which are then followed by design
and production.

Holly Ott 11
 TUM School of Management
Production and Supply Chain Management
Prof Martin Grunow Technische Universität München

Overproduction
• Producing sooner, faster, or in greater quantities than customer
demand.
• Examples: Producing in larger batches to avoid changeovers,
producing more than requested because of potential quality
issues…
• Over-produced items end up as inventory or scrap, therefore
creating other waste.
• Overproduction takes time away from value-added activities.
• How to reduce overproduction?
• Clear understanding of the customer demand and produce only
what the customer wants, and when it is needed.

Holly Ott 12
 TUM School of Management
Production and Supply Chain Management
Prof Martin Grunow Technische Universität München

Defects:
Why worry about a few defects?

Mix
Heat to Mold Label
Paraffin
Wax and
190℉/ and Eject and Market
82℃ Cool package
Pigment

• Internal failures: scrap, rework, delay

• External failures: warranty costs, repairs, lost reputation

Holly Ott 13
 TUM School of Management
Production and Supply Chain Management
Prof Martin Grunow Technische Universität München

Defects
• Producing product that does not meet specifications
• Examples: Re-working products because customer
specifications are not met, delays due to re-adjusting
equipment or process until the product parameter reaches
the target, scrapping defective product…
• Causes of defects: methods, materials, machines,
manpower, environment
• How to reduce defects?
• Improve process capability by analyzing and solving the root
causes of the defects.

Holly Ott 14
 TUM School of Management
Production and Supply Chain Management
Prof Martin Grunow Technische Universität München

Seven Types of Waste

• Transportation
• Inventory
• Motion
• Waiting
• Over-processing
• Overproduction
• Defects ICED LEMON TEA
$1.00

Holly Ott 15
 TUM School of Management
Production and Supply Chain Management
Prof Martin Grunow Technische Universität München

Productivity and Waste

Prof. Holly Ott

Production and Supply Chain Management
Chair: Prof. Martin Grunow
TUM School of Management

Holly Ott 16