KFactory

Glossary Tag

Lean Waste Management

Lean Waste Management is a key principle of lean manufacturing that focuses on identifying, reducing, and eliminating waste in production processes to improve efficiency, quality, and cost-effectiveness. The goal is to streamline operations by ensuring that every activity adds value to the product or service from the customer’s perspective. We consider any process that does not add value as waste and minimize or remove it.

Lean manufacturing identifies seven types of waste that can hinder productivity:

  1. Overproduction: Producing more than what is needed or before it is needed, leading to excess inventory and resources.

  2. Inventory: Holding excess raw materials, work-in-progress, or finished products that do not add value and tie up capital.

  3. Transportation: Unnecessary movement of products or materials within the facility, which increases the risk of damage and adds no value.

  4. Motion: Inefficient or excessive movement by workers, equipment, or machinery that doesn’t directly contribute to production.

  5. Waiting: Idle time when workers or machines are waiting for resources, information, or the completion of previous processes.

  6. Over-processing: Performing more work or adding more features than required by the customer, which wastes time, effort, and materials.

  7. Defects: Producing defective products that require rework, scrap, or repairs, leading to wasted materials and labor.

Lean waste management, the key principle of lean manufacturing, aims to create a more efficient and sustainable production system by eliminating these wastes. This approach leads to faster production times, reduced costs, improved product quality, and enhanced customer satisfaction. By continuously refining processes, lean waste management helps companies optimise their operations, minimise environmental impact, and stay competitive in their respective markets.

Join the KFactory Partner Program

We believe that collaborative partnerships are critical to driving digital transformation and innovation in the manufacturing industry
We work with
Glossary Tag