Identifying Waste

Description

Unnecessary movement of materials, products or information.

Potential Causes

• Poor location of interacting areas
• Overproduction
• The need to store items

Examples

• Paper documents being sent from one area to another
• Mass movement of printed materials in, out and back into storage

Description

Physical (people, paper, coursework etc) or virtual items (emails, workflow items etc.) awaiting processing or prepared goods awaiting delivery. Inventory requires storage space (physical or virtual) which could be used for something which adds greater value or would otherwise not be needed.

Potential Causes

• Not enough resource to manage work coming in
• Poor time management
• Lack of available materials to complete a task
• Bulk buying

Examples

• Student waiting list for a particular library book
• Printing prospectuses, brochures or other collateral which is not immediately needed
• Queues of people waiting at registration

Description

Covers everything from people moving around an office having to navigate through many screens on a computer system.

Potential Causes

• Poorly designed offices and buildings
• Poorly designed systems and document libraries
• Cost constraints

Examples

• Walking backwards and forwards across campus to lectures or meetings which could have been in the same place
• Having to navigate through layers of system folders to find a document

Description

Delays in starting, continuing or completing a task.

Potential Causes

• Previous actor has not completed their work
• Protocol and policy
• Poor time management
• The work (or person) is in a queue
• Surplus or shortage of resource (staff / equipment)

Examples

• Chairperson is late for a meeting
• Waiting for a decision or signature from a senior colleague
• Queue of people at the printer or at the counter
• People and / or equipment waiting for work to do

Description

Doing more that is needed to meet the needs and requirements of the customer. Duplicating effort or activity for no benefit.

Potential Causes

• Process and policies are out of date
• Absence of process documentation to provide direction
• Poor understanding of customer and / or regulatory requirements

Examples

• Application forms where information is requested but not used or even needed
• Having to submit the same coursework physically and electronically
• Creating reports which are not required or add no value

Description

Producing something before, or in greater quantities than is needed. Over production is a key contributor to inventory waste.

Potential Causes

• Desire to "buy in bulk" due to cost constraints
• Annual "event"
• Printing of documents which should be viewed electronically

Examples

• Printed materials such as prospectuses are often cheaper to produce in large quantities but have a shelf life if not used
• Peaks and troughs in application volumes
• Printing of meeting agendas and packs

Description

Create additional effort to either correct or reproduce another item. Occurs when the needs of the customer or a regulator are both met. The worst defects are those the customer (or regulator) tells you about.

Potential Causes

• Poor understanding of customer and / or regulatory requirements
• Absence of clear direction, lack of process or poor quality control
• Overly complex processes and systems

Examples

• Unclear assignment requirements
• Failure to communicate process and / or policy changes
• Incorrect application and / or course details
• Errors in the student record

Description

Mismatched skills to roles can also be described as a waste.

Potential Causes

• Absence of skills and training
• Time or cost pressure
• Employee choice
• Failure to recognise talent

Examples

• Skilled staff performing relatively repetitive tasks
• Under trained staff creating errors