The classic 7 Wastes (TIMWOOD) are ‘alive and well’ in the Service Operations world whether in a department/function or in a back office
{Note: The tool sheet below is best viewed on a laptop or larger screen but it can be viewed by scrolling across on a smaller mobile device}
| Waste | What is it | Causes | Examples | Improvement Ideas |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Transportation | Unnecessary movement of material/information and equipment. Longer routes. | Too much inventory and poor layout | Moving materials between floors and buildings. Inefficient transport routes | Reduce inventory. Improve layout. |
| Inventory | Holding too much material/information. Storage of items awaiting to be allocated to deliver services | Over order. Push processes. Safety stock | Producing too much paperwork. Excess office supplies. Purchase before needed. Large batch deliveries. | Reduce batch sizes. Reduce safety stock. |
| Motion | Staff movement that doesn’t add value. Poor ergonomics. Movement within a floor/area. | Inefficient layout of work area. | Too much walking between tasks. Fetching/searching for material/information. Office consumables not organised Delivery to wrong location. | Resources at the point of use. Equipment well organised. Files easy to find One stop shop supply and top-up. |
| Waiting | Unbalanced activities. Demand exceeds capacity. | Process bottlenecks. Unscheduled increases in demand. Lead times too long. | Previous activity overruns. Waiting for shared equipment. System downtime. Office decisions, approvals or policy delays. | Reduce process handoffs. Balance operations. Streamline process |
| Over-production | Producing or ordering too much material/information or it arriving too soon. Creates more inventory. | Push scheduling. Contingency ordering. Inefficient scheduling in large batches. | Processing before next operation is ready. Making decisions too early. Generating more information than requested. | Reduce lead time and adjust order quantity. Level out orders. Remove unnecessary steps. Fix quality root causes. |
| Over-processing | Unnecessary or non-value adding activities. Duplication. Multiple hand-offs | Lack of standards. Over complex tasks. Procedures not understood | Unnecessary checks and approvals. Processing beyond customer specifications. | Eliminate non value added steps. Combine steps. |
| Defects | Defective work, scrap and rework. | Variation in processes. Lack of mistake proofing. Unclear requirements. | Incorrect customer data/requirements. Data entry errors. Reworking business documents. Rework of poor quality. | Mistake proofing. Cross training. Document procedures and standards. |