Lean Waste #5: Transportation

You can certainly imagine how much time and money is spent moving materials, equipment and products around, whether by fork-lift or truck on the road. This is not complicated but it’s common.

Where this waste is hard to find is in office, professional type work. So, think in terms of moving information. Too many people on an email. Reply All. Long email chains. Multiple submissions to different websites or portals. Mailed invoices vs electronic. Requiring check payments vs ACH. Forms that have to be completed and recompleted—paper or electronic. The list is almost endless.

Think in terms of anything that “moves” on the road, the floor, around the office and over the internet. Does it really need to? Is this the best way? I bet you will find a lot of this kind of waste.