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There are 7 wastes in Lean which are referred to as Muda (in Japanese). Let us quickly go through each one. Waiting: It talks about the non-productive time period due to lack of equipment, material , human beings. This can talk about any delayed arrival of materials or persons, or delay due to equipments broken. So resources would be idle till such time. Eg: Waiting for a human resource to be available to fix an issue Over Production: It refers to manufacturing an item before it is actually needed. It relates to excessive accumulation of WIP of finished goods inventory. It is the worst form of waste because it contributes to all the others. Eg: Preparing unnecessary reports which may not be read at all Rework (or Defects): This talks about the correction needed for fixing the mistakes, normally. These activities are waste of time. Eg 1: Fixing the bugs created in software code Eg 2: Correction on made on the word documents – typo errors/spelling mistakes Motion: It tells about the unnecessary movement of people and equipment Eg: Extra data entry, extra steps ... Over Processing: This refers to non-value added tasks which customer would not be interested. This could be because of poor design of the product/process. Eg1: Any gold-plating work , like beautification of software code which is not required or not asked by customer Eg:2 Sending unnecessary mails doing extra communication Eg:3 Sending some data in multiple reports – duplicate effort Inventory: To keep stock of items , often in excess, than what is required . Eg 1: Keeping stock of raw materials, in plenty (abundance) than what is needed for use. Transportation: It refers to the unwarranted movement of materials, information.. Process Steps should be closely located to one another for minimal movement. Eg 1: Mail Forwarding to another persons , after missing to loop in those persons in the original email Eg:2 Movement of files/papers from one place to another place Now as we have seen the 7 wastes of Lean , there is also another type of waste , which is often called as the 8th waste. It talks about the underutilization of talent and skills. If we happen to address this waste, there is a chance that we can do well with the rest of the waste types.Having said that, let us see how we can make good use of these wastes . Let us take some of the wastes discussed above Waiting: Some IT applications might be quite complex and can involve multiple technologies. In a typical enterprise based web application, the technologies involved could be relational database(s), server-side programming languages, application servers (which host the application), front-end/User Interface languages and programming scripts, messaging tools etc.,. Assume this application is in the development stage. Now we see a potential problem in the way how application is designed. This requires a technical architect to do a course correction as he is the technical Subject Matter Expert (SME).The design change is critical in ensuring application scalability does not impact. Now assume that this architect is shared/utilized across multiple projects within a business unit of the organisation (which owns this application). When he is needed for this project(application) to provide optimal design, he is not available as he is held up in another project for production implementation and would not be available for 2 days. Now the project needs to wait for his presence and its worth waiting 2 days, since the architect would change the shape of the project (application) so that many users (Scalability) can be able to visit post the go-live period 2.Rework: There are scenarios, where this may be required. 1.There could be changes on product /process design due to environmental conditions, government statutory 2.There could be rework due to a design flaw on product. Eg: A product might have sharp edges on it. A consumer would have put a consumer case against it , after getting affected (hurt) by that. So consumer court would have instructed the company which produced the product to blunt the product’s edges. This is a legal issue which definitely needs rework of the design. 3.Inventory: Why this is needed? i).In Software, the developers will always have a copy of the code that they had developed. Those codes would be available in a Version control system (Configuration management). But still developers retain that because they would like to see if that can be used in some other projects. Also they want to see how their code looks changed when compared with the code in the version control system ii). A Supermarket can operate in Push (having Inventory) and Pull type (Just-In-Time). Some items can be fast moving and some items can move slow or have less demand. So the super market can stock fast moving items which do not degrade over a period of time or for a considerable amount of time. Conclusion: This goes to show how different type of wastes can be made use of!!

Theoritically we have seven wastes such as "Over production", "waiting", "Excess Inventory", "Rework", "Transportation", "motion" and "Over processing". Additionally people's potential are wasted in many occasions. Having said that, these are some of the ways we can remove these NVAs from our system: - Instead of doing audits , do benchmarking analysis and identify the root causes and fix the problem with a system so that these errors are completely curbed in the future ( System based solutions ) -- Poka yoke. 5 why analysis will be of great help if done diligently. - A clear SIPOC diagram for a process will help identify the wastes explained above so that we can remove these wastes and these SIPOC's should be done frequently. (Offcourse a Value stream exercise will largely help. But when SIPOC is continuously visited major problems can be avoided). Culture development in the organization should be built to ensure that they review the SIPOC and should be able to bring in new ideas to remove these NVAs. If the entry level person in the organization is trained in this manner, his understanding about the system and his contribution will be great. - Always look forward a system based solution to fix the problem. When followed these diligently to greater extent these wastes can be removed.

The seven wastes of Lean is a great concept and has been an eye opener for many professionals. Let us assume that a leadership/ business ownership team member asks you - What are some of the ways we can put this concept to good use in the organization? My answer to the above question will be: The easiest of ways to implement lean in an organization is following the 5's policy in arranging data for the Company, be it hard copies or soft copies. Simply following the 5s would make people in the organization realize the importance of lean. Similarly, simple automation of manual processes to the extent possible will give some productivity benefits to the organization.

Earlier it use to be 7 waste Now Made as 8 waste in nature It come under MUDA of Japanese Term conversion as "Waste" To remember the 8 Wastes, you can use the acronym, “DOWNTIME.” •Defects – Products or services that are out of specification that require resources to correct. •Overproduction – Producing too much of a product before it is ready to be sold. •Waiting – Waiting for the previous step in the process to complete. •Non-Utilized Talent – Employees that are not effectively engaged in the process •Transportation – Transporting items or information that is not required to perform the process from one location to another. •Inventory – Inventory or information that is sitting idle (not being processed). •Motion – People, information or equipment making unnecessary motion due to work space layout, ergonomic issues or searching for misplaced items. •Extra Processing – Performing any activity that is not necessary to produce a functioning product or service. With respect to the above Question We can put to Good Use In organisation by ways such as Alert or Warnings , Reduce or try to Eliminate depending upon the Nature of waste. Considering Mechanical System 1) We can reduce or eliminate Defects by control methods including Mistake proofing /Poke yoke 2) we can reduce or eliminate Overproduction by changing from PUSH system to Pull System , Made to Stoke to Made to order , Reverse Kanban ordering and super market. 3)Waiting is tricky but need to Reduce by methods such as SMED (single minute exchange of Dies),Line Balancing, controlled Inventory /safety stock( again a waste if inventory). 4) Transportation by using conveyors instead of human motions , plant layout reorganization from process to product layout , cell systems etc...re-planing activity to have less motion and movements , using ergonomic design of Work benches and assembly lines 5) Inventory Complete elimination may not be possible but reduction should be made using methods such as batch production , pull Kanban and made to order etc... 6)Motion here motion is for human and transportation is for Products so motion can be worked out with Ergonomic study , moving assembly line (car assembly line), usage of jigs for manufacturing and assembly, usage of Power-tools and automation. 7) Extra processing / over processing this needs to be addressed by working on VA and NVA (value added and Non Value added ) study . eliminating process depending on functional need of the products rather than aesthetics. controlled working environment rather than safety stock ( working towards the mean rater than UCL )which may sometime process to rework ( myth of keeping stock to rework rather than scrap / salvage allowance ) the 8th waste Talent utilization is done by considering the views of all members and allocating roles and responsibility depending upon talent and behavior rather than hierarchy and influential / favoritism , utilizing everyone in stand up meetings andsolving problems as a team

Central Tendency VS Spread Measure of Central Tendency: A measure of central tendency is a measurement of central location of set of data. This is generally done by measuring Mean: This is equal to the sum of all the values in the data set divided by the number of values in the data set. Also known as Average value. Median: The median is the middle score for a set of data that has been arranged in order of greatness. Mode: The mode is the most frequent score in our data set Measure of Spread: Measures of spread explains how similar or varied the set of observed values are for a set of data. This includes Range: The range is the difference between the smallest value and the largest value in a dataset. Quartile: Quartiles divide an ordered dataset into four equal parts, and refer to the values of the point between the quarters. A dataset may also be divided into quintiles (five equal parts) or deciles (ten equal parts). Interquartile range: The interquartile range (IQR) is the difference between the upper (Q3) and lower (Q1) quartiles, and describes the middle 50% of values when ordered from lowest to highest. Variance: The variance measures the spread of the data around the mean. Variance is the expectation of the squared deviation of a random variable from its mean. Standard deviation: The standard deviation measures of the spread of the data around the mean or dispersion of a set of data from its mean. It is calculated as the square root of variance by determining the variation between each data point relative to the mean. Example of situation where variation (spread) is of highest importance and central tendency is very low in importance (or is irrelevant.): Example 1: Age of demography: Demography is the statistical study of populations, especially human beings. And In the given example and with the explanation given above, if you want to determine the age of demography, you should not take the measure of central tendency and say that average age of given demography is “X”. Ideally in this case you should use the measure of Spread and give the Range of populations age, how the population spread when they are put in to different quartile etc… Example 2: Height of the door for below given data: Data: 5.73 ft, 5.51 ft, 4.37 ft, 4.82 ft, 4.28 ft, 4.91 ft, 4.27 ft, 4.41 ft, 4.97 ft and 4.34 ft In the given example and with the explanation given above, if you want to determine the height of the door, you should not take the measure of central tendency and say that average height of the given data is 4.76 ft so the height of the door must be 4.76 ft. Ideally in this case you should use the measure of spread and make the height of the door so that even the 5.73 ft person can easily go through the door.