Muda (Waste)
Many Lean terms can trace their origins to Japan. Muda is one of those terms. It really translates to “wasteful activity”, but in common practice most people equate muda to waste.
Since one of Lean’s main goals is reducing waste to improve flow, it is no surprise that muda has a major role in Lean.
Taiichi Ohno, the father of the Toyota Production System, identified 7 types of muda.
- Muda of Defects
- Muda of Overprocessing
- Muda of Transportation
- Muda of Motion
- Muda of Waiting
- Muda of Inventory
- Muda of Overproduction
He called overproduction the worst form of muda, since it creates and hides all the other forms of waste. (More detail is available under waste.)
Many people add an eighth, human-focused, form of muda: unused creativity.
2 Comments
Pawan Jangra · November 8, 2011 at 4:44 am
Dear all,
I want to know which is the worst form of waste ?
Jeff Hajek · November 8, 2011 at 7:20 am
Pawan,
I always teach that overproduction is the worst form of waste, as it creates and hides all the others.
But you could also argue that unused creativity is the worst, as you never know what good ideas are not being implemented.
What do you think?
Jeff