The Seven Wastes and Environmental Impact

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Taiichi Ohno’s Seven Wastes are not only relevant for business and profits, but also has an impact on our environment.  This article attempts to highlight the impact the Seven Wastes has on the earth, environment ¹.

Transportation

Movement of product that does not add value

• More energy use for transport
• Emissions from Transport
• More space required for work in process (WIP), increasing lighting, heating, and cooling demands and energy consumption
• More packaging required to protect parts and components during transport
• Transportation of hazardous materials requires special shipping and packaging to prevent risk during accidents

Inventory

More material information than the customer needs

• More packaging to store work-in-process (WIP)
• Wastes from deterioration or damage to store WIP
• More materials needed to replace damage WIP
• More energy used to heat, cool, and light inventory space

Motion

Bodily or mental motion that does not add value

• Similar to the waste of Transportation, humans are often required to move material and environmental impact is made from the waste of motion and transportation.
• Driving a car to work, back, school, and the grocery store, etc.

Waiting

Idle time when people, material, information, or equipment is not ready

• Potential material spoilage or component damage
• Wasted energy from heating, cooling, and lighting during production downtime

Overprocessing

Effort that does not add value from the customer’s perspective

• More parts used or consumed per unit of production
• Unnecessary processing increases wastes, energy use, potential human bodily harm, and emissions

Overproduction

Producing more than the customer needs or wants

• More raw materials and energy consumed in making the unnecessary products
• Extra products may spoil, become obsolete, requiring disposal, space utilization, emissions, human effort

Defects

• Raw materials and energy consumed in making defective products
• Defective components require recycling or disposal
• More space required for rework and repair, increasing energy use for heating, cooling, and lighting

It’s Your Turn

What other examples do you have?  Do you agree or disagree?  What are your thoughts on Environmental Metrics, such as:

• Scrap/Non-product Output
• Materials Use
• Hazardous Materials Use
• Energy Use
• Water Use
• Air Emissions
• Solid Waste
• Hazardous Waste
• Water Pollution/Wastewater

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