The question is asked again and again: what is the need for classification by type of waste? You can also discover where there is waste. That is of course correct in principle. But the categorization helps us – like so much in lean management – to proceed systematically and in a structured manner without forgetting important things. Often one has become accustomed to many things in everyday working life and no longer realizes how much of it is actually superfluous and should be abolished. In this situation, if you systematically go through the office with the catalog of types of waste and check the work processes, you will discover many things that might otherwise have remained undiscovered. Do it: Use the form (see download area ), write down anything that stands out, preferably together with the employees, of course. And you will see – the first step towards improvement has been taken.

The types of waste are presented here bit by bit in a small series. We start with the waste type ‘overproduction’