Battling the Five Types of Waste

Five Types of Waste	Value Stream Guidelines
Overproduction and excessive inventory	Overproduction is eliminated by controlling production using a supermarket system where a specific number of product is temporarily housed. Leveling the production mix keeps inventory levels low by alternating production.
Downtime	Takt time is a specific time the product can stay at each production process. Continuous flow battles downtime by pushing the product through each process and setting a pace means using a pacemaker process to keep production flowing steadily.
Transportation	A supermarket system controls production by housing a small amount of inventory in the value stream. Transportation can also be handled when you level the production volume by producing a specific number of products while the same number of products are distributed.
Processing and unnecessary motion	Leveling the production mix allows you to reduce work on both people and machines by alternating production. Continuous flow forces you to equip your operators at each station with the necessary tools to avoid impediments while completing production.
Making defective products	Having a takt time means having a strict schedule for production. This means honing production carefully to eradicate mistakes. If defective products are produced leveling the production volume facilitates trouble-shooting in your value stream.