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Are You Feeding Sleeping Elephants?
In many factories, machines are idle for up to 40% of the time—and no one bats an eye. But every minute of downtime is money lost. It’s like owning elephants that spend most of their time sleeping, but still needing to feed and pay their mahouts.
This is where Lean manufacturing comes in. And at its core lies one simple principle: Eliminate waste.
In this blog, we’ll unpack the 8 types of waste in Lean Manufacturing, originally defined by the Toyota Production System (TPS), and show how modern solutions like Leanworx help eliminate them with data and real-time monitoring.
- Are You Feeding Sleeping Elephants?
- What Is Waste in Lean Manufacturing?
- The 8 Wastes of Lean Manufacturing (TIMWOODS)
- Transport
- Inventory
- Motion
- Waiting
- Overproduction
- Overprocessing
- Defects
- Underutilized Talent
- The “Sleeping Elephant” Problem
- Start Reducing Waste—Automatically
- Key Takeaways
What Is Waste in Lean Manufacturing?
In Lean thinking, any activity that doesn’t add value to the end customer is waste (Muda).
For example: If your customer pays for a precision-machined casting, then every step that contributes to that precision adds value. But what about:
- Running machines beyond required tolerances
- Rejecting parts due to bad dimensions
- Storing excess inventory
- Operators walking around looking for tools
These don’t add value. They add cost.
The 8 Wastes of Lean Manufacturing (TIMWOODS)
| Table Header | Table Header |
|---|---|
| Transport | Unnecessary movement of materials |
| Inventory | Excess raw or finished goods |
| Motion | Unneeded movement by people or machines |
| Overproduction | Making more than needed |
| Overprocessing | Doing more than required |
| Defects | Scrap, rework, inspection |
| Skills (Underutilized Talent) | Not using people’s abilities |
Let’s break these down—with examples and solutions.
1️. Transport
What It Is:
Unnecessary movement of materials between workstations or storage.
Why It’s Wasteful:
Adds risk (damage, loss), increases forklift hours, and wastes operator time.
How Leanworx Helps:
Leanworx reveals actual material flow using downtime and process data. You can redesign layouts to reduce movement and optimize flow—backed by real usage, not guesswork.
2️. Inventory
What It Is:
Raw materials, WIP, or finished goods sitting idle.
Why It’s Wasteful:
Ties up working capital, hides inefficiencies, and consumes floor space.
How Leanworx Helps:
Track cycle times and downtimes to match production with real demand. You’ll uncover where buffers are bloated and shrink them using Just-in-Time principles.
3. Motion
What It Is:
Extra movement by operators or machines.
Why It’s Wasteful:
Causes fatigue, inefficiency, and longer cycles.
How Leanworx Helps:
Use data to redesign workstations and eliminate repetitive motion.
4. Waiting
What It Is:
Machines or operators sitting idle.
Why It’s Wasteful:
You’re burning salaries, energy, and opportunity for zero output.
How Leanworx Helps:
Track idle time causes—tool delays, material unavailability—and solve them fast.
5. Overproduction
What It Is:
Making more than the customer wants.
Why It’s Wasteful:
Leads to inventory pileup and cash flow issues.
How Leanworx Helps:
Real-time dashboards ensure you match output to demand dynamically.
6. Overprocessing
What It Is:
Doing more than required—e.g., tighter tolerances or unnecessary finishes.
Why It’s Wasteful:
Adds cost but no customer value.
How Leanworx Helps:
Spot overprocessing trends through cycle time tracking and adjust accordingly.
7. Defects
What It Is:
Rework and rejects due to poor quality
Why It’s Wasteful:
Wastes material, time, and damages customer trust.
How Leanworx Helps:
Root cause analysis powered by live OEE and quality alerts.
8. Underutilized Talent
What It Is:
Not using your team’s full skillset or ideas.
Why It’s Wasteful:
Missed innovation, low morale, slower problem-solving.
How Leanworx Helps:
Give operators real-time performance data and involve them in decisions.
The “Sleeping Elephant” Problem
Many factories lose 30–40% of machine time—and don’t even realize it. That’s like hiring an elephant to work and letting it nap half the day. You still pay for its food, care, and keeper. The ROI? Terrible. Leanworx identifies this idle time clearly. For example:
-
•
An operator spending 15 minutes per shift looking for tools = ₹19,000/month in losses. -
•
Solution? Give each operator a ₹200 set of Allen keys.
This is real Lean thinking in action.
Start Reducing Waste—Automatically
Many factories lose 30–40% of machine time—and don’t even realize it. That’s like hiring an elephant to work and letting it nap half the day. You still pay for its food, care, and keeper. The ROI? Terrible. Leanworx identifies this idle time clearly. For example:
- • An operator spending 15 minutes per shift looking for tools = ₹19,000/month in losses.
- • Solution? Give each operator a ₹200 set of Allen keys.
This is real Lean thinking in action.
Key Takeaways
- • The 8 wastes of Lean are still highly relevant in the Industry 4.0 era.
- • Waste is often invisible—until you measure it.
- • Leanworx makes it possible to reduce waste without standing on the shop floor all day.
