1) Transportation

Transportation waste involves the unnecessary movement of materials or equipment.

This can involve movement from one jobsite to another, or from a yard to a material
laydown area and then again to the actual work area. While this type of waste cannot be
eliminated entirely, transportation waste can be minimized through better
communication, coordination, and daily task management. Keeping everyone from the
office to the field on the same page reduces the number of unnecessary trips, and
reduces the first of our 8 wastes of lean. Transportation waste is especially
counterproductive, as it not only adds time to the whole construction process but
exposes the material to handling damage.

2) Inventory

In construction, inventory waste occurs when overproduction results in excess material.

This includes material being stored on-site or at the fabrication yard, work in progress,
and unused tools or parts. While having some inventory on hand is necessary to keep
the project moving, these materials should be minimized as much as possible as they
tend to require a fair bit of handling (effort) and storage space. Optimize your inventory
to reduce this type of waste.

3) Motion

Motion waste is a result of extra steps taken by people to accomplish their work. This
includes time spent looking for a tool or file, as well as walking extra yards due to a
poorly designed work area. With 70 percent of a craftspersons day wasted on field
coordination, it’s important you leverage construction management technology to
reduce this number dramatically.

4) Waiting

Perhaps intuitively, this waste happens when crews are left waiting for the delivery of
material or equipment, or for the completion of a preceding activity. This also applies to
anyone on the project waiting for information, such as field personnel waiting for a plan
or an RFI, a scheduler waiting for progress updates, or payroll waiting for time sheets.
Having real-time access to this information in the field — from any device or location —
will help crews reduce this type of waste.

5) Overproduction

Overproduction is the process of fabricating material too soon or ordering extra material
because of poor quality, rather than producing and delivering the right amount of
material at the time it is needed. This means that there is overlap between
overproduction and another type of lean waste, inventory waste. When overproduction
and inventory waste happen, you’ll need to store it on an often overcrowded site, and if
your plans change, you’ll need to change the materials you’re using too.
6) Over-Processing

Over-processing waste refers to unnecessary steps taken in the project value chain,
such as transforming or double-handling material. This also relates to coordination and
administrative workflows on a construction project that leads to double data entry, such
as multiple signatures on forms, redundant daily reports, and forwarding emails with
drawings and RFIs. Eliminating paperwork with blueprint software and having one place
to communicate from will ensure jobsite teams are always on the same page and
information isn’t lost in various paper files.

7) Defects

Defects are incorrect work that needs to be repaired, replaced, or redone. In lean
construction, this includes damaged material, rework, or punch list items. For example,
a flooring material not installed per specifications or a finished wall damaged by the
electrical contractor would fall under the category of Defects. Having a historical record
of all site issues and one place to track punch list items on-the-fly will help you minimize
the prevalence of defects. Defects round out the 7 wastes of lean, but there is an 8th
waste that is emerging in the literature, both in lean manufacturing and construction.

8) Skills and Underutilized Talent

The 8th waste of lean involves failing to make use of people’s skills, creativity, or
knowledge on a project. This is not one of the traditional Seven Wastes (or seven
mudas) found in early Lean literature, but is now commonly accepted as an additional
waste of lean, and turns the common mnemonic for the 7 wastes of lean from “TIM
WOOD” to “TIM WOODS”. Your employees are your greatest asset, so they should be
empowered with the tools they need to thrive. Using construction management
software allows everyone from the office to the field to communicate and collaborate in
real time, ensuring that no idea goes unheard. Construction apps help to ensure that
everyone’s skills are being utilized.