I would like to tell you about a man that has been working in your
Organisation for some time now.

He is not a good man. He is a low life.

He has been under minding everything you do with great ease and
effectiveness.

His work can be seen in just about every area of your business....

He is very clever in that many of you do not even realise what he has been up to....

His plan is to suck the very lifeblood out of your business. He wants to make it a place with little future,
where enthusiasm is frowned upon, and blame is easier than praise....

So who is this man?

His name is Tim Wood.

Why have you never heard of him before? He is not in your Outlook directory.

Ok, I admit it; Tim Wood is not a real person, but he does exist in your Organisation.

Tim Wood* is actually a handy little acronym for the seven classic types of wastes that exist in most
 businesses.

Note:- *original idea of TIMWOODS created by Michael G. Moran at Moran3

Let us go through them:-

T is for Transport Waste

Movement of paperwork in an office environment is a waste. We need to minimise the amount of movement
 by ensuring that all processes are on the same floor, in an open plan environment, and definitely in the
same building!

I is for Inventory Waste

We need to have enough inventory of work in our system to keep things moving along, but not so much
that it reduces flow and masks problems. By aiming for information to move through our office, "Just in Time"
we minimise the potential for error and help reduce costs.

M is for Motion Waste

It goes without saying that we need to move our bodies to remain healthy. We should be getting up and
away from our P.C. screens at least once an hour. The  waste we are talking about here is "excess"
motion e.g. unnecessary key strokes; having to get up and down so someone else can check your work. etc.

W is for Waiting Waste

We need to minimise "waiting" time. e.g. waiting for information from someone else; waiting for a computer
screen to refresh; waiting for an approval; waiting to use the photocopier or fax machine.

O is for over producing Waste

We should always aim to only produce what the next process requires i.e. the previous process should
"pull" work from us, rather than us "pushing" work onto them. The overall process can only go as fast
as the slowest process. (Theory of Constraints)

By not over producing we reduce the amount of inventory of work in the pipeline and thus improve turnaround
times.

O is for Over processing Waste

Over processing occurs when we do something unnecessary that is not required by our customers.
e.g. putting a document in a plastic wallet, and then putting 10 plastic wallets together with a rubber band,
then putting the 10 plastic wallets in a crate to transport to the next department 3 floors away. If the next
process was co-located, you could just hand over individual documents one at a time!

D is for Defect Waste

By reducing the number of errors, we reduce the amount of rework,which in turn reduces our costs and
our turnaround times. How often has work flowed through your office without stopping for some sort of error?
(e.g. incorrect data, missing information) Very few offices do proper analysis of the defects that are preventing
flow. Once the chronic few are identified, you need to do something about them.