Lean Wastes: TIMWOODS Explained

Lean manufacturing identifies eight categories of waste (non-value-added activity) that consume time, materials, and money without creating value for the customer. The mnemonic TIMWOODS covers all eight.

TIMWOODS

Letter	Waste	Manufacturing example	Service example
T	Transport	Moving parts between buildings	Forwarding files between departments
I	Inventory	WIP sitting between operations	Emails unprocessed in an inbox
M	Motion	Operator walking to a distant tool cart	Clicking through multiple screens to find a record
W	Waiting	Machine waiting for an operator	Waiting for approval signature
O	Overproduction	Making 500 units when 400 were ordered	Generating reports no one reads
O	Overprocessing	Polishing a surface that will be painted over	Multiple approval layers for a minor purchase
D	Defects	Scrap, rework, warranty returns	Data entry errors requiring correction
S	Skills (underutilized)	CNC programmer doing manual deburr	Engineer spending 50% of time on data entry

The original seven wastes (TIM WOOD)

Taiichi Ohno defined seven wastes at Toyota; "Skills" was added later to create TIMWOODS. Some sources still list seven. Know both versions.

CQE exam tips

Overproduction is considered the worst waste — it masks all other wastes and drives inventory.
Transport and Motion are different: Transport moves material; Motion moves people.
Defects are the most visible waste but often not the largest — overproduction and waiting are frequently larger.

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