Waste Walk
Purpose
A Waste Walk is a structured observation of a process to identify all the waste (e.g. activities that don’t add any value) involved in the process. By identifying waste and then brainstorming how each waste could be mitigated or eliminated, this tool helps to uncover continuous improvement opportunities and improve the efficiency of a process.
The acronym D.O.W.N.T.I.M.E. is used to categorize wastes into 8 different waste types: Defect, Overproduction, Waiting, Non-utilized Talent, Transportation, Inventory, Motion, Extra Processing.