Environment poster
Updated · Free to print and share
Green lean poster: the 8 wastes and the environment
Every lean waste has an environmental cost as well: overproduction uses material and energy for products nobody needs, defects send material to scrap, inventory needs packaging and space to heat and light. This poster takes the 8 wastes and gives the environmental side of each, an approach set out in the US EPA's lean and environment toolkit. Some plants add a ninth waste for unneeded energy, water and materials.
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The words on the poster
The 8 wastes, green side
Every lean waste also wastes material, energy or water.
- Defects Material and energy spent on scrap and rework.
- Overproduction Material and energy for products nobody needs yet.
- Waiting Lights, heat and machines on while nothing moves.
- Unused talent Missed ideas for saving energy and material.
- Transport Fuel, emissions and parts damaged in handling.
- Inventory Packaging, spoilage and space to heat and light.
- Motion Bigger layouts to light, heat and clean.
- Extra processing Energy and consumables for work nobody values.
- Remove the waste, and the environmental cost goes with it.
Approach from the US EPA Lean and Environment Toolkit.
On the floor
How to use it
- 1
Use it in a waste walk with an environmental focus: what does this waste use or throw away?
- 2
Put it next to the standard 8 wastes poster to show the two sides of each waste.
- 3
Add environmental measures (energy, water, scrap) to kaizen events that remove a waste.
- 4
Pair it with the free environmental aspects register.
Which size to print
- 24 x 36 in or A2: a main wall or team board, read from a few metres away.
- 18 x 24 in or A3: a station or notice board. The A3 file also fits 11 x 17 in paper.
- Letter or A4: a clipboard, binder or handout, on any office printer.
Every PDF is vector, so it stays sharp at full size. Nothing runs to the edge of the page, so no bleed is needed.
Templates, decks and guides to go with it
- 8 wastes of lean training presentationFree training deck: Value vs waste, the 8 wastes (TIMWOODS) with examples, muda, mura and muri and a waste walk, in 17 slides.
- Waste walk checklist (TIMWOODS)32 things to look for across the eight wastes, with where and how much, and a findings log with dot votes, owners and dates.
- Environmental aspects and impacts registerAn ISO 14001-style register of aspects and impacts, with significance scoring, legal requirements, controls and owners.
- Value stream plan (VSM action plan)The future-state map cut into loops, each with an objective and a measurable goal, and its kaizen bursts turned into owned, dated projects on a 12-month timeline.
- Topic: Lean manufacturing fundamentalsEvery guide we have on the subject, sorted.
Terms on this poster
A poster reminds. A routine makes it stick.
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