Waste in Overproduction

Occurs when manufacturing a product or an element of the product before it is being asked for or required.

In an office environment, overproduction could include making extra copies, creating reports no one reads, providing more information than needed, and providing a service before the customer is ready.

3 countermeasures for overproduction:

1. using a ‘Takt Time’ ensures that the rate of manufacturing between stations are even
2. reducing setup times enables manufacturing small batches or single-piece flow
3. using a pull or ‘Kanban’ system can control the amount of WIP