Where it comes from
The eighth waste, added by Western Lean practitioners in the 1990s (and captured in the DOWNTIME memory aid) to extend Ohno's original seven beyond material flow to human potential.
Non-Utilized Talent
13 improvements
Tapping the ideas, skills, and creativity of the people doing the work instead of leaving them unused.
What it looks like
- Front-line operators who spot problems daily but are never asked for fixes.
- Skilled people stuck on routine tasks well below their training.
- Improvement ideas that die because there is no way to raise them.
Why it matters
The people closest to the work usually see its waste first, so failing to engage their knowledge and ideas leaves the biggest improvements on the table and erodes the ownership that keeps Lean gains in place.
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