Correction waste occurs when products or services do not meet customer specifications.


  • Scrapping product do to defects
  • Working overtime to produce defect free units
  • Parts being assembled incorrectly
  • Customer returns due to defective products

Costs of Correction Waste

The costs of correction waste are more than just scrapping the material. There are labor costs from ordering new material, working overtime to fill an order, and troubling shooting the cause of the issue. There are transportation costs from shipping or moving material or products. There are scheduling costs from having to spend additional time fulfilling the order possibly delaying other orders.

Causes of Correction Waste

Correction waste can be caused by not creating a standardized operating procedure (SOP) for each process or workstation. If different operators have different ways of doing a task it will cause defects. It can also be caused by a supplier changing their materials to no longer fit your machines.

How to reduce Correction Waste

There are many different methods that can be used to reduce correction waste. You can implement lean techniques to standardize processes at each work station. Quality Audits can be done on raw material as it comes into the warehouse and once a product is complete to ensure defective products do not make it into the hand of customers.