How to Tackle the 8 Most Common Sources of Waste in the Lab

Optimizing efficiency and productivity is essential in the modern laboratory environment, and eliminating sources of waste is crucial to creating a lean laboratory. By identifying time-consuming or unnecessary activities that do not add value, laboratories can reduce or eliminate these tasks to enhance and simplify their workflows.

Lean principles identify 8 types of laboratory waste that exist in every business in any industry. These sources of inefficiency can cost a laboratory time and money, decreasing overall efficiency and productivity. The guide "8 Wastes in the Lab – Improve Lab Efficiency" provides laboratory staff with a useful tool to help deal with these wastes. It covers how to identify and eliminate these sources of inefficiency, providing real world examples using a range of benchtop laboratory equipment, from weighing and pH measurement devices to moisture and thermal analysis instruments.