Table 2 Levels of waste and possible solutions applied to the procurement process of vascular stents in the interventional radiology department
Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Gross waste | Possible solution | Process and method waste | Possible solution | Micro waste | Possible solution |
In general | Institutional level | In general | Process level | In general | Personal level |
Work-in-progress | Scheduling improvement | Long changeover | Preparation in advance | Excess walking, looking for stock, speed and feed, bending and reaching, double handling | Improving ergonomic behaviour and thinking in advance |
Poor plant layout | Architectural optimisation | Late maintenance | Request in advance | Paperwork | Reduce and delegate as much as possible |
Rejected, returned and damaged products | Prevention and advance identification | Temporary storage | As little as possible | ||
Dirty equipment | Meet hygiene standards | Equipment problems | Check in advance | ||
Rework | Attain best medical practice | Unsafe method | Reject in advance | ||
Container and batch size | Architectural/conceptual efficiency | Poor workplace design for specific processes | Improve set-up in advance as much as possible | ||
Material not delivered to point of use | Clear and binding orders, e.g. visualisation | No SOP | SOP creation | ||