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| Criterion |  Operations Waste Analysis |  Operations Gemba Walk |  Engineering Kanban |
|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | For a process that keeps people busy but creates little value, the method exposes waste. It directs attention to unnecessary movement, waiting times, rework, and overdelivery. | When there is uncertainty about the real course of a process, the method brings observation to the place where work happens. It combines perception, follow-up questions, and process knowledge so decisions rest on actual workflows instead of assumptions. | When work sits in too many parallel streams, throughput suffers and no one sees the bottlenecks. Kanban makes the flow of work visible and limits overload so a system becomes calmer and more predictable. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | Low | Medium |
Timedifferent | 45-120 min | 30-120 min | Ongoing |
Participantsdifferent | 2-8 | 2-6 | 2-12 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Waste Map, Prioritized Waste, Improvement Backlog | Observation Notes, Improvement Ideas | Kanban board, WIP policies, Flow metrics |
Tagsno overlap | WasteLeanProcess improvement | LeanObservationProcessOperations | FlowVisual managementDelivery |
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