Complexity

Complexity is another factor that can cause waste. There are four aspects to complexity:

• Size (how many parts are involved in the process)
• Volume (the size of the process)
• Density (relationship of size and volume)
• Time to complete a product cycle

The smaller these parts are, the simpler the system is. Increasing any of these items will increase complexity. This means that in order to make a process lean and efficient, we should make its components simple and straightforward.