Muda of conveyance Is similar to muda of movement except conveyance involves the movement of outputs, products, or resources, It is sometimes also referred to as muda of transportation.
If an expense report is printed and then carried to a manager for approval who then routes it in an inner-office envelope to a director, who then carries it to the accounting department, the muda of conveyance is occurring.
Conveyance can relate to physical movement of items or digital movement of data or workflow. Email strings, which are present in many work environments, often present muda of digital conveyance. A CEO might email a director with a request for data. The director emails a manager, who emails a supervisor, who emails a subject-matter-expert. The SME delivers the information to her supervisor, and the emails work their way back up the chain. The same request and information was conveyed multiple times when it only may have needed to be conveyed once. This allows for many opportunities for error.
Once you identify muda of conveyance, you can eliminate it by making changes in the process, layout, or inventory requirements for the work. If conveyance waste isn’t due to poor process design or work-area layout, it might be related to another form of muda.
Conveyance is often seen in processes that involve a lot of correction, because work is transferred back and forth between staff or areas. By addressing the muda of correction, you often also address the muda of conveyance.