What is characterized by excessive movement of people or unnecessary walking?

Excess motion refers to any unnecessary movements that do not add value to a process, particularly in the context of supply chain management and operations. This concept emphasizes the importance of efficiency and ergonomics in workflows, highlighting how excessive walking or movements can lead to waste in both time and energy. Minimizing excess motion is crucial for improving productivity and optimizing processes, as it allows workers to focus more on value-added activities rather than on redundant physical tasks. This resonates with lean manufacturing principles, which prioritize the elimination of waste in all forms, including unnecessary movements.

In contrast, other concepts like defects pertain to errors in production, overprocessing focuses on performing more work or using more resources than necessary, and transportation relates to the movement of goods between locations. While these are all important aspects of supply chain efficiency, they do not specifically address the issue of unnecessary physical movements by individuals within a process.