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Lean Thinking, Muda, and the Four Ls • 185

a Case study in Waste (an illustration of Waste
involved in the Production of Cola Cans in the uk)

First of all, note that a beverage can is more expensive than the beverage.
Here’s what happens on its journey to deliver your beverage to you:

1. Bauxite is mined in Australia.
2. Bauxite is trucked to chemical reduction mill; each ton of bauxite
becomes half a ton of aluminum oxide.
3. Aluminum oxide is loaded on an ore carrier and shipped to
Scandinavia (where there is cheap hydroelectric power).
4. A smelter in Scandinavia turns each ton of aluminum oxide into
a quarter ton of aluminum ingots.
5. Ingots are shipped to Germany, heated to 900°F and rolled to ⅛
inch.
6. Sheets of aluminum are shipped to another factory (in Germany or
another country) and cold-rolled to become / original thickness.
1
10
7. This aluminum is sent to England where sheets are punched and
rolled into cans.
8. Cans are washed, dried, and painted with a base coat.
9. Cans are painted with specific product branding and labeling.
10. Cans are lacquered, flanged, sprayed inside with protective coat-
ing, and inspected.
11. Cans are palletized, fork lifted, and warehoused until needed.
12. When needed, they are shipped to a bottler, washed and cleaned,
and finally filled with beverage (this involves the mixing of syrup,
water, carbon dioxide, phosphorous, and caffeine).
13. Filled cans are sealed with a pop-top and inserted into cardboard
cartons, with matching color and proper promotional labeling.
14. Cartons are palletized again and shipped to regional warehouses
and then to supermarkets.
15. A typical can is purchased within three days, consumed within
minutes, and discarded in about one second.

The cartons come from forest pulp that may have originated any-
where from Sweden or Siberia to the old-growth, virgin forests of British
Columbia that are the home of grizzly bears, wolverines, otters, and
eagles. Beet fields in France provide the sugar, which undergoes signifi-
cant trucking, milling, refining, and shipping. The phosphorus comes