Lean Systems

There are eight types of wastes (MUDA) in Lean Systems: 1.Overproduction, 2. Inappropriate Processing, 3. Waiting, 4. Transportation, 5. Motion, 6. Inventory, 7. Defects, and 8. Underutilization of employees.
For Outback Steakhouse we will be focusing on their main four wastes: 1. Overproduction, 2. Waiting, 3. Inventory, and 4. Defects.

Overproduction:
Overproduction is manufacturing an item before it is needed which in turn makes it difficult when detecting defects before it gets to the external customer.  This creates an excess gap between when a process is started and when it is completed and an excess amount of inventory. 
Certain dishes such as soups require a large amount of time to create so larger lot sizes are made in advance to shorten waiting time but this in turn can create excess inventory should orders for that item not be made.

Waiting:
The waiting a customer has to make between getting seated, getting their order taken and excess time it takes for them to receive their order is a waste.  Waiting doesn't only occur to external customers, external customers being those who come to the establishment to consume that establishment product or receive their services.  Waiting can also occur to the internal customers.  Internal customers are those within the establishment, some examples of this for Outback Steakhouse would be the host or hostess, the waitress or waiter, and the cooks.  The waiting occurs from the time the customer comes in, to them being seated, the customer deciding what they wish to order, the waiter or waitress taking their order, the waiter or waitress getting the order to the cook, the cook completing that order along with others, waiter or waitress getting to the back and retrieving the order, to the customer receiving the order.  Even after the whole process there can be defects.  The waiting that occurs to the internal customers adds even more waste and inconveniences the customers.

Inventory:
The excess amount of inventory that occurs from overproduction will take up space which will hide any potential problems that a company's process may have.
This can cause miscommunications among internal customers and the Work-in-Process is the direct result of waiting and overproduction.

Defects:
Quality defects are the direct result from overproduction.  When there is an excess of inventory being produced there will be a higher chance of any defects being overlooked.  For Outback Steakhouse it may come from receiving more orders from customers than they are accustomed to and in turn may get an order wrong in the back room to the front room, vice versa.  When orders are wrong they have to take the food back and make it again which only adds wasteful costs to the system in the form of lost capacity, rescheduling effort, increased inspection, and the loss of customer goodwill.  This loss of customer of goodwill is a greater cost than what others see sometimes .  There is a saying that with excellent service, maybe 2 or 3 customers out of 10 will suggest and promote the place to others they know but should the service not be up to par, be sure that at least 8 out of the 10 will be telling everyone they know of how bad the service was at the establishment.