Burden
Burden is anything internal that is applying pressure against an organization restraining it from performing at an acceptable level. It is a failure to handle something somewhere within the organization that is now placing unwanted pressure against the organization. Examples of burden are:
Organizationally doing the same task twice or more.
Using vias (go arounds) such as salespeople keeping log books of products returned so they knows these products are available to be sold again because Receiving does not enter them properly into the computer system.
Unhandled backlogs of work.
Irratic and untimely flows of data between departments and people such as packing slips and bills of lading being sent to Invoicing by Shipping hap hazardly rather than routinely.
Rebuilding the accounting records every time management asks for a piece of information.
Unrealistic promises to customers such as short lead times for rugs yet producing them by hand.
Not knowing quickly what inventories are on hand.
Untrained staff or machine operators.
Computer systems that compute extremely slowly.
Confusion.
Lack of structure within an organization.
Severe bottlenecks in any process flow.