Rework is the thief hiding in plain sight. We rarely count it as waste – we just call it “work.” But every correction, resend, and re-check is a bill we already paid once, now due again.
A warehouse re-slotting project seemed to be working… until productivity refused to move. The real issue wasn’t visible until pickers spoke up. That’s misalignment in action – the same failure that cost Airbus 500km of rewiring and two lost years on the A380, because different teams were building to different specs.
Then there’s timing: a 1.3mm error on Earth became a multi-year, billion-dollar fix once Hubble reached orbit. The lesson? Mistakes don’t grow – the distance they travel before discovery does.
And when rework escapes the business entirely, customers inherit it, as Takata’s global airbag recall proved at catastrophic scale.
Small rework isn’t harmless. It’s just unnoticed – until it isn’t.
For a copy of Ishan’s book, Unlock, please visit:
https://ishangalapathy.com/books/
More About Ishan Galapathy and to access his ‘Chaos to Excellence’ White Paper:
https://ishangalapathy.com/
