Lockheed Martin identified a significant amount of unused chemicals going directly to the hazardous waste stream without ever being used, when they expired on-shelf, or when they were no longer needed for research or production.

Lockheed Martin moved to a just-in-time chemical management system, with chemicals delivered three times a week in “right-sized” containers to meet real-time demand. At one site they achieved:

• chemical inventories were dramatically reduced, freeing capital tied up in inventory
• chemical inventory turns dramatically increased
• chemical utilization rates increased dramatically, virtually eliminating chemicals expiring on the shelf or being mixed in larger quantities than needed
• chemical warehouse was eliminated, reducing chemical storage space from 64,000 square feet to 1,200 square feet.

See http://www.epa.gov/lean/environment/studies/lockheed.htm