The origins of lean manufacturing can be traced back to the 1930s, when Henry Ford revolutionized car manufacturing with the in troduction of mass production techniques. The most important contribution to the develop ment of lean manufacturing techniques since then has come from the Japanese automotive manufacturer Toyota. Its success is founded on its renowned Toyota Production System. This system is based on a philosophy of continuous improvement where the elimination of waste is fundamental. The process of elimination is facilitated by the definition of seven common forms of waste, activities that add cost but no value: production of goods not yet ordered; waiting; rectification of mistakes; excess pro cessing; excess movement; excess transport; and excess stock.

Jones et al.(1997) has shown that these seven wastes require an adaptation to fit the supply chain environment. Then, Hines and Taylor (2000) extended the lean approach to enable waste elimination throughout the supply chain, proposing a methodology. The use of the value stream map explained by Rother and Shook (1999) and the supply chain mapping toolkit described in Hines and Taylor (2000) are fundamental in identifying waste. This work provides a brief description of an approach that has the purpose of identifying and reducing waste in the activity of transporta tion. This consists of four stages: context analy sis and direction setting; mapping and analysis; waste reduction initiatives; and the application