Industrial and Systems Engineering Review, 7(2), 2019 ISSN (Online): 2329-0188 Tahboub et al. ISER © 2019 http://iser.sisengr.org Warehouse Waste Reduction Level and Its Impact on Warehouse and Business Performance Khaldoun Tahboub 1 and Loay Salhieh 2 1 Department of Logistic Sciences, School of Management and Logistic Sciences German Jordanian University Amman, Jordan 2 School of Business Administration, German Jordanian University Amman, Jordan Corresponding author’s Email: khaldoun.tahboub@gju.edu.jo Authors Notes: Dr. Khaldoun Tahboub is an Associate Professor in Industrial Engineering. He received his PhD from Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in 1992. He worked at The Industrial Engineering Department - The University of Jordan from 1992 – 2016. He presently works at German Jordanian University - The School of Management and Logistic Sciences – Logistics Sciences Department. He served as the Chairman of the Industrial Engineering Department at the University of Jordan for several years. He has participated in several European funded projects of which the last was in establishing a master program in Maintenance Management and Quality Engineering. Furthermore, his research interests cover Automation, Operations, and Supply Chain Management. Dr. Loay Salhieh is a Professor, holds a Ph.D. Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering from Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan. He worked at Yarmouk University, and presently works at German Jordanian University at the Graduate School of Business Administration (GSBA). He served as the Dean of the School of Management and logistic Science. He has participated in quality and Logistics related projects. Furthermore, his research interest covers Warehousing, Transportation, Purchasing, Inventory, Operations, and Supply Chain Management. Abstract: Warehouses considered as having a strategic role in supporting the overall competitiveness of the supply chain through achieving improved efficiency. Accordingly, lean thinking have recently found its way in the warehouse operations. The aim of this paper is to propose and test a model to assess the level of waste reduction practices and its impact on warehouse and business performance, and to encourage scholars to develop models to assess lean thinking and waste reduction in warehouse operations. A Delphi technique used in order to develop related questionnaires to measure the degree of waste reduction in the different warehouse activities. The results suggested the existence of a positive relationship between waste reduction activities and business performance and warehouse operational performance. Finally, this paper provides practical implications for warehouse and supply chains managers and directions for future researchers in this field. Keywords: Lean Thinking, Waste, Warehouse Efficiency, Warehouse Performance, Delphi 1. Introduction Toyota identified seven major types of waste in manufacturing and business processes (Ohno 1988; Womack & Jones 2003; Villarreal et al., 2009). These include overproduction, waiting, unnecessary transport, incorrect processing, excess inventory, unnecessary movement and defects. Bicheno & Holweg (2009) view waste as anything other than the minimum activities and materials necessary to get the job done immediately, right the first time and to the satisfaction of the customer. The Japanese word ‘Muda’ (Naylor, Naim & Berry 1999), or waste is a focus point in Lean thinking and production which strives to reduce a system’s waste (Womack, et al., 1990; Warnecke & Huber 1995). Toyota started this concept about 50 years ago, when several tools and techniques were introduced to eliminate waste in a process such as: Value stream mapping, 5s technique, just-in-time production, continuous improvement programs, Kanban systems, continuous flow production and quick changeover methods. The implementation of Lean tools or techniques in a service environment requires the service to be seen as a process of steps adding value to the work in progress (Swank 2003). Warehouses are being recognized as having such value-adding steps, kitting, pricing, labelling and product customization (Gu, Goetschalckx, & McGinnis 2010). As a result, the Lean techniques and tools, in recent years, have also found their way into the warehouse environment (Garcia 2003; Gu, 085