WIP stands for "work in progress" or "work in process" and refers to goods that are partially finished and awaiting completion. WIP is a term used in supply-chain management and is considered to be an asset on a companys balance sheet because money has been spent towards a completed product. The WIP figure reflects only the value of those products in some intermediate production stages, and it includes the cost of unfinished goods in the manufacturing process, including labor, raw materials, and overhead. WIP is a key input for calculating inventory on a companys balance sheet, and it is used to describe the flow of manufacturing costs from one area of production to the next. In lean thinking, excessive WIP is seen as one of the seven wastes (Japanese term: muda) which do not add value to a product.