LEAN Is an Approach That Seeks to Identify Value and Improve Flow in the Workplace And

LEAN Is an Approach That Seeks to Identify Value and Improve Flow in the Workplace And

LEAN is an approach that seeks to identify value and improve flow in the workplace and eliminate all forms of waste. There are FIVE overriding principles to Lean.

  1. Identify Customers and Specify Value - By clearly defining Value for a specific product or service from the end customer’s perspective, all the non-value activities [or waste] can be targeted for removal.
  2. Identify and Map the Value Stream – The Value Stream is the entire end-to-end process involved in delivering the product or service. Once you understand what your customer wants the next step is to identify how you are (or are not!) delivering that to them.
  3. Create Flow by Eliminating Waste – Eliminating this waste ensures that your product or service “flows” to the customer without any interruption, detour or waiting.
  4. Respond to Customer Pull – This is about understanding the customer demand on your service and then creating your process to respond to this. Such that you produce only what the customer wants when the customer wants it.
  5. Pursue Perfection - Creating flow and pull starts with reorganising individual process steps, but the gains become truly significant as all the steps link together. As this happens more and more layers of waste become visible and the process continues towards the theoretical end point of perfection, where every asset and every action adds value for the end customer. New processes should always be easier to follow than NOT to follow!

The LEAN journey - evolution not a revolution

Lean is a process; it’s not an instantaneous result. The journey can wander from the intended route, but it’s not the route so much as the destination that counts. Lean is about recognisable incremental change. Olympic athletes takes years, if not decades, to reach the top of their games; they recognise the commitment and hard work required to reach the top, and they ride the roller coaster of success versus failure in pursuit of improving performance. Achieving a lean culture is an evolution, not an instantaneous revolution. You’re turning a ship, not a scooter!

Identifying waste (“Muda”). A simplified view of Muda is wasting time, wasting a consumable resource or causing dissatisfaction (including incomplete satisfaction).

  1. Overproduction (too much of something):Leads to excess paperwork, handling, data entry, storage, space, machinery, defects, people and overheads. It is often difficult to see this waste as everyone seems too busy.
  2. Waiting:People may be waiting for parts or instructions. Mostly they are waiting for one another, which often happens because they have non-aligned objectives.
  3. Transport:Poor layouts lead to things being moved multiple times. If things are not well placed, they can be hard to find. It can aggravate alignment of processes.
  4. Over-processing:Additional effort may be required in an inefficient process.
  5. Inventory (stock):Excess ‘buffer’ stocks can be uncovered by gradually lowering stock levels (doing it all at once may cause total breakdown!).
  6. Motion:This includes movement of people, from simple actions when in one place to geographic movement. Having everything to hand as it is needed reduces motion Muda.
  7. Defects:Defects cause rework, confusion and upset a synchronised set of processes.
  8. Unused expertise: an under / inappropriate use of people skills.
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