Lean Thinking
Lean is a systematic, continuous improvement approach that focuses activities on reducing waste while aligning them to an overall growth strategy. A Lean Enterprise essentially eliminates waste throughout the business; waste costs resources and adds no value to the customers. Lean principles are used to create precise customer value with: less human effort, less space, less capital, and less time. The principles of Lean are:
- Identify customer value
- Product or service customer desires delivered at the right time and cost
- Document the value stream
- Identify the actions needed from product conception to delivery
- Make it flow
- Move away from mass production and focus on moving individual products through the value stream
- Pull system activity
- Give customers what they need, when they need it
- Continuously improve
- There is always room for improvement
Our approach to Lean is rooted in widely accepted methodologies and tools; it is depicted below with a sample of the tools by phase.
Lean in Transactional Environments
A Lean process is defined as one that uses only the absolute minimum of resources to add value to a service or product. Applied in a transactional environment, Lean helps organizations eliminate waste and focus on understanding “value” from the standpoint of the customer. Organizations can thereby improve process times, reduce costs and become more customer-focused. While Lean is well-recognized in the manufacturing industry, it can be equally applied in service and transactional environments resulting in quick and effective results. Whether your transaction is a sales, marketing, financial, human resource or other type of transaction applying the principles of Lean will result in improved turnaround times and cost reductions. It is no wonder that many service industries are adopting Lean and Lean Six Sigma as their strategic weapon.