What is lean thinking?
Everyone seems to have heard of lean, some people actually believing their company is already lean, but in actual fact, few people really understand what it is. As the name suggests, lean means doing more and more with less & less. Having said that, it is not the same as business re-engineering, another name for getting rid of people!
It is true, companies who introduce lean do find that after the lean transformation, there are less people needed to run the business. However, the lower costs which fall out of the lean transition, means there are opportunities for business growth and increased market share which soak up the extra people.
Lean focuses on the elimination of waste. Rather than simply considering waste materials, the 7 wastes of lean are:
- Overproduction
- Waiting (time on hand)
- Transport/conveyance
- Over processing or incorrect processing
- Excess inventory
- Unnecessary movement
- Defects
There is also an eighth waste, unused employee creativity, (which the leading element of leading4lean addresses)
There are a number of lean tools and techniques which can be utilised to enhance current business performance without a full lean transition.
To get the full benefits of lean however, the starting point is for the company to define value and conduct a value-stream mapping exercise to determine current state so that the future state map can be determined.
The revolution was started by Toyota in the '50's who developed the Toyota Production System (TPS) which has since been emulated by other car companies and manufacturers around the world.
Along the way has been JIT, Kaizen and World Class Manufacturing until in the 80's, James P Womack & Daniel T Jones coined the phrase, Lean Thinking.
Since then, lean has been applied in most manufacturing industries but has also extended into the service industries where the principles are just as valid.
