Lean Thinking in Lean Times, Impress your work place, think and talk like a CEO
I’ve been going Lean in the past few years and I'm blogging to encourage you and your organisation to do the same.
I was sceptic at first but later converted to the concept of applying Lean Thinking also known to many as the "Toyota Way", for those who haven’t used it, you probably should, you’ll save some headaches in business, be more productive and add value to your customers.
Guaranteed your boss will love you more than they currently do. Lean is not mean, its smart business process improvement and it helps people to talk about the process not about the person.
Okay, I am not a world expert but I have trained in both Lean and Six Sigma, I use it personally, I like Lean. Six Sigma for me has too many stats for my business engagements, so I leave that to the black belts. It’s not karate, but it will chop out the process variations and defects in process management.
Yes, both lean and six sigma refer to certifications or qualifications as “belts”, white, yellow, green, black, and there is now universal standardisation or accreditation, so choose your training provider wisely. I trained through three different providers with very different approaches and outcomes. Make sure the provider understands your industry, my white belt trainer did not. Urrrrr….painful
Anyway, last year I put 20 or so people through a practical lean course. The idea was to help them better understand their business processes. It worked, it was enlightening, no exam, just practical exercises to get results and it wasn't expensive.
Lean bits of info, that you must know, the fast track, hold on...here we go......
Lean Thinking:
Lean Thinking is about learning to see and improve the process. Lean is a management philosophy utilising a set of tools that can be applied across all activities of an organisation.
Lean thinking was initially developed and used in the manufacturing industry to focus production on the needs of the customer rather than the needs of the organisation. Toyota are leaders in Lean Thinking.
Lean is based on five key principles:
Lean: Reducing Eight Wastes
A key step in Lean Thinking is to understand what value is and what activities and resources are absolutely necessary to create that value. Once this is understood, everything else is waste. In Lean there are eight types of waste that have been identified: Just remember WORMPITS, it works.
• Waiting
• Over-Production
• Rejects
• Motion
• Processing
• Inventory
• Transport
• Staff Utilisation
Lean and 5S
5S is a Lean process method to ensure work areas are systematically kept clean and organised, providing a foundation to build a Lean environment.
1S for sorting the necessary from the unnecessary.
2S for planning the best place to set items in order.
3S for shining, cleaning, and identifying items.
4S for creating and setting the standards for cleanliness
5S for establishing the discipline to sustain the first 4 S’s through education and
Ok, Lean it or lump it, it’s a change in attitude, and behaviour and many are sceptical, but this process improvement works, give it a go..... it is here to stay in business.
Journey well,
Matt Cartwright
Inspiring People, Inspiring Business, Inspiring Results
© Copyright 2008 -12
I’ve been going Lean in the past few years and I'm blogging to encourage you and your organisation to do the same.
I was sceptic at first but later converted to the concept of applying Lean Thinking also known to many as the "Toyota Way", for those who haven’t used it, you probably should, you’ll save some headaches in business, be more productive and add value to your customers.
Guaranteed your boss will love you more than they currently do. Lean is not mean, its smart business process improvement and it helps people to talk about the process not about the person.
Okay, I am not a world expert but I have trained in both Lean and Six Sigma, I use it personally, I like Lean. Six Sigma for me has too many stats for my business engagements, so I leave that to the black belts. It’s not karate, but it will chop out the process variations and defects in process management.
Yes, both lean and six sigma refer to certifications or qualifications as “belts”, white, yellow, green, black, and there is now universal standardisation or accreditation, so choose your training provider wisely. I trained through three different providers with very different approaches and outcomes. Make sure the provider understands your industry, my white belt trainer did not. Urrrrr….painful
Anyway, last year I put 20 or so people through a practical lean course. The idea was to help them better understand their business processes. It worked, it was enlightening, no exam, just practical exercises to get results and it wasn't expensive.
Lean bits of info, that you must know, the fast track, hold on...here we go......
Lean Thinking:
- Defines the way we do things
- Defines the way we think about improvement
- Shapes the belief about what is possible
Lean Thinking is about learning to see and improve the process. Lean is a management philosophy utilising a set of tools that can be applied across all activities of an organisation.
Lean thinking was initially developed and used in the manufacturing industry to focus production on the needs of the customer rather than the needs of the organisation. Toyota are leaders in Lean Thinking.
Lean is based on five key principles:
- Value - Understand what the ‘customer’ perceives as value.
- Value Stream – How ‘value’ is created and delivered to the customer.
- Flow- Smooth the journey, removes all barriers and interruptions to deliver ‘value’.
- Pull – Linked to the value stream processes and is triggered on demand from the customer.
- Perfection – Continuous improvement.
Lean: Reducing Eight Wastes
A key step in Lean Thinking is to understand what value is and what activities and resources are absolutely necessary to create that value. Once this is understood, everything else is waste. In Lean there are eight types of waste that have been identified: Just remember WORMPITS, it works.
• Waiting
• Over-Production
• Rejects
• Motion
• Processing
• Inventory
• Transport
• Staff Utilisation
Lean and 5S
5S is a Lean process method to ensure work areas are systematically kept clean and organised, providing a foundation to build a Lean environment.
1S for sorting the necessary from the unnecessary.
2S for planning the best place to set items in order.
3S for shining, cleaning, and identifying items.
4S for creating and setting the standards for cleanliness
5S for establishing the discipline to sustain the first 4 S’s through education and
Ok, Lean it or lump it, it’s a change in attitude, and behaviour and many are sceptical, but this process improvement works, give it a go..... it is here to stay in business.
Journey well,
Matt Cartwright
Inspiring People, Inspiring Business, Inspiring Results
© Copyright 2008 -12
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