Applying the Lean Principles
Lean manufacturing applies five guiding principles used by world-class organizations and lean practitioners across all industries as the guidelines to the lean methodology, to streamline processes, eliminate wastes, create flow, improve efficiencies and drive overall process improvement.
Continue reading to learn how to implement these principles in your unique organizations.
Value identification
The first of these principles of lean is finding the problem that needs solved and making the product the solution. Specifically, the product must be part of the solution that the customer will readily pay for. Any process or activity that does not add value to the final product is considered waste and should be eliminated.
Value stream mapping
Value stream mapping refers to the process of mapping out the company's workflow, including all actions and people who contribute to the process of creating and delivering the end product to the consumer.
Value stream mapping helps managers visualize which processes are led by what teams and identify the people responsible for measuring, evaluating and improving the process helping managers determine which parts of the system that actually add value to the workflow and those that do not.
Creation of continuous workflow
This requires ensuring that each team's workflow progresses smoothly, thereby preventing any interruptions or bottlenecks that may occur with cross-functional teamwork.
Kanban, a lean management technique that utilizes a visual cue to trigger action, is used to enable easy communication between teams so they can address what needs to be done and when. Breaking the total work process into a collection of smaller parts and visualizing the workflow in this regard helps to facilitate the removal interruptions and roadblocks.
Establishing a pull
Establishing a pull system ensures that continuous workflow remains stable and guarantees that the teams deliver faster and with less effort. A pull system is a technique in lean management that decreases the waste of any production process, ensuring that new work is only started if there is a demand for it, thus providing the advantage of minimizing overhead and optimizing storage costs.
Facilitating continuous improvement
This refers to a variety of techniques that are used to identify what an organization has done, what it needs to do, any possible obstacles that may arise and how all members of the organization can make their work processes better by identifying areas of improvement and implementing meaningful change, seeking the most efficient processes to bring the greatest value to the customer. Lean focuses not on perfection but the pursuit of it through continuous improvement.
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