Transformation & Tools | Lean Management
Lean management was established within the Toyota Production System and means to improve work, processes, purposes and people. In order to improve the mentioned activities, shared responsibilities and shared leadership are needed. This means that lean trusts the people who are doing the work, that they know how it should be done.
Lean management focuses on 3 ideas: Delivering value from the customer’s perspective, eliminating waste and continuous improvement. In a lean environment, working steps, which don’t bring any value to the customer or the end product, are eliminated. Furthermore, companies or even industries can achieve improvements in productivity, efficiency, cycle time and cost efficiency when using the lean principles.
5 Principles for Lean Management:
Figure 1: Principles of Lean Management
1. Identify Value
Each company strives for product and services, customers are willing to pay for. Therefore, companies can just add value, by knowing their customer’s needs.
2. Value Stream Mapping The workflow within the company is mapped out and should include all actions and people, who are involved on the process. The mapping process shows, where value is being generated within the total workflow. Looking at the whole process helps companies to detect, which steps don’t bring any value to the end customer. Those steps should be eliminated.
3. Creation of a continuous workflow After the workflow is optimized, it needs to be taken care of, that the “new” workflow is running smoothly. This could take some time, due to bottlenecks and interruptions based in cross-functional teams.
4. Creation of a pull system
Pull systems mean, that work is only pulled if there is a demand for it. Sticking to the pull system enables companies to optimize resources’ capacity and deliver only if there is a need.
5. Continuous improvement After the process is established, it still needs constant improvement. This can be reached within the teams individually by having daily stand up meetings to detect obstacles early.
Benefits of Lean Management
By using the lean management principles, companies will be much more flexible and faster in responding to customer’s needs. Besides, the following benefits will be achieved, when using the lean management principles:
Reduction of waste
Increase in productivity & efficiency
Smarter process
Efficient use pf resources
Sources:
https://www.fraunhofer.at/de/leistungen-fuer-unternehmen/produktions--und-logistikmanagement/effizienz-steigern-in-produktion---logistik/lean-management-einfuehren.html
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