What defines success for an organization?
When an organization or a company can create loyal customers and its own brand value, it can be termed “successful”. Maintaining this, however, can be a tough task. A single mistake could put the company’s image at stake.
A lean organization works towards increasing customer value by creating a process that generates zero waste. “Lean” has been buzzing around for quite a few years since its successful adaption by Toyota in the 1900s. The “Toyota Production System”, which is now commonly called “lean manufacturing”, has a primary objective of eliminating the “Muda” or the waste from the manufacturing processes.
Although lean methodology came into existence through a manufacturing process, it can be used in different business processes and technical processes as well. To eliminate the uselessness or the “ in the process, companies leverage the various lean tools and principles.
Here in this article, we shall discuss some of the tools, principles, and applications of lean methodology.
What are the Lean Tools?
Lean implementation is mainly focused to eliminate “Muda” or waste in the process. Lean tools help in identifying these wastes and help the organization to build better manufacturing/finance/technical processes.
Lean tools help to make the best out of the Lean technique for a company or an organization. These work best when implemented with Six Sigma techniques. Lean and Six Sigma have the same underlying principle: Customer Satisfaction. Six Sigma helps to reduce defects through a mathematical and data-driven approach. It complements Lean exceptionally well. Together, they form a good Lean Six Sigma methodology that aids companies reduce defects and managing the waste processes.
There are various Lean tools formulated to suit your requirement.
- If your company needs an on-demand solution system, where the product is manufactured only after receipt of confirmation from the customer, then the Just-In-Time Lean tool is ideal for you.
- In case you want to have a broader look into your organization’s structures and need a tool to map out the activities and processes of various departments in a holistic way, you can use the Value stream mapping Lean tool.
- The Bottleneck Analysis is a potent Lean tool if your company is suffering due to a lack of an organized structure.
These are just a few of the lean tools. Some other popular lean tools to add to the list are:
- Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE)
- Plan Do Check Act (PDCA)
- Error Proofing
The names of these Lean tools are self-explanatory. However, you can get familiar with their applications based on Lean principles. Just keep reading until the end of this article.
Lean Principles
The core principles that form the foundation of the Lean tools are highly customer-centric. These principles help project managers to achieve high efficiency using the lean principles in the right way. Here the main focus is on eliminating the waste processes to optimize the project and yield the best outcome.
To understand this better, you need to be familiar with the Lean principles.
We have listed out the lean principles here:
- Identify the value of the end-product from the customer perspective:
In lean, any process that is not directed toward the customer requirement is considered as “waste.” Therefore, lean team managers need to build good communication with the customers, understand their demands, and implement strategies accordingly.
- Map each step to know how and where it is adding value to the whole process
This step is precisely called “value stream mapping.” Here the project managers need to closely monitor each of the processes and map out how they are adding value to the whole process. Mapping helps you gain clarity about the whole process and correctly identify the errors and wastes.
- Ensure seamless workflow:
Once you define your goals based on identifying the customer demands and mapped out the work structure, the next challenge to maintain a smooth workflow. For this, you need to identify and subsequently eliminate the waste.
The lean categorizes waste into seven different types:
- Inventory: Classic example of this is the overstock of goods, with an expectation of unattainable demand
- Wait-time: Time lags that hinder the continuous workflow. This could be the extra time taken for approval from the higher management.
- Defects: These wastes are the most common and also the important ones. Improper collection of data is an example of this kind.
- Transport: Unwanted outsourcing, and changes in tasks during a project are examples of this waste.
- Motion: If a process takes more time due to a lack of information or technical glitches.
- Over Processing: Unnecessary approvals for minor tasks or any process that does not add any value to the customer demand.
- Over Production: Producing goods more than required.
The organization must identify the type of waste. It helps to form a firm base for the whole workflow and ensures a smooth process.
- Form a “Pull System”
Pull system means you pull in your team to the process only when i. It means that you will need to prioritize the work and do it only when you and your team are ready for it.
- Ensure continuous improvement
Your workflow needs to be structured in such a way that the improvement achieved throughout the Lean Process is maintained.
Once you know the basic principles of Lean Methodology, the next question is how to implement them. Well, for successful implementation, you have various Lean tools available.
Lean Tools
Some of the Lean tools are:
Bottleneck Analysis
This Lean tool comes in handy if you are facing “bottlenecks” in your workflow. Bottlenecks are the stages that cause lags to your processes that are mostly due to capacity shortages. This analysis helps you analyze the process holistically and derive apt solutions to overcome the challenges.
Just-In-Time (JIT)
The JIT tool is apt to apply the fourth principle effectively. Here the manufacturing process starts when the customer raises a requirement. It will also reduce the waste caused due to overproduction and over-processing.
Value Stream Mapping
The VSM tool helps you to apply the second lean principle to the “T”. Its design aids in mapping your processes and acts as a visual guide to the whole process. This aids in a better understanding of the system process among the team members.
Error Proofing
Poka-yoke or Error Proofing is a lean tool that focuses on maintaining and controlling the improvements. Here, the first requirement is to establish a clear understanding of the goals to be achieved from the process.
PDCA
Plan Do Check Act (PDCA) is also known as the Deming cycle. Here four stages are defined for a project management process:
Plan- what needs to be improved?
Do- Conduct a test to analyze the problem better
Check: Use the results and check the depth of the problem
Act: Implement the solutions and work towards the betterment of the process
OEE
Overall Equipment Effectiveness or OEE is a Lean tool to analyze the productivity of a process. This tool helps you to understand how much the process adds to the overall value. The failure of the process to produce output that adds customer value is a waste.
You can calculate the OEE factor by taking into account the following points:
- Availability
- Performance
- Quality
The purpose of Lean Methodology in project management is to complete the project successfully to meet customer demand. More often, the customer here is the client for which your organization is working. With a proper understanding of the Lean principles and Lean tools, your team can achieve a higher success rate in managing the projects.
To successfully implement Lean principles and tools, individuals and enterprise teams need to get trained in the latest quality management certification training courses. With a knowledgeable workforce, an enterprise will be able to completely realize the business benefits of Lean application.
Some of the popular quality management certification courses that individuals and enterprise teams can take up are:
