Making a Decision About
LEAN
by Mike Brown
By now you have heard enough or read enough about LEAN that it has at least piqued your
interest. Hopefully, you have decided that the merit of a Lean Implementation in your business offers some significant benefits. You are
right – it will. But changing your business to a lean enterprise is not an initiative, program, or project. It is a new way of
working – developed through changing the way you ‘see your work’, the way you ‘think about your work’, and the way
you ‘do your work’. It is changing the way you operate and run your business. And to say that it is a long term commitment
is an understatement. Toyota, the world’s benchmark for Lean Enterprise methodology, will tell you that after 50 years they are still
working on it. They still believe that they must continually improve their processes through challenging their employees each day to discover
ways to eliminate waste from their work processes.
Before you adopt a business strategy to implement Lean Enterprise methodology in your business, it is
important for you to understand that it is a journey. For this business strategy to succeed, it will take the commitment of everyone in your
organization – from the most junior level employee to the corporate leadership. It will involve an extraordinary level of attention to the
details of your operations – the way you see, the way you think, and the way you do.
You think you know where you can improve now? Just wait. You will soon learn that up to 95% of the
typical business process is ‘non-value added’. It is hard to swallow 95% isn’t it? Just acknowledging that 95% of what you
do is not “valuable to the customer” is difficult. Identifying all those non-value added actions and making changes to eliminate
them is a huge undertaking. It is also hugely rewarding.
Once your employees and associates understand the concepts and impact of Lean Implementation and the
power they have to impact your businesses success, you will see desire and enthusiasm that you never knew existed in your organization. The resulting
team-work and hunger for improvement will begin to grow exponentially among your employees.
As your business adopts its Lean Strategy, the leadership team must continually challenge itself and
its management team to:
- Continuously improve productivity and quality through simply improving process design and
eliminating waste.
- Lower operating costs through the elimination of non-value-added activities.
- Improve the employee work environment and reduce physical demands through ergonomic and safety
improvements.
- Improve the communication of ‘Lean Practices’ throughout the
organization.
The leader and the leadership team of your company must be committed to the on-going improvement of
your business processes. Improving your processes through internal and external innovation helps to secure the future of your company, your
customers, your employees, and the communities in which you work. To achieve your goals, you will help to create a culture of continuous
improvement that prepares and motivates people while fostering an atmosphere of creativity and contribution to success. You will learn to look
forward to working with your team on these goals and making changes to the culture that drives your business and its continuous improvement. A wise
man once said: “It is easier to act your way to lean thinking than it is to think your way to lean acting”.
Are you ready to act?
About the
Author: Mike Brown is a
Principal with The ACCESS Group,
LLC TAG) headquartered in the Nashville, TN area. Mike is also a partner with Healthcare Performance Partners (HPP). Mike has had a dual
background in both the manufacturing industry and the military. Mike has led various business process and Lean Enterprise related
improvement projects for companies, including those in the manufacturing, healthcare and administrative sectors of industry. Mike has over 30
years experience in significant areas of growth and leadership during his career. He has also managed numerous planning and industrial projects
in the automotive, consumer goods, defense, boat, aircraft, and truck industries.
