Since the appearance of the word Lean In the 90s, this word has been more or less overused since...
We are trying to add a specialty to the word Lean (manufacturing, office, IT, supply chain , pharma, management , etc…)
What is the point? If not to make this process confusing and complicated?
Read on to find out more!
The difficulties in setting up the Lean in industrial/service companies
1- Often companies (service sector, industry, etc.) think that if the person involved (consultant or external recruiter) is not in the business or does not know the product, they will not be able to help us...
Error! the Lean does not reason in terms of business or product but in terms of Process ! So there are no major difficulties in applying the principles of Lean everywhere and at all levels (only certain tools may not be applicable).
According to Christian Hohmann in his work " Lean management ", THE lean can be summarized as follows:
" THE Lean is a systemic approach to design and improve processes by aiming for an ideal state centered on customer satisfaction, through the involvement of all personnel whose initiatives are aligned by common practices and principles"
2- The vision that companies have of Lean can be distorted because too often it is summed up as simply hunting for waste...we still need to understand and define the term waste ( Muda, Muri, Mura )
THE Lean is above all an approach which allows to increase customer satisfaction thanks to:
- Understanding customer needs and translating them into measurable requirements (VOC, CTS)
- Flexibility to respond in real time to the voice of the customer (JIT)
- Early detection of anomalies and malfunctions that could lead to non-conformance (JIDOKA)
- The most efficient use of resources and means to best meet customer requirements
3- companies often summarize the Lean to one-off improvement projects…
Construction sites are necessary to initiate the process Lean , to demonstrate that it works and to quickly acquire certain simple tools ( 5S for example ) but it is not an end in itself, quite the contrary, it is the beginning of the spirit Lean !
4- Companies often have too short a vision of the Lean
"I want fast results and an even faster ROI!"
Now the Lean wants to be a collective state of mind fueled by Kaizen (progressing a little bit every day), it is understood that to change a state of mind and even more ancestral habits, it will take time.
We can therefore carry out a project to demonstrate to everyone the relevance of the approach and the associated tools in order to project ourselves into a longer term vision ( Hoshin ), register the Lean in a virtuous global approach to change involving all staff and at all levels
5- Companies often think that employees are there to produce a job, a task, and are paid for it, so if they are given time to think about improving their process, these employees won't produce any work!
An untreated malfunction inevitably becomes a work habit, a waste to which we become accustomed, so we no longer see it as such: a waste = an area for progress.
Employees need to be empowered to map their process, identify their issues (irritants and real problems), and take a step back from the activity they perform 8 hours a day.
Identify Muda, Muri, Mura with the process actors, so as to reduce their impact.
The investment in time required is out of all proportion to the potential gains from the process (effectiveness & efficiency).
6- Companies lock up the Lean (and quality!) in services (service Lean or continuous improvement, quality service) while these two fundamental notions in business are resolutely transversal!
This makes it even more difficult for operational people to understand and embrace the philosophy Lean daily.
Undertake an initiation and training process to understand the principles Lean and its tools at each level of the company make it possible to speak a common language and quickly identify areas for improvement, not to mention the exchange management partner.
Coupled with QRQC-type quality tools, the results will be rapid and will give everyone confidence in the usefulness of these approaches!
Lean Manufacturing vs Lean Office
Why make a difference? What's the point? It's true that manufacturing companies operate without any support services...
THE Lean applying to industries inevitably applies to the support services which gravitate around the shopfloor
The principles are the same, only certain tools will be very difficult to apply in the services ( SMED for example)
The approach being process, regardless of the industrial sector or the service (tertiary), the Lean applies in the same way:
- Understanding customer requirements
- Mapping the process and its components
- Identifying Muda, Muri, Mura
- Launch corrective actions
- Measuring the effectiveness of actions
A lead time remains a lead time! Whether it is the time taken to cross an industrial product or that of a bank loan file, it is the same thing and the same approach... Why do we want to add extensions to the word at all costs? Lean which ultimately devalues the initial state of mind?
The Afnor NF X06 – 91 standard which governs the requirements relating to the skills of project managers Lean Six Sigma makes no distinction between Green or Black Belts Industry or Service, the only differences are in the depth of knowledge of certain tools.
Lean & Six Sigma
After 25 years of practicing these approaches in virtually every industrial sector, our expert consultant can't do one without the other!
Deming explained, over 50 years ago, that a process can only be improved if it is measured and monitored. Six Sigma tools such as control charts make it possible to track the behavior of a process over time and quickly visualize any drifts.
Six Sigma is complementary to Lean :
- Do only Lean can lead to managing very useful tasks but with a lot of variability in their execution
- Six Sigma alone can lead to the mastery of completely unnecessary tasks...
- To do some Lean Six Sigma can be a very winning cocktail in the end!
Six Sigma is often mistakenly associated with high-volume industries. Here too, Six Sigma applies to processes, where the enemy is variability.
Six Sigma will enable you to identify deviations from standards (defects, faults), quantify them, find the root causes and implement corrective actions to get it right first time, every time.
- Examples of deviations from the service standard: customer complaints, unanswered calls, missing information, delays, missing items, response times, payment times, etc.
- Examples of deviations from industry standards: non-conformities, supplier deliveries, breakdowns, absenteeism, time, supply disruptions, etc.
Here, too, there's no distinction to be made between services and industry: Six Sigma can be applied anywhere!
Yanis CALDER – Consulting Director – Black Belt Lean Six Sigma
Do not hesitate to contact us if you would like to know more about our Lean & Six Sigma expertise!
