Lean For Dummies

Natalie J. Sayer, Bruce Williams

• Publisher: For Dummies
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN: 9780470099315
• eBook ISBN: 9781118051184
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Operations
• Index: Business

Have you thought about using Lean in your business or organization, but are not really sure how to implement it? Or perhaps you're already using Lean, but you need to get up to speed. Lean for Dummies will show you how to do more with less and create an enterprise that embraces change.

In plain-English writing, this friendly guide explores the general overview of Lean, how flow and the value stream works, and the best ways to apply Lean to your enterprise. You will understand the philosophy of Lean and adopt it not as a routine, but a way of life. This highly informative book teaches you:

• The foundation and language of Lean
• How to map the value stream and using it to your business's advantage
• The philosophy of Kaizen
• Different tools to improve management, customer service, and flow and pull
• How to "Go Lean" within your business and across the industry
• Avoid common mistakes in implementation
• Seek out resources for assistance

This simple, continuous improvement approach that minimizes waste and adds customer value is changing organizations of all sizes all over the world. Lean for Dummies will show you to take charge and engage your enterprise in a Lean transformation!

Part I

Lean Basics

In this part . . .

T hink of Lean as a fitness program for your business. Like a diet and exercise regime for your body, Lean is a way to get your business fit for life, through a focus on your customer, the implementation of new business practices, and the ongoing commitment to continuous improvement. In this part, we fill you in on the foundations, philosophy, and basics of Lean.

Chapter 1

Defining Lean

In This Chapter

Knowing that Lean is big

Understanding that Lean is a philosophy, a framework, a methodology, techniques, and tools

Probing the Lean pedigree

Figuring out how Lean fits in with the global family of business improvement systems

When you first hear the word lean, it conjures up an image. Most likely, you’re seeing a mental picture of thin people — like long-distance runners, or those aerobics junkies who somehow don’t seem to have an ounce of extra fat on them. Or maybe you’re thinking about lean food — the foods that are lower in fat and, of course, much better for you. Lean also implies lightweight, in the sense of speed and agility, with a sort of edge or underlying aggressiveness that recalls the rhyme “lean and mean.”

That’s because the word lean suggests not only a physical condition, but also a certain discipline — a mental toughness. The notion of Lean carries with it a commitment to a set of principles and practices that not only get you fit, but keep you fit. People who are lean seem to be that way not just temporarily, but continuously. Lean people are committed to being lean; they act a certain way in their habits and routines. Lean isn’t a fad or diet — it’s a way of life.

Now take this concept and apply it to a business or organization. What do you see? What does lean mean, business-wise? Back in 1988, a group of researchers working at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), led by Dr. James P. Womack, were examining the international automotive industry, and observed unique behaviors at the Toyota Motor Company (TMC). Researcher John Krafcik and the others struggled with a term to describe what they were seeing. They looked at all the performance attributes of a Toyota-style system, compared to traditional mass production. What they saw was a company that:

Needed less effort to design, make, and service their products

Required less investment to achieve a given level of production capacity

Produced products with fewer defects

Used fewer suppliers

Performed its key processes — including concept-to-launch, order-to-delivery, and problem-to-repair — in less time and with less effort

Needed less inventory at every step

Had fewer employee injuries

They concluded that a company like this, a company that uses less of everything, is a “lean” company.

And just like that, the term lean became associated with a certain business capability — the ability to accomplish more with less. Lean organizations use less human effort to perform their work, less material to create their products and services, less time to develop them, and less energy and space to produce them. They’re oriented toward customer demand, and develop high-quality products and services in the most effective and economical manner possible. (See Table 1-1 for a comparison of mass production and Lean.)

The practice of Lean — from here on capitalized because, in this context, it’s a proper noun — is, therefore, a commitment to the set of tenets and behaviors that not only gets your organization fit, but keeps it that way.

Table 1-1 The Lean Enterprise versus Traditional Mass Production

	Mass Production	Lean Enterprise
Primary	A product-centric strategy.	A customer-focused strategy.
business	Focus is on exploiting	Focus is on identifying
	economies of scale of	and exploiting shifts in
	stable product designs	competitive advantage.
	and non-unique technologies.
Organizational	Hierarchical structures along	Flat, flexible structures along
structure	functional lines. Encourages	lines of value creation.
	functional alignments and	Encourages individual
	following orders. Inhibits the	initiative and the flow of
	flow of vital information that	information highlighting
	highlights defects, operator	defects, operator errors,
	errors, equipment abnormalities,	equipment abnormalities, and
	and organizational deficiencies.	organizational deficiencies.
Operational	Application of tools along	Application of tools that
framework	divisions of labor. Following of	assume standardized work.
	orders, and few problem-solving	Strength in problem identifi-
	skills.	cation, hypothesis generation,
		and experimentation.

Lean has become a worldwide movement. Lean concepts aren’t new; the techniques, in various forms, have been practiced in companies large and small around the globe for decades. But the term Lean has crystallized a particular set of ideas and concepts:

Maintaining an unrelenting focus on providing customer value

Adopting a philosophy of continuous, incremental improvement

Providing exactly what’s needed at the right time, based on customer demand

Keeping things moving — in a value-added, effective manner

Using techniques for reducing variation and eliminating waste

Respecting people

Taking the long-term view

Lean has been adopted across a broad range of industries, most notably automotive, but also aerospace, banking, construction, energy, healthcare, and government. Dozens of consulting firms, hundreds of training courses, and thousands of books and articles all chronicle the many aspects of Lean practice. Consulting firms have developed Lean implementation programs for every business function, including management, manufacturing, administration, supply chains, product design, and even software development. Lean has become a recognized methodology. It even has an award: The Shingo Prize, called “the Nobel Prize of Manufacturing” by Business Week, was developed to promote Lean practices, and has been awarded in North America each year since 1988. Honoring the renowned eng...

Table of contents

• Title
• Contents
• Introduction
• Part I : Lean Basics
• Part II : Understanding Flow and the Value Stream
• Part III : The Lean Toolbox
• Part IV : The Lean Enterprise
• Part V : The Part of Tens
• : Further Reading