Many belonging to the commercial world harbor the misconception that the concept of “lean” is something that is meant for only those organizations that produce their wares in bulk. If you, too, are one of such people, this is the best post that you are reading because it rightfully will change your perception.
One interesting fact
Let us begin with one interesting piece of information: The Toyota Production System, which has introduced the concept of lean to the world, was itself a product of low-volume requirements. This fact must legitimately put to rest all the false assumptions about lean.
The concepts of lean
The principles of lean enable a business to:
· Find out ways for eliminating different types of wastes
· Determine whether or not the customers (of a business) are satisfied by the services offered; if the customers are satisfied, the cash flow will definitely rise
Now, let us read up on the factors that motivate any company to apply the concepts of lean within its infrastructure.
Why lean can be applied in every organization?
The concepts of lean can be easily implemented within any company-regardless of its nature and size. Whether it is a hotel, a hospital or an insurance company, the lean principles can be implemented in any of these businesses. Now, here are the factors that make this implementation possible.
- Reducing inventory
- Bringing down the delivery time, set-up time and cycle time
- Minimizing wastes
These three requirements are felt by every business; and the principles of lean can be put to work for meeting such requirements
How to implement lean?
However, the approach to lean may differ from one organization to another. Despite the difference, there are a couple of basic steps that is largely used to implement lean.
- Ensure to implement the technical change, and then take care of the cultural changes.
- Make sure that every staff member is coached well to embrace the changes-whether technical or cultural.
- Implement well-designed Kaizen workshops for not only teaching the relevance of changes but also making a few quick ones.
- Develop a robust communication channel for everyone working with the organization.
- Prepare the leadership to sign up for long-term learning programs.
- Empower the top brass to tackle every short- and long-term resistance (to change) issued by the firm’s mid-level management.
However, each of these steps is pretty critical; and the business can ill afford to execute any of them incorrectly. Which is why, it is apt to have the support of consultant teams, which can offer the business exceptional lean manufacturing assessment and can let it know where and when to execute these steps.