Lean is Not Just a Handful of Tools

The methods of Lean have been used to significantly reduce process times in a vast array of businesses, while at the same time increasing quality and reducing costs.  A continuing theme when a company wants to implement a Lean transformation, however,  is that they only use a few of the tools (or even just one – “5S for everybody!”) so they can feel satisfied straight away and report back to their shareholders saying, “We’ve done it!”

The problem with this approach is twofold:

• The results they will get are pitiful, and will probably turn them off a proper Lean implementation in the future.
• All of the Lean methods are interrelated, from the culture to the tools to how they are measured.

This article will show you a quick rundown on how different Lean methods are related, so hopefully you can use them all and gain the true effect of implementing Lean.

It All Comes Back To The Customer Driven Metrics

In Lean, Value is always determined by the customer.  To measure whether value is being delivered, we use the customer driven metrics based on “Quality, Delivery, and Cost”.

Below, you will see the customer driven metrics and how the many Lean methods relate to them.

• Quality: Quality is improved, and defects are reduced with Jidoka (stop and notify), Error Proofing, everyday Kaizen or continuous improvement which includes the “Plan, Do, Check, Act and Adjust” cycle and A3 problem solving that stems from it, revealing problems with a Value Stream Map and going to the Gemba (the actual place).  It is improved by using 5S while eliminating the wastes of “Rework” or defects, “Over Production” which results in idle “Inventory”, and awkward or excessive “Motion”.  Visual Management assists with Jidoka in the form of an “Andon” so team-mates can stop when there is a problem, and of course a Standard Process for the work will reduce defects further.
• Delivery: Process times are first affected by improving “Quality”.  They are further reduced by working towards one-piece or continuous flow, using Line Balancing to balance times to customer demand (takt time), eliminating the wastes of “Waiting”, unnecessary “Motion” or “Transport”, and using Heijunka or Load Levelling to ensure different items are done on time.  A Pull system using First in First out or Supermarkets to ensure Just in Time delivery will affect it, as will a Kanban trigger when product is pulled or requested.  Visual Management or controls centred on how much is required and by when will assist.  And of course, it is better to do all this with a Standard Process.
• Cost: By reducing waste, delivery times and defects, cost in many areas goes down.

So there you have it!  At least to get you started.  There are possibly may more ways that Lean is interrelated (if I’ve missed any, feel free to add them in the comments below) and I truly believe that if you train your team-mates in each of the tools and the know-how you can achieve spectacular results.

Yours in change,

David McLachlan