Every employee should strive towards perfection while delivering products based on the customer needs. It makes Lean thinking and continuous process improvement a part of the organizational culture. However, the fifth step of pursuing perfection is the most important among them all. Wastes are prevented through the achievement of the first four steps: 1) identifying value, 2) mapping value stream, 3) creating flow, and 4) adopting a pull system. By following the value stream and working backwards through the production system, you can ensure that the products produced will be able to satisfy the needs of customers. Pull-based systems are always created from the needs of the end customers. In other words, a pull-based system allows for Just-in-time delivery and manufacturing where products are created at the time that they are needed and in just the quantities needed.
The goal of a pull-based system is to limit inventory and work in process (WIP) items while ensuring that the requisite materials and information are available for a smooth flow of work. Inventory is considered one of the biggest wastes in any production system. Some strategies for ensuring that value-adding activities flow smoothly include: breaking down steps, reconfiguring the production steps, leveling out the workload, creating cross-functional departments, and training employees to be multi-skilled and adaptive. Create FlowĪfter removing the wastes from the value stream, the following action is to ensure that the flow of the remaining steps run smoothly without interruptions or delays. By reducing and eliminating unnecessary processes or steps, you can ensure that customers are getting exactly what they want while at the same time reducing the cost of producing that product or service. The later is pure waste and should be eliminated while the former should be reduced as much as possible.
The waste can be broken into two categories: non-valued added but necessary and non-value & unnecessary. Activities that do not add value to the end customer are considered waste. In this step, the goal is to use the customer’s value as a reference point and identify all the activities that contribute to these values. The second Lean principle is identifying and mapping the value stream. By using these qualitative and quantitative techniques you can uncover what customers want, how they want the product or service to be delivered, and the price that they afford. There are many techniques such as interviews, surveys, demographic information, and web analytics that can help you decipher and discover what customers find valuable.
This is especially common when it comes to novel products or technologies. Sometimes customers may not know what they want or are unable to articulate it. It is paramount to discover the actual or latent needs of the customer. Value is what the customer is willing to pay for. To better understand the first principle of defining customer value, it is important to understand what value is. The Five Lean Principles Explained:įigure 1. The next sections provides a detailed overview of each principle. The five principles are considered a recipe for improving workplace efficiency and include: 1) defining value, 2) mapping the value stream, 3) creating flow, 4) using a pull system, and 5) pursuing perfection. Womack and Jones defined the five principles of Lean manufacturing in their book “The Machine That Changed the World”. It encourages the practice of continuous improvement and is based on the fundamental idea of respect for people. Lean was born out of manufacturing practices but in recent time has transformed the world of knowledge work and management.