Millard D. Brown II is a managing director of Beane Associates,
Inc. Based in Atlanta, he has more than 30 years of experience
developing and implementing crisis and change management for
both public and private companies. Before joining Beane Associates,
he was an executive with GE and Hercules, Inc.
How do businesses run into trouble? It often boils down
to one word: waste.
How can businesses get out of trouble? Eliminate
waste.
Solving the problem, unfortunately, isn't quite as easy as identifying
it, but there are some basic principles that can point almost
any business in the right direction.
And those principles can be boiled down into two words:
Lean thinking.
It all comes down to this: No matter what the business,
every system, whether it's manufacturing, transportation, purchasing,
human resources or accounting, consists of a series of procedures.
And virtually every set of procedures can be streamlined. Lean
thinking is all about getting rid of unnecessary steps and motions,
getting rid of any piece of the process that does not add value
to the final product. It's about making what you need, when
you need it, rather than stockpiling huge inventories that take
up valuable space and might not ever be sold.
Lean thinking is not an exciting exercise. Rather, it's a bit
like organizing your closet.
You're getting rid of the things you don't need and making sure
everything that remains is in its proper, well-identified location.
There's nothing exciting about that - but you'll be pleased
when you can find what you're looking for in 30 seconds or less.
It's the same at work. As an executive, you don't want to handle
a paper more than once - and you don't want your accountants
or HR managers to do so either. Nor do you want the workers
on the assembly line or the packing clerks in your distribution
center to handle the same part twice. Nor do you want your administrative
assistants to print out and distribute dozens of copies of reports
and meeting minutes when you know quite well that hardly anybody
is going to read them.
The recognized experts on the subject are James P. Womack and
Daniel T. Jones, whose book "Lean Thinking" shows
how Toyota moved to the top of the automotive world by transforming
its processes from mass production to lean production.
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Womack and Jones summarize lean thinking in five principles:
"precisely specify value by specific product;
identify the value stream for each product; make value
flow without interruptions; let the customer pull
value from the producer; and pursue perfection.”
There’s far too much in “Lean Thinking” —
both case studies and explanations of principles — to
summarize in this space, and the book belongs on the must-read
list of any manager who cares about reducing waste and getting
the most out of a company’s employees, equipment and
raw materials.
Getting started on the lean process can be a bit daunting
because it often means throwing out systems that have been
in place for years, systems that have given everyone on the
team a real comfort level — whether they’re working
or not.
But thinking lean can also be liberating, because it invites
everyone to carefully examine existing processes and think
creatively about how to improve them.
Managers seeking to improve their businesses through increased
efficiency may realize they cannot achieve all of their objectives
at once. If that’s the case, don’t delay change;
rather, select the steps that are most important to you and
start with them.
Once you get started, you’ll keep on working on ways
to get better — for you’ll be following the fifth
principle of lean thinking: “pursue perfection.”
In your pursuit of perfection, here’s a great thought
to keep in mind: No matter how many times you improve an activity
to make it leaner, you can always find more ways to eliminate
effort, time, space and errors — more ways to eliminate
waste.
To learn more, visit www.lean.org
Write to me at mdbrown@beaneassociates.com
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