Introduction

Lean principles are used widely in Manufacturing. But this can be used in Information Technology and Service and administrative environments also to streamline work and eliminate unwanted complexity.

The goal of Lean is to accelerate the velocity of any process by reducing waste in all its forms.

Usage of Lean ensures that the resources used in the processes are kept to the bare minimum that adds value to the output. These resources could be efforts, cycle time, capital employed, inventories etc.

In a Lean process, there would be NO Rework, the lead times i.e. the time taken to deliver the product or service, would be minimal and every person involved in the process would be involved in Value added activities.

Thus the benefits of using the Lean concepts are 2 fold – the non-value adding tasks to be acted upon are identified and thus the wastes inherent in the process are eliminated.

Lean Principles

An organization goal should be for continuous improvement of processes, usage of Lean too could be beneficial & thus 'Lean is a journey & not a destination In reality, no company is ever 100% Lean.

A large no. of Lean principles had the genesis in Japanese Quality principles propounded in Manufacturing.

Thought leader Taiichi Ohno and the Toyota Production system are the original users and implementers to perfection of many of the principles which are bundled now under Lean.

It has been observed in most processes, that close to 95% of the total efforts in the process DO NOT add value and only 1 to 5% of the total efforts in the process add value.

Let us describe the Lean Principles that help us in reducing these NON VALUE adding activities

We begin with ‘Pull instead of Push’. In a ‘Push’ system, as is normally found, goods & services are delivered to the customer irrespective of his requirement needs or delivery capabilities. This results in increased WIP – Work in Process – at the customers end. The more the WIP, more the cycle time & more the delay in responding to customer requirements

Instead of pushing materials through the process and creating finished goods inventories, a Pull system delays the manufacture of goods or services until the customer expresses the need for it.

In reality, this principle is very hard to implement, since it would require starting from scratch every time a customer asks for an order. However, implementing a Pull System can help to maintain inventories at the lowest possible level, thus avoiding blocked up capital

The Continuous flow idea is based on Henry Ford’s assembly line approach. The idea is like a flow through a pipeline. In traditional processes, work is moved in batches, resulting in intermittent flow. Reducing the quantity moved at one time and increasing the frequency of movement makes the flow more continuous.

Takt is a German word, which refers to the beat of music. Takt Time is the desired time between units of production output, synchronized to customer demand. Toyota picked up the word and concept for its Just In Time or Toyota Production System.

Takt helps people maintain a certain pace or rhythm or drumbeat in the process required to meet the customer demand & not exceed a maximum level of WIP (which allows them to maintain the lead time) Produce too fast & we end up with excess WIP & a slowed process. Produce too slow, & we end up with unhappy customers. Once the drumbeat is established, Takt helps us know the desired schedule of work, differences in actual work produced and reasons for those differences, which will help us later on reduce the variation in the drumbeat.

Tracking of actual rates against expected rates, with reasons for deviations, if any, would help us take correctives before it is too late.

Similarly, tracking of expected v/s actual completion size on a daily basis would help us discover patterns of delays & take corrective actions there from.

Traditional accounting systems treat changeover time as loss of capacity, thereby providing an incentive to produce large numbers of one product before changing over to another product. This results in excessive inventories of some products.

By minimizing changeover times from one product to another, smaller batches and lower inventories can be had w/o inventories.

In Classic changeovers, Machine is stopped & changeover operations happen, machine will start again after completion of trials.

Often no standard method is defined, procedures and checklists do not exist and there is no teamwork, meaning several operators sharing these operations.

5S Philosophy

Based on Japanese words that begin with '5' the 5S Philosophy focuses on effective work place organization and standardized work procedures. This is the main focus of every Lean Initiative. 5S simplifies our work environment, reduces waste and non-value activity while improving quality, efficiency and safety. Let us understand these -

• Sort – (Seiri) the first S focuses on eliminating unnecessary items from the workplace. An effective visual method to identify these unneeded items is called tagging. Sorting is an excellent way to free up valuable floor space and eliminate such things as broken tools, obsolete jigs and fixtures, scrap and excess raw material. The Sort process also helps prevent the JIC job mentality (Just In Case.)

In an IT organization, periodic deletion or archival of unwanted documents or mails; appropriate naming conventions & folder organization of documents can make our workplace effective.

• Set In Order (Seiton) is the second of the 5Ss and focuses on efficient and effective storage methods. "A place for everything and everything in its place."

Examples of effective Seiton would be Configuration Mgmt system which helps arrange Configuration items for easy retrieval & version control

• Shine: (Seiso) Once you have eliminated the clutter and junk that has been clogging your work areas and identified and located the necessary items, the next step is to thoroughly clean the work area. Daily follow-up cleaning is necessary in order to sustain this improvement. People take pride in a clean and clutter-free work area and the Shine step will help create ownership in the equipment and facility.

• Standardize: (Seiketsu) Once the first three 5S’s have been implemented, you should concentrate on standardizing best practice in your work area. Allow your employees to participate in the development of such standards. They are a valuable but often overlooked source of information regarding their work. Think of what McDonalds, Pizza Hut, UPS, Blockbuster and the United States Military would be without effective work standards.

• Sustain: (Shitsuke) This is by far the most difficult S to implement and achieve i.e. Discipline. Human nature is to resist change. More than a few organizations have found themselves with a dirty cluttered workspace a few months following their attempt to implement 5S. The tendency is to return to the status quo and the comfort zone of the "old way" of doing things. Sustain focuses on defining a new status quo and standard of work place organization.

Relation with Six Sigma

Lean and Six Sigma complement each other perfectly. While Six Sigma employs tools, Lean applies principles. Six sigma tools can be used independent of one another, whereas lean principles are best used together. Lean focuses on eliminating waste and Six Sigma is concerned with eliminating variation. Both have the common goal of making a process more efficient and effective.

We all have to remember that the Six Sigma and/or Lean tour is not a One-Night Journey but would evolve for time to come and finally come out as a great success. For this it needs support from the Sr. Management and confidence in people, so that the result can be achieved.