for Health Care
Strategies |
Lean
has it origins in the teaching and writings of Total Quality
Management (TQM) and Just-in-time (JIT), which espouse the idea
of "delighting
the customer through a continuous stream of value adding
activities."
Specifically, it is an extension of the phrase "world
class" as define by Dr. Richard Schonberger as "…
adhering to the highest standards of business performance as
measured by the customer. In other words, value is always
defined from the customer's perspective. Understanding your
customer's needs is a prerequisite for driving Lean principles
and methodologies.
The
lean objective is a continuous rapid flow of value-adding
activities. The first principle of Lean is to satisfy the needs
of the customer by performing only those activities that add
value in the eyes of the customer. Put yourself in your
customer's shoes, peer into your organization and look around.
You will find many activities occurring which add no value and
often times prevent you from meeting customer demands.
Identifying both value added and non-value added activities
provide you with a visual map of your processes.
The
second principle is to define the value stream. The goal is to
identify material and information flows currently required to
deliver a product or service. This activity will highlight
bottlenecks, handoffs, lead-time and where inventory. The result
is a pictorial of your current processes from start to finish
and all parts in-between. The key is to focus on the 65-95% of
non-value added actions occurring.
The third principle of lean is to eliminate waste. Waste in the value stream is any activity, which the customer is not willing to pay for since it adds no value to the product or service and often times, is consuming resources. Waste exists in all parts of the business – front office to the factory. This effort results in redefining the current value stream to one of value adding activities and what we call "Sustaining" (SNVA) activities. Sustaining steps are defined as, non-value-added activities performed for one of two reasons, required by law or regulation or because it contributes to business effectiveness. This provides an outward focus and responsiveness to ever-changing customer needs as opposed to traditional redesigns which are outward focused as they relate to your inward focused needs.
Lean
Enterprise is comprised of the integration and inter-dependence
of 5 key elements: Flow:
Physical layout changes and process design standards Organization:
Identifying new roles/responsibilities, training and
communication Process
Control: Monitoring, controlling, stabilizing and improving
processes Metrics:
Visible, results-based performance measures with targeted
improvements Logistics:
Operating rules and methods for planning and controlling the
flow of material
|
|