How To Leverage The Principles Of Lean

17/03/10

By Gary Wyles, managing director of Festo Training & Consulting.

Lean is about eliminating waste in all aspects of production and processes - whether this relates to HR, technology or manufacturing. It's about making continuous improvements to everything you do in order to improve efficiency, make savings and empower your people to have maximum impact. Here Gary Wyles, managing director of Festo Training & Consulting, outlines what you can do to leverage the principles of lean and make a positive difference to your organisation.

1. Consider how lean might help your business - it can be a useful process to follow if you...

...want to reduce costs, are considering investing in new machinery or other infrastructure, or have the dilemma of needing to manage too much work without the required people. It can also help adapt to changing customer needs, recurring organisational or customer issues, or if you're finding it difficult to retain and engage your people

2. Identify a team who can lead this change - whether this is led by you or another member of your management team, you need to identify a team of people that can take responsibility for making lean a reality in your organisation. Otherwise, put simply, it won't happen.

3. Accept you need to develop a different attitude to work -because lean needs to be a movement led by senior managers, you may need to review and reconsider your leadership style. Lean thrives best in an open organisational culture, where people are encouraged to question processes and are involved from the very beginning.

4. Manage your expectations - you don't have to start big when it comes to making lean a reality in your business. Begin by identifying a starting point - a client or a department - as a focus for change and quickly make a... continued on page two >

 

 

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