A great number of studies have shown that we only add value for 5% of the time in our operations, while the remaining 95% is a total waste. Within a company these wastes have a direct impact on costs. Imagine what may happen if the 95% wasted time and effort was utilized well; it could do wonders for a company’s operations.
Companies That Use Lean Manufacturing Techniques
can reduce on the amount of wasted time and effort, plus increase the amount of quality performance. Tim McMahon of A Lean Journey posted a blog about what he believes are the common characteristics shared by companies that he calls ‘Lean Enterprises.’
One of these characteristics involves customer focus, where the external customer is both the beginning point and the end. Therefore, it is vital to enhance value to the customer, and seek to realize not only the customer’s needs, but their expectations of the price, quantity as well as delivery.
The purpose of a company is an additional characteristic of a Lean Enterprise. It incorporates the company’s vision, the mission along with the strategies of achieving the overall goals. The company’s organizational alignment is a characteristic, where employees need to understand their role in the company and not just the tasks assigned to them. To do so, they will need to understand the organization’s purpose and gain a realistic understanding of the penalty of failure and the benefits of success.
Encouragement of a questioning culture is another one of the characteristics Lean Enterprises have as well. Everyone should feel free to ask questions in the workplace.
It is not extremely simple to build a Lean Enterprise, as there is a lot that is required, such as building a culture of operational excellence throughout a whole company. This is easier said than done, and it is also why employing Lean manufacturing takes time and effort.
Additional Resources
- Kaizen and Lean Manufacturing– creativesafetysupply.com
- Organization Transformation through Lean Manufacturing– blog.creativesafetysupply.com
- Do Companies Save Money by Outsourcing?– 5snews.com
- The Benefits of Lean Manufacturing– iecieeechallenge.org
- Go Lean and Increase Customer Satisfaction– aislemarking.com
- Lean Six Sigma Can Improve Environmental Performance– creativesafetypublishing.com
- The Lean Management System– kaizen-news.com
- Understanding Lean Principles– blog.5stoday.com