Overview
Have you thought about using Lean in your business or organization, but are not really sure how to implement it? Or perhaps you're already using Lean, but you need to get up to speed. Lean For Dummies shows you how to do more with less and create an enterprise that embraces change. In plain-English, this friendly guide explores the general overview of Lean, how flow and the value stream works, and the best ways to apply Lean to your enterprise.
This revised edition includes the latest tools, advice, and information that can be used by everyone — from major corporations to small business, from non-profits and hospitals to manufacturers and service corporations. In addition, it takes a look at the successes and failures of earlier Lean pioneers — including Toyota, the inventors of Lean — and offer case studies and hands-on advice.
- The latest on the Six Sigma and Lean movements
- The role of technology and the expanding Lean toolbox
- Case studies enhance the material
Lean For Dummies gives today's business owners and upper level management in companies of all sizes and in all industries, the tools and information they need to streamline process and operate more efficiently.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781118237724 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Wiley |
| Publication date: | 04/11/2012 |
| Series: | For Dummies Books |
| Sold by: | JOHN WILEY & SONS |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 416 |
| Sales rank: | 592,341 |
| File size: | 5 MB |
About the Author
Natalie J. Sayer has more than 25 years of international experience as an implementer, facilitator, and consultant in continuous improvement methods. Bruce Williams is Vice President of Pegasystems, the world leader in business process management. He is a leading speaker and presenter on business and technology trends and is coauthor of Six Sigma Workbook For Dummies, Process Intelligence For Dummies, BPM Basics For Dummies, and the Intelligent Guide to Enterprise BPM.
Read an Excerpt
Table of Contents
Foreword xviiIntroduction 1
Part I: Lean Basics 7
Chapter 1: Defining Lean 9
Chapter 2: The Foundation and Language of Lean 27
Part II: The Lean Culture 47
Chapter 3: Lean in the Organization: Principles, Behaviors, and Change 49
Chapter 4: Power to the People 65
Chapter 5: Go Lean: Implementation Strategy, Startup, and Evolution 87
Part III: Understanding Flow and the Value Stream 113
Chapter 6: Seeing Value through the Eyes of the Customer 115
Chapter 7: You Are Here: Mapping the Current State 133
Chapter 8: Charting the Course: Using Value-Stream Maps 157
Chapter 9: Flowing in the Right Direction: Lean Projects and Kaizen 181
Part IV: The Lean Toolbox 199
Chapter 10: Customer and Value-Stream Tools 201
Chapter 11: Flow and Pull Tools 215
Chapter 12: Perfection Tools 237
Chapter 13: Management Tools 261
Part V: The Lean Enterprise 279
Chapter 14: Lean within the Enterprise 281
Chapter 15: Lean across Industries 305
Chapter 16: Real-Life Lean 321
Part VI: The Part of Tens 345
Chapter 17: Ten Best Practices of Lean 347
Chapter 18: Ten Pitfalls to Avoid 353
Chapter 19: Ten Places to Go for Help 361
Glossary 369
Index 373
Interviews
Cheat Sheet for Lean For Dummies
From Lean For Dummies, 2nd Edition by Natalie J. Sayer, Bruce Williams
To understand how to apply Lean in any organization, you should know the basics: the principles, the definitions of value and waste, how to lead effectively, and how to define and improve the value stream. You should also be aware of how a Lean leader thinks and acts.
What is Lean?
Lean is a customer-centric methodology used to continuously improve any process through the elimination of waste in everything you do; it is based on the ideas of "Continuous Incremental Improvement" and "Respect for People."
Focus on the fundamentals
The basic principles of Lean are
• Focus on effectively delivering value to your Customer
• Respect and engage the people
• Improve the Value Stream by eliminating all types of waste
• Maintain Flow
• Pull Through the System
• Strive for Perfection
Your customer tells you what they value
You customer defines value or value-added with the following three conditions:
1. It must transform the product or service.
2. The customer must be willing to "pay" for it.
3. It must be done correctly the first time.
If you don't meet all three of these criteria, then you have non-value-added activities or waste.
What's "waste" anyway?
Waste comes in three main forms:
• Mura or waste due to variation
• Muri or waste due to overburdening or stressing the people, equipment or system
• Muda also known as the "seven forms of waste"
The following are the wastes most commonly associated with Lean:
Transportation: Is there unnecessary (non-value-added) movement of parts, materials, or information between processes?
• Waiting: Are people or parts, systems or facilities idle — waiting for a work cycle to be completed?
• Overproduction: Are you producing sooner, faster, or in greater quantities than the customer is demanding?
• Defects: Does the process result in anything that the customer would deem unacceptable?
• Inventory: Do you have any raw materials, work-in-progress (WIP), or finished goods that are not having value added to them?
• Movement: How much do you move materials, people, equipment, and goods within a processing step?
• Extra Processing: How much extra work is performed beyond the standard required by the customer?
Sometimes you will also hear "the disengagement of people" identified as a form of muda.
Behaviors of a Lean Leader
Lean leaders effectively exhibit the following behaviors every day. They know how the business serves the customer by
• Understanding what customers want, need, and value, or what will thrill them
• Knowing how the business satisfies the customer
• Improving the effectiveness of how the business satisfies the customer
• They build ability in the people through
• Guiding problem solving — root cause, right problem, right resources
• Leading from gemba; applying 3Gen
• Asking open-ended, probing questions
• They show a continuous improvement mindset by
• Continually challenging the status quo
• Knowing that there is always room for improvement
• Understanding that the customer changes — what delights today is a necessity tomorrow
They focus on process and results by
• Obtaining results
• Ensuring that how the results are achieved is the most effective utilization of all resources, in the direction of the ideal state
• Improving how the organization accomplishes results
• They demonstrate an understanding of the value stream at a macro and micro level through
• Knowing what the customer requires and how the value stream satisfies them
• Having knowledge of the overall value stream, including tributaries
• Asking questions when changes are made at the local level to ensure that the team understands how the change will impact the customer and the rest of the value stream
• They create a culture to sustain improvement by
• Identifying, modeling, and encouraging Lean behaviors
• Finding the lessons in every "failure" — blame does not foster improvement or innovation
• Respecting and improving standards — questions when the organization is deviating from the standard
Leading a Lean Organization
To create a sustaining Lean organization, you lead differently. Lean leaders lead from gemba, where the action happens. They know the only way to truly understand what is happening is to go to the place where the action occurs. Once there, they apply 3Gen or the 3 Actuals:
1. genchi — (like gemba) go to the actual place
2. genbutsu — observe the actual product, process or service
3. genjitsu — gather actual facts
Defining Waste in the Lean System
Waste comes in three main forms:
1. Mura or waste due to variation
2. Muri or waste due to overburdening or stressing the people, equipment or system.
3. Muda also known as the "seven forms of waste".
The Kaizen Project PDCA, or PDSA, Cycle of Lean
The term Kaizen is derived from two Japanese characters; kai, meaning "change" and zen meaning "continuous improvement." Eliminating waste in the value stream is the goal of Kaizen. The PDCA (or PDSA) Cycle is the Lean working structure -the system for executing Kaizen. The acronym stands for:
1. Plan.
Create a plan for change, identifying specifically what you want to change. Define the steps you need to make the change, and predict the results of the change.
2. Do.
Carry out the plan in a trial or test environment, on a small scale, under controlled conditions.
3. Check (or study).
Examine the results of your trial. Verify that you've improved the process. If you have, consider implementing it on a broader scale. If you haven't improved the process, go back and try again.
4. Act.
Implement the changes you've verified on a broader scale. Update the standard operating procedures.