Lean Thinking
Eliminate process waste and bottlenecks for faster response times.
Eliminate Waste & Become More Responsive
Enhance customer value and reduce costs with Lean thinking.
“Lean” is a management philosophy based on the Toyota Production System (TPS). With Lean Thinking, you will be able to enhance value for your customers by improving and smoothing the process flow and eliminating waste.
Simply put, with Lean, you will be able to increase productivity and create greater customer value with less resources. Our consultants will work with you to redesign a Lean process that starts with understanding of the value stream of products and services from the customers’ perspective.
The ultimate goal is the total elimination of waste and bottlenecks from your business processes to achieve breakthrough in customer value. To reach this goal, we will guide you to adopt Lean thinking mindsets and behaviors, apply Lean methods and tools as well as set up Lean management systems to meet your objectives for profitability, productivity and customer satisfaction.
What are Value and Waste?
In Lean thinking, all activities in an organization can be grouped into two categories: value-adding activities, and non-value adding activities or waste.
Value adding activities transform raw materials and information into products or services which the customer is willing to pay for. Examples include taking orders, ordering materials, creating codes, assembling parts and delivering of goods to customers.
Non-value adding activities add costs, consume time, space, or other resources but do not create value for customers. Customers are not willing to pay for these activities. Examples are waiting, moving, storing, searching, checking, testing and obtaining approvals. These activities are considered as pure waste.
In addition, there are actions which need to be done because of government regulations and business requirements. Examples include internal audits, metrics reporting, maintenance of plant and equipment, etc. Since these activities do exist, we could flag them separately as incidental waste. These non-value adding activities are targeted for gradual elimination during the continuous improvement process.
By tackling waste from an end-to-end value stream, not only can your company improve the value of its products and services, you can also achieve significant cost reduction, strengthen cash flow and attain a more competitive profile.
Value-Added
Activities
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Transform or shape materials or information
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Customer wants it and willing to pay for it
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Done right the first time
Non-Value Add:
Incidental Waste
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No value created but required by current thinking
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No value created but required by process limitations
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No value created but required by current technology
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No value created but required by government/ business regulations
Non-Value Add:
Pure Waste
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Consume resources but create no value for the customer
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Could be stopped and it would be invisible to the customer
Waste in processes adds cost, without delivering customers what they want
Over-production
Producing more than what the customer needs.
Waiting
Employees waiting for another process, equipment or person.
Motion
Extra physical/mental motion that does not add value.
Transportation
Moving raw materials or documents or traveling from one place to another.
Inventory
Building or storing extra products that the customer has not ordered.
Defects
Scrap, rework, data errors or missing information in documents.
Over-processing
Adding extra value when the customer does not require it.
Intellect
Not using employees full intellectual contribution.
“In the new world, it is not the big fish which eats the small fish, it’s the fast fish which eats the slow fish.“
Klaus Schwab
BLOG ARTICLE:
Around the world, more and more organizations have started to adopt Lean principles and practices to improve competitiveness. As a holistic approach, office activities must fully support shop-floor manufacturing operations to eliminate waste as a means to improve productivity.
BLOG ARTICLE:
Recession or boom, companies need to sharpen their competitive edge by applying Lean Management principles to cost reduction - that is, the elimination of non-value-added activities or waste from the value stream processes.
Some Highlights of our Lean Workshops
and Activities
Hoshin Kanri Workshop - Translating strategic goals for organizational deployment and alignment.
Lean Leadership Workshop - Lean leaders learning the essentials of a lean management system.
Value Stream Mapping Workshop - Discovering waste and assessing improvement opportunities.
Lean Thinking Workshop - Running a lean business simulation to understand the concept of flow.
TWI Workshop - Learning supervisory skills for leading, instructing and improving jobs.
PDCA Problem Solving Workshop - Applying a structured process for solving workplace problems.
5S Techniques Workshop - Applying 5S principles to enhance workplace organization and efficiency.
Project Planning Workshop - Project team members defining work packages for managing a project.
Some Highlights of our Lean Workshops
and Activities
Hoshin Kanri Workshop - Translating strategic goals for organizational deployment and alignment.
Lean Leadership Workshop - Lean leaders learning the essentials of a lean management system.
Value Stream Mapping Workshop - Discovering waste and assessing improvement opportunities.
Lean Thinking Workshop - Running a lean business simulation to understand the concept of flow.
TWI Workshop - Learning supervisory skills for leading, instructing and improving jobs.
PDCA Problem Solving Workshop - Applying a structured process for solving workplace problems.
5S Techniques Workshop - Applying 5S principles to enhance workplace organization and efficiency.
Project Planning Workshop - Project team members defining work packages for managing a project.
Lean Thinking Workshop - Project team members in Japan running a lean business simulation.
Lean Thinking Workshop - Participants in Korea preparing for a lean simulation exercise.
WHAT PEOPLE SAY
"The trainer is good in the subject and able to share relevant information with the class."
LIM WEE KIAT, Staff Officer,
Rehabilitative, Protection & Residential Services Division, Ministry of Social & Family Development