At a Glance - Lean Management Explained
In this latest Pembroke Alliance article we share some insights into the discipline of Lean Management, the core principles, and how we have delivered significant results for clients using Lean Management processes.
What is Lean?
Lean or Lean management is a business approach for maximising customer value while minimising waste. It is based on the principles of the Toyota Production System (TPS) and aims to create a culture of continuous improvement in an organisation.
The main goal of Lean management is to improve efficiency and effectiveness by reducing the time spent on non-value-adding activities and optimizing the flow of work.
The Lean concept can be successfully applied to any business or production process.
By adopting Lean, you focus on:
Streamlining your processes so work flows smoothly.
Only produce what your customers want.
Constantly looking for ways to improve and cut out inefficiencies.
The Benefits for Business Include:
Lower costs by reducing waste and making better use of resources.
Happier customers thanks to better quality and faster delivery.
More engaged employees who feel their ideas matter.
Greater ability to adapt quickly to changes in the market.
Support for sustainability by using less energy and materials.
Building a Lean, continuous improvement culture means everyone in your business—from the boss to the shop floor—looks for ways to do things better every day. It’s not about one big change, but lots of small improvements that add up to big results over time.
What Lean is Not:
A project with a start and end date
· Delivered solely by an external consultant
· Delivered in isolation of the senior team
· About creating more work or making your job harder.
Lean Pillars:
Lean management emphasises the importance of respecting and empowering employees and encourages the development of a culture of problem-solving and continuous improvement.
Lean management encourages shared responsibility and shared leadership. Lean trusts the people who are doing the job to have the final say.
Lean Principles:
Value lies in the problem you are trying to solve for the customer. More specifically, in the part of the solution that your customer is actively willing to pay. Any other activity or process that doesn’t bring value to the product is considered a waste.
Value Stream Mapping will show you where value is being generated and in what proportion different parts of the process do or do not produce value.
Creating flow, means making sure that all the steps in your process move smoothly from one to the next without interruptions, delays, or bottlenecks.
In a Pull system, the work is pulled only if there is a demand for it. This lets you optimize resources’ capacity and deliver products or services only if there is an actual need.
Your system is not isolated and static. Problems may occur with any of the previous steps. This is why you need to make sure that employees on every level are involved in continuously improving the process.
What is Waste?
Waste is anything that uses up resources but doesn’t add value for the customer. The goal is to spot and remove these wastes so your business runs more efficiently and delivers better results. Using the acronym TIMWOODS, Lean identifies eight main types of waste:
Transport
Inventory
Motion
Waiting
Over Production
Over Processing
Defects
Skills
Lean: The Pembroke Way
We specialise in achieving operational excellence through Lean Six Sigma methodologies. Our approach focuses on:
1. Optimising your entire value stream
2. Eliminating waste in all its forms
3 . Building quality into your processes
4. Fostering a culture of continuous improvement
Lean: Our Results
We work with Construction, Transport, Print & Packaging, Food & Beverage, Engineering and Joinery Businesses.
In 2024 Pembroke Alliance consultants delivered savings in excess of 8.3 million euro to businesses across Ireland.
Our average savings on a typical Lean Plus programme are 240 thousand euro, generating an ROI of 4:1 before grant aid.
Contact us to find out more.