What's Lean
Posted: Apr 23, 2018
Summary by: Hayley Kinney & Kimberly Richards CDOT Process Improvement Interns
"EVERYONE, EVERY DAY, IMPROVING EVERY PROCESS AND EVERY PRODUCT, FOR EVERY CUSTOMER"
At the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT), we use Lean to help us deliver excellent services and programs to our citizens through the improvement of our operations. Everyone, every day is involved in enhancing the services and programs provided to our fellow citizens. At CDOT, we use Lean and our existing resources to create more value in the work we do on a daily basis by sure our processes are effective and impactful.
Lean is a business management approach that focuses on creating better products and services, improving operations, and developing people to deliver customer value and create prosperity while consuming the fewest possible resources. Lean principles and tools are used to eliminate wasteful activities that do not add value to the customer so that a process does more with less. Lean principles, methods, and tools encourage employee creativity, innovation, and problem-solving. Benefits from this method include lower costs and improvements to productivity, quality, and value.
1. The Two Pillars and Five Principles of Lean
The two Pillars of Lean are: Continuous Improvement and Respect for People
Continuous improvement is embodied in this phrase: “Challenge and improve everything”. The true value of continuous improvement is in creating an atmosphere of continual learning and an environment that not only accepts, but actually embraces change.
Respect for People – Respect for people is necessary for an effective, high-performing organization. The term “people” means employees, suppliers, partners, and customers. And, not just the end customer; customer includes the next person in the process. That leads to teamwork. Adopting this pillar means that we need to keep analyzing what we do, in order to see how we can improve on it, so that we can provide better value to our customers. That nurtures our ability to identify problems, which in turn will lead to continuous improvement.
The Five Principles of Lean are:
Value is determined by the customer and answers three questions:
Is the customer willing to pay for the product or service?
Does the activity transform the good or service?
Is it done for the first time?
If the answers to these three questions are yes, then the customer considers the activity to be of value.
Value Stream is the process (steps or sequence) a product or service goes through to bring to delivery to the customer. Value streams are created based on what a customer values. It allows a business to see from the perspective of the customer to help them identify the optimal process of delivering a good or service.
Flow is a concept used to eliminate delays in a process so that goods or services can move smoothly from one step to the next. Flow helps reduce the amount of blockages from unnecessary steps in a process.
Pull seeks to eliminate the waste of overproduction by adopting the practice of responding to customer demand rather than anticipating it.
Strive for Perfection is a continuing goal for processes that are improved using the Lean methodology. The Lean enterprise focuses on pursing excellence, a commitment to quality, and total employee involvement. Lean processes should strive for zero defects and 100% customer satisfaction.
2. The Eight Types of Wasteful Activities
The eight types of waste for the mnemonic “WORMPITT”:
Waiting- idle time between operations or events
Overproduction- producing too much too soon
Rework- any change or repair made to a product or service after it is finished
Motion- unnecessary movement of people or machines that does not add value and creates waiting
Over-Processing- the excessive and unrequired refinement of a good or service, or the over-processing of information
Inventory- an excess supply of product that contributes negatively to quality issues
Intellect- a failure to utilize the time and talents of people
Transportation- unnecessary movement or conveyance of the product
3. A Very Brief History of the Evolution of Lean
1900s: Lean practices begin to appear with the advent of the Ford production line that streamlined the manufacturing process. It allowed for high production rates and low cost but lacked quality control.
1950s: Taiichi Ohno, a Japanese businessman, observed various effective processes in the United States, which he adapted to form the Toyota Production System (TPS). This included his observations of:
1) the Indianapolis 500 race, where he observed “rapid changeovers” (pit stops) for racecars that lasted less than 60 seconds;
2) the Ford River Rouge Plant - a vertically integrated manufacturing plant; and
3) an American supermarket, where Mr. Ohno observed the concept of response to demand.
1988: John Krafcik, a graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), coins the term “Lean” in his article entitled “Triumph of the Lean Production System.” This article is based on Mr. Krafcik’s experiences with the Toyota Production System (TPS). Mr. Krafcik later became CEO of Hyundai USA.
1993 to present: The idea of the “Lean Enterprise” has expanded to be applied not only to manufacturing processes but to transactional processes as well, including the processes of governmental organizations.
2011 to present: CDOT begins to employ the principles and practices of Lean to create better products and services, improve operations, and develop people to deliver enhanced customer value and create prosperity while consuming the fewest possible resources.