Lean management

Lean management

Introduction 

The idea of continuous improvement, a long-term strategy for work that deliberately strives to accomplish tiny, incremental improvements in processes to increase efficiency and quality, is supported by the approach to management known as lean management. By maximizing resources and establishing a consistent workflow based on actual customer demands, lean management's main goal is to create value for the client. By identifying each stage in a business process and then changing or omitting parts that do not add value, it aims to remove any waste of time, effort, or money. The doctrine has manufacturing as its source.

Main objectives of Lean management

  1. Defining value from the standpoint of the end customer.
  2. Eliminating all waste in the business processes.
  3. Continuously improving all work processes, purposes and people

Continuous improvement guarantees that every person participates in the improvement process, while lean management promotes shared leadership and accountability. The management technique serves as a roadmap for creating a strong, successful company that advances continually, identifies genuine issues, and fixes them.

The Toyota manufacturing system, which was started in the late 1940s, is the foundation of lean management. The Toyota Way was created when Toyota implemented the five lean management principles with the intention of reducing the number of inefficient processes. They discovered that by putting the five principles into practise, efficiency, productivity, cost efficiency, and cycle time were significantly improved.

5 principles of lean management


Five guiding principles are included into lean management and are utilised by managers inside a company as the rules for the lean technique. The following are the five guiding principles:

  • Identify value.
  • Value stream mapping
  • Create a continuous workflow.  
  • Establish a pull system.
  • Facilitate continuous improvement.

Identify value.

The first stage in lean management is identifying value, which entails determining the issue that the client needs to have resolved and making the product the answer. The product must be the component of the solution that the consumer is most willing to pay for. Waste should be removed if a process or action does not provide value to the end output, which is defined as adding usefulness, significance, or worth.

Value stream mapping

Value stream mapping is the process of outlining a company's workflow, which includes all activities and individuals involved in developing and delivering the final product to the customer. Value stream mapping enables managers to see which processes are headed by which teams and to pinpoint the individuals in charge of monitoring, analyzing, and optimizing the process. Managers can use this graphic to identify system components that don't improve workflow.

Create a continuous workflow.

A continuous workflow is achieved by ensuring that each team's workflow moves forwards without interruptions and by avoiding any bottlenecks that could develop as a result of cross-functional coordination. Teams may easily communicate with one another using Kanban, a lean management approach that uses a visual signal to prompt action, to discuss what needs to be done and by when. Removing process stumbling blocks and interruptions is made easier by breaking the entire work process down into a number of smaller components and visualizing the workflow.

Establish a pull system.

Creating a pull strategy guarantees that the continuous workflow is reliable and that teams complete tasks more quickly and with less effort. One particular lean method that reduces waste in any production process is the pull method. It guarantees that new work is only begun if there is a need for it, which has the benefit of reducing overhead and maximizing storage costs. The lean management approach is built on these four ideas. The most crucial component of the lean management approach is the last concept, continual improvement.

Facilitate continuous improvement.

Identifying what an organization has done, what it needs to accomplish, any potential hurdles that may develop, and how all members of the company may enhance their work processes are all part of the process of facilitating continuous improvement. Issues might arise in any of the other four processes since the lean management system is neither isolated nor constant. Having all workers participate in the workflow's ongoing improvement safeguards the company if issues arise.

Examples of lean management

To improve a company's overall performance, lean management principles may be applied as a universal management tool. The following are a few instances of particular business and manufacturing processes based on the lean management idea:

  • Lean manufacturing
  • Lean software development
  • Lean six sigma
  • Lean startup
  • Value-based healthcare

Benefits of lean management

By concentrating on enhancing every aspect of the work process at every level of the organizational structure, lean management helps organizations. Managers specifically gain from advantages like:

  • A cleverer business procedure. The pull approach makes sure that work is only done when there is a genuine need and demand for it.
  • Better utilization of resources. Because it is based on actual client demand, the pull method also guarantees that resources are only used when they are required.
  • Increased efficiency . Lean management reduces unnecessary operations, which enables the employees to concentrate more on things that add value.
  • increased effectiveness and productivity. A more focused workforce is more effective and productive since less time is spent on pointless activities.

Together, these key advantages result in a business that is more adaptable and can better and more quickly respond to client needs. Generally, a company's performance is more likely to improve when a lean management system is used to build a strong production system.

Summary

Within this study, I’ve highlighted lean management and its importance. Reducing waste and continuous improvement can be identified as the main objectives of lean management,  The most important part of lean management is the five principles, such as Identifying value, Value stream mapping, Creating a continuous workflow, Establishing a pull system, and Facilitating continuous improvement. Finally discussed the importance and core benefits of lean management, such as Structured business processes, optimization of resources, and enhance efficiency.

References 

 Bertagnolli, F., 2018. Lean management. Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden.

Martínez-Jurado, P.J. and Moyano-Fuentes, J., 2014. Lean management, supply chain management and sustainability: a literature review. Journal of Cleaner Production85, pp.134-150.

Kadarova, J. and Demecko, M., 2016. New approaches in lean management. Procedia Economics and Finance39, pp.11-16.

Kilpatrick, J., 2003. Lean principles. Utah Manufacturing Extension Partnership68(1), pp.1-5.

Coetzee, R., Van Dyk, L. and Van der Merwe, K., 2016. Lean implementation strategies: how are the Toyota Way principles addressed?. South African Journal of Industrial Engineering27(3), pp.79-91.

Toussaint, J.S. and Berry, L.L., 2013, January. The promise of Lean in health care. In Mayo clinic proceedings (Vol. 88, No. 1, pp. 74-82). Elsevier.

Comments

  1. Lean management is a business philosophy and management approach that focuses on eliminating waste and maximizing value for customers. It originated in the manufacturing industry but has since been applied to various industries, including healthcare, service, and software development. Good job!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lalindu Wijesinghe, thank you for comment this article identifying the importance of lean management initially founded by Toyota company Japan.
      Toyota has recorded large success and has been able to expand the business in the entire world, earn large profitability, and market share, and finally became one of the world's largest brands in the world.
      the importance of lean management, we can discuss in different ways,. initially, we can reduce unnecessary costs, steps, and time, and same time we can enhance productivity,

      Delete
  2. Good work. The core principle of lean management is to focus on delivering value to customers while minimizing waste. Waste refers to any activity that does not add value to the end product or service, including overproduction, waiting, unnecessary movement, over-processing, defects, and unused talents. Well done.

    ReplyDelete
  3. A well-studied and maturely written article on the topic. Well done...!!!

    ReplyDelete

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