Lean Principles

Lean Principles

Value

• A central lean principle is ‘value’ as determined by the customer’s needs.
• Value is any action or process that a customer would be willing to pay for.
• The main aim is to provide the highest value to the customer through products or services.

Value Stream

• The ‘value stream’ encompasses all actions that contribute to the production of a product or service, from raw materials to final product.
• The aim is to identify and eliminate non-value adding activities (also known as waste), to ensure that every action contributes direct value to the end product.
• It includes both value-adding activities and non-value adding activities, though the goal is to remove or minimise non-value adding activities.

Flow

• ‘Flow’ refers to the continuous movement of products or services through the value stream.
• Lean principles advocate for an uninterrupted, ‘smooth’ flow, meaning that work-in-progress should move through the system without waiting times or bottlenecks.
• Achieving smooth flow often means re-organising work processes. The goal is to ensure one piece flow, where each item moves through the process one at a time, rather than in batches.

Pull

• The ‘pull’ principle is about production being demand-driven, rather than forecast-driven.
• In a pull system, production is initiated by customer orders and the aim is to produce just what the customer wants, when the customer needs it.
• It strives to eliminate overproduction.

Perfection

• The final principle, ‘perfection’, represents the continuous, unending effort to eliminate waste.
• The goal is to constantly improve processes to create the most efficient system possible.
• Pursuit of perfection involves all members of an organisation, from management to frontline staff. Everyone has a role to play in suggesting improvements and identifying waste.

Understanding the Waste

• Lean principles view ‘waste’ as any activity that does not add value to the end product or service.
• There are seven types of waste identified: overproduction, waiting, transport, inappropriate processing, excess inventory, unnecessary motion, defects.
• Recognition and elimination of these wastes lead to efficient business operations.

Benefits of Lean Principles

• Following the lean principles can lead to significant improvement in productivity, reduction in costs and improving customer satisfaction.
• The principles help to identify inefficiencies, and discover ways to streamline processes and reduce waste.
• Most importantly, lean principles are focused on creating value for the customer, which leads to a competitive advantage for the business.