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This Guest paper was retrieved for publication with permission, from the greycampus website. It is copyright to Ankit Rastogi © 2018.
Published here June 2019 |
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The Five Principles of LeanThese five Lean principles can be applied to any process to reduce the wastes as shown in
Figure 2: Figure 2: Lean Principles[1] The five Lean Principles are more fully described as follows: - Define Value: The customer defines the value of a product or service. Hence, the first step is to identify customers. Ask yourself, what does the customer value? Figure out a customer's expectations from your products or services. Classify the process activities into Non-Value added, Value-added and Enabling value added.
- Map the Value Stream: The value stream mapping shows the workflow process steps for a product or service. The value stream mapping helps to identify and eliminate the Non-Value-added activities. This eventually helps you to reduce the process delays and thereby improves quality of product/service.
- Create Flow: Create flow to the customer by ensuring a continuous flow system in producing your product or service. Flow will optimize the process to maximize process efficiency.
- Establish Pull: Establish a pull approach by meeting a system beat time. The beat time is the rate at which a product must be ready to meet the customer demand. Just in time (JIT) is a tool that boosts a Pull system. This ensures smooth workflow of the process without any disruptions. It also helps to diminish your inventory level.
- Seek Continuous Improvement: Finally, you must put in consistent efforts to improve the existing business processes, to cater for ever-changing customer needs. This ensures the elimination of waste, defects-free products, and quality service to your customers.
1. Image Source: https://blogs.mtu.edu/improvement/2014/01/08/back-to-the-basics-5-principles-of-lean/
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Removing Waste
