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John Potter 08/21/2009

Lean Office Techniques & Ideas

Muda

Kaizen 5S VSM

Lean Definition• “The expenditure of resources for any goal other than the creation of

value for the end customer to be wasteful, and thus a target for elimination.

• Working from the perspective of the customer who consumes a product or service, "value" is defined as any action or process that a customer would be willing to pay for.

• Basically, lean is centered around creating more value with less work.”

» --Wikipedia, “Lean Manufacturing”

• Lean in the Service Business

• Office Flow & Value Stream Mapping • Eliminating non-Value-Added activities

• Customer-focused, Enterprise-Wide Lean

• Sort, Set in Order, Shine, Standardize, Sustain

• Summary

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Lean in the Service Business

Taco Bell:The way it used to be

Taco Bell(the way it is now)

• What is Valued by the Customer?• Look at Flow, Set-up Time, Cost, Space• Pre-processing off-site• Assembly on-site• Teamwork

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Office Flow & Value Stream Mapping

Waukesha Bearings

Value Stream Map

• Lean technique used to analyze the flow of materials and information currently required to bring a product or service to a consumer

• Key is getting rid of large wasteful steps more than simply making current processes more efficient

Value Stream Mapping

• What Value Stream Mapping revealed• Interview• Map Current State• Evaluate Tasks• Brainstorm Changes• Develop Future State Map• Measure performance against goals

Achieving Flow

• The Perfect as the Enemy of the Good• Simplifying Office Layouts which means• Batch-and-queue on desks vs Visible

Work in Progress• Line of sight visibility• Performance and targets• Self-management

Centralized Office Workflow

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Eliminate Non-Value Added

Activities

The Antioch Company

The Lean Office Event

• Is a Lean Office Program Needed?• Creation of Lean Office Events• Analyze / Update Metrics• Select Process to Improve• Use neutral, unbiased facilitators to keep

team focused, develop project scope/goals, coordinate event

Lean Office Event• Involve Process Owner, have fun

• Document Office Processes/ Interview

• Create Current State Map / Develop Future State Map

• Share Information with Team (wiki)

• Follow-up Keep up with Follow-up Meeting

.Enterprise-Wide

LeanSteelcase

Steelcase• The need for senior leadership support • Value Stream Mapping Result:

• At Steelcase, the goal was to

• eliminate non-value added process steps/ handoffs

• create standards for releasing and sequencing work

• thus create flow to use standard processes.

Steelcase

• Process Owners critical • What happened when functional depts

eliminated (colocation)• Checklist to eliminate flow interruptors• Acceptance

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5S:Sort, Set in Order, Shine,

Standardize, Sustain

The Elgin Sweeper Co

The 5S Blitz

• The Need for a Sponsor, Facilitator, Team Leader, Team Charter

• Sort• Set in Order• Shine• Standardize• Sustain

The 5S Blitz: Lessons Learned

• Take Before/After Pictures• Why a Formal Audit Process• Support from Management• Engage Supervisors• Sustain is the most difficult challenge• Take risks

Summary

• Useful (actionable) Metrics are critical• Think company culture not ‘project’• Lean ~ Customer centric

Recommended

Questions• Are your employees involved in development of lean initiatives?

• Is every person aware of their role in your processes?

• Is there good communication between employees and between

groups in your organization?

• Are you aware of points of poor process flow in your organization?

• Does each of your processes have an owner?

• Do your office employees understand what productivity is in their

operations and how its measured

• Are there metrics for measuring office performance?

• Do you regularly follow up on measurements

Questions• Do you have a “current best way” for each process?

• Does each of your teams include at least one “outsider” who is

not part of the process being reviewed?

• Do you follow a “try it, them improve it” approach?

• Has a first attempt at improvement ever failed to work the way

you anticipated? What do you do as a result?

• Have you ever tried to simplify office layouts? Have you

eliminated personal in-boxes?

• Have you tried to achieve one-piece flow in office processes?