LEAN is all about doing more for customers with less. Like other improvement systems such as Six Sigma, TOC and TQM, Lean offers ways to marshal and manage resources to create maximum value with minimum waste
LEAN IS FOR EVERYONE
Lean was conceived and grew first in manufacturing but it’s been used to transform performance in financial services, healthcare, logistics and government
And no matter what the business is, Lean works for the whole enterprise
From front-end customer interaction and the Moments of Truth through to the back-office, and from product development through production and sales to after-sales service, Lean businesses are finding ways to make it all work better for customers, shareholders, employees and the community
LEAN IS A GAME-CHANGER
Lean is about continuous improvement but it's not about marginal improvement
Lean improvement targets are always game-changers: 25% faster time to market, 75% fewer defects, 30% lower direct costs. And the business can take those advantages in lower prices, higher margins, superior quality or a mix of all three. Lean gives the business real strategic choice
Even better, when you go Lean you're going where many competitors just can't follow. Lean is like dieting; anybody can buy the book. Not everybody can do what it takes to lose weight
With Lean there are no limits. It's about opening a gap so wide between you and non-Lean competitors that you compete only with yourself
WHAT LEAN IS
Lean is a strategy for business operations and a collection of methods for making the strategy happen. Its core assumption? Only customers can measure the value of what you're offering; and they will measure it
The value the customer sees accumulates in your processes as the product moves through them to reach the point of sale. But processes add waste – like waiting and delays, inventory and stock-outs, defects and rework – as easily as they add value
Lean managers find the waste and cut it out. The perfect process would deliver exactly what the customer wants using exactly the materials, equipment, space, labour, time and money needed
The perfect process doesn't exist; but Lean keeps your business moving towards it