Many familiar with total quality management know the story about how W. Edwards Deming went to Japan to share his ideas when many American manufacturers did not take him seriously.
Deming highlighted the work of Walter Shewhart through what Deming called the Shewhart Cycle (PDSA: plan do study act).
Through Deming’s approach to quality, many processes evolved including Six Sigma and Lean Thinking. What makes Lean Thinking different than Six Sigma is that it looks to the customer first and how to maximize customer value while minimizing waste.
Imagine rethinking how your organization invoices customers. Is all the information the customer requires on the invoice? How do you know all that information is required? By undertaking a review of your invoicing process, you are engaging in lean thinking when you put the customer first.
Every department in every organization can adopt a lean thinking attitude. How can this department maximize customer value while minimizing waste. This attitude also extends to not only external customers (paying customers), but internal ones (other employees).
Years ago in working with a purchasing department in a multi-billion dollar corporation, the Chief Procurement Officer was having difficulty in getting a monthly report consistently on time. Last minute rushes were costing the department thousands of dollars in lost productivity.
By using the Fishbone Diagram (a tool from Six Sigma), I worked with two senior department members to construct the root cause for the inconsistent delivery of this important report. Initially, more than 40 people had some input and many were not necessary. The total dollars involved by all these people touching this report exceeded $50,000.
Through the lean thinking process, the report now was only touched by 10 people at a total cost of under $5,000. We estimated it would take six weeks to change the work flow and it took less than three weeks creating additional savings.
Marcel Proust wrote, “The true discovery is not seeking new landscapes, but seeing with new eyes.” Lean thinking is the new eyes. The landscape has not changed, but the change is how you see the landscape.
When we remember that customers (both external and internal) appreciate the value of our solutions and processes, we can begin to rethink:
*How we do what we do?
*Is there a better (more efficient and more effective) way to do what we do?
Next week: Embracing continuous improvement
Leanne Hoagland-Smith is an author, speaker and executive coach. Her weekly column explores issues that impact the bottom line of firms with fewer than 100 employees. She can be reached at 219-508-2859.
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