Lean management is a new concept in the business world that is beginning to grow in popularity among entrepreneurs. Although not well known, it has grown adversely across the industry sector in the recent past and has been a major universal management tool used in many production divisions. Moreover, the concept can be used in software development in industries dealing with software management systems. Some people argue that lean management systems were purposely created to provide zero waste creation processes and customer satisfaction through improving value.
Lean management systems mainly rely on three simple concepts which involve, continuous improvement of services, elimination of things that do not bring value to the company, and delivery of value attained from the customer perspective. Collectively, lean management is aimed at improving the livelihood of the people working on different platforms, purposes and enhancing the work processes. It encourages shared leadership and responsibilities in the organization whereby one does not have to feel inferior to others. In most cases, this has turned to be effective than other work strategies where the boss has to command other subordinate staff into carrying out their duties.
Lean concepts are built upon two pillars that include respect for the people and continuous improvements of the working conditions. Lean concepts have gained popularity due to their ability for bosses to listen to employees’ grievances and their point of view in reducing costs and processes that do not add value to the finished product. One of the companies that have endorsed this criterion is the Toyota company enabling it to be efficient, productivity improvements, and is cost-efficient.
When starting a business or when one has a business idea, lean management plays a crucial role in determining if the business idea is viable. Additionally, during start-up, this process reduces the development cycle of products (Andrea and Andrey 2018). Lean perceptions had to go through rigorous changes to make it effective as it is today through many observations and changes made during the development and the desires of people and organizations to make continuous improvements in their sectors.
Having mastered the lean concept every organization can create its principles derived from lean systems. When making the principles one should know that the most significant necessity is customer needs as they determine how other principles will fall into place. Other principles that can follow customer needs include identification of value, mapping of the value stream, creation of flow, the establishment of pull, and continuous improvements. Waste in lead manufacturing can be classifieds into three categories.
First, we have mura, which is the waste caused by fluctuations in demand for products. This can be generated from customer requests, new additional work or new services. Secondly, we have muri, which is derived from organizations trying to do so much work at once. This occurs when few people are allocated too much work and they have to switch from one to another task. Lastly, there is muda, which is caused by doing work that does not add value to the organization. Some of the waste that leans laid down that do not add value to the organization or the customer include over-production of a particular product, excess inventory, overprocessing and unnecessary transportation.
Every organization system is endowed with different benefits that direct business value and lean schemes are not exceptional. Some benefits associated with these systems include increased team morale, improved team productivity, noticeable projects at the team level, more efficient business processes, delivery of customer value products, and reduction of costs. Some tools are used in the practice of lean manufacturing, which includes production flow analysis, error proofing, value stream mapping, and total productive maintenance which aids in improving the quality and integrity of the manufacturing process.
Making use of project management tools and systems assists an organization in achieving its ambition and a perfect way in undertaking lean manufacturing. Moreover, giving teams work that they can handle at a given interval can aid in achieving the target and production of the quality end product. For transparency purposes in different stages of production, the board and card system kicks in. these cards provide a clear picture of the task at hand and can predict the future hard steps that are awaiting the team and ways of tackling them. this can help in managing product backlogs and help in controlling the product flow for better productivity.
With the lean concept in your organization, one can easily measure the progress of the production process and give a timely report. One can see of the processes are meeting the expectation enabling one to view how they are performing in real-time. Also, one can adjust the process before the final product is received. It should be noted that some people confuse lean management cost-cutting when they only think of lean from only one perspective of reducing waste.
Some organizations already using other models should first research the lean model to be conversant with what they are getting themselves into. Several elements should be put into consideration during such a transition. They include situational approach, responsible leadership, process improvement, capability development, and basic thinking. These conditions if carefully taken into account will help the company in achieving its primary goal and will not regret the transformation. Transition is not easy and anything can happen in the process if the team is not mentally prepared (Bayat and Mohammadq, 2017). Advantageously, if lean is successfully initiated workers get to be involved in further changes that the organization may require to implement.
References
Andrea, B., & Andrey P. (2018) Performance management practices in lean manufacturing organizations: A systematic review of research evidence. Production Planning & Control, 29(5), 367–385. Web.
Bayat, H., & Mohammadq D. (2017) “The Impact of organizational factors on implementation outcomes of lean manufacturing.” Journal of Business & Economics Research (JBER), 15(2), 33–44. Web.