To succeed in today’s hyper-competitive environment, organizations must strive to improve continuously. But, because that’s easier said than done, forward-thinking business leaders have developed several structured improvement methodologies over the years. One of the most widespread is an approach that grew out of the Japanese automotive industry, Lean manufacturing. Today, Lean thinking ideas are applied in almost every industry, including healthcare, education, construction, and software development.
If you are looking for a way to bring structure to your organization’s continuous improvement efforts, Lean improvement may be the path toward achieving your most important strategic, long-term objectives.
Five Foundational Lean Principles
The Lean philosophy rests on five core principles that set the foundation for improvement.
Value: Anything that a customer would willingly pay for represents value. Value is always considered through the eyes of the customer. Any task, process, feature, or product that does not represent value to the customer is considered waste. Some waste is necessary. For example, waste may be required to comply with regulations. Other waste is unnecessary. Excess packaging comes to mind. Necessary waste should be minimized while unnecessary waste must be eliminated.
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