Lean Office Kaizen Here Are The Tools You Need

          “One of the most noteworthy accomplishments in keeping the price of Ford products low is the gradual shortening of the production cycle.  The longer an article is in the process of manufacture and the more it is moved about, the greater is its ultimate cost.”
                   -Henry Ford, 1926

What Henry Ford said in 1926 is still true today.  Would he have imagined that his statement would not only apply to production lines but also to healthcare, administrative offices, customer service, or other industries where the Lean Culture exists today?  Would he have used the concepts of added-value and non-added-value?  He was interested in quality and quantity, and with today’s modern technology and the concepts of Lean, an organization can have both.

          -“Begin with the end in mind.”
                   -Stephen Covey

The best place to start Lean Office Kaizen is to define the results.  What is the vision?  What is the goal?  Once management makes the decision to go Lean, the next step is designing the strategy that will lead, start to finish, to reflecting the vision.  Also, management must identify its strongest leaders who are committed to change, not just for change sake, but to bring the company to a world-class competitor.

Today, many companies started the Lean Culture on their manufacturing floors.  Now, it is time to bring that same concept and that same attitude to the administrative offices.  The office workers in these companies no doubt observed that during the transformation on the production floor, the workers there had more flexibility, harmony, and commitment.  They felt empowered and understood how their jobs fit into the “big picture.”  The office workers also saw the much improved manufacturing operations flowed almost seamlessly, reaching their production goals, and eliminating any wastes.

The Lean Culture concept started with manufacturing and has now spread to all aspects of business: healthcare, customer service, airlines, construction companies, banks, etc.  The tools used to transform these businesses to the Lean Culture are the same tools used by manufacturing workers because these tools are readily adaptable to any type of business.  Once the concepts of Lean are taught, workers become excited and ready to apply them to their own environments, at work and at home.

Let us open the Lean Office Kaizen Toolbox and see the tools needed to start successful Lean Office Kaizens:

1. Leadership (this has already been discussed in previous sections of Lean Office Basics).
2. Pareto Principle - Focus on the Main Issues which are the fewer but represent most of the results and the problems too.
3. The 5S - A discipline that is applicable to every human activity. People who receive training in it can enjoy its effects in their private lives as well
4. Just In Time - Process simplification comes from not doing things that are not yet needed. This discipline extends our capacity and makes our lives easier.
5. Zero Quality Control - Each individual is Educated, Trained, AND Empowered so there is NO need for inspection of their quality of work. This discipline strengthens the Accountability of each individual. The idea is to grow mutual trust in the capacity of each team member.
6. Standardized Work – Cross-Training – Cellular Operation - These three come together to help expedite the flow of the administrative processes and therefore increase subtantially the productivity of the team.

There are many more tools that can be used as the Lean Culture begins to improve an office. These six above are the tools to begin that process.