Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Lean Thinking Review

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Lean Thinking was the book that coined the phrase "Lean Manufacturing" and launched a thousand consulting careers. It introduced the terminology and fundamental terms that are used to identify and eliminate waste throughout manufacturing processes.



Monday, December 12, 2011

The Corporate Lean Business System Body of Knowledge

The CLBS (Corporate Lean Business System) is a system for scaling up an Operational Excellence program to an enterprise consisting of multiple cells, departments, or even facilities. It's based on the business system I'm currently developing at my company, which spans 3 facilities. As mentioned in a previous post, the 3 guiding principles are:
1. The Continuous Improvement of Standard Work
2. The Voice of the Customer
3. The Development of People

The development of people is achieved through mastery of a body of knowledge based on the ASQ Lean Six Sigma BOK, but including Hoshin Kanri. Additionally, the program favors lean, and most of the statistical / QA methodologies are found in a Category called "Reduction of Variation"

The following are the general categories in the BOK:
1. Business Case / Awareness - The general principles of Lean and why the company is committed to it.
2. Standard Work & the PDCA Cycle - This is the umbrella under which you would find most of the waste reduction tools of lean. The application of the Scientific Method to improve the company's work processes.
3. The Voice of the Customer - Methods of understanding and anticipating customer needs and requirements.
4. Policy Deployment - Translating strategic objectives into aligned initiatives.
5. Lean Supply Chain - The integration of our suppliers and customers into the CLBS.
6. Lean Enterprise - The extension of Lean Six Sigma to the company's workflow systems (Administrative, IT, Accounting, HR, etc..)
7. Lean Leadership - The application of leadership, mentoring and facilitation skills in a continuous improvement culture.