Lean: Six Steps With Review Points

Value provision is the starting point which leads towards providing the product according to the customer's requirements. The value definition is based on the customer needs and not the non-value added activities.

The customer pays for a product that matches their requirements - they won't and pay for waste.

Value

Value includes the qualities as seen by the customer, who wants to buy the right product and at the right price. Each step, from designing and manufacturing to delivery has to be error free.

Lean efforts strive to make the processes leaner by eliminating waste. Review points are the problems that affect the customer, the importance of the project, acceptance by the stakeholders and whether or not the customer's needs are correctly identified.

Value Stream Mapping

Value stream Mapping is aimed at identifying the right process that adds value to the product without waste. Activities that are to be considered include the process that brings about the transformation, any changes that need to be present in a system though they may not be of value, and those activities that do not fit under the two categories.

In the last category, processes should be eliminated and a detailed flow diagram developed for the others. The review points in this stage include the team's level of understanding of the process, identified waste in the process and whether or not kaikeku was followed for radical improvement.

Flow

This step emphasizes rapid product flow. The aim is to eliminate the waste identified at each stage. The team understands the process thoroughly and identifies the non-value added process. The five steps or 5S' are sort, straighten, shine, standardize and sustain - and all are applied in this step.

The review points include the impact of customer demand, the team's identification of non-value added distances, whether or not the team has taken the right step to successfully apply 5S steps, and so on.

Pull

The benefits of the previous stages allow the organization to achieve higher production, as well as value addition. This step is aimed at eliminating "excess" inventory; or in other words, increasing the rate of pull. In the pull system, the products are manufactured at the same rate at which they are sold, and this results in waste elimination.

The review point here would be to define the sequence of operation - whether or not the team managed to balance operations.

Perfection

This is one of the most relevant steps, emphasizing the need for continuous improvement to achieve a state of perfection.

The review point would be acceptance of stakeholders, the process to be put in place for improvement and the risks involved.

Replicate

This is the last, important step, which aims at determining if the system has been put in place and if it can be replicated anywhere else. Such a review would take a very short time.

The review points in this step are highly relevant, including how the team members ensure that they learn from experiences, if the process improvement can be replicated and whether or not the control is set for other similar operations.

The organization that employs lean can do so in the six-step process and keep the initiative moving towards improvement, considering the review points at different stages.