1. Lean Office Fundamentals
Increase Efficiency with Lean

2. Outline What is Lean? Eight Process Wastes Lean Techniques Kaizen
The Content of Work
Lean Principles
Eight Process Wastes
Lean Techniques
Kaizen
Six Principles for Deploying Lean in Knowledge Work

3. What is Lean?

4. Lean is providing more customer value with less effort.
The people-based pursuit of the elimination of waste from business processes with the goal of providing World-Class service to our clients at the lowest possible cost.
NOTE: Lean creates the need for less effort, less equipment, less time, less space…
Lean is providing more customer value with less effort.

5. Why Lean? Minimal Training Broad Application Positive Impact
First, the training requirements and implementation time for Lean are minimal. Basic concepts of Lean can be taught very quickly, and improvements can be implemented the same day. For example, when an individual understands that some of their daily activities are non value- added or waste (activities such as excess time spent walking, waiting, and moving), immediate changes can be made to improve the process. Waste reduction will become automatic for people as they become aware of waste. Improvements are continuously made at all stages of work. Often, the completion of one improvement stimulates the participants to think of other areas for improvement.
Secondly, Lean’s application in an organization is broad. Six Sigma projects are more narrowly focused and typically have a direct correlation to strategic priorities and the bottom-line. In Lean, tools such as 5S can get everyone engaged quickly and easily with no additional resources required. 5S is a workplace organization program that assists to improve efficiencies by having work (electronic and paper-based), supplies, or equipment for areas or processes in the right place.
The third reason is that improvements made while utilizing Lean concepts can positively impact other areas of the organization as well as have a positive impact on the bottom-line. Clients are more satisfied with the decreased wait times, reduction of duplicate documentation, and fewer errors or mix-ups. In Lean, employees are encouraged and empowered to improve their work processes. 5

6. The Content of Work
Customer Value Added (CVA) Work The part of the job the customer values Business Value Added (BVA) Work Work that does not add value but is necessary under the current operating conditions Non Value Added (NVA) Work or Waste Work that does not add value and is not necessary

7. Value and Waste
Client
Arrives
Process A
Process C
Process E
Client
Departs
Process B
Process D W W W W W W
Kaizen
Value-Added (VA) Time
(E.g., Prospecting, Quoting, Order Processing, etc.
This is a quick snapshot of a typical process.
Value-added time that the customer benefits from is in green, the actual time that it is being transformed into a product.
Non value-added time that does not benefit the customer and is in grey; includes the various wastes of waiting or time-in-queue, over processing, rework, etc.
Kaizen – kai is “take part” and “zen” is make good. Kaizen is the philosophical and practical approach to reducing and/or eliminating waste (i.e., making improvements). There are many types of kaizen, some are referred to as Kaizen Events (week long dedicated team focused on one area or process) or Kaizen Blitzes, or the Wiki Kaizen (one person, no resources required) approach.
When we look at processes, we see that there is some value – as specified by the customer – but there is also much waste – waiting, defects, rework, etc.
Non-Value-Added (NVA) Time
(i.e., Waste)
(E.g. Waiting, Reschedules,
Incomplete Paperwork, etc.)
Efforts focused on reducing or eliminating waste thru Kaizen!

8. How does Lean work?
Considers an ‘end to end’ value stream that delivers competitive advantage.
Seeks fast flexible flow.
Eliminates/prevents waste (Muda).

9. Value - specify what creates value from the customer’s perspective.
The value stream – identify all the steps along the process chain.
Flow - make the value process flow.
Pull - make only what is needed by the customer.
Perfection - strive for perfection by continually attempting to produce exactly what the customer wants.
5 principles of Lean

10. Eight Classic Wastes Defects Over Production Waiting
Not Utilizing Capabilities
Transportation
Inventory
Motion
Extra Processing

11. Defects
Any work that did not accomplish its purpose or was not correct the first time. Examples include:
Late work
Incorrect information
Conflicting information
Instructions that must be clarified
Insufficient information
Partially complete work or information
Miss-named files
Lost files or information
Anything that must be reworked.  Rework is the pain that results from defects.  Find the re-work and you will find the Defect waste.

12. Over Production
Producing unnecessary work or deliverables.  Overproduction shows up as:
Multiple copies of information
Producing reports that aren’t read
Writing formal documents or content where only the table is read
“Reply All”
Working on deliverables that aren’t important
Delivering the same information in multiple deliverables or formats.
Frequently shows up when managers ask direct reports to do things that make the manager’s life easier but encumbers normal workflow.

13. Waiting
People waiting for information in order to do work.  Common result of multi-tasking, and the primary cause of multi-tasking.  People work on other things while they wait for one thing to be processed and made ready.  Unfortunately, when the one thing finally becomes ready, we tend to finish what we started before getting back to it.
Because of multi-tasking, waiting is difficult to observe.  You must ask questions to discover it or identify it yourself when you run into it.
It’s perhaps the most common and wasteful waste of them all in the office.

14. Not Utilizing Capabilities
Capabilities of people that are not used or leveraged.  Happens frequently in large organizations where the skills and backgrounds of everyone are not common knowledge.
Can vary from not capturing ideas that employees might have for process improvements, to the six-figure salary executive correcting data entry errors in a contract.
The biggest crime in this category is not empowering or enabling the people most intimate with a process to improve the process.

15. Transportation Movement of the work. Manifestations include:
Handoffs where the work is transferred from one person to another.
Transportation of electronic files is particularly insidious because it frequently results in multiple, varying copies of the work, which must eventually be reconciled.  It leads to other wastes such as defects, overproduction, and processing.
Transportation is also an opportunity for a defect when the work goes to the wrong person or fails to get to the right person.

16. Inventory
Work that is waiting to be processed.  Inventory is a common result of multi- tasking and otherwise un-balanced workloads.  Can be found in:
Sales order in-boxes
To-do lists
Product development pipelines
Resource assignment charts.
If a person has three tasks to complete, it is guaranteed that two of them are waiting (in inventory) while that person performs the third.  If you want to be able to see inventory like you do on the factory floor, you must make the lists, in-boxes, resource assignments, and project pipelines visible in your office.

17. Motion People moving or working without producing:
Meetings are motion in the sense that they are work without producing, unless a decision is made, or information is produced during the meeting.
Searching for files and documents.
Phone calls to track down information.
Not working to standards.
Unnecessary button clicks to get to the bottom of a sales order to update the customer information.
Most un-productive work takes place inside the electronic system while the person is sitting at his/her desk or while they are sitting in a meeting. 

18. Extra Processing Unnecessary effort to get the work done. Shows up as:
Additional signature approvals.
Data entry or data format changes.
Frequently revising documents or information
Overly complex forms.
Databases that require information to be entered repeatedly.
Extra Processing often results from the creation of multiple versions of a piece of work, that now must be reconciled into the true work.

19. 14 Techniques for Dealing with Waste
Value Stream Mapping
Quality at the Source 5S
TPM
Visual Management
Setup Reduction
Batch Size Reduction
Cellular Manufacturing
Standardized Work
Takt Time Work Balancing
Production Leveling
Point-of-Use Systems
Kanban
Kaizen
LEAN
TOOLBOX

20. Value and Waste Discuss this overview of Lean and VA and NVA.
At some point in the discussion ensure you mentioned that at the heart of Lean is also the respect for people.

21. Lean Office
Lean’s application is not just for manufacturing, the examples in this slide show Lean principles being applied in administrative areas.
Top left photo: Standard work of screen selections posted at point-of-use
Top right photo: Work leveled throughout the week by different colored folders
Bottom left photo: Desks organized in U-shaped cells for easier communications
Bottom right photo: Measures discussed between departmental managers
More than sixty percent of the cost of a service is attributable to administrative processes (i.e., processing paperwork, transforming data, etc.).

22. Benefits Lean provides tangible benefits
Reduces costs not just selling price
Reduces delivery time, cycle time, set-up time
Eliminates waste
Seeks continuous improvement
Improves quality
Improves customer ratings and perceptions
Increases overall customer satisfaction
Improves employee involvement, morale, and company culture
Helps “transform” organizations

23. Kaizen
Continuous Improvement

24. What is Kaizen? Kaizen (Ky’zen) “Kai” means “change”
“zen” means “good (for the better)”
Gradual, orderly, and continuous improvement
Ongoing improvement involving everyone

25. How to Kaizen Identify the value stream Deming Cycle
Plan – identify what to change and how to do it
Current state
Future state
Implementation plan
Do – execute the improvement
Check – ensure the improvement works
Act – future and ongoing improvements
Repeat

26. Identify the Value Stream
Value added is always determined from the customer’s perspective.
Who is the customer?
Every process should be focused on adding value to the customer.
Anything that does not add value is waste.

27. Identify the Current State
Deep understanding of the existing processes and dependencies
Identify all the activities currently involved in developing a new product
Observe the process first hand
Identify Value Added (VA), Non-Value Added Required (NVA-R), and Non-Value Added (NVA)

28. Brainstorm and Analyze
Kaizen team brainstorms to develop new process
Post improvement ideas on map or by category
Workflow
Technology
People / Organization
Procedures
Develop detailed future state map
New workflow
Value Add and Non-Value Add
Cycle times
Identify Kaizen “bursts” (immediate radical change)

29. Implementation Plan Think global / systems optimization
Maximum impact to process
Speed of implementation – create small victories
Cost-benefit analysis

30. Execute Develop a concise, achievable milestone plan
Communicate the plan to everyone
Suppliers
Team members
Customers
Track activities in public
Celebrate small victories and publicly analyze failures

31. Check and Sustain
Meet regularly to review status of open implementation items
Re-evaluate Future State regularly for additional improvement
Track results on a public Kaizen Board

32. Implementing Change Don’t Wait! You need a plan!
Tie it to your business objectives.
Make a VS Plan: What to do by when.
Establish an appropriate review frequency.
Conduct VS Reviews walking the flow.

33. Implementing Change Critical Success Factors
Management must understand, embrace, and lead the organization into lean thinking
Value stream managers must be empowered and enabled to manage implementations
Improvements must be planned in detail with the cross functional Kaizen teams
Successes must be translated to the bottom line and/or market share

34. Roadblocks Years of bad habits
Financial focus with limited cost understanding
A lack of system thinking and incentives
Metrics supporting a ?? year old model
Limited customer focus
Absence of effective operating strategies

35. Wrong Ways to Address Roadblocks
Programs of the month (band aids)
Meetings, meetings, meetings, meetings
Silo optimization

36. Your Work is Knowledge Work
Conventional wisdom is that the thoughtful work of sales professionals, consultants, creative directors, etc., cannot be reduced to best practice formulas.
Recent research suggests that lean principles can in fact make a valuable contribution to increasing the efficiency of workers in the ‘knowledge’ sector.
Lean Knowledge Work
Bradley Staats
David M. Upton
October HBR 2011

37. Six Principles for Deploying Lean in Knowledge Work
Make waste visible and do something about it and stop living with it.
Strive to make tacit knowledge explicit.
Specify how workers should communicate.
Solve problems quickly and consistently.
Let the lean system evolve, as necessary.
Leaders must blaze the trail for lean.
1 Make waste visible and do something about it
Knowledge workers experience considerable waste in terms of delays, duplication of effort, inadequate communication and inefficient systems. Routine activities such as printing documents, requesting information from others and waiting for people to join meetings unnecessarily eat up the valuable time of creative individuals. The authors encourage firms to continually root out waste and to keep asking ‘why’ – why am I attending this meeting, why am I writing this report, why am I standing at the printer, why do we do it this way. Instead of assuming the system is right, assume it is wrong. Instead of solving the same problems repeatedly, create standard solutions wherever possible and train people to apply them, so more time can be devoted to real creative work.
2 Strive to make the tacit knowledge explicit While lots of knowledge work relies on judgment or intuition, not all of it does and some can be captured in a protocol with no reduction in the quality of the work. Knowledge firms assume that many tasks cannot be standardized, but the research indicates that a surprisingly high amount can be specified. Once it has been defined in this way, it can be improved, and it can be taught to others. One Japanese bank, for example, found they could specify many of the steps in lending decisions for home mortgages and automated most cases, leading to increased growth and reduced risk. Such approaches allow knowledge workers to spend more time on the parts of the job where they create most value and derive most satisfaction. “Organizations can expect skepticism and resistance from skilled workers when efforts are made to capture their expertise in this way” comments Professor Staats. “So it is important that firms explain the benefits to individuals of freeing them for more interesting work and reassure them of their ongoing value to the organization.” Articulating what people do, and how and why they do it, enables the organization to learn, to exploit best practices and transfer knowledge across the organization, all of which contribute to its competitive advantage.
3 Specify how workers should communicate An important step in building a leaner organization is to define who should be communicating, how often, and what they should be saying in relation to any given project. Knowledge workers need to appreciate who needs and will use their information, so the recipients do not waste time uncovering what they need to know. The research demonstrates how this is particularly important for companies working across cultures, whether with colleagues or external contacts.
4 Solve problems quickly and consistently The authors show how a systematic approach to problem solving can bring sizeable benefits. They advocate defining an explicit proposal about how an aspect of work could be improved, conducting an objective test, and if the results are positive, introducing a procedure to standardize that approach. Involving the relevant workers in finding the solution, and dealing with the situation in a timely manner, where, when and with whom the problem occurs provides a key to a successful outcome.
5 Let the lean system evolve as necessary The authors stress that introducing lean techniques is not a quick fix – though there will be obvious and immediate gains – and that long-term commitment is necessary to achieve lasting results. They suggest starting small with distinct pilot projects from which lessons can be captured and applied elsewhere. They acknowledge that in some instances lean approaches will not be helpful, particularly where visionary and radical experimental work is undertaken. But they stress that in most circumstances, even for creative work, lean principles are surprisingly effective.
Lean Knowledge Work
Bradley Staats
David M. Upton
October HBR 2011

38. END
There’s no real ending, it’s just the place where We stop the presentation.