Lean Moves Continuous Improvement Forward

By Julie Easterly, PMP

Lean: (adj.) thin and fit; containing little or no fat

Rigorous process thinking has been around for more than 500 years, yet plenty of project management professionals and their organizations are not familiar with some common continuous improvement process tools used today. Since PMI Portland is focusing on Lean methodologies at our January Chapter meeting, we’re diving into the topic a bit more.

The modern era of streamlining work processes began in manufacturing. While producing the Model T, Henry Ford introduced a systematic process to create production flow and eliminate waste while improving product quality, revolutionizing the industry. Later, Toyota adapted the process and became one of the most efficient manufacturers in the world. These concepts were dubbed “Lean” by author John Krafcik in the late 1980s. Today, as organizations continue to strive to do more with less, it is no surprise that the Lean process has spread well beyond manufacturing. 

The key to Lean is that it encourages the practice of continuous improvement and is based on the fundamental idea of respect for people. The cornerstones of Lean are customer-focused and knowledge-driven processes; encourage elimination of all types of waste; and continually and systematically improving.:

To transform any business process, a framework is required, and with the Lean process there are questions to be asked and answered:

• What problem are we trying to solve?
• What are the continuous, real, practical changes we want to implement to improve the way the work is done?
• How do we develop sustainable improvement capability in all employees at all levels?
• What management system and leadership behaviors do we need?
• What are our basic thinking and assumptions that will drive this transformation?

The Five Lean Principles

The Lean process of identifying and acting upon opportunities for continuous improvement or creating efficiencies includes five principles that provide a framework for creating a productive and effective organization. These principles encourage better work process flow and foster a continuous improvement culture. And, they allow businesses to discover inefficiencies and deliver better value. The five principles are:

• Define Value. Uncover what your customers want, how they want the product or service to be delivered, and the price that they can afford. Eliminate non-value-added, or unnecessary, processes or steps to ensure cost reductions while getting customers what they want.
• Create Flow. Ensure the flow of the steps will run efficiently (i.e., break down steps, level workload, create cross-functional departments and train employees).
• Establish Pull. Pinpoint  the needs of the customer and work the process backward to ensure that the products produced will satisfy the needs of the customer.
• Map Value Stream. Identify the activities that contribute to these values. Eliminate 
• Pursue Perfection. Begin the process again and continue it until a state of perfection is reached.

Lean is a long-term commitment to the process of continuous improvement, with a focus on understanding customers’ requirements. As the Lean process identifies where and how to make process changes, it eliminates waste and defects. Deploying lean results in greater efficiency, lower costs all the while creating higher productivity and improved customer satisfaction.

 As businesses look ahead, the benefits of deploying lean principles shouldn’t be ignored.