Lean Office Demystified II, Chapters 1-2

Sara Lawson
Executive Chef, Menu Development
September 14, 2010
Preface:
Lean Office Demystified II is a boo inten!e! to assist or"ani#ations in
improvin" their a!ministrative processes, office pro!uctivit$ an! improvin" the
bottom line% &he main parts that the boo are !ivi!e! into are'
(% Get Everyone Aligned and Start in the Right Direction: &his initial part
is the foun!ation upon which the lean office is built% )t teaches the basic
concepts an! strate"ies of Lean% )t will help us to i!entif$ how behaviour
an! chan"e must occur, an! explains how the useful an! pro!uctive tools
will help $ou accomplish it%%
*% Create the Structures Allowing Work Flow to Eerge: &his section
explains how to tae what $ou have learne! an! put it into action% )t
explains how thou"h this part, the +heart of the Lean ,ffice,- will tae
the lon"est amount of time to implement, it is the core an! most
necessar$ part% &he main focus is throu"h !etaile! anal$sis an! main"
wor visible $ou can or"ani#e !ata an! efficientl$ balance wor loa!s%
&he i!ea is that this will save time an! mone$, an! eliminate waste an!
time !ela$s%
C% Sustain the Gains to World Class: &his section focuses on the continue!
improvement that will lea! to a new culture% .e focus on creatin" visual
controls, i!entif$in" an! enablin" mistae proofin" !evices, an! other
various measurement s$stems for the Lean ,ffice% &he compan$
stan!ar!s an! mar"in for error will have been clearl$ i!entifie! an! will
be easil$ put into place b$ improve! lea!ership roles an! improve!
or"ani#ation practices%
Lean processes can ai! a wi!e variet$ of in!ustries an! no matter what fiel!
$ou are in there are tools an! processes that can help an$ compan$% &he
preface also explains the best wa$ to rea! the boo to "ain as much as possible
from each chapter%
Cha!ter ": A #istory of $ean% &rief
&he purpose of Lean is to eliminate all waste /or non value0a!!e!1
activities from a process% Creatin" a +Lean Environment- teaches $ou how to
use emplo$ees wisel$, b$ cross0trainin" an! "ettin" the most out of each
person% )ncreasin" communication on all levels will in fact re!uce costs an!
improve 2ualit$% )t is important to un!erstan! that these chan"es will create a
more safe wor environment% &hrou"h these improvement activities,
emplo$ees can feel empowere! to initiate improvements on their own% Lie the
inertia behin! a simple machine that once starte!, can run on its own%
&his section explains the histor$ of Lean an! how it came to fruition
throu"h the automotive in!ustr$% &o$ota pulle! concepts from 3S Supermarets
to support the Just-In-Time 4hilosoph$% &hese concepts behin! lean are now a
worl!0wi!e phenomenon% (n! the most excitin" part behin! these Lean
Concepts is they are still i!roving''
Since prices on raw in"re!ients can fluctuate an! are not eas$ to control
the cost 4art of the Lean &hinin" 5ormula is $ou must lower costs internall$%
&his internal focus becomes a philosophical approach an! can lea! the !rive to
improvement initiatives% &hese concepts appl$ most visibl$ to manufacturin"
in!ustries but that is wh$ this boo on the Lean ,ffice was written to show how
a!ministrative processes attribute to more than 607 of the cost of a pro!uct or
service%
) see elements of Lean in the cooin" that we !o in the itchen, where
we constantl$ wor to streamline our prep time b$ multi0tasin", an! worin"
to !o items in the or!er that will mae $ou coo as 2uicl$ as possible% (lso
cooin" with safet$ is a e$ to success8 (fter all it "ets har!er an! har!er to
coo the less fin"ers $ou have%

Cha!ter (: Five Ena)lers for the *!leentation of $ean
&his chapter hi"hli"hts the five enablers that must alwa$s be present
an! un!erstoo! wherever $ou are on the Lean 9ourne$% Elements of each
enabler inclu!e un!erstan!in", e!ucatin", an! involvin" $our people%
(% Ena)ler + " % ,nderstanding the &ehavior - Attitude - Culture .odel:
&hrou"h un!erstan!in" how human behaviors an! attitu!es !irectl$
impact an$ improvement initiative% &he principle of empowerin"
emplo$ees b$ e!ucatin" them on Lean principles will mae them !riven
to i!entif$ processes re2uirin" improvement an! tae initiative to set an
example an! mae the chan"es on their own% ,nce an emplo$ee is well
traine!, an$ one will be able to mae exponential chan"e in!epen!entl$%
&he har!est part is "ettin" emplo$ees to not resist chan"e, an! once
the$ un!erstan! Lean an! see the benefits their attitu!e is improve!
an! it maes learnin" an! implementin" easier% )t is important to share
information to"ether an! focus on or"ani#e! !ocumentation% .e
eliminate waste an! wor to stan!ar!i#e processes an! expectations% (s
behavior chan"es, $ou will want to initiate a rewar! an! reco"nition
s$stem to acnowle!"e the chan"es that are happenin"%
*% Ena)ler + ( - ,nderstanding the &usiness Case for $ean: )n or!er to
remain an! become "loball$ competitive, we must focus on re!ucin"
a!ministrative costs, which can comprise 600:07 of the total sales price
of a pro!uct or service% &he cost0re!uction philosoph$ hi"hli"hte! here
is' Maret con!itions set the sellin" price% Cost an! profit become
variables% *$ focusin" on internal costs we a!opt a philosophical
approach that lea!s to improvement initiatives% &hese philosophies can
appl$ to an$ or"ani#ation%
C% Ena)ler + / - 0he 0en Areas of Waste: 5irst we focus on i!entif$in"
what waste is' an$thin" that a!!s time, resources, or cost without
a!!in" value to the finishe! pro!uct or service% (n$thin" that $our
or"ani#ation !oes to a pro!uct or service for which the customer will not
then pa$ for is consi!ere! waste% Eliminatin" waste !irectl$ lowers the
cost of pro!ucts for $our customers an! this is re2uire! in or!er to
remain competitive% Ever$one is !oin" it8 ) see man$ of these ten
+wastes- as forms of !isor"ani#ation% ,verpro!uction can be eliminate!
b$ focusin" on tal time, wor stan!ar!s, pitch, level loa!in", an! proof
of nee! surve$s% .aitin" is a waste that can be eliminate! b$ usin" tools
such as value stream mappin", runners, the ; +s-, a Lean 5ile S$stem
an! pitch% <e!ucin" the amount of motion waste /this is ver$ important
in cooin" too1 can be !one b$ usin" stan!ar!s of wor, office 2uic0
starts, re!esi"nin" $our office an! supplies, usin" pull s$stems, an!
!ocument ta""in"% &o re!uce transport waste, we can use wor loa!
balancin" an! continuous flow s$stems, visual controls an! tools lie
these% ,ver processin" is one of the most !ifficult wastes to uncover% *$
re!ucin" re!un!ant processes we can eliminate over processin"%
)nventor$ /time1 waste such as office supplies an! time tae up space or
re2uire someone=s time% Defects or mistaes can be a bi" waste that is
ver$ helpful to fix, an! usin" tools lie mistae proofin" an! pre!ictin"
output are important% .aste of people=s sills or the un!er0utili#ation of
people can be looe! at as ba! mana"ement% ) thin also openin" lines
of communication, cross0trainin" an! improvin" >ob assessments can
help% ,ffice politics /an! we !on=t >ust mean the !rama1 is a ninth waste
form that can be ver$ har! to i!entif$ but once acnowle!"e! can
possibl$ brin" insi"ht into its existence an! subse2uent elimination%
3nevenness can be helpe! b$ tr$in" to level wor out an! sche!ulin"
wor out in a uniform plane%
D% Ena)ler + 1 - A!!lying the Power of *nforation 0echnology: Learnin"
to use Microsoft ,ffice an! all of the man$ functions an! applications
can enable a faster metho! of processin" information as well as
improvin" !ata inte"rit$%
E% Ena)ler + 2 - .anageent Coitent: Lea!ership in a compan$ must
focus on how their abilit$ !etermines a person or or"ani#ations level of
effectiveness% Mana"ement commitment must be !riven b$ a passion to
improve% &hin"s mana"ement can !o to enable the Lean process
improvements are committin" the necessar$ resources, bein" present at
the first meetin" an! walin" the process area, bein" able to provi!e
coachin" or emplo$in" an open0!oor polic$, bein" attentive an!
!ispla$in" interest in the pro"ress of the !epartment, b$ rewar!in" the
team an! havin" empath$ with the team !urin" an$ hiccups or stru""les
alon" the wa$%