INTRODUCTION TO LEAN THINKING

Muda is one of the fascinating Japanese words an operations person should be

concerned about. It means waste - any activity that drains resources but adds no
value. It includes mistakes and errors in processes which require rectification,
manufacture of products which no one needs, resulting in inventories and piling up
of remaindered goods, unwanted processing steps, employees movement and
transportation of goods from place to place without any motive and products which
dont meet the customer requirement. Everywhere, in everything has Muda. The
Toyota executive Taiichi Ohno a foe to waste identified the seven different types of
waste.
Lean Thinking offers the perfect solution to Muda. It provides a means to specify
value, sequence of value creation activities and to processes these without any
interruptions according to ones request and continuously improving it to attain
perfection.
It provides instant feedback on ones effort to translate Muda into value. Its not
about downsizing or job destruction, its a means to creation of new work.
The five dimensions to Lean are
1. Specify Value: This is the starting point defined ultimately by the customer.
Its a product which is in unison with customers needs, price and time.
Consider the present airline industry For a user the value is to get to ones
destination safe and sound without any hassles at a reasonable price. Thus
for a customer who values time what one gets are larger aircraft and larger
airports The value specified by customer and the value understood by firm
are different. Thus value identification is a crucial step to Lean Thinking.
2. Identify Value Stream: It involves bringing the required processes for a
specific product through: a. problem solving task which consists of steps from
concept or idea through design to launch.
b. information management task which starts from ordering through
scheduling and ending up with delivery.
c. physical transformation task i.e. from raw materials to finished goods at
the hands of the customer
It involves identification of
Steps which create value
Steps which create no value but are unavoidable
Steps which create no value and can be eliminated
3. Flow: People are stuck with the traditional mindset of Batch and Queue
system rather than introducing flow in the system. Batches are accompanied
by long waiting periods. Even though Batch system involves keeping
employees busy and equipment running at its top level, it is not efficient as it
involves a lot of picking up and putting down between processes. Focus
should always be on the product rather than the equipment or organization
so as to establish a continuous flow.

4. Pull: One of the major concerns of firms is the shifting demands. The pull
system, the ability to design, plan and produce what the customer wants
when one requires it, offers the perfect solution eliminating the needs of sales
forecast, overproduction, stock keeping etc.
5. Perfection: Transparency is an important step to perfection, where employees
are provided with instant and positive feedbacks for improvements. When
employees are able to imbibe the customers delight, it acts as a direct
carrot- stick apparatus for them to strive for betterment.
There is no one-way ticket to perfection. Kaikaku and Kaizen are the solutions
to strive for perfection.
Perfection is infinity, but the effort to do so provides inspiration and
direction essential to making progress along the path. (James P Womack,
2003)

VALUE STREAM MAPPING

A lean management method used to analyze and depict the current state, design
the future state for the series of events starting from pre-production stages to
delivery to the customer. Value Stream Mapping(VSM) is also known as Material and
Information flow mapping at Toyota. In any project, there involves 3 flows:
1. Flow of material
2. Flow of information and process
3. Flow of people
WHY VSM?
It helps in identifying value added and non-value added components of a
project.
Its a useful tool for improving the processes involved in a project
It can be used to eliminate waste, add value to each and every process and
establish flow.
It takes into account each and every process involved. It takes into account
the entire organization not just individual departments
Its an inexpensive tool a pen and paper is all that one needs.

STEPS INVOLVED IN VSM ARE:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Choose a product family

Gather data to draw Current State Diagram
Draw Current State Diagram
Analyze the Current State Diagram
Design the Future State Diagram

6. Create Deployment plan

Value Stream Mapping is an ideal planning tool to optimize results of eliminating

waste.