The Value of Lean in the Service

Sector:
A Critique of Theory & Practice

Presented By
Ahmed Ali Pervaiz
Waqas Ahsan

Introduction to Research Paper

Fundamental of Lean Services

Customer Pull Concept in Service industry

BY

David Arfmann
University of Gloucestershire (UK)

Introduction to lean

Lean is Production Practice to minimize waste along all

value chain

Any Source dont deliver Value needs to be eliminated

Tensions arises when trying to apply lean principles to

intangible products

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Flaws of Lean in service

It seems that efforts are mainly put in adjusting
lean principles to make them fit in nonmanufacturing areas without debating about the
real value of lean principles when applied to the
service sector
(Radnor and Johnston,2013)
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Reason Behind the flaws

Wrong management assumptions

to work on costs and workers
activities instead of managing
systems and values like Deming
(2000) proposed.
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Central Idea
This paper aims to encourage scholars,
consultants and service managers to

rethink
service

the

value

of

lean

and work on new ways of

streamlining organizations to address the
challenges faced by service environments.
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Arguments for
Breaking Free
From Lean Service
Transformation
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Argument 1: There is no Lean Service

When ideas, frameworks, models are adapted;

shortcomings

as well as benefits are transferred. These benefits are what the

success stories tell us. But as there seems to be no lean service
framework we have to ask

if it is really the lean

transformation, the application of single lean tools and

methods or something else that creates observed performance

To answer this fundamental

question we have to return to leans root
improvements.

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Argument 2: Lean Effects in Services

Are Misinterpreted or Invalid
Therefore, we may consider that it is not the knowledge about lean methods, tools or even
transformation processes that help organizations to improve their performance. It is

the knowledge about daily business

reality that counts and enables managers
to take actions that really improve their performance (Seddon and O'Donovan,2010). This is
often described as lean methods application to service. However, this has nothing to do

We may simply call it

operations knowledge
with pull concepts or waste reduction.

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Argument 3: The Characteristics of Services

Have Not Been Properly Considered

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Argument 4: From Push to Pull Has no

Relevance in Services
INTAGIABILITY

INSEPARABILTY

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PERISHABILITY

VARIABILITY

Argument 5: Lean service thinking

ends in organizational boundaries

The approach with a focus only on the internal

organization has led to create inefficiencies. If
the discourse on lean recognizes these
inefficiencies it would be advisable to also
explore inefficiencies in the external
environment
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Conclusion:
There is a need to go back to the
roots of lean for development of the
concept in Service industry

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THANK YOU