What is Lean?
A definition of Lean
Lean gained popularity over decades because it offered “more for less”. That’s because Lean is defined as a system that concentrates on maximizing value to end users and cutting out waste activities – costs, time and effort – in a highly disciplined way.
A Lean approach means understanding what’s really going on in your workplace (the Gemba), to see where value is created and then removing any activities that do not add value for end users.
But it all started with Jidoka…
What is Jidoka?
Jidoka is one of the most important Lean methods for ensuring quality is built-in at every stage.
Initially, Jidoka applied to solving mechanical problems at Toyota. But its success led to applying Jidoka to the workforce: managers expect a team member to stop a process if they discover a problem.
Team members then come together to share their skills, knowledge and understanding to solve problems. The beneficial side effects are the multi-skilling of the workforce and continually improving workplace processes. And, when practising jidoka, defects never pass to the next step in a process.
That leads to the “Toyota House of Quality“…
What is the Toyota House of Quality?
Moving forward from Jidoka, where team members support each other to resolve problems, the question was asked again and again: “What are the fundamental elements to get people thinking and working together effectively?“
Toyota used the Jidoka theme to answer this question by a simple system that has the two pillars of Lean quality:
Respect for people – the principle that every team member should be actively engaged in their own development as well as the design and running of their own workplace. The belief in teamwork and respect using Kaizen (small-step improvement) are key to making Lean work.
Continual Improvement – once respect is established, team members feel able to contribute to Kaizen – improvement in the workplace processes by relentless focus on waste activities, understanding the current situation in your workplace and using disciplined steps to achieve the future objectives.
To enact all this:
For individuals – you can use the Waste Walk to record, then act on examples of waste activity that you see.
For teams – you can conduct Value Stream Mapping to agree on where value for end users is created and where you can reduce or eliminate waste.