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What Is Lean Process Improvement?

Lean process improvement refers to principles of Lean Manufacturing. The focus is on efficiency, streamlining the flow of activities from initial conception to final delivery of a product or service.

  1. Adding Value

    • The key to lean process improvement is to add value and eliminate waste. Companies identify which activities create waste instead of value. Improvement can then focus on the processes that cause the waste to occur.

    Seven Wastes

    • Seven common types of waste to target for elimination include: overproduction; delay; unnecessary conveyance; over-processing; excess inventory; unnecessary motion; and correction.

    "Pull" Based Processes

    • The flow of activities should be pull-based to enable Just-in-Time (JIT) production. Traditional manufacturing pushes product into inventory based on demand forecasts, which can result in overproduction and excess inventory. With JIT, production is pulled to respond to actual customer demand.

    Expose Problems

    • Successful JIT requires that problems be exposed for immediate correction. Manufacturing operators are both authorized and required to stop production when defects are found. This expedites correction and prevents the production of more defects.

    Kaizen

    • Lean process improvement is a continuous effort of rapid improvement projects referred to as "kaizen." Work teams recognize waste, find the root cause, take action to eliminate the cause then validate effectiveness by recording statistical measures.

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