by Jeff Thill

One of the greatest challenges of going lean is to create a culture of continuous improvement. Understandably, manufacturers tend to focus first on costs related to their manufacturing processes.

It’s important to remember that the overriding idea behind lean is not cutting costs or cutting people; it’s cutting waste (see January 2007 article, “Lean Basics: Test Your Lean I.Q.”). Lean processes certainly lead to reduced overall costs. However, the real outcome is lower product cost, and it’s accomplished by increasing throughput without increasing costs.

Establishing a lean culture starts with changing the way employees think—about how manufacturing and distribution are supposed to run, and about how they perform everyday tasks.

In a constant state of lean

Successful manufacturers live the lean “lifestyle.” Their employees eagerly adopt a whole new way of thinking and constantly apply it to their workplace environments. Using lean mindsets, they develop intelligent processes, streamline flow, and eliminate waste wherever it’s found.

The beauty of lean is perhaps in its simplicity. Eliminating waste doesn’t have to be complicated or a major undertaking. Let’s look at the ordinary activity of mowing the lawn as an example of just how simple the lean concept really is.

A homeowner cuts his grass each week and bags the clippings. The bagger is small, so each time it’s full, the homeowner must detach the bag, carry it across the yard and down the driveway, and empty the clippings into a waiting trailer. This process is repeated again and again until the entire yard is mowed.

A better approach would be to place a tarp in the yard and empty several bags of clippings onto the tarp until it’s full. The tarp can then be dragged to the trailer for emptying. This is what’s known as batching, and it is not yet a lean process. The clippings still have to wait in a pile before they are moved to the next step.

An even better approach—one that more appropriately reflects a lean mindset—would be to move the trailer into the yard so each full bag can be dumped directly into it.

This simple illustration reveals how easy it is to apply lean thinking to any process. Certainly, the workplace is ripe with opportunities to eliminate waste from processes. Here’s that same example above applied to an actual workplace situation.

At a manufacturing plant, the production line ends by unloading finished product onto a table. Employee #1 is positioned at the end of the line and groups the products into sets of three. He then slides the product groupings across the three-foot table to employee #2, who stacks the products into boxes. Once boxes are full, they are set aside to wait for employee #3, who picks them up and moves them to the warehouse.

One obvious area of waste is the need for employee #1 to group the products and slide them over to employee #2. This step appears to be a non-value-added task. The manufacturer should instead consider moving employee #2 closer to the end of the line so product can be placed directly into the boxes, thereby eliminating a wasteful step.

A small example, to be sure, but remember: lean is not a grandiose idea. Waste is waste, no matter its size, and small measures add up. The most significant gains in lean may very well result from many small improvements made over longer periods of time.

When armed with this simple understanding of what it means to eliminate waste, employees can more easily embrace lean thinking. Their seeing becomes believing, and before long, a lean culture begins to take hold, delivering impressive bottom-line results!

Jeff Thill is a Wipfli partner serving manufacturing and wholesale entities ranging in size from large, widely owned companies to smaller, family-owned businesses. To learn more about lean manufacturing, please contact Jeff at our St. Paul office at 651.766.2862, or e-mail him at jthill@wipfli.com.