A Strategic Approach to the Implementation of Lean Management

Understand the strength of a systematic approach to the implementation of Lean in this powerful workshop. A Lean Management System is a complete program that aligns and integrates long-term strategic development planning and day-to-day improvement targets to make your company customer-focused, flexible, and ready for tomorrow's challenges. This workshop will introduce you to a step-by-step methodology that allows a company to link daily activities to its corporate vision and goals. Through discussion and participation in a case study and simulation exercise, you will gain an understanding of the five levels of organizational learning, development, and culture change and complete a corporate diagnosis.

Lean Management incorporates a five-phase approach to implementing Lean production and management. The five phases provide a framework for diagnosing a company's readiness for, as well as progress in, implementation.

1. The first phase is SCAN. In this phase a company builds awareness, documents its current state, and understands where its customers and competitors stand on the journey to Lean.
2. The second phase is PLAN. In this phase a company builds a balanced and integrated scorecard of improvement targets and makes a comprehensive plan to transform its operations and its culture. Then it applies Lean methods in model lines and critical operations to study and document the implementation process itself.
3. The third phase is DO. In this phase a company employs its sensei to train and coach a cadre of Lean experts to train and coach the entire workforce in deploying Lean from person to person, machine to machine, line to line, factory to factory, department to department, division to division.
4. The fourth phase is CHECK. In this phase a company systematically installs the powerful methods of real-time auditing that supports empowered decision makers on the front lines. These include 5S, visual control, and poka-yoke, as well as the tiered Lean operating review system of hoshin kanri.
5. The fifth and final phase is ACT. In this phase a company integrates what it has learned into a permanent system of values and beliefs as well as standardized practices. It develops new Lean methods in areas of strategic importance to the customer. In this way, the Lean company turns its "Leanness" into a powerful competitive weapon that is difficult to defeat.