The Lean journey is the endless pursuit to identify and remove waste from every process in the organization. On the Lean journey your organization’s culture changes from waste acceptance to relentless waste eradication.
Those on the Lean journey know that waste exists everywhere, and that the reduction of waste in one area often exposes problems and waste in other areas of the organization.
Change is no longer a scary threat. In a Lean company change is accepted as the norm. Kaizen events – process improvements – are welcomed as opportunities to grow the company.
Lean companies measure performance in new ways. In the world of Lean you measure by the minute, by the hour . . . not by the week or the month.
The time to make something, to produce something, or to process something is reduced 30%, 40%, 60%, or more.
Lean is adopted at the top, but driven from the bottom. Lean is driven by the people who do the work, who are closest to the problems. Everyone is trained and empowered to identify problems, to find the root causes of problems, and to solve the problems when they are first detected, when the problem is happening.
Lean leaders are coaches and teachers. Lean leaders lead the organization as if their only power is that of persuasion and example. Lean leaders never intimidate.
A Lean journey is truly a voyage from waste to wealth.
This blog is adapted from my soon-to-be-published book(in stores March 15th) on how any company can turn inevitable waste into cash. Stay tuned for continuous blogs on how to “Turn Waste into Wealth” at my website: www.markdeluzio.com.