A Simple Guide to Lean Process Improvement

有许多企业以“Well, that’s how we’ve always done it.不幸的是，这种思想的思维会导致大量浪费。

Tasks may be unnecessary to achieve the final goal, processes may be repeated multiple times when one would be sufficient, employees may be wasting time on superfluous responsibilities, and materials may be wasted during manufacturing.

当组织内部发生这种情况时，员工满意度会降低，因此营业额提高，质量会受到损害，因此客户满意度和保留率会减少，并且一看书籍可能表明该公司正在出血。bob全站app

您可能会认为，这种类型的运营效率仅发生在大型公司和组织中，但是，在小型到中等大小的企业中同样普遍，并且可以在每个部门看到。

Efficiency is the name of the game for successful businesses, and you’re about to learn one of the best ways to turn your business into a lean, mean, money-making machine.

Lean Process Improvement

What is lean process improvement?

精益过程改进是丰田最初开发的概念，可减少收到交付订单所花费的时间。尽管经常在生产环境中讨论精益过程的改进，但该概念可以应用于服务，医疗保健，技术甚至政府。

考虑一个营销部门，该部门在同一项目中有多个人工作但不进行交流。与其处理活动的特定方面，有几个人在其他活动中处理相同的任务。

It’s not a traditional production environment, however, the team could benefit from creating an easy-to-follow process that looks at the desired end product and finds the simplest route to get there.

The whole idea behind this way of thinking is that when you look at the big picture, you can find ways to eliminate waste, whether that’s financial, physical, time, or employee energy that could be spent elsewhere. This concept may take a while to implement, and that’s okay. It’s not meant to be a short-term solution, but rather a change to the entire mindset and culture of a business.

精益过程改进有什么好处？

Businesses that incorporate lean process improvement see a variety of benefits from this shift. These include:

• Less waste
• Less inventory
• 提高生产率
• Better quality
• Happier customers
• Fewer costs
• 更多的利润

完全有道理的是，当您删除冗余，简化流程并造成较少的浪费时，底线就会增加。当您的客户更快地收到他们的产品时，您将有更快乐的客户回来并向他人推荐您。有了更多的客户，您的底线再次增加。

If you’d like to see this type of improvement in your organization, read on to learn lean process improvement steps.

我如何将精益流程的改进纳入我的业务？

You guessed it … there’s a process to lean process improvement. There’s actually a series of nine steps you’ll need to implement to create this level of efficiency in your organization. Let’s take a closer look at lean process improvement steps.

1.查看您要改进的过程。

This step is essential because if you don’t know what you need to work on, you won’t know where to focus your efforts. In order to do that, you need to talk to employees on the front line.

公司在此过程中最大的错误是实施变化，而无需与日复一日地工作的人们交谈。采访您的一线工人，并询问他们的日常工作中的工作不佳。

2. Identify what improvements need to be made.

Once you’ve identified what needs to be fixed, it’s time to involve your team once again. There’s a very good chance that they already know how to fix the problem and just haven’t been able to implement it because of a “That’s-how-we’ve-always-done-it” mindset.

3.实施建议的更改。

你将如何改变付诸于行动?创建一个plan so everyone involved understands and buys into the process. This is the best way to ensure organization-wide success.

4.监视变化如何影响您的效率。

尽管您的第一次执行尝试是成功的，但事实是，一旦在现场测试了该过程，就需要进一步完善。做到这一点的唯一方法是通过不断的监视和重新评估。随着新问题的出现，您可以解决它们并进行必要的更改。

5. Identify what activities add value.

Throughout these steps, you’ll be assessing every single action and every aspect of your process. During this time, you must evaluate every single activity to determine whether it adds value to your process, or detracts. If an activity is deemed unnecessary, it should be removed and the process tested without it.

6. Limit risk.

Production and often business, in general, is inherently risky. This time should be used to identify any risky activities or aspects that are part of the current process and eliminate or simplify these tasks. This may involve automating an activity or simply changing the way in which it’s executed.

7. Standardize the process.

创建和完善过程时，请彻底记录您的进度。这允许您的其他团队或组织中的其他团队或部门正确地，其他员工或根据特定过程重复该过程。

8. Ensure compliance.

虽然精益过程的改进应该是整个文化的转变，但您的行业或管理机构可能具有您必须遵守的特定指bob全站app标，程序和标准化的测量。合规性不得以效率的名义牺牲。

9. Improve the customer experience.

In determining the success of a lean process improvement plan, Marketers consider the customer experience to be “the moment of truth.” Ultimately, whatever improvements you make during production or service must trickle down to positively impact the customer.

Lean Process Improvement Tools

As you embark on this journey, there are a number of tools available to you. These tools can help you organize your thoughts, identify issues, and implement your plan. The following are just some of the tools you can look to for support.

Just like any other tool, the one you choose must be the right one for the current job. If you start out with one and don’t find that it meets your needs, consider trying another.

• Why Analysis：问“Why?”反复，您可以确定您所面临的挑战的根本原因。
• Ishikawa Diagram：也称为“鱼骨图”或“因果图”，它使您可以从多个角度检查问题，包括测量，材料，人员，方法，机器和环境。
• Affinity Diagram: This works great in the early stages of lean implementation as it can help sort and organize large amounts of data. Identify the value you bring to the customer and then uncover problems with your existing processes.
• FMEA Analysis (failure mode and effects)：在他们失控之前捕捉问题可以帮助您消除浪费并节省金钱。此工具使您可以检查流程并尽早发现问题。
• 5S Dashboard: This approach can help you organize your workspace for maximum efficiency. While the original tool has five S’ based on Japanese terms, many businesses have added a 6th practice. These stand for:
  • Sort
  • Set in order
  • Shine
  • 标准化
  • 支持
  • Safety
• Plan Do Check Act (PDCA) Cycle: Create continuous improvement by repeatedly analyzing a problem, testing a hypothesis, reviewing, and then analyzing the results, and finally, putting the plan into action once it’s successful.

Lean Process Improvement Techniques

已经创建了许多方法来帮助精益过程改进。就像工具一样，为您的项目和组织找到正确的技术很重要。例如：

Six Sigma (DMAIC Model)

With a goal of reducing the variation in processes, Six Sigma works to increase both external and internal customer satisfaction by standardizing workflow. The DMAIC Roadmap stands for:

1. Define
2. Measure
3. Analyze
4. 提升
5. 控制

看板

These boards allow you to visualize your workflow and use value stream mapping to break down your workflows into stages. Having a visual representation of your workflow, and all the activities that make it up, can assist you in identifying inefficiencies.

Sharing this board with your entire team allows anyone to stop the process when a problem occurs. Now, it becomes everyone’s job to find a solution.

WIP Limits

Within Kanban boards exist a concept known as WIP Limits or “Work in Progress Limits”. Every stage in a Kanban board workflow is represented by a column. WIP limits force you to stay under a maximum number of work items for each stage. This can be per person, per work stage, or for the entire project.

实现这些限制可确保当前任务在开始新任务之前完成，并有助于更快地完成活动。

关于精益过程改进的最终想法

Now that you understand how important lean process improvement is to a successful, efficient organization, it’s a good time to reiterate that this is an ongoing process. If you attempt to overhaul your entire organization overnight, you will undoubtedly fail and most likely make things worse than when you started.

Identify the biggest sources of inefficiency in your organization and target these first, one at a time, until you’ve created a well-functioning business.

Finally, remember that your most valuable assets are the employees getting their hands dirty every day. Attempting to identify problems and create solutions without getting their input is akin to driving blind when you could simply open your eyes.