Lean thinking

Simple explained for everybody

 General information
• Lean management means nothing other than "lean
management" and found its origins in the 1990s in the
automotive industry.

• Lean is not new, it deals with the important things in

business processes.
Among other things, Lean aims to achieve sustainable
results and do so with more effective ways of working:

• Minimize waste
• Customer focus
• Cost savings
• Optimized processes
• Training employees
 Goals for LEAN
• The goals of Lean are fairly consistent across industries
and business units.
Lean simultaneously shall improves the following
subjects.

• Safety
• Quality
• Delivery reliability
• Cost reduction
• Morals and humanity

• The goal is to achieve long-term success for an

organization and all stakeholders, i.e. customers,
employees, suppliers and other stakeholders!
 Goals for LEAN
Further, goals of lean production include

• the achievement of the optimal productivity of the

factors of production,

• a high product quality

• a highly flexible production apparatus.

• Likewise, a reduction of waste is aimed at, an efficient

use of resources and consequently a minimization of
costs.
 Goals for LEAN
• The advantage of using lean production is that
companies can reduce unneeded production space,
personnel and inventories, and sources of error can be
identified and minimized.
• In addition, efficient production can increase product
variety and customer satisfaction through short
delivery times.
• The decisive advantage, however, is the possibility of
securing and further expanding the company's
competitiveness.
• Lean Production is a holistic design philosophy for
increasing the competitiveness of companies and can
therefore be used in any area, not only in production
companies, but also in commercial and service
companies.
 Non-Goals for LEAN
• LEAN is not about being "lean" in the sense of being
"thin".
In other words, it is not about doing as little work as
possible, being cheaper and putting in less effort.
• LEAN is about doing the right thing for the customer,
with the right resources, at the right time, in the right
quality.
• LEAN does not mean being stingy or mean.
LEAN means treating everyone involved in the system,
including the customer, employees, suppliers, the
environment, etc. with respect.
• LEAN does not mean cutting heads, i.e. employees, in
the name of cost efficiency. LEAN is possibly the best
alternative strategy to the old approach of layoffs and
rationalization.
 LEAN is
• NOT a collection of tools
• NOT a list of best practices that can be copied
• NOT a temporary project program with improvement
projects
• NOT a prescription by experts of what to do
• NOT a way to achieve redundancies
• NOT just a process improvement method
• NOT just for front line employees
• NOT part of Six Sigma
• NOT just efficiency and speed
• NOT using metrics to put pressure on people
• NOT the golden switch for easy transformation
 Challenges in LEAN
• In order to create a system that functions without
waste, in a cost-optimized and customer-oriented
manner, all approaches must be complemented with
each other. xOnly in this way can the basic idea of lean
management work.
• Unfortunately, the implementation does not always
work immediately, as there are some hurdles that must
first be overcome in a company:
 Old ways of working and thinking
 Old approaches of teamwork
 No willingness to cooperate on the part of the
managing director
 Too fast implementation
 Inconsistent cost perceptions, lack of understanding
of quality or customer understanding that needs
improvement also stand in the way of success
 To be considered in LEN
Lean could be found in or on three pillars:

The first pillar involves increasing productivity.

• At constant output, the use of production factors is to

be reduced. This includes e.g.

 the reduction of inventories

 reduction of underutilized capacities
 shortened lead times and just-in-time
approaches
 Elimination of hierarchical levels for more
effective decision-making.
 more flexible working hours
 To be considered in LEN
By means of the second pillar, product quality is
increased.

This is achieved by:

• improving production processes by

introducing regular quality controls
• immediate reworking of defective products
and avoiding rejects in procurement and
production.
• continuous control of product development is
to take place
• improving cooperation with suppliers, e.g. by
adapting material specifications to the
company, as long as the VoC can be met
 To be considered in LEN
The third pillar of lean production is to increase
flexibility.

• The goal here is the ability to produce different product

quantities and variants cost-effectively as well as time-
efficiently.

• In addition, temporary capacities are to be available

through flexible working hours and flexible production
systems are to be introduced.
 To be considered in LEN

Adaptable and lean production is made possible on the

basis of the three pillars of increased productivity,
enhanced product quality and flexibility.
 Successfull in LEAN
• In a successful implementation of lean production,
management must strive for improvements in small
steps and apply lean methods one after the other.

• Furthermore, in addition to concept implementation,

processes must be synchronized and standardized.

• Likewise, the lean idea must be accepted by employees

so that they can act accordingly during production.

• A systematic and comprehensive approach plays an

important role in the introduction and implementation
of lean production.
 Conclusion
• The basic idea of lean management describes the daily
concern with improving operational processes in order
to increase efficiency and competitiveness.
• The aim is to achieve defined processes and procedures
with process-oriented corporate management and the
highest possible efficiency (operational excellence).
• The two most important aspects of lean management
are
 Customer orientation (see also ISO 9001)
 Cost reduction
• Lean Management can now be applied in several areas
of a company, once some hurdles, such as outdated
ways of working and thinking, have been overcome.
• This creates the conditions that allow the application of
the Lean Management method.