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Procedia Manufacturing 46 (2020) 233–237

13th International Conference Interdisciplinarity in Engineering (INTER-ENG 2019)

13th International Conference Interdisciplinarity in Engineering (INTER-ENG 2019)
Conceptual Model for Introducing Lean Management Instruments
Conceptual Model for Introducing Lean
a Management Instruments
Cristina Veres * 0F

a
a
Cristina
Technical Veres
University *
of Cluj-Napoca
0F

a
Technical University of Cluj-Napoca

Abstract

Abstract
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each economical entity has a quiddity. After studying 11 Lean companies, a conceptual model was developed with the aim to
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sector, and inwith
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showed improved results, significantly streamlining and organizing main aspects of the organizational activities. This work
presents
© 2019 the essential steps of
The Authors. the developed
Published conceptual
by Elsevier model.
B.V.. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
© 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.
© 2019 Theunder
Peer-review Authors. Published
responsibility by Elsevier B.V.. This is an
of open access article under the CC Interdisciplinarity
BY-NC-ND license
This is an open access article under theofCCtheBY-NC-ND
scientific committee
license the 13th International Conference
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) in
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Engineering
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 13th International Conference Interdisciplinarity in Engineering.
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 13th International Conference Interdisciplinarity in
Engineering
Keywords: Implementation; Lean Management; Lean Manufacturing; model.

Keywords: Implementation; Lean Management; Lean Manufacturing; model.

1. Introduction
1. Introduction
Lean manufacturing has been widely used to increase operational excellence and performance in manufacturing
systems [1]. Gradually, it started to penetrate other sectors of the industry, too: Service Management (1992),
Lean manufacturing
Hospital has been
Management (2002), widely used
IT services to increase
(2010) and so onoperational
[2,3]. excellence and performance in manufacturing
systems [1]. Gradually, it started to penetrate other sectors of the
There are two main principles which form the base of Lean philosophy: industry,
waste too: Service and
elimination Management (1992),
value creation [4].
Hospital Management (2002), IT services (2010) and so on [2,3].
Lean is promising to solve future challenges in manufacturing [5] and not only.
There are two main principles which form the base of Lean philosophy: waste elimination and value creation [4].
Lean is promising to solve future challenges in manufacturing [5] and not only.

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +4074 135 3853.

E-mail address: cristina.veres@tcm.utcluj.ro
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +4074 135 3853.
E-mail address:
2351-9789 cristina.veres@tcm.utcluj.ro
© 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
2351-9789 ©under
Peer-review 2019responsibility
The Authors. of
Published by Elsevier
the scientific B.V..ofThis
committee the is an International
13th open access article under Interdisciplinarity
Conference the CC BY-NC-ND in license
Engineering
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 13th International Conference Interdisciplinarity in Engineering

2351-9789 © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.

This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 13th International Conference Interdisciplinarity in Engineering.
10.1016/j.promfg.2020.03.034
234 Cristina Veres / Procedia Manufacturing 46 (2020) 233–237
2 Cristina Veres / Procedia Manufacturing 00 (2019) 000–000

The effects of Lean are well-known: stock reduction, costs reduction, space reduction, risk reduction, waste
reduction, streamlining processes, productivity increase, quality improvement, customers` satisfaction increase and
others.
After studying Lean specialty literature for the last five years, gaining knowledge about Lean and Six Sigma, I
searched for companies which apply Lean principles in Mures County, Romania. I was interested in the trainings
they were provided to this effect, looked for the way they were applying streamlining methods to obtain results and
extended my knowledge about each production process that follow Lean rules.
What I discovered is that each of the 11 companies which participated to the research had a different path of
adapting Lean to its organizational culture. Therefore, I collected the most important steps to follow in a Lean
Management implementation project and developed a conceptual model with the aim to facilitate Lean
implementation in any lean-beginner company.
The biggest challenge of the developed model was to test it in the public sector of healthcare, an unexplored Lean
area in Romania. Despite the initial human resistance to change, the project proved workplace perception
improvement, increased productivity, better organization and clarity of procedures. The results of the
implementation are subject of another work to be published soon. This paper describes the developed conceptual
model and the steps to be taken for a Lean implementation.

2. PTDC Conceptual Model for Introducing Lean

The acronyms PTDC come from the words Planning-Training-Development-Coaching, as presented in the fig. 1,
which represent the four phases of the model.

Fig. 1. Conceptual model for Lean Implementation

Before implementing the model, some basic requirements should be met by the top management:
• Full commitment of the top management is considered the basic rule of Lean implementation. People's natural
tendency is to oppose change, so there is need for perseverance, determination and some motivational strategies.
• Knowing why the company needs Lean will make the difference. Usually big companies assign Lean
implementation to one or some challenges they face, as in crisis people are more likely to accept changes. Some
of them are: sales decrease, decrease of market share, new competitor on the market, introducing new products,
higher demand, and so on.
• It is hard and often demotivating introducing big changes all at once. Incremental change is preferable: if the
company is big, the project may start in a small department first, and later expand the know-how to the other
ones.

2.1. Planning

Planning is considered the most important step of a project.

In his book “Toyota Kata, Managing People for Improvement, Adaptiveness, and Superior Results” the author
Mike Rother introduces the concept “the improvement kata” [6]. A kata is a routine you practice to make its pattern
a habit. [7].
 Cristina Veres / Procedia Manufacturing 46 (2020) 233–237 235
Cristina Veres / Procedia Manufacturing 00 (2019) 000–000 3

There are some practice routines described in detail in the Mike Rother’s book, which are very useful in the
context of planning step.
The management starts with describing the vision. Vision along with mission and values are the core elements of
a strategic organizational foundation.
The vision plays an important role in strategy development, because it provides not only an understanding of the
business directions, but also means to create and weigh various strategic plans and alternatives
[www.tutorialspoint.com].
Then the overall challenge which the company is striving for needs to be described. Usually this challenge is
correlated to a horizon of 6 months to three years and describes the new situation the company wants to have.
The next phase of the Planning step consists in describing the current condition. This one is necessary for
analyzing the actual data and facts and getting a detailed and subjective analysis of the current pattern of work.
In the following phase the target condition is defined. The target condition is a result a company wants to
achieve, described in detail. The target condition of a Lean-beginner company might include:
• Trained production team (X people) and middle management (Y people);
• Visual management used at a regular basis;
• Daily 5-minutes meetings;
• Overall productivity: Z units/day.
- Department 1 productivity, operators per shift, number of shifts;
- Department 2 productivity, operators per shift, number of shifts, and so on.

2.2. Training

The importance of training shouldn’t be ignored. Once a company decides to implement internally a new
philosophy, people should get the chance to understand it, specifically considering the fact that Lean Management
comes with distinctive terminology and instruments, which should be assimilated and put in use.
These are the main aspects to include in the training:
• The 8 types of Muda;
• Value-Added vs. Non-Value-Added activities;
• Value Stream Mapping;
• Main instruments, such as: 5S method, kaizen, visual management, Kanban, Just in Time and so on. It’s better to
focus on the ones the company plans to implement. Incremental change is preferable: two or three instruments
may to introduced at a time. More tools may be introduced later as soon as the first ones become part of the
organizational culture.
It’s hard to change people’s behavior but it isn’t possible. The training serves as an awareness act.
Lean companies invest continuously in training the staff.

2.3. Development

At this stage we have a trained team, a clear description and view of our purpose, our present status is analyzed,
so we have the prerogatives to have a successful implementation. For the third step, it is useful to start a Six Sigma
DMAIC cycle.
The Six Sigma and its DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) methodology is seen as the last
generation of improvement approaches, adding concepts, methods, tools and removing limitations identified in
previous ones [9,10].
The Define step concentrates on forming the team, defining the project's goals, mapping the process, identifying
customers and identifying the high impact characteristics or the CTQs (Critical to Quality) [11].
The Measure phase focuses on data gathering regarding current situation for further identification of possible
causes [12].
The next step in the DMAIC model is to analyze the data and process map to establish causes of defects and
where you can improve [13].
236 Cristina Veres / Procedia Manufacturing 46 (2020) 233–237
4 Cristina Veres / Procedia Manufacturing 00 (2019) 000–000

The Improve phase focuses on the solution development. The team is most likely collecting improvement ideas
throughout the project [14].
The new process is actively monitored in the Control phase, to assure that better results are retained [15,16]
By promoting the “learning-by-doing” process, the organization uses the basic tools to introduce Lean.
In our healthcare case study, we used the following instruments:
• Define: Project Charter, SIPOC Chart and Voice of the Costumer. Others recommended for Define stage: Process
Flowchart, Stakeholders Analysis, Critical to Quality Tree, DMAIC Work Breakdown Structure, Deployment
Map and others.
• Measure: Data collection plan, Operational Definitions and Check Sheet.
• Analyze: Value Stream Mapping, Time analysis, Value Added Analysis, Process analysis, Data analysis, 5 Whys,
5M method, Box Plot. Others recommended for Analyze stage: Pareto Chart, Hypothesis development,
Histograms.
• Improve: Brainstorming, Implementation Plan, 5S, Visual Management, Process optimization through
standardized work. Others recommended for Improve stage: Benchmarking, Impact Effort Matrix, Weighted
Criteria Matrix, PDCA, Pilot Checklist, work cells, Balancing the workload, one product stream, Demand
leveling.
• Control: Monitoring Plan, Control Plan and Control Chart.

2.4. Coaching

Coaching is a form of development in which a person called a coach supports a learner or client in achieving a
specific personal or professional goal by providing training and guidance [17].
Coaching brings multiple advantages to an organization:
• It helps to get an objective and complete view, by analyzing strengths, weaknesses, threats and development
opportunities;
• It helps to see new ways to improve, evolve, expand and develop the organization;
• Helps to motivate and empower individuals to excel, to expand their potential and improve individual
performance [18]. As it’s known, employees are the ones that create value in an organization;
• Encourages people to take responsibility and act;
• Improves engagement and demonstrates management commitment to employee’s development.
• Coaching is needed to receive an external vision, opinion and support.
A team of external coaches is recommended to ensure an objective view of the improvement process, especially
if the coaches has previous experience in Lean or Kaizen.

2.5. Limitations

As expected, the model shows some limitations:

• The model was tested in an organization only and in a specific environment, so should be tested in other
companies and environment, too.
• The degree of description and detailing of each phase is limited in this work.
• The model needs to be adapted to the company's specific conditions, as this is a main characteristic of Lean
Management philosophy.

3. Conclusion

In order to help companies to take first steps in the Lean Implementation Project, I developed a conceptual model
which aims to simplify the process and define concrete steps to follow. The four phases are: Planning, Training,
Development and Coaching. We tested the developed model in healthcare environment, in the Romanian public
sector and the results showed productivity increase, workplace perception improvement of the employees, time
waste reduction, movement reduction and other improvements.
The model has its limitations. Further research can be done to draw a more elaborate model.
 Cristina Veres / Procedia Manufacturing 46 (2020) 233–237 237
Cristina Veres / Procedia Manufacturing 00 (2019) 000–000 5

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