Mar 14, 2007

Waste Reduction systems - Out of the other Box

Unfortunately, many companies have thought about lean in too narrow a box," The question is, What box are you drawing for lean? You have to think of a bigger box. In the end, it is not a question of whether you are good in one area, but if you are good from the start of the supply chain to the hands of the customers."
 
Looking at lean in that way, shows why translating lean principles to supply chain operations beyond the manufacturing floor makes enormous sense."What lean means from a high level in manufacturing or distribution and logistics is the recognition that time is made up of waste and value. "If you can focus on eliminating waste through continuous improvement, you will only be left with value."
 
The idea, to oversimplify, is to get everyone in the organization to focus on getting at root causes for waste and then changing processes to eliminate them.
 
Read full here six sigma article here