Lean thinking

Lean thinking is a strategy designed to improve organisational efficiency. It is an approach which has its origins in production and manufacturing but has been adapted to the service sector to good effect.

In simple terms, lean management means using less to do more.

It therefore has potential benefits in terms of cost, quality and delivery of services as well as significant spin off benefits through improved employee morale.

The lean approach focuses on the processes behind the services we deliver, and seeks to re-design these processes in a way that adds value to every stage. Whether each stage adds value or not is viewed entirely from the customer's perspective. This is achieved by eliminating "waste" from each process and ensuring that our efforts are spent on the aspects of our work that truly add value.

Lean can be applied to any aspect of service delivery where a process is involved, no matter how simple or complex. It is achieved by putting together a team drawn from the area of work under review, and through a three or five day programme known as a rapid improvement workshop, producing a re-designed process and a list of improvement recommendations.

The stages of the process are :

•  Define who customers are
•  Define desired outputs and value in customer terms
•  Define current processes - as is not as it should be
•  Identify and eliminate waste - all steps should contribute to satisfying the need of the customer
•  Ensure that the process allows the customer to call on the service as required (i.e. respond to demand from the customer) 

Guidelines, facilitators' notes, practical exercises and other materials for lean events and workshops are available in the downloads.