08 Jan Should I Focus on Becoming LEAN in a Difficult Economy?
ABSOFREEKINGLUTELY!
The Memorial Day holiday is a time of remembrance for all those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. Although certainly on a different level, have you reflected upon the sacrifices you have made for your business? Are you troubled by these uncertain times? LEAN is about delivering the most value from your customers’/patients’ perspective while consuming the fewest resources. You get LEAN by focusing on waste – anything that adds JUST cost and time to the business. This is done through small, simple, and reversible trial and error in which knowledge is captured, enhanced and used over and over again! A key question to ask people in your organization is “when you sit down to do your work, what percentage of the time do you have everything you need to do it right the first time?” This will help you find opportunities to eliminate waste. Eliminating waste is the biggest opportunity to reduce costs thereby to improve profitability in any business!
Problem solving using the LEAN approach is the best way to navigate a difficult economy. When trying to solve a problem, it’s important to note that waste is caused not just by processes with major problems, but by processes with minor problems as well…and that minor problems add up and multiply the total waste. Sometimes a wasteful process will have a dozen little inefficiencies that multiply into one big resource consuming roadblock. That’s why a LEAN approach is needed…it looks for deviations from optimal performance at every step, no matter how small at each stage of the problem solving process. After all, why would you want to market your problems?
LEAN also trains us to engage problems and not assume that they will be addressed by others. Most organizations work in “firefighting” mode and allow a problem to select them, rather than selecting a problem and dealing with it. Other problems, of seemingly less importance, are dismissed as insignificant or “typical” and ignored. Resources need to be allocated to a problem as it occurs, not after the fact. Finally, LEAN tells us that a solution is not a solution unless it makes the new way easier or the old, problematic, way impossible. LEAN doesn’t force-fit a solution — it develops one that fits just right.
Envision a system that is so good that average people get superior consistent results! Most organizations have systems that would only allow superior people to deliver consistent results. It’s never been more important to start the LEAN process than the present time. The stakes are high due to these uncertain times, but the rewards can be great. What are you waiting for?
– Rafi Benamoz, CEO, Benamoz Business Entrepreneur Solutionz, rafi@benamoz.com
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