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The adoption of Lean has transformed the way organizations manage their operations and run their businesses. By optimizing production times, reducing costs, ensuring quality and improving safety, customer satisfaction is significantly increased and lasting cultural change is driven in organizations that allows them to thrive in a dynamic and competitive business environment.
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The New Way to Manage Businesses
Modern business management, oriented towards the ability to adapt and the continuous search for operational excellence, found in the Lean philosophy an essential guide to redefining the way we approach business. Inspired by the principles developed by Toyota in its Toyota Production System (TPS) after World War II, Lean focuses on satisfying customer needs, maximizing added value, ensuring efficient flow and optimizing the use of resources to avoid cost overruns and unnecessary efforts.
Instead of simply implementing new tactics or technologies, Lean promotes a change in mentality and behavior at all levels of an organization. From senior management, through middle management, to operational staff, an environment is fostered where incremental improvements are valued as much as major innovations, leading to constant and sustained evolution in efficiency and quality throughout the business development and professionalization path.
This involves giving all employees the authority and responsibility to identify problems, analyze them and propose solutions in order to deliver higher quality products and services more efficiently, resulting in greater customer satisfaction and a sense of belonging for collaborators. By sharing information transparently and openly, work silos are broken down and a holistic approach to problem solving is encouraged that transforms the organization from its core to expand and grow in a positive and sustained way.
Lean as a Philosophy of Value
In its essence, Lean searches to generate exceptional customer value by minimizing waste, controlling variation and improving workflow across all dimensions of business management. Integrating the scope and its satisfaction conditions (time, cost, quality and safety) with all business operations for the creation and delivering added value to customers and profitability to the company.
To achieve this integration, there are solid principles to generate high performance in the organizations that achieve high efficiency:
Principles of Minimizing Waste: Improving Efficiency
Balance workloads and eliminate excessive burden on people and teams.
Go from supervision to supervision through controls and visual signals.
Produce based on demand to avoid overproduction.
Work towards common goals.
Principles of Customer Focus: The Reason for Being of the Business
Make long-term decisions, even sacrificing short-term results.
Use stable and repeatable methods that produce reliable results.
Stop the process when defects occur, guaranteeing quality.
Prioritize customer needs over process.
Principles of Continuous Improvement: Commitment to Innovation
Make waste visible and eliminate it to ensure a continuous flow.
Learn and improve to avoid making the same mistakes again.
Support the network of partners and suppliers to grow and develop.
When solving problems, be where they occur.
Principles of Respect for People: Harnessing Talent
Encourage participation, collaboration and personal and professional development.
Train exceptional people and teams to achieve exceptional results.
Implement technology to support people, not to replace them.
Train visionary and transformational leaders who teach others.
This framework of principles promotes the transformation of business management and that of its traditional leaders in "change's agents'', promoting cooperation, improved communication, and early identification and effective resolution of errors and problems. Business management then evolves from a hierarchical model to a collaborative one with distributed authority, and from a contractual approach to a relational one with shared risks that prioritizes the delivery of value and not the individual efficiency of the processes.
Lean as a Working model
In practice, the implementation of Lean has the purpose of eliminating work waiting for workers and vice versa. This is achieved through the dynamic and effective integration of the organization's strategy, structure and processes. Multidisciplinary teams (known as Value Offices), use efficient processes to design, plan, execute and control operations, focusing on customer value.
In this collaborative system, the key lies in providing the necessary tools for each member to meet the objectives of their position. A cooperative approach, where supervisors ask themselves, for example,"What tools can I provide you to achieve your goals and, at the same time, contribute to the achievement of mine?", generates a work environment that enhances performance and efficiency, thus increasing job satisfaction and the sense of belonging that prevents staff turnover (silent or announced)
What we are looking for when having these interactions is to produce a predictable and uninterrupted workflow, as well as an environment of rapid learning and effective communication between all levels of the structure to generate better coordination and responsibility for the planning, execution, monitoring and control of activities.
The implementation of Lean should not be done in isolation. The integration of Lean with the Project Management Institute (PMI) and adherence to local regulations and international standards, such as ISO, are crucial to optimize operations and meet internal and external client standards.
Change Management: Beyond Technical Implementation
ImplementLean In the Business Management environment it involves much more than simply adopting new tools and techniques. It requires a profound cultural transformation, change management that transcends traditional barriers and generates new ways of thinking and acting.
Overcoming resistance to change is one of the most common and significant challenges organizations face when implementing new initiatives such as Lean. This can arise from fears of the unknown, lack of understanding or support to implement it, and more.
It is crucial to break entrenched industry paradigms and redefine business and personal culture due to the fact that a new strategy, process reengineering or the adoption of technology is of no use if people do not believe in change. Some effective strategies to overcome resistance to change and foster a successful transition to a Lean approach are:
Communicate clearly the reasons and benefits of the change.
Involve employees from the beginning and offer training.
Establish clear goals and recognize achievements.
Manage resistance proactively and demonstrate exemplary leadership.
Be flexible and patient, continually evaluating and adjusting the process.
Resistance to change is natural, but the reward of a business transformation with principles Lean It is a more agile, efficient and aligned operational process with customer expectations.
Conclusion: Transforming Efficiency into Reality
The implementation of Lean In Business Management is more than a strategy; it is a revolution in the way we conceive and execute our tasks. By adopting a philosophy focused on value, efficiency and continuous improvement, we not only improve operational results, but also lay the foundation for a more agile and adaptable company culture in a constantly evolving world. Change management is the master key that unlocks the potential of Lean, taking our operations to new heights of efficiency and excellence.
By fostering a culture of continuous improvement, collaboration, employee empowerment and customer focus,Lean not only supports the business process transformation but also lays the foundation for innovation and future growth.Lean It is not only a management methodology, it is also a catalyst for cultural change and business excellence.
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About Pablo Tellaeche (Author):
Owner and main consultant of TACs Consultores, Speaker and University Professor; seeks to bring a true and positive Lean Culture and Digital Transformation to every company with which he has the pleasure of collaborating.
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