The term Lean Thinking was coined by James Womack and Daniel Jones in their book by the same name, which captures the magic of the Toyota Production System (TPS). It became a new way of thinking. The focus is to create a lean enterprise, which sustains growth through aligning customer satisfaction with employee satisfaction. A process which offers innovative products or services profitably while minimizing unnecessary over-costs to customers, suppliers and the environment. The basic thought of the concept of lean thinking is that if you train every person to identify wasted time and effort in their own job, they then work together to improve processes by eliminating waste. The end result is an enterprise that delivers more value at less expense, while developing every employee’s confidence, competence and ability to work well with others.

Lean Thinking Principles

There are five guiding principles of lean thinking:

1. Value – Understand the value the customer places upon their products and services. The value determines how much money the customer is willing to pay for the product or services.
2. Value streams – Is the entire flow of a product’s life cycle, from the origin of the raw materials through to the customer’s final cost of the product.
3. Flow – One of the most significant keys to elimination of waste. If the chain stops moving forward, not matter what the reason, waste will be created. It is an organized and synchronized process.
4. Pull – Do not make anything until the customer orders it. It requires great flexibility and very short cycle times of design, production, and delivery of the products and services.
5. Perfection – The relentless pursuit of perfection is key attitude of an organization that is going to go lean and practice lean thinking.

The aim of lean thinking is to develop each person’s autonomy in problem solving by supporting them in their continuous improvement. It is taught to managers so that they help their direct reports to think lean and reduce waste by working more closely with their teams and across functional boundaries. At the senior level, lean thinking creates leaner enterprises because sales increase through customer satisfaction with higher quality products or services.

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What Does Lean Focus On?

Lean focuses on reducing the eight types of waste (Muda).  Defects, overproduction, waiting, non-utilized talent, waste from transportation, inventory waste, waste from motion, unnecessary processing. Additionally, Lean principles aim to reduce waste by identifying and eliminating it. Lean also improves production by maximizing flow and identifying non-value-adding steps you should remove. Anything that does not add value for the customer is a potential threat to production. As such, Lean uses a holistic approach that aims to build a culture of continuous improvement and in-depth analysis.

Lean Principles, Tools, and Techniques

• PDCA. Standing for Plan, Do, Check, Act, PDCA is a rapid cycle-based strategy used to drive process improvement.

• 5S is a 5-step method for creating and maintaining an intuitive and efficient workplace. The 5 Ss stand for Sort, Set In Order, Shine, Standardize, Sustain.

• 8 Types of Waste. Lean aims to eliminate the eight waste types: defects, overproduction, waiting, non-utilized talent, waste from transportation, inventory waste, waste from motion, and unnecessary

• Value Stream Maps. VSMs are a visual method for displaying the key process steps in production.

• Flow is the unhindered movement of a process.

• Pull describes how customer demand is used to dictate process flow, i.e. what the customer wants, or might want, determines what a company produces.

What does Six Sigma Focus On?

Six Sigma and Lean share many similarities. As such, they complement each other very well. However, Six Sigma focuses primarily on reducing variation, just one of the seven types of waste Lean tackles. Six Sigma is used to complete improvement projects, aimed at solving process issues. It is also highly data-oriented, involving validation of hypotheses using statistics. Six Sigma knowledge is classified using a belt-based hierarchy styled on martial arts (Yellow, Green, Black, and Master Black Belt). The higher the belt, the more adept you are at using Six Sigma. Furthermore, one of Six Sigma’s primary tools is a 5-step method with which to complete improvement projects.

Six Sigma Ideas, Tools, and Techniques

• DMAIC. This 5-step method uses the following steps, Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control to improve production processes. Furthermore, DMAIC also allows you to identify the problem and develop creative solutions through deep analysis.

• Project Charter. Six Sigma uses a single-page document to outline the process issue, project goal, scope, and a timeline. Moreover, the charter forms an essential framework for the trajectory of an improvement project.

• Pareto Chart. Pareto Charts display information about potential causes of process issues in a cascading bar chart format. Additionally, you should also organize problems from largest to smallest.

• Hypothesis Testing. Hypothesis Testing is a way of providing statistical precision to root causes of process problems, so you can make the best decisions.

• Design of Experiments. Methods of controlled testing, with which to assess how efficient processes are. DoE also allows you to select the best conditions, materials, and methods for each.

• Statistical Process Control. SPC enables you to monitor your processes, ensuring they consistently satisfy customer demand.

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