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LEAN SERVICES
IMPLEMENTATION |
The core of TSD’s work is guiding clients through lean-Continuous Process Improvement (CPI) implementation projects, both large and small, and our approach is characterized by engagement, self-sufficiency and sustainability. Whether we target specific problems with |
immediate short-term solutions or provide long-term lean-CPI guidance, our focus is to engage and involve all those in the value chain, from policy-setting leaders to the process-producing workforce. And in so doing, we provide our clients the tools to implement continuing improvements and the mechanisms to sustain them long after we are gone. And throughout it all, TSD is ever mindful of the client’s immediate and long-term return on investment.
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The underlying subjects of our implementation projects are as diverse as our clients. In TSD’s early years, our lean projects moved across a wide range of product-focused industries, including automotive, electronic, medical instrument, footwear and clothing, to name a few. We expanded the boundaries of lean-CPI to include service industries, like healthcare, insurance, aircraft repair and maintenance and foodservice. And we continue to push the envelope by applying lean to business and administrative processes, and such "knowledge creation" workers as accountants, financial analysts, engineers, product developers and the like.
Our implementation guidance includes varying cycles of education, practical training-improvement events and coaching and mentoring. Their order and emphasis is governed by both our initial assessment and the client’s expectations, and |
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described in detail in a "project charter." This formal document is drafted jointly by the client and TSD and includes the parties' roles, responsibilities, risks, general goals and specific objectives.
Our programs are grounded upon the
5-Phase Lean Implementation Process Model: |
| » Stability – bringing process variables under control, providing an environment to eliminate waste and demonstrate immediate business impact. |
| » Continuous Flow - examining and striving to eliminate interruptions in equipment, processes and material, to foster continuous, unstopping movement from task to task. |
| » Synchronous Production – adjusting the flow of processes to the rate of customer demand, redistributing and rebalancing processes and the work within and documenting all to a standard. |
| » Pull Systems – pulling the product or service through its various processes, maintaining flow but moving from process to process where only those parts/elements just necessary for the next process are at the ready. |
| » Level Production – scheduling the product or service in the sequence ordered, leveled in volume, mix and sequence, over a fixed period and equal to customer demand. |
A final, but by no means subordinate element in every TSD lean-CPI implementation is our emphasis on culture change. We see the key to sustainable improvements is the development of a true problem-exposing and problem-solving culture. When problems are elevated to and embraced by management, free of stigma and blame, then the transition to lean is complete.
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