The road to lean. (An Advertising Supplement to the Los Angeles Business Journal: Education).

Companies all over the world are getting "Lean" and its not just manufacturers doing it. In the 90s it was Total Quality Management and ISO-9000, in this new Millennium it all about becoming Lean.

We can say "congratulations" and take pride in what our managers have done here in the U.S. They have truly adopted the Japanese philosophy of participative management and quality as being the number one priority. They have empowered their employees to take a role in decision-making and have transformed many of our companies into quality driven operations that are, indeed, running the race nose-to-nose with our Asian competitors.

But, the Total Quality Management movement, originally inspired by the late Dr. Deming in the 1 960s, has now become only a ticket to get into the amusement park. In order for our companies to stay in the game as world-class competitors they must go far beyond TQM and 150-9000. The new buzzword is "Lean" and many of our companies have already started the journey.

So! What is Lean?

James P. Womack and Daniel T. Jones, in their, now popular, book "Lean Thinking" define Lean as providing a way to do more and more work with less and less-less human effort, less equipment, less time, and less space-while coming closer and closer to providing customers with exactly what they want. Lean Manufacturing or, to put it in better terms, Lean Enterprise, is a set of proven principles focused on eliminating waste. Waste is anything other than the minimum amount of equipment, materials, parts, space, and workers' time, which are absolutely essential to add value to the product or service being sold to customers. In a typical company there can be a lot of waste going on. The principles of Lean provide methods and tools for identifying this waste and getting rid of it.

The experts on Lean have identified seven basic categories of waste that may be occurring in your company. These are:

* Over production -- producing more product than is needed

* Waiting time -- Waiting for materials, paperwork, or tools

* Transportation -- Transporting product or materials more than is needed

* Processing -- inefficient processing or nonvalue added operations due to poor planning or workplace layout

* Inventory -- Storing too much product or materials just to make sure enough is on hand or to compensate for poor quality or long lead times

* Motion -- Workers making extra steps, bending down, or excessive reaching for items because of poor planning or workplace layout

* Space -- Using space for extra machinery or equipment, materials, or tools that are not really needed or space being taken up with too much material in process waiting to be worked.

This list is not inclusive as there are other things that can cause waste such as poor training, too much complexity in design and production methods, too much inspection, machine breakdowns, inadequate equipment and the list goes on.

Getting started with Lean usually begins by initiating Lean Operations Training for a core group of managers and key employees then starting a program called the 5S (Sort, Simplify, Sweep/cleanup, Standardize, and Sustain) which is focused on organizing and cleaning up the various production and office workplaces throughout the company. After the 5S program has taken hold and permanent disciplines are initiated to maintain order Lean teams are organized to focus on specific products or services to develop a current state value stream map of all the steps or processes required to deliver the finished product or service to the customer.

After extensive analysis of this map the teams develop a future state value stream map using a variety of Lean principals and tools to enhance production operations and eliminate as much waste as possible in the value stream. One or more events called KAIZAN events are scheduled to initiate the improvements that have been developed. New teams and maps are created on a continuous basis while the company progresses toward becoming a World Class Lean Enterprise.

You can get your company on the track towards Lean by initiating hands on training to prepare your managers and key employees in the principles of Lean that will work best for your organization. There are a variety of consulting firms from Japan and here in the U.S. that can help or you can utilize training funds provided by the state of California to help companies and their employees stay competitive.

For more in formation call Brad Hulbert at the Glendale Community College Professional Development Center, [phone].