Lean methods allow service-based operations to 1) increase throughput, 2) be more deterministic, 3) reduce cycle times, and 4) adopt a culture of continuous change. Service businesses that have used lean have seen 30% increases in throughput for the same amount of labor, 40% improvement in quality, and 70% reductions in response times.
These are great results in themselves, but are only part of the story. As a result some of the barriers reducing an organization's agility are removed. They are more flexible and accepting of the change necessary to be agile. There is less work in the pipeline so changes can be more easily made. And management has the visibility within operations to understand which levers to pull when change is necessary, and to better understand in advance the impact of those lever changes.
With the barriers removed, becoming agile is about taking a system-wide view of the direct relationships between strategy, delivery, and results. And establishing a continuous lifecycle where each is updated in turn.
A company that is both Agile and Lean consistently delivers better quality products and services at less cost that more accurately meet the changing needs of their customers.
Why does it appear that companies, in the zest to get lean and agile (or if you prefer agile and lean) first look to layoffs? Would you not try to "sell more stuff" first?
Posted by: Acemakr | May 17, 2004 at 11:02 AM