Lean in Services
Introduction
The need to survive and excel on markets facing increasing competition and highly demanding customers represents the catalyst for the attempt of many companies to improve their business processes and find new ways of becoming more efficient. Lean production principles, pioneered by Toyota in the last half of the 20th century (Womack et al, 1990), proved consistent results for the manufacturing companies that understood mass production strategy had become obsolete, after almost a century of dominance. Applicable successfully to the manufacturing industries, the lean philosophy will be analysed in the present synopsis through the perspective of services industry, usually dealing with intangibles.
Lean Manufacturing
In their research on the Toyota manufacturing system, The Machine that Changed the World (1990), Womack, Jones and Roos formulate the theoretical framework of lean manufacturing. Lean production combines the advantages of craft and mass production, while avoiding the high cost of craft and the rigidity of mass (Womack et al, 1990). Its aims to keep lower inventory, eliminate waste and reduce costs, which are common supply chain ambitions, and additionally it allows increasing the variety of products and employees’ motivation.
According to the same authors, the elements of lean production relate to all main areas of activity of a company: operations, supply chain, product development, customer relations, human resources management, distribution, etc (Womack et al, 1990).
The core lean principle, governing mainly manufacturing operations, is eliminating waste. Waste means “any activity that does not add value” (Slack, 2010:435). In the Toyota plant, the Machine authors observed clean isles, few indirect workers, no room for storing inventories, almost no rework at the end of the production line, short time set-up changes and inventory brought by neighbouring suppliers (Womack et al, 1990). The first step in eliminating waste is
The need to survive and excel on markets facing increasing competition and highly demanding customers represents the catalyst for the attempt of many companies to improve their business processes and find new ways of becoming more efficient. Lean production principles, pioneered by Toyota in the last half of the 20th century (Womack et al, 1990), proved consistent results for the manufacturing companies that understood mass production strategy had become obsolete, after almost a century of dominance. Applicable successfully to the manufacturing industries, the lean philosophy will be analysed in the present synopsis through the perspective of services industry, usually dealing with intangibles.
Lean Manufacturing
In their research on the Toyota manufacturing system, The Machine that Changed the World (1990), Womack, Jones and Roos formulate the theoretical framework of lean manufacturing. Lean production combines the advantages of craft and mass production, while avoiding the high cost of craft and the rigidity of mass (Womack et al, 1990). Its aims to keep lower inventory, eliminate waste and reduce costs, which are common supply chain ambitions, and additionally it allows increasing the variety of products and employees’ motivation.
According to the same authors, the elements of lean production relate to all main areas of activity of a company: operations, supply chain, product development, customer relations, human resources management, distribution, etc (Womack et al, 1990).
The core lean principle, governing mainly manufacturing operations, is eliminating waste. Waste means “any activity that does not add value” (Slack, 2010:435). In the Toyota plant, the Machine authors observed clean isles, few indirect workers, no room for storing inventories, almost no rework at the end of the production line, short time set-up changes and inventory brought by neighbouring suppliers (Womack et al, 1990). The first step in eliminating waste is