Mar

Agreeing on Standards in a Lean Enterprise

Lean technology has now evolved from the manufacturing floor to the whole enterprise. Many companies have found real value in applying the fundamental concepts of Lean throughout the organization. The lean concepts of Kaizen, PDCA and the tools such as Pareto Charts, 5 Why’s and even Poka Yoke are commonplace. However, the concept of Standard Work is the most fundamental of all Lean practices but the most controversial in whether it is applicable to the service sector.

Last week I had asked Dr. Balle to define Standard Work in Lean Services. However, I felt that it begged for the next question, who is involved on agreeing on the standard? As always Dr. Balle had a unique answered.

Dr. Michael Ballé is a business researcher and consultant and has studied lean transformation for the past 15 years. He is Associate Researcher at Télécom ParisTech and the co-founder of the French Lean Institute (www.institut-lean-france.fr) and the Projet Lean Enterprise (www.lean.enst.fr). He coaches CEOs and senior executives in using lean to radically improve their businesses’ performances and establish lean cultures.