5 Steps Toward Implementing Lean Across the Enterprise

For many progressive manufacturing companies, the concept of "Lean" has evolved from its original definition as a strategy for efficient manufacturing and has now become an objective worth pursuing across every aspect of the business. Why? Because the goals of Lean are not limited solely to production. Eliminating waste, increasing efficiency and productivity, and striving for continuous improvement are now acknowledged as proven tactics in the competitive battle to improve operational performance, product quality, customer relationships and the financial bottom line.

The fact is that manufacturers can begin to adopt a Lean philosophy and expand the beneficial effects of Lean across virtually every business process in the enterprise. In doing so, over time, a company can shift its focus to become more customer-centric, optimize its supply chain management, and successfully align all of its business processes to advance corporate goals.

From a "big picture" point of view, here are five key steps an organization needs to take to begin implement Lean thinking, principles and practices. These include:

• Specify – Since the most dominant underlying principle of Lean is the creation of value for the customer, the first step calls for breaking down and analyzing the entire value chain to calculate the perceived customer value delivered by each process area.
• Map – Once the value chain is broken down, the various steps are valued and mapped in their respective places according to value delivered. Those areas that do not contribute to customer value are considered as wasteful and either minimized or eliminated. The remaining elements form the foundation for developing a true customer-focused value chain.
• Flow – The purpose of this step is to create a smooth and efficient process flow between the value-added steps identified in order to transform the chain into a value stream for the company. The increase in flow will ultimately improve lead times and eliminate "bull whip" effects, creating maximum efficiency and productivity.
• Pull – Pull and flow are two of the most important elements of Lean Manufacturing and its implementation. Once the true value stream is established, products can be manufactured in alignment with actual customer demand and not by assumptions or arbitrary forecasts.
• Perfect – The final and very important step is bringing the principle of continuous improvement to the Lean Manufacturing initiative. We have all seen how complacency and stagnation can plague an organization - whether it is a championship sports team, a small to midsize business, or a Fortune 500 company. It is essential that an organization not allow the initial taste of Lean success to get in the way of their continual pursuit of perfection. Ongoing process improvement is absolutely key to sustaining a competitive edge.

Glovia Services, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Glovia International, Inc., a subsidiary of Fujitsu Limited (Tokyo Stock Exchange: 6702), one of the world's most experienced and solidly backed providers of extended ERP solutions for businesses of any size-from small and midsized companies to global enterprises. Glovia Services offers GSInnovate web-based manufacturing software from pluggable point solutions to a comprehensive on-demand ERP suite that provides for the unique needs of engineer-to-order, make-to-order, high volume and mixed-mode manufacturing environments through comprehensive, end-to-end functionality for the entire product life-cycle. Headquartered in El Segundo, California, Glovia Services has helped manufacturers to cut costs, improve productivity, and meet customer demands for over 30 years. For more information please visit www.gsinnovate.com, or call 310-563-8700 or 877-474-8896 (toll free).

Fujitsu is a leading provider of IT-based business solutions for the global marketplace. With approximately 160,000 employees supporting customers in 70 countries, Fujitsu combines a worldwide corps of systems and services experts with highly reliable computing and communications products and advanced microelectronics to deliver added value to customers. Headquartered in Tokyo, Fujitsu Limited (TSE:6702) reported consolidated revenues of 5.3 trillion yen (US$53 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2008. For more information, please see: www.fujitsu.com.

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