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ChangeWise Quick Read: 5 Principles of Lean Part 3/5 Create Flow

Following on from our previous Quick Reads where we looked at Lean Principles 1 & 2; Specify Value & Identify the Value Stream, we are now ready to take a look at Principle 3: Create Flow

What is meant by Create Flow?

Products or services should move fluidly through the value stream without interruption. We need to ask ourselves; how can we make the work flow with fewer interruptions?

Start by thinking of your process like a river…..you will need to remove rocks and boulders if you want to ensure the water can flow smoothly without disruption.

Ok, easy in theory but what about reality?

Achieving flow in your organisation is possible through the elimination of waste – such as work-in-progress, rework and waiting.

I’m listening….can you give me an example?

Of course! Think about the cheque clearing process; once banked, cheques are often batched and transported to a clearing centre – this is a classic example of waste as the process interrupts flow and creates waste.

Ok, I get it now! Give me some Lean tools so I can get started please!

Absolutely! As we said before, the quickest, easiest and cheapest way to create flow and improve a process is to eliminate waste – and there are some really effective lean tools you can use to help.

Two types of waste analysis can be used when looking at waste from a lean perspective; Production Waste and Service Waste:

Production Waste: Production waste refers to any waste generated from the production of a product. Whilst it is key to manufacturing organisations, it is hugely relevant to many other organisations as it can refer to any ‘widget’ that passes through a process – not just a product and its associated features. Think of a loan application going for approval, an expenses report heading to finance, or a design brief being prepared for a client. The 8 production wastes will still be helpful in improving these processes as they all administer a ‘widget’.

Service Waste: Service Waste (from The Service Systems Toolbox, 2012 by John Bicheno), refers to any waste generated in the provision of a service to customers and tends to be most prevalent in the information flow. This type of waste continues to elevate in importance as organisations focus more and more on their service provision and resulting customer satisfaction.

Now you understand the difference between the two types, let’s look at the variety of waste noted in each model.

The 8 Classic Wastes of the Toyota Production System (TPS):

The 8 classic wastes can be classified using the acronym TIMWOODS as follows:

  • Transport: Unnecessary movement of items
  • Inventory: Holding more inventory or materials than required
  • Motion: Movement of people that does not add value
  • Waiting: Employees and customers waiting
  • Overprocessing: Processing more than is required
  • Overproduction: Producing more than is required
  • Defects: Errors, mistakes and rework
  • Skills or Talent: Employees not fully utilised/talent not used

⚠️ Important Point! For more details and examples of these wastes, pop over to our useful Quick Read; The 8 Lean Wastes.

If we think about our cheque clearing example above, we can see several potential wastes including, Transport, Inventory, Waiting and Over-Processing.

⚠️ Important Point! Always think about Waste from the customer’s perspective!

Production waste is often characteristic to each industry and can vary considerably. Creating a Value Stream Map is the first step in identifying where these wastes reside. 

Let’s take a quick look at Service Waste

Service Waste

Like Production waste, Service Waste (from The Service Systems Toolbox, 2012 by John Bicheno), these wastes can be found in any industry – but are of particular importance to the service sector. They have a strong impact on customer satisfaction and can directly cause your customer to divert to a competitor. They consist of the following:

⚠️ Important Point! Creating a Value Stream Map (VSM) followed by a Customer Journey Map, is a good way to identify the seven service wastes – and eliminate them!

In Summary

Principle 3: Implementing Flow, will free up time and/or capacity to do more, improve product and service quality, along with reducing costs and increasing both customer and employee satisfaction. Identifying, classifying and eliminating the waste within your process will help you to achieve flow.

Need help getting started with your Lean improvement? Get in touch with the ChangeWise team at info@changewise.co.uk

ChangeWise believes employee engagement is the foundation for successful Change. Training and coaching your people to use simple continuous improvement techniques will enable your organisation to continuously adapt and stay ahead in a constantly changing and challenging environment.

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