Operations & IT

Lean Management

Lean management began in the mid-20th Century, particularly in Japan, as a method for maximising the efficiency of high-value manufacturing processes, such as car assembly lines. The basic principle of lean management is a constant and unrelenting effort to increase efficiency, reduce waste, avoid stoppages and identify and solve problems before they arise.

The reason that so many companies struggle with the implementation of lean management practices is that it relies primarily on a company-wide commitment to relentless efficiency improvements at a cultural level.

The process improvements that take place under lean management are so specific and refined that they implicitly cannot come simply top-down from management, but requires a daily commitment to excellence and customer satisfaction to develop in those people at each unique step of your process.

A Consultport consultant can guide your company down the right course by developing this culture of efficiency and designing unique processes for your company’s circumstances.

  • Tools for Lean Management: 

    Even the most enthusiastic managers will struggle with the implementation of lean management in the processes they oversee if they have no reliable means for measuring the progress of their teams. A lean management consultant will provide your managers with the training and tools to reliably evaluate the progress of their teams in their incorporation of lean management principles.

  • Strategy for Cultural Change and Reinforcement:

    The greatest efficiency gains take place at the individual and team level, which means that your company’s employees working directly in your production processes need to identify and act on these opportunities. Lean management consultants will design a strategy for the necessary cultural changes and reinforcement systems to ensure that these principles are embraced by all employees.

  • Process Reorganisation:

    For lean management practices to be effective, you need to reorganize your company’s managerial and oversight practices so that new channels of communication and decision-making can provide the flexibility necessary for constant gradual change to take place. Under lean management, managers are the means by which bottom-up changes takes place, and your management team needs the appropriate systems in place to allow efficiency gains to manifest.

  • Communication Training:

    Lean management principles require a greater amount of communication to operate effectively than most workers and managers are accustomed to. Your company’s ability to communicate internally must expand so that all the complex lean management processes can be fully enacted. A consultant can provide training that allows workers and management to communicate more effectively and robustly without relying on strict, top-down hierarchies.

  • Customer Perspective in Lean Management:

    Lean management requires that your company’s relentless search for efficiency is balanced with the consideration of the needs of your customers, otherwise your company will inevitably sacrifice quality in the pursuit of efficiency. All proposed efficiency improvements must be reversed and reexamined from the customer’s perspective to ensure that quality is not being reduced in exchange for cost-cutting. A lean management consultant can provide customer perspective training based on years of experience with successful lean management applications.

Insights

Read some related publications

Our management consulting services focus on our clients’ most critical issues and opportunities: strategy, marketing, organization, operations, technology, transformation, digital, advanced analytics, corporate finance, mergers & acquisitions and sustainability across all industries and geographies. We bring deep, functional expertise, but are known for our holistic perspective: we capture value across boundaries and between the silos of any organization. We have proven a multiplier effect from optimizing the sum of the parts, not just the individual pieces.

Explore your project topic

lean management, Lean Management
lean management, Lean Management

Tell us your needs and we will put you in touch with our consultants free of charge.

Empower your business with flexible, cost-effective talent management.