We all strive to get rid of fat and lose weight. The same is true for the organization in which you are running or working, except for “the bottom line”. This is the one area where the owners or CEOs are concerned if it goes lean. The fatness of the final result is inversely proportional to the resources used to produce goods.
Due to the competitive environment, the global market is driving all companies to achieve better financial results. In this environment, competition can arise not only in the local environment but also from any corner of the world.
All over the world, organizations are striving to become lean. When I say “organization” they mean not only manufacturing but also service sectors. Take, for example, insurance and banking or transport and tourism. Today’s banking industry is trying to shed its weight in several areas and the new banks are starting to get lean. Organizations that are following “lean” practices across the enterprise have been able to realize higher asset velocity, higher productivity, and better customer service, resulting in a broad bottom line.
The Internet increases the challenge, along with all the logistical capabilities of today’s world. Now you can buy anything from anywhere in the world. American companies are buying services from India, and I take the opportunity to buy marginally damaged books from Amazon at half or a quarter of the published rates. I find it cheaper to order my business cards online, select a card from the templates, and have it delivered to my door in 8-10 business days.
Let me first give you a little history of “lean” and who can implement it. The terminology arose in the 1970s with the rush of Japanese products into the automotive and electronics industries. In the 1980s this was standard practice to improve production. In the next decade, the emphasis was on maintenance after survival. In India we probably missed all the excitement and exhaustion in the 70’s and 80’s because of the raj license permit. Even today it is still applied to manufacturing, but rarely to the office and back office environment.
With every new concept questions arise, and Lean is no exception. He starts with reducing the workforce or supplies without proper planning. The owners and upper management see it as a cost cutting program and direct the implementers to do it. Some also adopt it for its quality. It applies only to the continuous process and not in R&D. Toyota has successfully implemented these practices to reduce the cycle time to develop and bring to market new products.
“Lean” as quality is a culture change program. It won’t produce results if someone just says let’s get a consultant and show our people that this is the way to do it. In other words, “lean” is not just reducing the number of employees or reducing costs, but increasing the production of the same number of people and reducing process costs by improving productivity. No doubt this will automatically save a lot of money, but more importantly, it will save time that is wasted on many processes and cannot be recovered, EVER.
All of us, from the president to the pawn, have 24 hours a day at our disposal. Managing these 24 hours is not a matter of making appointments or making a complete to-do list. Those who can effectively use the same 24 hours to be more productive are ahead of the rest. Lean practices teach us how to differentiate between productive and unproductive processes, and then it is up to us to reduce those unproductive processes. And this is true for any of us, as an individual or organization.
Now how do you apply this to office productivity? There is an elaborate procedure and a need to look into various aspects. It is not possible to cover the entire topic in this newsletter, but I would like to clear up some questions you may have. There is a difference between an automated office and a lean office. The automated office will have a lot of office equipment, but unless you are geared towards simplifying the process, these are just machines. They need to be used judiciously.
It is essential to understand the purpose of the office for any organization. An office arises to manage the information of an organization. The organization could be related to a self-employed person (commission agent, merchant, etc.), a professional (doctor, lawyer, consulting engineer, etc.) or a small/medium/large organization. Depending on the size and complexity of the business, there are a number of people who handle information in any organization.
New slogans like “Right information at the right time” or “24×7” are useful only if the organization practices “lean” in the offices and not just in manufacturing. You may have observed that finding or getting information from anyone in any of those “catchphrase” organizations is still a Herculean task. But don’t laugh at them. Turn around and look at your own office – from outside. 9 out of 10 of you will observe that you are no different. You may not be looking for paper, but you may be looking for the email or file you wrote yesterday.
If you want to move towards a “lean office”, go ahead and start now. Just remember, to practice “lean” the process is a marathon run and not a 100 meter run.