7 types of losses in the office. How and why does lean fail in the office? Garbage and dirt

Grigory Panov Graduated from the Moscow Institute of Radio Engineering, Electronics and Automation. In 1995 he founded the GrandGift company. He took eight different courses on lean manufacturing, which he began implementing in his company in 2006.

Lean rules that increase speed

I will list a few lean rules that we follow in the company. All of them have been proposed as a response to problems that have arisen in the past. Thanks to the introduction of fresh ideas, we were able to reduce the time for processing orders, searching for information, and reducing the amount of inventory.

1. Room plan. On the wall next to the door to each office there is a plan of the desk: the location of the desks, indicating their numbers, as well as the names, positions and photos of the employees who sit at them. Anyone who comes to the department can easily find the right colleague.

2. Internal mail. All offices have special racks with pockets for papers. Each of them is signed, some have photographs of the employees to whom the papers are addressed. This helps speed up internal document flow. Let's say an employee needs to endorse my papers, but I'm busy. Then he leaves the documents on a stand in his office. I walk around the office many times a day and, if I see papers addressed to me, I immediately sign them and leave them on the same stand, but upside down (a signal that the document has been signed).

3. Class loading schedule. We have an office where gift wrapping courses are held - we teach this skill to all staff, including cleaners and drivers, as well as clients. In our free time we use the classroom as a meeting room. Previously, employees had to check with the training department when a room was available. Now we have hung a sheet in the hallway with a schedule of classes for two to three months in advance. Now anyone can book a time by simply entering their last name in the empty space. Of course, it would be possible to maintain a schedule on the corporate portal, but this is more complicated: you need to go to the website, etc. We all walk along the corridor several times a day.

4. Cabinets with open shelves. In closed cabinets everything is usually piled up, and no one knows exactly what is there. Junk can take up valuable space for years. So we got rid of all the closed cabinets, replacing them with open shelves. This disciplines the staff.

5. Visual navigation on shelves. The folders on the shelves only stand vertically - so they are easy to get out. To ensure that the folders are always put in their place, we have made markings: an oblique line of a certain color runs diagonally along the spines of the folders. If the folder is out of place, it will immediately catch your eye.

6. Registration of each item. Each item in the office indicates its address: office number, table or shelf number, cell number (see. rice. 2). For example, tags on wires simplify the process of employees moving from office to office: we don’t have to figure out where each wire leads from huge coils under the tables, this can be read on the tag. In addition, electrical wires are marked in red, and wires that connect equipment to each other are marked in green.

7. Signal cards for consumables. We make alarm cards for all office materials (printer paper, cartridges, toilet paper, cardboard, cleaning products, etc.) so that you can notice when they are running low. At the bottom of the material container we place a bright card with the name of the consumable. When a person takes the last cartridge or the last pack of printer paper, this card is opened. Supply department employees walk around the office every day and, if they see a signal card, order materials. The idea of signal cards was first used in the corporate first aid kit to help refill medications on time, and then we began to use it for consumables in the office and warehouse.

8. A place for each item. One way is to mark the outline of an object, for example, in desktop drawers: when a tool is not in place, it is immediately visible. In addition, we implemented the following ideas:

Homemade table trays. Instead of standard plastic dividers, the tables have homemade cardboard trays with the required number and size of cells (each compartment is labeled).
Thematic toolkits. For example, we have a presentation case in which additional items are stored along with the projector: a mouse, speakers, extension cord, remote control, etc. Each item has its own place, marked with an outline and a signature. The suitcase contains detailed instructions on how to operate the projector. Now there are no more problems: nothing is lost, any employee can independently connect the projector.

9. “Ears” with telephone numbers for monitors. About once a month, our list of internal telephone numbers is updated - someone joins the company, someone quits, or moves to another office. Employees came up with the idea of attaching transparent pockets to the monitor, into which lists with phone numbers are inserted . All departments are responsible for updating in turn (the specific performer is determined by the boss). The duty officer collects information about updates, corrects the list and sends it to everyone in a ready-made format - all you have to do is print it out, cut it out and put it in your pocket. The last line on the list is the person on duty next month.

More on the topic

Article “How to increase labor productivity by a third when there is no money for it.” In crisis conditions, when there is no money and time for complete technical re-equipment, inexpensive (or better yet free) ways to improve the situation are needed. The most effective method is lean manufacturing.
Article "Lean manufacturing, or How to reduce losses". The goal of lean manufacturing is to identify, analyze and eliminate all waste in the production process.

Read your magazine in the mobile app for iPad and iPhone because it's convenient.
See for yourself by installing the application on your mobile device.

Don Tapping, Anne Dunn

Lean Office: Eliminating wastage of time and money

Translators A. Zalesova, T. Gutman

Editor S. Turco

Project Manager S. Turco

Technical editor N. Lisitsyna

Corrector V. Muratkhanov

Computer layout A. Fominov

Cover design DesignDepot

All rights reserved. The work is intended exclusively for private use. No part of the electronic copy of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, including posting on the Internet or corporate networks, for public or collective use without the written permission of the copyright owner. For violation of copyright, the law provides for payment of compensation to the copyright holder in the amount of up to 5 million rubles (Article 49 of the Code of Administrative Offenses), as well as criminal liability in the form of imprisonment for up to 6 years (Article 146 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

* * *

After reading this book, you:

Learn to identify losses and find hidden reserves for increasing productivity in office work;

Master the basic loss reduction tools: Kanban cards, 5S system, information visualization methods;

You can always know at what stage each process is and how long it takes to complete it.

I am pleased to present to you the book “The Lean Office”. Over the past twenty years, lean manufacturing has come to play a leading role in reducing organizational costs—typically manufacturing costs—by identifying and eliminating waste (non-value-added work for which the customer is not willing to pay). However, efforts are being made to introduce the same tools into non-productive sectors of the economy, including the military, education, healthcare, finance and construction.

The book contains information about the experiences of people applying lean manufacturing in a variety of industries. These pioneers of lean manufacturing - the senseis - have achieved significant success in a variety of industries over the past ten years, and they have done a lot of business improvement work. The book shares the success stories of these pioneers and the tools they use.

Any organizational process - be it accepting an order for industrial products, processing a client's credit card, medical care in a clinic - must satisfy the needs of the consumer (patient, client).

Within the pages of this book, the reader will find a complete guide to identifying and eliminating costs through the involvement of all employees in the process. This book is intended to be a compass that points you towards a leaner, more productive and efficient office. There are no secrets here. We are committed to systematically disseminating best practices across all industries and would love for you to share your successes with us.

Bon Voyage!

Don Tapping

Acknowledgments

This book is an example of teamwork, partnership, and learning from the experiences of a group of people who each contributed to its creation.

The book took more than five years to create. Before it was published, its content was repeatedly revised and corrected.

Many thanks to those who contributed to this work. The names of its members are listed below:

Tom Casassa, CQE/SSBB/PM, Quality Management Headquarters, Naval Surface Warfare Center, Panama City, Florida;

Curtis Walker, President, GDC Consulting;

Roger Cramer, consultant;

Stu Tubbs, PhD, leadership scholar, Eastern Michigan University, author of Small Group Discussion (McGraw-Hill, Inc. 1993);

Debra Hadfield, MSN;

Sheleg Holmes;

We express our gratitude to you, the reader and our client, for the time and effort you have spent on applying and developing lean manufacturing methods in the field of administrative work. We know this is not an easy task and we look forward to helping you in your endeavors. We will be glad if you share your successes and problems with us. Our email address:

Introduction

What is it for?

This book is primarily intended for organizations that want to improve administrative processes. It will primarily be useful to managers who train employees, leaders responsible for implementing lean manufacturing, continuous improvement coordinators, and anyone involved in optimizing the flow of work to increase productivity and improve the bottom line.

Business leaders who take organizations into new markets to discover new opportunities and strive to streamline current business processes to become more competitive must relentlessly improve company value for shareholders. The book “The Lean Office” will bring them considerable benefit.

This book will help you understand the challenges that workers face every day in a variety of fields. The authors convincingly explain why continuous improvement should be a way of life. At the end of each chapter, the authors provide summaries, questionnaires, and case studies to help you improve your administration.

For leaders in healthcare, finance, retail, construction, and manufacturing, this book will help you stay in business in the 21st century and lay the foundation for continued company improvement.

What is inside?

The Lean Office book provides an extensive set of detailed recommendations for creating a lean office. By following them, you can lay a solid foundation for applying lean manufacturing tools. Office workers who deal with various requests day after day need to know what to do, where to turn and who to listen to.

The first part helps lay the foundation for creating a lean office. It talks about the main tools and concepts of lean manufacturing, the upcoming changes and the introduction of a number of very useful and effective tools. All of this will allow you to make tangible progress towards creating a lean office.

Part two is about creating the support systems needed to improve processes. This involves a detailed analysis of current processes, development of standards to which they must adhere, and load balancing to ensure a smooth and uninterrupted flow of work. This is the core of the lean office, and this part of the project is the most time-consuming to implement.

Part Three focuses on the visual controls, error controls, and metrics that will enable continuous improvement in the lean office. It is necessary to select models for comparison, clearly define the distribution of functions in the new organization, find those who will take on the role of leader, and ensure work without defects. All these are necessary conditions for the formation of a new culture.

You can use this book to complement any other continuous improvement materials you already have at your disposal. While this book is comprehensive and contains everything you need, it should be noted that as authors and continuous improvement practitioners, we do not reject other ways of thinking. No book can help an organization get rid of all its problems. We sincerely believe that our book and the examples it contains will help you find answers to many of the questions you face when creating a lean office.

How to get the most out of a book

By applying the concepts and tools discussed in this book, you can create a system that, as part of a lean organization, will provide control and improvement to processes (eliminating non-value-added activities).

Today, when competition in the market is high and rivals are not asleep, many companies are beginning to look for new ways and forms of saving costs and optimizing business processes. The goal is to get ahead and overtake the competition.

I was actively involved in finding answers to questions on cost optimization, as well as implementing various solution methods when I headed the Personnel Management Service at a food production enterprise.

There is a widespread belief that “lean production” systems, or, as they are also called, “lean management”, as a rule, are used only in production itself.

Here it is necessary to clarify what “lean manufacturing” is? The term translates from English as “nothing superfluous” and its founder is Taiichi Ohno, who created the production system at Toyota in the 1950s. It is a manufacturing enterprise management concept based on the constant effort to eliminate all types of waste. The concept involves the involvement of each employee in the business optimization process and maximum customer focus.

The starting point is an analysis of the value of the created product for the end consumer at each stage of its implementation. The main task is to create a process for the continuous elimination of losses, any actions that consume resources but do not create value for the end consumer.

There are seven types of losses:

losses due to overproduction;
loss of time due to waiting;
losses due to unnecessary transportation;
unnecessary processing steps;
excess inventory;
unnecessary movements;
release of defective products.

Many tools of the “lean production” system have been developed to solve the problem of cost optimization. It became clear to me that there are methods that help to cope with issues not only in production, but also in office work.

Thus, we conducted an experiment to optimize work processes in the personnel service using one of the “lean manufacturing” tools - 5S.

5S is a method of organizing a workspace, the goal of which is to create optimal conditions for doing work, maintaining order, saving time and energy, and constantly improving business processes.

The technology for creating an effective workplace consists of five elements:

Sorting;
A place for everything (Setinoder);
Keeping clean (Sweeping);
Standardizing;
Improvement (Sustain).

As a result of implementation, we received not only a clear, standardized system for organizing workplaces in the personnel service, but also significant time savings due to the creation of personnel work standards, the reduction of two staff positions due to the reduction of unnecessary actions and redistribution of responsibilities, as well as savings in office supplies and even office furniture .

Let's take a closer look at each element of the 5S method.

1. Sorting

At the workplace, all items are divided into necessary and unnecessary. It is necessary to remove unnecessary items. These actions also lead to improved work culture and safety. All employees are involved in sorting and identifying items that should be:

immediately removed and disposed of;
moved to a storage location;
left as necessary to complete the work.

Items in need of storage are moved to the “quarantine” area. Such space can be allocated in each service in the office or in a specially organized warehouse. All things moved to the “quarantine” zone are subject to marking, that is, they are marked with red accompanying labels, which indicate:

date of;
labeled by whom;
Full name and position of the employee (workplace owner);
information about the item (name, inventory number, quantity);
reason for marking (foreign object, not in use, broken, obsolete, purpose unknown, requires repair, surplus, etc.).

When carrying out the “sorting” stage, it is important to devote special time to separating electronic documents: it is necessary to remove duplicates and those that have not been used for more than six months. Particularly important, not often used ones can be moved to a folder named “Archive”.

2. A place for everything (Setinoder)

The key concepts in this case are rational arrangement and putting in order the necessary items. Things need to be placed in certain places so that they are easily accessible to everyone who uses them. You should also label them for quick retrieval. The main purpose of this element is to define a "home" for each item in the workspace.

To carry out this work in the office, I recommend using a sports mat, which is so popular when doing yoga or during hiking, it is also called “foam”. Such a rug should be cut into pieces according to the area of the desk drawer; two rugs are needed for each drawer.

Next, you determine the items needed to store in the drawer, for example: scissors, pen, pencil, eraser, ruler, etc. Two rugs are placed in a box, and in the top rug it is necessary to cut out recesses for each item, having first made a stencil of each item, tracing its borders with a pencil.

In each recess of the lower mat, you must write (on paper of the same size and secure with transparent tape) the name of the item that will be placed in the recess. This is done so that everyone can accurately determine where the item is stored and always return it to a certain place.

When implementing the stage of rational arrangement, it is necessary to create electronic folders of documents in which they will be located in a convenient way for quick search.

The names of the folders, for example, can be as follows: working documents - “Projects”, “In Work”, “5S”, “Archive”, etc.

To avoid repeated cluttering of the workspace, a cleaning schedule is created with a clear indication of the timing of its implementation and the responsible persons.

The owner of the workplace must clean, for example:

current documents on the desktop - daily (preventing the accumulation of documents, sorting, archive);
contents of cabinets - weekly (sorting, placing unnecessary items in the red label area);
office equipment - daily (cleaning from dust), etc. according to the established schedule.

Cleaning the workplace, office supplies and instruments, maintaining a rational arrangement of objects according to the created map of the workspace is the direct responsibility of the owner of the workplace. Means for maintaining cleanliness and order should always be in close proximity.

When carrying out the cleaning stage, it is necessary to sort and delete electronic documents; it is better to do this weekly.

4. Standardizing

The most effective solutions found during the implementation of the first three steps must be recorded in writing so that they become visual and easy to remember. It is necessary to develop standards for documents, work and safety precautions using visual control, develop and implement 5S standards. It is also necessary to introduce visual (visual) control and information in the workspace, to apply “checklists” both daily (5S-five minutes) for self-control and development of self-discipline, and weekly to monitor compliance with 5S standards by external auditors.

When implementing the standardization stage, it is necessary to create a uniform standard format for electronic document folders for all employees of the standard service with access to each folder for the manager. In the “checklist”, it is better to highlight the item on checking compliance with the standard for the arrangement of electronic documents separately.

5. Improvement (Sustain)

Goal: to ensure that the implementation of the methodology procedures becomes a habit and becomes an integral part of daily activities in the workspace. It is also necessary to visualize improvement actions: develop and record proposals for modifications, implement new improved standards.

Sample improvement techniques:

search for the primary problem;
its analysis and solution;
changing the standard of work taking into account what has been achieved.

Improvement is the pinnacle of the 5S system. Every employee must understand that creating and maintaining order is an opportunity to concentrate their forces for the high-quality and effective performance of their immediate work functionality. Moreover, this happens without unnecessary loss of time and distraction of attention to matters that do not bring profit to the company. Everything is focused on finding and constantly improving work, as well as implementing the proposals found.

The implementation of the system is impossible without a leader and, of course, this can only be a leader. Work on introducing the system is necessarily accompanied by preliminary training and personal example of the manager. During implementation, employees often develop a sharp rejection of the order system at the very beginning.

We all know what goes on in the desk drawers in the vast majority of offices. In order to find a pencil sharpener, you need to rummage through several desk drawers, because they contain a huge amount of “necessary things that will definitely come in handy.” Employees are indignant, do not understand the purpose of the implementation, sometimes it even comes to the dismissal of individuals who do not want to support the implementation of the system.

Only patient explanations and personal example can move the wall of rejection and mistrust. The most difficult stage is the “improvement” stage, because this is where it is necessary to teach each employee to understand that his responsibility is to make a weekly proposal to improve his work process or the company’s process. This also requires training in how to develop improvements. Of course, this is a very important and voluminous topic, so it needs separate coverage.

At this stage, it is necessary to teach and consolidate the understanding of employees that each improvement should lead to optimization of time expenditure, reduction of unnecessary movements, saving resources in order to increase the company’s profits, and therefore improve the financial condition of the employee himself. Experts are gradually beginning to understand that the implementation of the system leads to the company’s stability in the market and the ability to successfully compete and achieve high results.

I would like to add an interesting fact: with the introduction of this system, after a pilot experiment throughout the company, many employees began to want to implement this tool in their household.

The women were enthusiastically taking out from their kitchen cabinets things that had long been collecting dust on the far shelves and had not been used in any way. They resolutely threw out unnecessary things, and where they doubted whether they needed it or not, they allocated a separate temporary place “red square” and moved “doubtful” items (champagne bottle caps, expired AA batteries, broken pocket knives, extra bottle openers for bottles, stored in excess in each drawer). Everything that remained after careful sorting was labeled and placed in a certain convenient order in cabinets on the kitchen shelves.

The workers happily shared photos of how it was and how it was, and told how much more convenient and comfortable their life in the kitchen had become, how much time they now spend on caring for themselves, rather than in the kitchen.

The men, looking at the women, began to put things in order in their workshops and garages. The result was not long in coming: now they are already happy, during breaks in the smoking room, bragging about their results in putting things in order in their home workplaces.

The use of lean manufacturing tools in the office follows the same algorithm as in manufacturing enterprises. However, there are specifics here, starting from the introduction of lean to its subsequent application in your company. In this issue we will try to lay just a small foundation stone for the implementation of lean office ideas.

Steps towards a lean office

The first and probably the most important step in implementing a lean office is to involve all company employees in the process. Let's look at two types of mistakes that companies make at this stage. In the first case, lean production is imposed by top management from above, one might say, forcibly. In the second, the initiative comes from the employees, but the management is only formally or not at all interested in the changes proposed by the team. As a result, if the goals of employees and management differ, any, even the best, transformations are doomed to failure. Therefore, the best option for implementing a lean office for a company is to discuss the company’s problems with employees and set priority goals for improving work.

The second step is to directly apply Lean tools. The final stage of implementing a lean office is a process of continuous improvement. As your employees' behavior changes, you will need to introduce rewards to recognize the changes. People who easily adapt to change will quickly accept the new system. They will immediately see its benefits. Those who adapt to change slowly may resist and cling to old principles. Be patient: sooner or later the new concept will speak for itself, and employees will feel its benefits. You cannot move to a lean office in one fell swoop. You need to take many small, gradual steps every day.

Lean Office Tools

Let us dwell in more detail on the proposed lean office tools. Traditionally, all tools can be divided into tools for analyzing losses and eliminating them. As noted above, a lean office is a means of combating losses, so the issue of classifying and identifying losses is key. Thus, similar to losses in the production of products in the service sector, the same seven types of losses can be distinguished: defects, inventories, excessive processing, movement, motion, waiting, overproduction (extra work). In addition to the existing types, the lean office adds new losses associated with the irrational use of labor. Examples include the following: missed project deadlines, uneven distribution of workload due to insufficiently qualified personnel, frequent absenteeism and staff turnover, inadequate performance management system, and insufficient pre-employment assessment of professional skills.

In the presented diagram (Fig. 1) you can see how much time is spent on losses and creating value for the company and the client.

Rice. 1. Time structure

As we see, most of the working time is spent on losses, and only 1/8 is spent on creating value and, accordingly, making a profit. Let's now move on to tools for combating losses in the office.

5S

The most common tool is 5S system- workplace rationalization system. Its step-by-step implementation sounds like this: sort, keep in order, keep in order, standardize and save what you have achieved.

Takt time calculation

Takt time calculation. Takt time shows how quickly processes or employees must work to meet customer needs. Accordingly, the work of the office should be correlated with the pace of work of your consumers. This indicator is calculated individually using a special formula. This affects the work processes that occur throughout the day. For example, when calculating using a formula, submitting a commercial proposal should take only three minutes, drawing up an invoice - two minutes, etc.

Pitch

Pitch- the optimal amount of time to move a certain amount of work through the value stream. Pitch calculation involves determining the takt time and the optimal amount of work to move the flow. If the takt time is 8 minutes and the optimal amount of work is 30 sheets, then the pitch will be 240 minutes.

Workplace standardization

Workplace standardization- an important condition for the free flow of flow within the organization is the maximum comfort of each employee. Similar to production, a lean office offers a number of simple rules for the placement of workstations, items on the table, and filing cabinets.

Workload Leveling

Workload Leveling. The most important factor in the loss of quality is the uneven workload of both the employee during the working day and different workers in the organization. This problem is especially relevant in Russia. And the essence of this tool is to determine the workload of each employee during the working day and even redistribution between all employees.

Value stream map

Value stream map- conditional representation of all operations in the value stream. This tool is used to analyze and identify losses and when planning changes. In addition, it is a powerful tool for training new employees and neutralizing conflicts. The map allows you to expand employee knowledge about the processes occurring in the organization and turn a highly specialized employee into an employee capable of performing all types of work in the office, which is an indispensable condition for balancing the load and thereby improving the quality of work of the entire organization.

Short organizational meetings

Short organizational meetings allow you to evenly distribute the workload throughout the day and set common tasks. Often such meetings are also called planning meetings. At the same time, for such meetings to be effective, it is necessary to follow a number of rules, the most important of which are: holding them for no more than 10 minutes, concentrating on the tasks ahead today, and attending planning meetings by all employees. In addition to the practical value of setting goals, it also has a supporting motivating value associated with the recognition of the achievements and results of everyone’s work. The discussion may concern project management or other topics.

Document management system

Document management system- due to the specific nature of office work, it is important to determine the types and forms of documents used, as well as to formulate the paths for the passage of documents through the organization and inform each employee about these paths. This will avoid losses associated with the search for missing documents and increases the productivity of the entire organization.

Kanban

Kanban- a system for informing organizational units about resource needs. The system consists of cards that indicate the need for resources (documents, office supplies) and an organized system for the circulation of such cards in the organization. The use of such cards allows you to simplify communication, lack of resources and excess inventory in the organization.

The described tools allow you to combat losses. In particular, in the table below, dark-colored cells indicate tools that eliminate certain losses. That is, losses in anticipation are solved with the help of a pitch, the 5S system and a value stream map.

Rice. 2. Lean office waste-tool matrix

As a conclusion, it should be noted that the lean office toolkit will be useful to any organization. The results of applying Lean in the office are as follows. The costs of paper processes are reduced, the amount of work is reduced, the number of errors is reduced and the amount of work space is reduced.

There are four prerequisites that are necessary in order to successfully implement the concept of lean manufacturing in the office. You should always remember them and implement them, no matter what stage of transformation you are at. Without them you will not succeed. Each of the conditions implies that you will try to understand your employees, explain to them the new principles of work and involve them in the implementation of the new concept. These four conditions represent the foundation on which everything else will rest.

Condition 1. Model “Behavior - Attitudes - Culture”

This condition will minimize staff resistance to change. The first step in implementing lean manufacturing principles is to change the behavior of your employees if you intend to create a culture of continuous improvement in all processes in your organization. Your employees need to understand that making positive changes (i.e. implementing lean principles) will help the organization succeed in the long term.

This condition will help your employees understand why the organization's operating procedures may not be entirely effective. As a company grows and its workload increases, reducing waste should become a top priority across all areas of its operations. Company employees must recognize that each type of administrative process incurs costs. In the section on the second condition, we explain how to convey to staff the need for change.

Condition 3. Seven types of losses

Lean manufacturing tools and principles help organizations identify and eliminate seven types of waste. The old saying, “You can't improve what you can't see,” can be rephrased as “You can't improve what you don't understand.” It is essential that employees gain basic knowledge about losses and learn to understand them.

Condition 4: Management Commitment

The implementation of lean manufacturing principles must occur from the top down. Senior leaders must be 100% committed to positive change in the company and 100% committed to creating a lean enterprise to maintain existing success or reach new heights. Collaboration between management at the head of the organization and employees interested in change is the key to ensuring that lean principles are not only adopted, but also become an integral part of the company's long-term development strategy.

Condition 1. Model “behavior - views - culture”

To be successful in improving any process, it is critical to understand the behavior and attitudes of the people working in the office or on a given task.

In the 1990s. In the USA, such concepts as “teamwork”, “autonomous work groups”, “employee involvement”, “empowered teams”, etc. arose. Autonomous work groups consisting of ordinary employees were supposed to change the organizational culture of companies. Strict control by managers became a thing of the past, and employees took more and more part in the management of the company. The idea was right, but there weren't enough tools to achieve the desired results. Nevertheless, during such projects we managed to learn a lot of useful things.

When introducing such concepts as “team leader”, “teamwork” and “autonomous work groups” into practice, people were faced with the question of what exactly should be done and how.

Empowerment alone (without special tools) did not bring the desired results. There were some successes, but they were not supported by anything and, consequently, the initiative quickly faded away.

The figure shows that American managers first tried to change the corporate culture, expecting a subsequent change in the attitudes and behavior of subordinates. When taking a closer look at lean manufacturing concepts and the Toyota Production System, the researchers discovered a completely different approach. They found that when lean manufacturing tools were used, people's behavior first changed as they sought to identify and eliminate waste. Once workers began to feel that they could control their area, reducing losses and making their work easier, their views changed: they realized the need for continuous improvement of all processes. Along with the views of each individual employee, the culture of the organization as a whole changed radically. The main principle of work was not identifying errors, but preventing them, which, in fact, is the essence of lean manufacturing.

The Behavior-Attitude-Culture model, which is based on the lean philosophy, is simple. Its implementation requires constant efforts from both management and ordinary employees. It is difficult to break habits that have developed at work. For an organization to grow, it takes discipline, determination and perseverance. The first small successes will serve as an impetus for changes in people's behavior and attitudes to changes in the entire organizational culture.

Possession of knowledge

Another important point regarding the traditional approach to organizing office work is that, as a rule, an individual company employee is the bearer of 80% of the knowledge about a particular process. This can cause problems if that employee gets sick, goes on vacation or business, moves to another job, or quits. In these cases, the job cannot be completed. Narrow specialization of personnel and concentration of knowledge in one or a few people can pose serious obstacles to the development of a company.

Since in cases where managers do not have the necessary knowledge (they do not understand a particular process well), they can only provide support to their subordinates, the effectiveness of the organization is compromised for the following reasons:

Building a lean office includes (but is not limited to):

The focus is on processes, not people.
Organizational knowledge is easily transferred from one person to another.
There is a detailed understanding of work processes, which allows for better control and continuous improvement.
Process knowledge is standardized to ensure maximum uniformity.
Losses are identified and eliminated as they occur (daily, hourly and minutely).

These five principles will allow an employee to better understand not only his own work, but also the work that his colleagues are doing. This ensures that process knowledge is shared within the group.

Change doesn't happen overnight. Any changes should be implemented in stages.

Stage one. Convince others and set the right direction

In most cases, company employees are the carriers of 80% of the information about processes, and managers (or the organization) - 20%. This step also explains why the organization should be the knowledge bearer. It may take up to six months to complete.

Stage two. Organize your workflow

Employees will control only 50% of process knowledge, while managers (or the organization) will control the remaining 50%. The tools will allow you to systematize the knowledge of employees and transfer it to the organization so that positive changes are felt by everyone. This stage can take from six months to one year.

Stage three. Save your results

At the third stage of the transition to creating a lean office, company employees will begin, unnoticed, to participate daily in the continuous improvement of all business processes. 80% of knowledge will now be structured within the new approach to work. It's hard to believe that 100% of process knowledge can be within an organization. At this stage, it is necessary to begin the process of gradual, systematic documentation of knowledge.

The key success factor when implementing the lean manufacturing concept in the office, as well as maintaining the achieved results, is continuous, daily improvement. As your employees' behavior changes, you will need to introduce rewards to recognize the changes. People who easily adapt to change will quickly accept the new system. They will immediately see its benefits. Those who adapt to change slowly may resist and cling to old principles. Be patient: sooner or later the new concept will speak for itself, and employees will feel its benefits. You cannot move to a lean office in one fell swoop. You need to take many small, gradual steps every day.

Condition 2. Economic justification for the transition to lean methods

For a company to remain globally competitive, managers need to focus on costs. Administrative, or office, expenses account for the bulk of the cost of a product or service. Administrative costs usually amount to 60-80% of the final price of the product. To remain competitive, companies are intensively reducing their administrative costs. Toyota has created a whole philosophy of cost reduction. Market conditions (the constant in the equation) determine the selling price. Cost and profit are variable quantities. The desire of companies to reduce internal costs served as an impetus for improving all business processes.

Thanks to the philosophy and tools of lean manufacturing, any organization can reduce its internal costs by eliminating waste and thus remain competitive in the global market. To eliminate waste in administrative processes, it must first be identified, and this requires a detailed understanding of what waste is.

Condition 3. Seven types of losses

The goal of lean manufacturing is to identify, analyze and eliminate all waste in the production process. Work to eliminate losses must continue every day, every hour, every minute. The new approach is also advantageous for the department and does not mean cutting people, but using their labor wisely and increasing its value for the organization. Therefore, company management may need to review the job content or job responsibilities of personnel so that they meet the principles of efficient production.

To better understand the concept of lean manufacturing, it is necessary to first understand waste. It is important to identify losses at the lowest level.

Wastes are all operations that require time and resources, but do not add value to the finished product or service. The consumer pays for value; Waste is any transaction your organization makes with a product or service that your customers may be paying for when they shouldn't be. As consumers become more and more aware of the true costs of goods and services, they expect companies to optimize their costs and eliminate waste. Customers demand stable prices and lower prices as a result of savings. The organization's losses have to be paid by consumers. As a result of all this we see that:

the daily cost of treatment differs in different hospitals;
the fee for processing a mortgage application, as well as mortgage rates, vary significantly among different lending institutions;
there is a wide variation in tuition fees in higher education institutions;
annual interest rates vary widely between credit cards;
The price for a particular construction project offered by different contractors may vary significantly.

Such variability in all of these examples and many others arises from the amount of loss that is “acceptable” for an organization (regardless of how it is defined).

1. Overproduction

Doing a certain type of work before it is needed is a waste. This is the worst kind of waste because overproduction leads to other losses.

Examples of overproduction:

compiling reports that no one reads and that no one needs;
making extra copies of documents;
sending the same document by email or fax several times;
entering repetitive information into multiple documents;
pointless meetings.

Tools to eliminate overproduction:

takt time;
pitch;
standardized work;
workload balancing;
studying the need for a particular operation.

2. Waiting (time in line)

Any wait (for people, signatures, information, etc.) is a loss. This type of loss can be compared to a low-hanging apple that is easy to reach, pick and use for its intended purpose. We often don't consider the paper in the incoming tray to be a source of waste. However, remember how many times we go through this tray, trying to find something we need? How many times do you start something before you finish it? To get rid of this type of loss, you need to follow the “finished and filed (or thrown away)” principle.

Examples of losses of the second type:

a large number of required signatures and permissions;
dependence on other employees to perform any tasks;
delays in obtaining information;
software problems;
task execution by different departments;

Tools for eliminating losses of the second type:

pitch;
couriers;
document management system.

3. Movement

Any movement of people, documents, and/or electronic communications that does not create value is waste. This type of waste occurs due to poor office layout, faulty or outdated office equipment, and lack of necessary supplies. These losses are insidious and invisible in those office processes that have not been analyzed for possible improvements. Regardless of the industry, you can find employees in a company who appear “busy” but don’t actually add value to the product or service. Lean manufacturing tools can help you identify, reduce and/or eliminate Type 3 waste.

Examples of losses of the third type:

search for files on your computer;
searching for documents in a file cabinet;
constantly re-reading reference books in search of information;
performance of one task by different departments in the absence of effective interaction;
lack of responsibility for completing a task.

Tools for eliminating losses of the third type:

standardized work;
redevelopment of the workspace;
pull system and supermarket;
document tracking.

4. Moving

The unnecessary movement of documents affects the time required to complete any work in the office. Even with easy access to the Internet and email, clients are often sent documents of little or no value. To organize effective work, it is important to reduce or eliminate this type of waste, for which all work should be divided into sequential operations and located as close to each other as possible. If you cannot get rid of moving documents between processes, then it needs to be automated as much as possible. Ask yourself questions, for example: “Is the office layout optimal?” or “Is the transfer of documents from one stage of work to another automated?”

Examples of losses of the fourth type:

sending unnecessary documents;
too frequent registration of documents in progress;
too many addresses in the mailing list;
manual transmission of documents to the next stage of work;
execution of one task by several departments;
incorrect prioritization.

Tools for eliminating losses of the fourth type:

uniform distribution of workload;
value stream map;
continuous flow;
document management system;
standardized work;
means of visual control.

5. Overprocessing

Doing work that is not required by internal or external customers is the fifth type of waste. Excessive processing does not create value for the customer and the customer should not have to pay for it. In administrative processes, these losses are the most difficult to detect. To do this, you can ask the following questions, for example: “What basic operations need to be performed to satisfy the customer’s needs?” or “How clearly do we represent the needs of our customers?”

Examples of losses of the fifth type:

duplicative reports or information;
entering repetitive data;
dissemination of false information;
constant editing of documents;
ineffective meetings and lack of agenda;
lack of clear project planning.

Tools for eliminating losses of the fifth type:

data collection methods;
document tracking;
standardized work;
document management system.

6. Inventory (time)

Piles of papers, extra stationery, a large number of signatures on documents - all these are losses. They take up space and time. If the processing of a document is suspended until additional information (signature, etc.) is received and the situation changes, then the time spent on this document can be considered a loss. In an office environment, there are two main types of waste that can be classified as inventory: 1) office supplies and 2) time.

Examples of losses of the sixth type:

documents awaiting someone's signature or visa;
work that requires the completion of other processes to continue;
outdated documents;
outdated office equipment;
insufficient training of support staff;
buying extra office supplies.

Tools for eliminating losses of the sixth type:

value stream map;
standardized work;
Kanban cards for office supplies;
balancing the workload - heijunka;
visual pitch;
document management system.

7. Marriage

Losses due to defects include any processing that resulted in defects and additional processing necessary to eliminate them. A defect (both internal and external) entails additional document processing that does not add value to the product or service. It takes less time to do a job right the first time than it does to redo it. Correction of defects is losses that increase the cost of any product or service, and the consumer does not have to pay for them. Losses of this type can significantly reduce profits.

Examples of losses of the seventh type:

data entry errors;
errors in setting prices;
transfer of incomplete documentation to the next stages of processing;
loss of documents or information;
incorrect information in the document;
ineffective organization of files on a computer or folders in a filing cabinet;
incorrect selection of employees to serve the client.

Tools for eliminating losses of the seventh type:

ensuring predictable results;
visual control means;
standardized work;
document management system;
log of stops and unscheduled tasks;
short organizational meetings;
error prevention tools.

8. Irrational use of labor

In many cases, irrational use of labor is the eighth type of waste. People's labor is misused when workers perform tasks that do not require all of their knowledge, skills, and abilities to create value. A proper performance management system can significantly reduce this type of waste. Develop a corporate strategy and methods for assigning employees to those areas where they will bring the most benefit to the organization.

Examples of losses of the eighth type:

violation of project deadlines;
uneven distribution of workload due to insufficiently broad qualifications of personnel;
frequent absenteeism and high staff turnover;
inadequate performance management system;
insufficient assessment of professional skills before hiring.

Tools for eliminating losses of the eighth type:

accounting of work processes;
standardized work;
document management system;
short organizational meetings;
justification for the transition to a lean office.

Consider the following questions.

How can I convey information about losses to all employees of the organization?
What losses can be eliminated quickly?
What can you do to immediately improve customer satisfaction?

These questions will spark reflection for others and help you have a productive dialogue about loss.

Condition 4: Management Involvement

Companies such as Microsoft, Wal-Mart, Federal Express, GE and Nike have one thing in common, a very important feature - an undisputed leader at the head, whom others follow. Top managers Bill Gates, Sam Walton and Fred Smith are the core of their company. They are distinguished by exceptional insight, and it is they who have turned their business into an immortal empire.

John Maxwell, in his book “The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership,” describes his first law, the law of the ceiling: “The ability to lead determines the level of effectiveness of a person (organization). Strong leadership greatly enhances an organization's capabilities. If leadership is weak, then the organization's capabilities are limited."

It is important to understand that the transition to lean management is impossible without the full participation of the company's management. When a CEO reads about lean in the Wall Street Journal on the plane back from vacation and tells his top manager, “There's something there,” that doesn't mean he's ready for long-term change.

The company's management should be driven by the desire for improvement. The top manager must take an active part in the implementation of new principles. Even if a business process reengineering pilot project involves three people, the company's top management should be involved. This participation includes:

allocation of necessary resources;
attendance at the kick-off meeting;
consulting the team if necessary;
showing interest in the team’s achievements and attending team meetings;
rewarding the team based on work results;
support for team members in case of difficulties.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but it outlines key ways that company management can demonstrate its commitment to lean management.

Time frame

Transitioning to a lean office can take anywhere from a few months to a few years. This will depend on the following factors:

Organization size. The smaller the organization, the less time it will take. In large companies (more than 500 office workers), pilot projects should first be launched in one department and then expanded to the entire company.
Availability of necessary tools.
Realizing the benefits. The reorganization of office work will be successful if the company realizes the need to train staff in related professions, cooperate between departments, attract generalists rather than narrow specialists, use organizational knowledge and encourage partnerships between managers and subordinates.