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“Companies hire us because of our experience, knowledge and passion for
improving process performance
Visit Our Online Training Site
Lean Transformation Benchmark Studies
Available:
- Construction Industry -
Lean thinking is a new
way to manage construction. ...(read more)
- Healthcare Industry - Leading
hospitals are implementing infrastructures that might seem familiar to a Lean
Manufacturer ...(read more)
Are you ready to
eliminate waste in your administrative and manufacturing processes?
Our Approach to Lean Process
Improvement
Lean is nothing more than
creating value for customers/patients/clients by eliminating wasteful
activities. Any activity or process that consumes resources, adds costs or time
without creating customer value is a target for elimination. Lean is a customer
focused approach to improving your product or service, and optimizing quality at
least cost.
Our preferred approach is
to focus on ‘holistic level” improvements using our proven four step model—HAPSSM
as opposed to point improvements (we do provide point level approaches). It is
this system or holistic level approach that dramatically improves profitability
(bottom-line results). In order for a process to reach its full potential it is
important to understand what is happening from a holistic or system perspective
(end-to-end). We have devised a data-driven analytical/statistical tool to help
clients understand their processes from a holistic perspective.
The next step is to
transform the selected Value Stream(s)—from the request of the product or
service to the actual delivery of the product or service. With our innovative
analytical tool, we eliminate the potential of obtaining only minimal results
and ensure your success both culturally and technically.
During the Lean journey,
you select the Value Stream(s) for the Lean Transformation. The Value Stream(s)
will be analyzed from a holistic perspective to create your Current State Map
–identifying all the activities and relevant data to create a visual
representation of customer/patient/client flow through your processing steps. We
will then create a Future State Value Stream Map that looks out 3 to 12 months
at what the system could look like if you eliminated or minimized the
non-value-added activities. From the Future State Map we work with your team to
develop an implementation plan that systematically details how waste is going to
be eliminated.
The detailed implementation
plan identify the Lean (or Six Sigma) tools required, where they are required,
when they are required and who is responsible for applying these tools to make
the transformation from the Current State to the Future State. The
implementation plan eliminates “cherry picking” specific lean tools and avoids
short-term thinking.
A major outcome of our
HAPSSM methodology
is the creation of an environment that supports your staff to be
customer/patient/ client focused in the timely delivery of products or services
at the lowest possible cost and with optimum quality.
The Link Between Lean
and Profitability
We have developed a Lean
profitability model to help organizations measure the link between lean and
profits. This program is based on attaching costs to all the non-value-added
activities in your current state process or value stream and then tracking the
impact of the cost reductions on profits when these activities are removed or
minimized as we move to the future state (more
details).
The
Benefits of a Lean Office
1.
Streamlines and accelerates the
enterprise level process that touch external customers and suppliers such as
order entry, customer service, accounts payable/receivable processing,
marketing, sales, R & D, product development and distribution.
2.
Streamlines key support
processes such as Information Technology, HR, Engineering, and Purchasing;
identifies internal customer requirements and value; improves communication
and cross-functional cooperation.
3.
Lean helps functional
departments focus on objectives, reduce non-value-added activities, measure
progress in fulfilling customer demand, create flow to reduce hand-off
breakdowns, implement pull and Kanban systems and use visual management to
identify barriers to getting the work done.
4.
From an individual employee
perspective Lean reduces paperwork, manual entries and errors by using
standard work procedures, improves workplace organization, and clarifies
individual roles, responsibilities and objectives.
Understanding
the Potential of Lean Process Improvement
-
At
least 40% of operations costs are wasteful—activities that add no value to
the customer. The majority of these
wasteful activities are caused
by multiple handoffs and decision points in your service processes.
-
Lean
organizations identify two times more cost reduction opportunity than
non-lean organizations by seeking to
eliminate non-value-added activities.
Furthermore Lean organizations operate more efficiently, maintaining
cost-
efficiency ratios that are considerably lower than the industry
average.
-
Lean
is inexpensive and generates solid returns—unlike other process
improvement methodologies such as Six
Sigma, Lean process improvements do
not require significant up-front capital investment or certification. Lean
concepts are easy to apply and organizations leveraging Lean techniques
report immediate results of 20% to 40%
cost reduction in 12 to 18 months
-
Lean
empowers executives and their staff to continuously challenge the status quo
to redefine value in the eyes of
the customer.
Lean
Manufacturing
Even
processes that generally add value often have individual tasks that are
non-value-added. Lean Manufacturing uses a variety of tools and
techniques to identify these areas of opportunity.
Products and processes are redesigned, improved or sometimes completely
eliminated to attack forms of waste.
The drive to eliminate non-value added activities has obvious benefits. Almost
invariably, preventing a defect is more
efficient than finding and fixing it. Fewer errors mean less rework.
More reliable processes lead to less work-in-process (WIP) inventory and reduced
space requirements. As wasteful activities are eliminated, the elapsed
time to manufacture a product is reduced. The bottom line is that customers
receive a better product, at lower cost
and in less time- in other words more value.
By eliminating
non-value added activities, companies can make huge improvements in the time
it takes to deliver products or services to their customers. Reductions in the
total response time of 50% to 90% are
common. Many companies have slashed lead times of products
built to unique customer requirements from months to a matter of hours.
A management system built around Lean not only enables you to
provide exceptional customer value but also brings flexibility in the way you manage
your operations. The future will require that you develop customer-oriented,
robust, waste free, flexible processes. Then and only then will you be in a
position to survive in the marketplace.
The success of your organization depends on how effectively you
are able to provide an exceptional customer experience while achieving cost
efficiency and enhanced revenues. This means providing customers swiftly with
what they want, when they want it, every single time.
Counter to what you hear and perhaps believe, this doesn’t
require large investments in technology. It can be achieved by focusing on the
basics and utilizing the power and potential of your employees. As you struggle
to stay competitive in the marketplace, Lean provides a method to achieving
sustained growth.
We
offer lean process improvement expertise to service organizations and
administrative departments. We can leverage the benefit of our training and
implementation experience in service organizations to help you hone your
competitive edge and prepare for long-term survival. To help you determine the
approach for implementing lean in your organization we offer the following
services:
-
Lean Service
Overview
-
Lean Service
Assessment
-
Lean office
Workshops
-
Lean Office
Simulation
Our Capabilities
Value Stream Analysis
We can help you analyze
how you deliver value to your end customers. Our value stream analysis process
consist of the following steps:
- Suppliers/Inputs-Outputs/Customers
determination
- Define the value the customers receive
from the value stream
- Establish the business case for
improving the value stream
- Develop key performance indicators
- Walk the value stream to observe and
collect data
- Create "Current State" map of the value
stream-product and information flows
- Create the "Future State" map of the
value stream
- Develop action plans to achieve the
"Future State"
We can help you transform your organization into a
lean enterprise by providing a structure to ensure that your lean implementation
team functions effectively and deliver sustainable results. You will learn to
define value from your customers’ perspective, identify your value stream,
eliminate the seven deadly wastes, improve the flow of work, implement a
pull system, and continually improve your processes. Take a look at this example
of "Achieving Operational
Excellence."
Lean Enterprise Training
Our Lean Manufacturing and Lean Enterprise Training
include an introduction to lean, a
lean manufacturing or
lean office
readiness assessment, and lean simulations to stimulate the learning experience.
You will explore and practice alternative solutions to traditional batch
logic, be able to recognize and demonstrate the benefits of applying
“Lean” techniques, and learn to measure the key financial and productivity
performance of implemented changes. We also offer a
Lean Office Training workshop
to jump start your waste elimination efforts in the front office.
Lean Simulation Workshops
Our
Lean
Business Simulation workshops are highly
interactive and hands-on. The workshops have been used by many organizations to
introduce the core principles of the lean manufacturing and continual improvement.
Your organization will develop a vision of the “ideal” production system and experience the difference between traditional and lean production
systems and their impact on the bottom line.
Lean Business Simulation participants
We also offer a
Lean Office Simulation to
introduce your office staff to Lean concepts and motivate them to make
improvements in their office processes by eliminating waste. Some comments about
our Lean OfficeSimulation :
“I
had a lot of fun in this workshop. The topics were very interesting and the
examples given clear. I am looking forward to using my new knowledge in my work.
Thanks.”- Engineering Assistant-Medline.
"I had no idea what a Lean
Office Simulation was, but now I can see how important it is to an organization.
It was wonderful and I am going to try to apply some of the techniques I have
learned."
Administrative Secretary Roosevelt
University.
"Very
useful information in assisting staff in understanding value-added activities'
importance and how to reduce/eliminate non-value-added functions. You also made
this learning experience fun."
Associate Dean College of
Business-Roosevelt University.
“I
think the workshop was very valuable information that gave us an eye opener
about how things can be more efficient or how our way of doing things takes us
longer. It showed how teamwork makes thing easier for us and can be more
profitable for the company …I enjoyed participating.” - Secretary- Akzo
Nobel Aerospace Coatings
“It
would be great for supervisors and managers to attend the workshop. Great ideas
to make our work flow run smoother.”- Anonymous-Medline.
Lean Management Systems
Employees attending a daily LMS meeting
Lean implementation can become another program of the day if
it isn't sustained. Sustainability can be achieved with our Lean Management
System (LMS) process. LMS will help your department managers improve process
cycle time and customer satisfaction. LMS is based on the pull system. A
flexible and simple method of controlling and balancing the flow of work through
a department. Work (projects, orders, products, quotes, etc.) is processed based
on a managed FIFO basis. LMS promotes flexibility because it emphasizes cross
training of employees so they can perform any task in the department. Our LMS
implementation experience includes projects in North America, Europe and Asia.
make the right choice!
Contact us today to learn more about how our lean management services can help
you develop customer-oriented, waste-free, robust, flexible processes. You'll be
glad you did.
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Quantum Associates, Inc
