Be Lean – Automate Business Processes to Eliminate Waste and Increase Productivity

Keith Taber, Solutions Consultant

The term Lean Manufacturing (achieving more with less/compressing time) has been about for a while, but using the word manufacturing after lean is probably misleading.  The concept of lean is not just restricted to manufacturing, but applies to the whole enterprise, including the supply chain, new product development processes and the provision of service.

So let’s drop the manufacturing and just refer to lean.

A fundamental element of implementing lean is the ability to recognise and eliminate (or at least reduce) all forms of waste within the value stream.

Most activities create waste.  Waste is anything in an office or manufacturing activity which does not add value to a product or service.  Examples are items in storage, being moved around, queuing, waiting for processing, being inspected, etc.

Lean has evolved over the last 20 years.  It used to be acceptable that waste was a bi-product of mass production, not any more.

Lean is not a short term cost reduction ‘fix’, it is about changing the way a company operates.

Even if you do not manufacture goods, maybe you supply services.  There are key operational activities that introduce “unevenness” into the organisation through receiving and managing predominantly unstructured data (paper, faxes, voice calls).

The “unevenness” can be smoothed, simply by the introduction of smart automation – using tools for intelligent document capture and processes automation, alongside document management and intelligent voice forms for routing automation.

Moving from old wasteful processes to lean processes requires a transformation on how a company conducts business.

But it need not be painful or costly.  Solutions that build on your existing infrastructure mean that you can take it in stages, implementing as the budget allows and working towards the long term goals.

The car industry has led the way to change and lean is now common practice in manufacturing businesses across the globe (if you are really interested – read The Machine that Changed the World – The Story of Lean Production, by Womack, Jones and Roos).

Organisations do not have to use the word lean.  Some choose to customise their own system and refer to this.  An example is the Toyota Production System.

This drive has resulted in customers receiving higher quality goods at lower prices, while maintaining and increasing profits across the supply chain.

There are two key approaches of Lean:

1. Lean as a “tool kit” for the identification and elimination of waste.
   As waste is reduced or removed, quality will ultimately improve, while time and costs shrink.  Terms used in lean – Poka-yoke (fault proofing) and Kanban (triggering an action) -are examples of such tools.
2. The second approach is less focused on waste reduction, but focuses on improving the flow or smoothness of work, thereby steadily removing “unevenness”.  This approach has been built on by Toyota, through the TPS program and has two main concepts, flow or just in time, and smart automation.

Consider the concepts above when looking at your business and processes, and maybe some pre 20th century insight from Benjamin Franklin who wrote in 1758 a book of proverbs and insights entitled, ‘Poor Richard’s Almanac’  He advises us not to waste time and to avoid costs, as this will prove more profitable than increasing sales.  You can still get hold of a copy from Amazon!

In the current economic climate, where increasing sales is ever more difficult to achieve, Franklin’s advice holds greater truth than ever.

Business areas to consider:

• ERP Integration to documents and processes, sharing information across the organisation, not in silos
• Automated purchase to pay cycles  – increasing Accounts Payable processing speed
• Accounts receivable – shorten order to cash cycles and enhance customer satisfaction
• HR – automate and manage HR files, hiring and appraisals
• Manage quality, governance and risk
• Engineer document changes and approvals
• Manufacture workbook collation and management.

Historically, an organisation would look to source costly “point solution” and specialist products to manage and address each operational issue.  However, as organisations have become more integrated, silo working is not acceptable.

Organisations want:

• A cost effective and manageable approach to address operational “unevenness” within the businesses
• A single technology backbone from one supplier, which is capable of managing all the processes of the business, which in turn benefits the business as a whole
• A solution that offers complete visibility of information (no matter what department or activity an employee is involved with), which can be accessed from the systems they use every day.