The Lean Book of Lean

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Earley John. The Lean Book of Lean

Acknowledgements

Preface

1. Introduction to Lean

2. The Core Lean Principles

3. More About Flow

4. Lean Enterprise vs. Lean Manufacturing

5. Organising for Lean

6. Measuring the Right Stuff and Metrics

7. Lean vs. Six Sigma

8. The Lean Mindset

9. The Dreaded Business Case!

10. Keys to Success and Sustainability

11. A Few Key Tools

12. A Few Words On Technology

13. Getting help

14. Results, What to Expect and What is Possible

15. In Conclusion

Appendix. Glossary

Afterword

Index

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Without the help, support and inspiration from those around me throughout my life, this book would never have been written and my life would have been very different. While there are many who have guided, prodded and cajoled me into what I am, there are a few people to whom I would like to specifically say a big “thank you” in the context of this book.

Firstly, my wife Helen, who has supported and put up with me for over 30 years and kept believing in me, even when things haven't gone quite according to plan.

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Now for the process. Most people going food shopping do some checking first to see what's needed before setting off, then create a list, either literally or subconsciously. The trick is getting the right amount. Too little and the kids start complaining about the lack of dinner, too much and the stuff won't fit in the fridge or goes off before you can use it. How do you do this? You look in the cupboards and the fridge and, based on what's there and your knowledge of how much you generally use in the periods between shopping trips, figure out what needs to be bought to last you through to the next time you go shopping. Oh, by the way, you just remembered that Granny is coming to stay for the weekend so you will need some extra milk, eggs and a larger piece of meat.

This is all so obvious and natural that most people can do it, and for the seasoned food shopper, it happens even without thinking about it. But we have introduced some very important Lean concepts here, so let's go over it again from a business point of view: Understanding the right level of inventory to support demand but avoid write-off, slow-moving and obsolete stock, based on historical demand. That's all about the core Lean concept of the Inventory Control Point (ICP) or Strategic Buffer Replenishment model of supply, where you periodically look at your current inventory and replenish back to the top of the buffer. The buffer is calculated based on historical demand and trends: a forecast. Just like when we go shopping, we might know that, on average, we use four litres of milk between shopping trips (the forecast) but that doesn't mean that we blindly go out and buy four litres every time we go shopping: we take a look in the fridge and realise that we ought to top up to five litres (four on average, plus one so we don't run out if we overuse); see there are two left and only buy three. The forecast is a guide, not something we execute blindly. Oh, and the Granny visit? That's adjusting the buffer for known events as part of the Event Management Process. No known events, just maintain the status quo, no need for a complicated planning session.

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