Supporting processes

The processes supporting operational activities are those processes that do not contribute directly to production, but which are necessary for its proper conduct, or are imposed by regulatory constraints or requirements of good corporate governance. They are for instance: human resource management or accounting and management control. They are not traditionally subject to organizational initiatives designed to raise their output quality, timeliness and efficiency. Yet, they are important processes, often involving a considerable number of resources and can be a field of remarkable improvements.

It is a common belief that proper IT applications can solve all problems – which is not the case. Though IT can be considered a key factor, we feel that it helps cover only part of the activities being performed (60/70% on average). Moreover, we must be careful not to make the waste automated, but rather apply automation to value-added stages only. The Lean IT solutions and approach are therefore complementary in ensuring the benefits of productivity and service levels.

Another common belief is that, since those functions are mostly based on intellectual activity, they are unlikely to be formalized in the paper, measurable and standardized. It often happens that those functions simultaneously support multiple services with no clearly defined boundaries. Also, they are directed to unclear customers who are non-detectable by implicit needs, which makes it difficult to identify the value. In fact, those functions show a creative side, where methods are applicable to enhance value creation, and an operational side, where Lean methods and tools have proven to be effective. They enable to eliminate or substantially reduce waste (increase of productivity around 30/40%) while upgrading the service level (lead-time reductions of 50/70%). This kind of processes often hide invisible wastes, lurking everywhere: inefficient movements, queues, and suspended operations, manual un-standardized jobs, unnecessary activities to identify to be eliminated through traditional Lean approaches. Of course, in a context like this, we work to change the behaviors of people to ensure sustainability and continuous improvement.

See the other sections. Go to page Manufacturing