The optimization process: the second lever

Hunting "waste" with LEAN

In the early 20th century with the emergence of new methods of production from the United States of America (Taylorism, Fordism), appear the first concepts of eliminating waste in processes.

In Japan, after the Second World War, Taiichi Ohno and Shigeo Shingeo appropriate these concepts and use them to form the base of the Toyota Production System (TPS). The "just in time", "waste reduction", "pull system" and other techniques of "development flow" are born.

By synthesizing these concepts in 1990 in their book "The Machine That Change the World, James Womack and Daniel Jones speak for the first time about " Lean "and of these five principles:

1. Specify what is or creates value for the customer
2. Identify processes that creates value
3. Foster a continuous flow between activities that create value
4. Implementation flow from
5. Provide for continuous improvement in striving for perfection

The purpose is to enable the organization that put out to optimize its realization process to eliminate wasted time and unnecessary activities identified at each stage of the process concerned. In a word hunt "waste" to bring out high-value activities.

The Deming Wheel (or learning)

In the course of 50 years, William Edwards Deming popularized the concept of PDCA from the methodology of 'Plan-Do-Check-Act "through the wheel that bears his name. This method, developed by Walter Shewhart in the 1930s, is used particularly in the context of quality management.

The method involves four steps, each of which leads to another and is intended mainly to establish a spiral of continuous improvement of the quality of a product, a work of a service.

1. The wheel evolves continuously towards the target.
2. The spacers are used to consolidate gains and prevent the wheel back down and revert back.

We thus advance towards the goal of quality while developing and consolidating the experience through a process of chaining constantly planning, implementation, verification and correction or adjustment of actions.

The winning combination of Agility

The basis of Agility is to combine these two approaches: Lean and continuous improvement in order to effectively implement the fact that an organization must learn from its experience and reap the benefits and skills that it acquired while focusing on activities that create value for its customers (internal or external) through the elimination of all activities, tasks and actions that diverge from this goal.

1. The goal is to create value
2. The wheel evolves continuously towards the target.
3. The spacers are used to consolidate gains and prevent the wheel back down and revert back.

A more topical than ever

This precept is even more valid today as globalization and the shortening of product life cycle requiring organizations (companies, project teams, services, departments, etc..) Rethink their modes of implementation in order to gain flexibility , efficiency, speed and ensure its continued arms needed to stay competitive and suited to their environment.