Plain and Simple: Bright Business Insights Spring 2019 | Page 11

Before the next recession hits, consider reevaluating your operations performing it day in and day out. Use those people to identify and whether they are Lean enough to help your business weather steps in your processes that don’t add value to your customers or another recession. But where exactly should you start? other co-workers (aka internal customers) like: • Don’t Just Begin Cutting • Defects. Any type of undesired result. Lean isn’t about making cuts everywhere. You need to analyze • Overproduction. Making more than what your customers all of your various processes, not only in production, but need or want. • also in administration. You need to have measurability and accountability in your processes. You can’t manage what you • Waiting. Time where you’re waiting for materials, equipment, product, etc. can’t measure, and you can’t manage well without accountability • Excess Processing. Useless steps in a process. incorporated into the process. • Bottlenecks. A step in the process where work gets piled up. Utilize Your Team A Lean business knows and understands all of its processes. Lean is not a top-down approach to management. In order for However, it also obtains input from all individuals involved in Lean to be effective, everyone within the organization has to the process. No one knows the process better than the individuals participate and be heard. • Reduce Waste and Increase Profit To be a Lean organization, you must look at all processes within the organization, including scheduling of resources, training, division of responsibility, etc. You must have the right resources at the right place and at the right time in order to be both efficient and effective. The end goal in any business is to effectively deliver a quality product or service to your customer in a timely manner. Most importantly though, you have to make a profit. Your product or service cost must be in-line with the market, and increased efficiency may help you be more competitive. The recession hasn’t hit yet, and we don’t know exactly when it will hit – but we’re pretty confident that, sooner or later, it will. Don’t wait until it’s too late to evaluate – or in some cases, reevaluate – your business’s operations. If you haven’t considered what Lean can do for your business, stop the insanity. Try something new to get different post-recession results. by: Kyle Stemple, CPA, CGMA, CEPA Regional President East Central Ohio, Lean Six Sigma Green Belt 122 Fourth Street NW PO Box 1020 New Philadelphia, OH 44663 330.308.6883 [email protected]