Lean Basics

The Lean approach is not just a manufacturing method for greater efficiency. Lean is a mindset that focuses on what the client values and is willing to pay for. The basic idea is simple. Identify value, understand the flow of that value and eliminate the steps that do not contribute to either value or flow. Simple? In concept yes, however, a century of success focusing on an industrial approach to creating and making things is a hard habit to break.

The mindshift is that Lean is not a set of techniques but is a set of values through a holistic lens.

1. All members in the value stream bring value and provide value.
2. No part of the value stream can be improved in isolation to the whole.
3. The team learns by doing and reviewing.
   

This is a video showing Lean applied to healthcare - perfect! Lean appears to be a highly effective alternative to our century old industrial model of breaking the whole into its various sub-elements and focusing on the parts. Like the slogan from the old fast food commercial; "Parts is parts." Hmm - yum.