Being lean means being freed of everything that is not needed. Leanness is the elimination of operations that are not necessary for the production or delivery of the product/service and that add no value — of unnecessary material movements, unnecessary labor movements, unnecessary stocks, errors and long set-up times.

Leanness first of all brings lean thinking to the fore. Lean thinking begins in businesses with the value chain being taken into account. To succeed at lean management, one must look at the entire value chain as a whole, eliminate waste and direct all activities toward the goal of creating perfect value for the customer.

In lean thinking, waste is anything that offers no benefit to the user of the product or service — anything the customer would not agree to pay extra for. By eliminating all kinds of waste at every stage of product/service creation, from design to shipment, the aim is to lower costs, increase customer satisfaction, gain the flexibility to adapt to market conditions and accelerate cash flow — and thus to increase the firm's profitability.

Lean thinking begins with focusing on all activities and putting lean management techniques into practice.

When lean management techniques are applied in businesses, it is an indispensable and important condition that they form a whole.

When the holistic perspective is missing, the problem arises that not all the activities in the value chain can be addressed. And this will cause difficulties for businesses in reaching the total benefit.
The stages of lean management can be counted as: creating the lean philosophy, restructuring the value streams, implementing the value stream, and applying the techniques.

Before examining lean management techniques, when we look at where leaning down provides businesses the maximum benefit, the following areas emerge:

Leaning down business processes
Leaning down production facilities
Leaning down service delivery points
Leaning down transactions
Leaning down stocks

Lean businesses have to attach importance to fundamental principles in management.

In keeping with the ability to adapt quickly to changing conditions, a customer-focused structure should be established. A simple and visual structure based on employees' participation in decisions should be built. Continuous improvement — and, within this framework, continuous training — should be applied. A flexible specialization system should be established. Control should be ensured predominantly through self-control.

Lean management can be operated through the realization of the lean organization. In the lean organization, the good sides of every system are brought together: production volumes of every size, low cost, in less space, in a shorter time, with staff specialized in many areas and possessing high morale — producing high-quality goods and services.

The aim is to produce goods and services with fewer inputs, in less time, at lower cost and of higher quality.

In traditional organizations the manager plans and determines the work, whereas in lean, the manager and team members plan and determine the work. In the traditional, jobs are narrowly defined, whereas in lean, jobs require broad skills and knowledge. In the traditional, knowledge resides with the manager, whereas in lean, knowledge is free at every level. In the traditional, training is concentrated on technical skills, whereas in lean, with an understanding of continuous learning, everyone receives training in management and skills.

In the lean organization, activities that create no value must be eliminated. Identifying and classifying them forms the basis of leaning down. The following important points should be taken into account in leaning down.

The lean organization enables businesses to use the resources at their disposal in the most effective way. It increases quality and productivity and lowers cost. It enables businesses to succeed in the competitive environment. The lean organization makes the most productive and effective use of all factors of production while focusing on the human factor. For this reason, the lean organization is a way of life in itself, and a management philosophy. The philosophy of lean organization is the key to mounting a challenge in international competition, and it is spreading rapidly across the world.

Lean management begins in thought. It is purification.

Author: Sait Sağlam