Experiencing a Slowdown in Business? Lean Practices Might Help

Innovation and new concepts are the elements, which play a key role in accelerating an organization’s growth. Let us glance into the concept of Lean Management, which is nothing more than a set of principles or guidelines, specifically aimed to extract the best out of a limited amount of resources. Lean practices are crucial for all businesses, be it large organizations or small business owners. Though, these practices might not have much of a quantifiable impact on big organisations; however, they are of paramount importance particularly for small and medium sized businesses, where there is always a lack of adequate resources.

Constrained sizes of SMBs imply that there are fewer people in power; ergo a decision can be drafted faster, sans many confrontations. In addition, many small businesses have hold of some crucial basics in place, such as a deep rooted culture of constant improvement, and dedicated planning time for managing short and long-term goals each month.

While large organizations can hire consultants to help implement lean practices, smaller companies are bound to keep it in-house, owing to their budget constraints. However, to implement it successfully, the first step is to comprehend the basics of lean practices and learn about the help available from both government, and the vendors.

Let us break Lean Practices into 5 basic steps:

1. Define value: Identify what value means to your customers.
2. Determine value creeks: Take in consideration different channels, steps and resources needed to complete the service from start to end.
3. Define value flow: Identify wasteful activities or non-value-added activities to remove from the work stream.
4. Standardize: Standardize the best practices in the work area. Maintain high standards in workplace organization at all times. Make sure that everything is in its right place.
5. Eliminate errors and pursue perfection: Develop baseline metrics to measure success.

Implementation of lean practices can take time, but the payoff is surely greater than you think!

The 5S approach to lean practices stows focus on the necessity of an organised workplace to accentuate efficiency and effectiveness by determining, and storing the items used, maintaining the area and items, and sustaining the new order. The decision-making process usually comes from a dialogue about standardization, which builds understanding among employees and enlighten them about how they should go about their key responsibilities regarding their work: in order to extract the best out of the available reserves.

Liked what you just read? for more growth hacks, check out our blog on the necessity of governance within SMEs. Read Here.