Innovation is most
often associated with growth, and Problem Solving with cost reduction.
One looks at the future, while the other fixes items from the
past. Innovation has no guarantee of success, and problem solving
delivers incremental savings.
Both are skills that
can be learned. And both create new value for a business. Both
need ideas, both depend on creativity. Today there is also the
point of view that both skills are applicable anywhere in the
corporation. Innovation is no longer just the responsibility of
R & D but it is applicable to every function and structure of
a company. And everyone has the potential to be creative and innovate.
Also, at one time Problem Solving was restricted to management
and engineers; today everyone is involved in continuous improvement.
Now we are no longer
applying the LEAN philosophy just to manufacturing but the administrative
areas of the organization are benefiting from it, too. Lean Administration
or Lean Office is the application of the LEAN philosophy to the
office and administrative processes. The Lean philosophy is a
blend of Innovation and Problem Solving. It uses the tools and
techniques of LEAN with ideation built-in to:
- Document the administrative
business processes
- Generate ideas
for improvement
- Implement the prioritized
improvements
- Impact the bottom-line
results
The applications range
from helping manufacturing support functions such as order entry,
to invoicing and billing in furniture stores. Also, helping in
hospitals and doctors offices to improve procedures so doctors
and nurses can dedicate more time to patients.
Service and Administrative
organizations such as government and non-profits can improve their
effectiveness using LEAN office techniques. They payback is to
achieve breakeven in less than a year with a total return of 5
times the cost.
One of the most interesting
applications is to the product or service development processes,
and it is not unusual to see a 50% reduction in time-to-market.
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