Lean IT Helps Eliminate Waste in Processes

Lean initiatives offer businesses in all industries the opportunity to eliminate waste and improve processes. One of the most popular areas in which to apply Lean methodologies is in information technology.

Industry Week reports that many ventures are choosing to apply Lean techniques to IT, while Lean concepts can also spread throughout all aspects of any business.

Ryan King, the director of information technology at Illinois-based packaging machinery manufacturer ARPAC, told the news source that Lean IT allows companies to “use technology to improve processes and eliminate waste from those processes.”

This perspective makes perfect sense for companies looking to become Lean, as one of the major benefits of technology in the business realm is that it can help eliminate human error.

One of the largest benefits of Lean IT is increased automation and the reduction of paperwork, says the publication. For example, when a business was short on a certain part in the past, an employee had to file time-consuming reports, which then had to be read and processed by another worker. With a more targeted IT system, however, this process can be streamlined by allowing an employee to scan a barcode and automatically generate a purchase order.

According to Collision Repair Magazine, the implementation of Lean methodologies can come with some pitfalls for those who are inexperienced. However, these potential issues can be easily avoided by a company-wide backing these changes whole-heartedly.

“Leadership, commitment, understanding, timing, preparation, strategy, measurement and communication with the combination of teamwork are the eight key factors to achieving success in Lean,” says the news source. “As a leader you have to support the changes 100 percent. If you have any doubt in the process with regard to your commitment, you have a very slim chance of success and improvement.”

While leaders must guide the process and fully support the change to Lean, they must also keep employees in mind, as they are the people dealing with the effects of these changes day-in and day-out. These are also the people that managers and leaders should look to for insight about how the program can be even more efficient.

“Some of the best ideas come from the people that are doing the work. They are the ones that do it every day, and they are the ones that are going to provide you with your best suggestions,” explained Tony Passwater, a presenter at the recent International Autobody Congress & Exposition (NACE), the news source reports.