Applying Lean in Service and Manufacturing Organizations

Experts say that becoming a Lean enterprise is largely culture-related. An organization's culture dictates how people work, their attitudes toward work and change, their relationships with each other and management, and the way change is introduced and implemented. Any company that wants to make sustainable improvements can benefit from a Lean culture. Effective Lean enterprises successfully turn knowledge into action. Continuous improvement or kaizen is key to this ability.

The timely and productive application of kaizen methods allows an organization to eliminate waste, create a healthy and Lean culture, and change the behaviors and attitudes that create waste. This course will provide tips and strategies for creating a culture that embraces Lean and principles for implementing kaizen as part of that culture.

• Categorize characteristics of organizational culture as Lean or non-Lean.
• Identify strategies for building a kaizen culture.
• Match the characteristics of a kaizen event to corresponding descriptions.
• Recognize activities a team carries out while implementing kaizen in an organization.