Your company needs to drive results. Have you already hired an individual lean Coach or a larger lean consulting firm in the past? Did you try to develop your team with different Lean Training courses without sustainable results? Has the Lean Manufacturing Culture somehow just not taken hold in your company? This happens too often. We can help.
Not Just the Tools – More importantly…what should Lean Manufacturing Consulting Services look like for your company. Many consulting companies are focused on the “Tools” of lean which can create a very temporary result for your organization. A Tool focused approach may provide some short term results, but it lacks the sustainable culture change the company needs.
System and People First – The company should demand a Lean Consulting Company approach that focuses on the Lean Management System and the Employee Development first. The lean tools are important, but the system and people are going to make the journey sustainable.
Long Term Focus – A successful lean implementation is when the consulting firm is no longer needed for the client company to continuously improve. This will require the Lean Consultant to teach like a Sensei and challenge the organization to solve their own problems. Teaching the leadership and employees to solve problems against their strategy will be the key to long term results.
Lean Expertise – It is important that your Lean Coach has the experience and knowledge to coach at all levels within the organization. The Consultant will need to work with executive leadership on strategy and also work on tactical daily issues. This level of knowledge requires requires a strong background that included implementation and leadership at multiple levels.
Humility – Lean journeys require constant reflection and learning for students and coaches. Your Lean Consultant should understand this and be striving for understanding through fact based process. The Lean Coach should not have the answers, they should guide the student through learning the process to get the answer.
Gemba Focus – The best place to learn about implementing and applying the lean manufacturing approach, is where the work is performed. The Gemba, or “shop floor”, is essentially any place within an organization where work is performed for the customer. This is where the Lean Consultant should spend the most time with a company teaching and developing the employees and leadership.
Start with a good Business Strategy (Plan for Growth)
All sustainable Lean Journeys have a strong connection to the overall business strategy of the company. Process improvement activities have to be connected to all levels within the company through clear communication of the organizational priorities. Building the connection to strategy allows engagement for all levels towards a clear common vision of improvement.
Companies with business strategy in place will simply need to connect the Lean approach to the overall business goals. Where a company needs help developing a customer focused strategy, we will help them develop the vision necessary for operational excellence.
Your Lean Consultant will spend time with the executive leadership team to develop a clear understanding of your customers needs. The next step is to translate those needs into a clear business strategy that is actionable and achievable.
Build the Lean System (Aligning Growth and Capability)
Many Lean journeys fall short by focusing only on manufacturing areas within the organisation. The Lean Manufacturing principles should span the entire enterprise for a true competitive advantage with their customer. The efficient manufacturing of products and services are extremely important, but the customer has expectations across the entire customer experience. Companies should be implementing lean practices across the entire supply chain. This includes the initial contact with the customer until the transaction is complete…and beyond. If a company is continuously striving for performance improvement, the lean approach will eventually touch every functional area of the company.
Develop the Lean Management System (Employee development and engagement)
The process of implementing lean should not be done by only the lean practitioners or the lean consulting companies. The long term goal is to develop a Lean Management System that drives the entire organization. The lean journey must be a culture change to engage all levels of the organization in the process of continuous improvement.
After aligning the strategic goals, the employees must then be developed and challenged to improve the processes and production system. Employees will learn about the different lean tools and approaches in order to see gaps towards efficient lean processes.
Business results are very important. But, successful companies measure results that are more focused on the long term. The companies focusing on a culture that drives improvement year over year will outlast companies focusing on the short term. The implementation of lean manufacturing tools will provide quick results, a Lean Culture Change will provide returns for years to come. The graphic below shows some of the more traditional results that are achieved and sustained from a successful lean manufacturing journey.
Lean Consulting
On-Site Lean Consulting – EHIIP Consulting will design the Lean Consulting Services that make sense for your company. A combination of Lean Strategy Development, Lean Training, and On-Site Lean Consulting will be used to develop your Lean Culture. A dedicated Lean Coach will be assigned to each client for consistency.
-On-Site Structure Coaching visits
-Hands on Lean Transformation
-Lean Training Classes as Needed
-Visit Frequency can be Weekly, Bi-weekly, Monthly
-Scheduled in 1-5 day blocks of time
Virtual or Remote Lean Consulting
Remote Lean Consulting – EHIIP Consulting offers virtual coaching sessions through Skype, Face-time, or other collaborative technologies to be used in combination with on-site services or alone. Remote Lean Consulting provides a more flexible and cost effective way to move your lean culture forward.
-Structured On-line Coaching sessions
-Augmented Visit through technology
-Lean Learning Sessions and Development opportunities
-Flexible on-line scheduling
-Scheduled in 1 hour blocks of time
Lean Manufacturing Training
Lean Training is available as a separate service or as part of the Lean Consulting Relationship.
-Virtual or On-site Lean Training available
-Individual or Group Sessions
-Train the trainer Sessions for Lean Coaches
-All materials are available to Lean Coaches for rebrand
EHIIP Consulting is a US based Lean Consulting Company bringing years of experience of the Toyota Production System. Providing Lean consulting services, Lean Training, and other Lean Strategic help to companies looking to improve their internal capabilities. EHIIP has a long history of Privately owned and Private Equity own clients.
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