FASE II: Planeación

In this paragraph, two versions of Lean are discussed. First, the original Lean Management theory (including the version of KR8) and the Lean Management Model for governmental organisations.

The philosophy of Lean Management is derived from the Toyota Production Systems (TPS), which later in the '90 became known as "Lean production" (Holweg, 2007). The core idea of TPS is high quality, low costs coupled with fast throughput times. The TPS has two pillars: just in time (JIT) and jidoka (autonomation, or automation with a human touch (Ohno, 1988, p.4). Jidoka focused on the causes of problems. When a problem is evident for the first time, the production is stopped, until the problem is solved. This leads to an enhancement of the processes, because the mean causes of the failures are improved. Just in time means that in a flow process, the right parts in the assembly reach the assembly line at the time they are needed and only in the right amount needed (Ohno, 1988, p. 4). This concept goes back in the 1920’s, where as a result of innovations, machines stopped automatically when a thread broke. The quality of cloths was improved, because defective cloths were detected. The employees spend more time on other work which was better for the quality of the production than only monitoring the machines. Eventually, this concept was used in every assembly line.

FIGURE 11: HOUSE OF TOYOTA PRODUCTION SYSTEM (THE NOTH WEST LEAN NETWORKS, N.D.)

Yet, the main idea of Lean Management is to enhance the customer value to the maximum while 'waste' (muda) is reduced to a minimum. Waste is everything that does not add value to a customer, which means that the customer gets exactly what he or she wants. Nowadays Lean is a widely applied method in governmental organisations, because of the focus on customer, professionalism and quality, efficiency, learning process and improvement and integrity and corporation (Huguenin, Binnerts & van Gestel, 2011, p.9). There are three types of waste: muda, mura and muri.

Muda is an activity that produces a lot of waste, does not add value or is unproductive, which makes an organisation less efficient. Muda recognises eight types of waste (Huguenin, Binnerts & van Gestel, 2011, p.31):

1. doing too much: producing more than a customer wants;

2. waiting: wasting time by not working on a product;

3. transportation and transfer: products cover unnecessary distances;

4. putting too much effort in a product: products are made better than the consumer wants;

5. searching: wasting too much time looking for products;

6. motion: wasting time by unnecessary relocations of products;

7. correcting your work: wasting time by correcting products that do not meet the specifications;

8. untapped talent: loss of learning opportunities by not including professions in the improvement of the

1. Focus on customer service

6. Learning & Improving

3. Professionality 2. Strategic goals

As stated before, the concept of "KR8" arises from the MIE-version of Lean. The most important principles of Lean are here interwoven in this concept. Namely:

 Klantwaarde voorop (customer satisfaction is leading);  Respect voor mensen (respect for people);

 8 types of waste that should be eliminated.

The last point is central in Lean, because Lean is focused on the elimination of 'waste' in the work process. The production process in the organisation should be focussed on efficiency and the emphasis by doing this is on consumer satisfaction. All processes which are not linked to the consumer satisfaction are seen as ‘waste' and should be eliminated. Therefore, the focus of Lean manufacturing is the reduction of the ‘waste’.

According to Huguenin, Binnerts and van Gestel (2011, p.22) it is presumed that when work irregularity reaches the employees (mura), people get overloaded (muri). Huguenin, Binnerts, van Gestel (2011, p. 17) introduces the "Lean house for governmental organisations". This is a model that is specifically designed to be applied to government organisations and who want to implement Lean and is therefore more suitable for WMCN.

FIGURE 12: LEAN HOUSE FOR GOVERNMENTAL ORGANISATION (HUGUENIN, BINNERTS & VAN GESTEL, 2011, P.17) SEE FOR THE ELABORATION OF THIS HOUSE APPENDIX III

Advantages

First, using the model of Huguenin, Binnerts & van Gestel (2011, p.17) the model of Lean is adjusted to the environment of the government. Second, by implementing Lean, there are faster response times and processes, reduction in waste and avoidable work (Bagley & Lewis, 2008, p.10). Third, because of the faster response times and reduction of waste, financial savings can be achieved. Fourth, the second advantage leads to an increased customer satisfaction (Bagley & Lewis, 2008, p.17) as well, and by using feedback of these customers, the efficiency of the organisation can be improved. Fifth, by implementing the Lean house, Lean gives more structure in describing the processes, and although it is not emphasised in the model, organisations are currently moving to a more process based thinking (Radnor & Walle, 2008, p.16). Six, by learning and improving, there is a improvement of quality. Seventh, Lean management is more bottom up than top down. As Womack and Jones (2003, p.97) stated, teams of employees are responsible for getting the job done and must have from the beginning both the authority and resources from the management. Finally, because the model does not only look at the business processes, but to the employees and network as well, it is also usable for complex situations within the process.

5. Efficiency 7. Integrity & Colaboration

Strong teams

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The first disadvantage is that the change of routine could cause stress for employees. A second disadvantage is that the focus is not on the project, but on the optimisation of one's own job and therefore only the responsibility for their own input. Third, the organisation should find the tools for enhancing quality by themselves. Fourth, the vocabulary could be difficult to understand for employees, because the most concepts are in Japanese and it is a philosophy which could be difficult to understand. This could be a larger issue for the adjusted version for governmental organisations, because this model is less well known. Therefore, some effort of the employees should be expected and an investment of the organisation to give the employees the flexibility to do this. At last, because a third party could be needed to implement the model properly.