Lean | Lean Six Sigma, Six Sigma Certification

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Learn about the goals and principles of Lean in this article. Lean manufacturing has a few important goals, which have led many industries to implement lean in their production processes. The goals include:

Improving quality to stay ahead of competition in the market. This is done by capturing customer requirements and redesigning operational processes to meet those requirements.
Eliminating waste to make processes more efficient. This is done by eliminating activities that do not add any value to the product or service.
Reducing variabilities and inconsistencies by standardizing processes and outputs.
And, reducing costs by ensuring that production does not exceed customer demands. By preventing overproduction, organizations can also make sure that inventory costs do not increase.

The implementation of Lean techniques in an organization is guided by a few important principles.

Principle	Description
Value	Defining the value
Value stream	Identifying the value stream
Flow	Creating flow in the value stream
Pull	Creating pull in the value stream
Perfection	Creating a continuous improvement culture
Leveling	Creating a balanced workflow
Standardized processes	Developing standards and following them
Kanban	Using a visual signaling system
Visual control	Using visual control methods
Quick changeover	Enabling the reduction of time
Defect prevention	Reducing the cost of poor quality