The benefits of lean management

A big misconception of lean management is that it is purely for manufacturing settings.

This couldn’t be further from the truth. Lean management can be utilised by any business in any industry.

It’s all about selecting the right tools to identify and reduce or eliminate waste within the business.  It’s about adding as much value as possible to your product or service.

Tools and techniques

There is a vast range of tools and techniques available, from 5S to Pareto Analysis to Poka-yoke.

The majority are relatively simple and straightforward and can be adopted by any member of staff to improve results further.

How it benefits you

Lean management sees organisations identify sources of waste and inefficiency, then do something about it.

Typical results are vast improvements in efficiency and cost reduction, as well as an increase in the quality of your product or service.

Funding

You can significantly reduce the cost of implementing lean management principles through the use of apprenticeships.

Another misconception is that apprenticeships are only for school leavers. Apprenticeships are designed to develop the workforce.

This means that pretty much anybody of working age can be an apprentice and learn lean skills.

Using your levy

Employers with a payroll below £3m are able to access 95 per cent funding toward the cost of an apprenticeship.

Businesses with a higher payroll are subject to a tax of 0.5 per cent of their payroll bill, which they can then use to fund apprenticeships.

If these funds aren’t used after two years, the government keeps them. Why not turn this tax into business-wide savings?