Top Lean Practices for Business Success

🔍 Have you ever wondered how some companies keep things running smoothly, even when challenges pop up? Here’s a little insight: They’re often using Lean principles, a set of practices focused on making things simpler, faster, and more effective by cutting out the clutter. But Lean is about more than just efficiency; it’s about connecting people with their work in meaningful ways. Take visual management as an example. It’s all about making information visible and accessible. Imagine Walking into an office and immediately seeing a Kanban board showing where each project stands or an “out-of-stock” card on an inventory shelf. These aren’t just clever tools—they make work easier to understand and create a sense of ownership and accountability. And the results? Employees feel empowered to make decisions on the spot, without waiting for formal reports or meetings. According to recent studies, visual management can increase task accuracy by up to 60% in workplaces that adopt it. Then there’s gemba, or what Toyota calls the “go-and-see” mindset. Instead of guessing what’s going on from an office, managers head to the shop floor. They observe, listen, and understand what’s happening right at the point of action. Toyota Motor Corporation leads the way here, with most of its supervisors spending time on the production floor daily. And it pays off—problems get resolved faster, and solutions are based on firsthand observations, not assumptions. Finally, Continuous improvement is at the heart of Lean. It’s the mindset of always looking for ways to do things better, even if only by a tiny bit. Every tweak, every little fix, adds up over time, ensuring that the company is always moving toward giving customers more value. In fact, companies that embrace continuous improvement report a 15-20% increase in productivity over time, as noted by the Lean Enterprise Institute. And here’s what often goes unnoticed: Lean only works because it values people. Real, day-to-day improvements come from the employees who are involved in the work and whose insights and ideas shape better processes. When people feel heard, productivity grows—by as much as 30% in companies with strong employee engagement practices. So, Next time you hear about Lean, think beyond the jargon. At its core, it’s about creating a work environment where people feel connected to their roles, confident in their abilities, and motivated to make a difference every day. That’s the real impact of Lean.

The 5 lean tools that work everywhere, every time. No consultants needed. The beauty of these five lean tools is their simplicity and universal application. Whether you run a factory, hospital, office, or retail operation, these fundamentals deliver: 1/ Value Stream Mapping shows what's really happening - Maps the actual journey of materials and information – not what should happen - Makes visible the 90% of time where nothing valuable is happening - Reveals process disconnects that no single person or department can see - Creates powerful "aha moments" when teams finally see the whole system - Implementation starting point: Gather a cross-functional team and map one product family from supplier to customer 2/ 5S Workplace Organization creates order from chaos - Transforms cluttered, inefficient workspaces into models of productivity - Makes abnormal conditions immediately obvious to everyone - Eliminates time wasted searching for tools, materials, and information - Creates visual standards that maintain themselves over time - Implementation starting point: Choose a visible pilot area that affects daily operations and transform it completely as a model 3/ Standard Work captures and spreads best practices - Documents the current best way to perform each task - Creates consistency across people, shifts, and locations - Provides the foundation for training and onboarding - Establishes the baseline for meaningful improvement - Implementation starting point: Start with critical processes where variation creates the most problems 4/ Quick Changeover (SMED) makes flexibility possible - Dramatically reduces time lost during equipment setups - Makes small batch production economically viable - Creates flexibility to respond to changing customer needs - Increases capacity without capital investment - Implementation starting point: Record your current changeover process on video and separate internal from external activities 5/ Visual Management ensures everyone knows what's happening - Creates instant understanding of process status without explanation - Drives immediate action when deviations occur - Makes problems visible before they become crises - Enables decentralized decision-making at all levels - Implementation starting point: Begin with visual production boards showing hourly targets vs. actuals Each tool reinforces the others to create a continuous improvement system that's far greater than the sum of its parts. The real power comes when they're used together as part of a coherent improvement strategy. See the carousel for the key benefits and implementation tips for each tool. Which of these tools has delivered the biggest wins in your experience? *** Follow me Angad S. for more!

This is the sneakiest trap entrepreneurs fall into: (I've personally fallen into this one multiple times) It's called: Optimizing the Useless Elon was once asked: "what's the biggest mistake engineers make?" He said: "Optimizing that which shouldn't exist." Now, if you find it really easy to fall into this trap (like me), then here's a simple framework that we used to build our first 8-figure business that I think you'll find useful. It's called D.O.W.N.T.I.M.E. This framework (borrowed from Lean Manufacturing) is all about learning to identify and eliminate WASTE within your business. Here's how to use this acronym to optimize your business: 1. DEFECTS If you don't have time to do something right, then when will you ever have the time to fix it? Defective products are a margin killer. Defects costs material, time, energy, morale, customer satisfaction, reputation, and more... 2. OVERPROCESSING Determine the customer's expectation of quality. Exceed it by ~15%. Diminishing returns kick in beyond this point. Want to increase quality? Increase price and your customer's corresponding expectation. Want to decrease quality? Decrease price. 3. WAITING Teams become increasing inefficient as they grow. People waste large amounts of time waiting for somebody in some other department to complete a task before they can move forward. Combat this by creating "simultaneous" (not "sequential") processes whenever possible. 4. Non-Used Employee Genius Your people are your most valuable resource. Treat them as such. Make sure they're not only sitting on the right seat, but that you're tapping into their unique genius (whatever that may be). 5. TRANSPORTATION The excessive movement of a "product" or "material" through a process. When moving things through a facility, straight lines are your friend. When moving things through a work cell, the "u" is your friend. 6. INVENTORY Necessary evil, especially in a world with next day delivery expectations. We're a "just in time" manufacturer, so balancing "enough" inventory with "too much" is one of the hardest problems we've had to solve for. 7. MOTION The excessive movement of yourself through a process. Example: Walking 10 steps to get the hammer 10 times per day. 10 x 10 x 280 (working days /year) = 28,000 steps 2,000 steps/mile 28,000/2,000 = 14 miles /year Move the tool. 8. Excess Production This gets turned into Inventory, but it's the unintended result of a process exceeding demand. Don't get this one figured out and you'll drown in inventory. This concept of D.O.W.N.T.I.M.E. works in ANY business, but it all comes down to culture. Training new employees in this concept is the most important thing we do. Why? Because once you know how to identify waste, you start to see it everywhere... Even in areas you know nothing about (like me in manufacturing). And once you control for DOWNTIME... your UPSIDE is practically unlimited.