Lean’s time has come.

Implementing lean in the field service supply chain

Lean’s time has come. It’s been a long while in the making but with the current economic climate placing increasing demands on businesses, the time to trim the proverbial fat that’s existed in the service supply chain for decades is nigh.

Lean, as a business concept, is a common sense approach to becoming and remaining competitive in a challenging market and something that has been developed over hundreds of years within a manufacturing environment.

Since people began manufacturing goods the struggle has been to do it faster, better, easier and cheaper than the competition.

But the problems of waste and inefficiencies aren’t exclusive to the manufacturing process. And with fewer customers purchasing on price point alone, accompanied with the growing need to free up cash for business critical investment, lean as a process for turning the service supply chain from a cost to a profit centre is far more than a ‘great in theory’ idea.

But how can a business deliver a sustainable, competitive strategy and implement lean techniques into its service supply chain model? And where can cost savings and improvements in operational efficiencies be made in order to be a lean, mean, successful customer service machine?

Mapping and gapping

The areas in the service supply chain where waste and inefficiencies can exist are almost infinite, from transportation to inventory to technology to people - over production and processing. Therefore, the first port of call when introducing lean techniques is to analyse and evaluate existing methods.

This can be done by creating a visual representation, or map, of current processes - from supplier through manufacturer to customer.

Highlighting waste and inefficiencies (the gaps preventing businesses from realising the potential of their service business) which can be eliminated is the next step, before benchmarking the current situation in order to measure the impact of improvement activities and the all important return on investment (ROI), which can be five to ten times the initial spend.

Eliminating waste

Once the problem areas have been identified, measures to combat waste and improve efficiencies can be introduced - be it in overall service design, spare parts planning, inventory optimisation and modelling, reverse logistics or product and component level repair.

Developing a future state map, which outlines your objectives and aspirations, and then setting deliverable targets and timescales is the next step in this problem solving process. Where waste exists in inventory management for example, improvements can be made through taking a holistic approach to the many pieces of the puzzle.

Expanding and optimising forecasting processes relevant to the sector in which a business operates and reducing excess stock will help to streamline the inventory function.

Lean as an organisational culture

It’s important to remember that in order to implement ‘lean’ techniques successfully, a complete organisational wide architecture of change needs to exist first.

There is no quick fix solution to improving efficiencies and eliminating waste. And the investment answer does not lie solely with technology.

When it comes to improving supply chain scheduling and optimisation, for example, throwing money at problems by implementing a costly IT infrastructure will yield few benefits unless the proper foundations are in place to support it in the context of the bigger picture.

Developing a better understanding of the relationship between each link in the supply chain, from call centres to warehousing, with clearer visibility and integration is key to success. Equally, service should be based upon what customers expect not what you think you should be providing - if customers are happy with next day delivery why promise to deliver in two hours? Lean is a philosophy and method for continuous performance improvement - it’s a journey, not the end itself. It needs to become part of a business’ service supply chain culture and at the core of all operations. Complacency is not an option if staying ahead in a competitive market is a priority.  

Eight common lean myths and realities

• Lean means work becomes boring and repetitive

Lean working requires problem solving that makes day-to-day work challenging & rewarding, so it’s more satisfying.

• Lean means people are de-skilled and less employable in other jobs

People learn new skills that are transferable to any role, so they become more employable not less.

• Cuts in headcount mean those who are left will have to work harder

Work has to be done at a pace that people can sustain throughout the day, otherwise quality will suffer.

• Quality will suffer because people are overworked

Quality always improves in lean processes, because the sources of errors are eliminated.

• It’s up to managers to solve problems, not me

The person who does the work is the expert. Managers must enable them do the best job possible.

• We’ve always done things our own way, and we like it like that

Once waste is understood and eliminated, lean processes will deliver better results - for all concerned.

• Visual management is like having Big Brother watching you all the time

The purpose is to make problems visible to the whole team quickly, so that they can be tackled promptly.

• Once the processes have been leaned the project will be finished.

The lean journey is never ending. There is always more Waste to find and remove.

Graham Best, director and co-founder, The Service Business

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