The Five Steps of Lean Implementation

Step 1: Specify Value
Define value from the perspective of the final customer. Express value in terms of a specific product, which meets the customer’s needs at a specific price and at a specific time.

Step 2: Map
Identify the value stream, the set of all specific actions required to bring a specific product through the three critical management tasks of any business: the problem-solving task, the information management task, and the physical transformation task. Create a map of the Current State and the Future State of the value stream. Identify and categorize waste in the Current State, and eliminate it!

Step 3: Flow
Make the remaining steps in the value stream flow. Eliminate functional barriers and develop a product-focussed organization that dramatically improves lead-time.

Step 4: Pull
Let the customer pull products as needed, eliminating the need for a sales forecast.

Step 5: Perfection
There is no end to the process of reducing effort, time, space, cost, and mistakes. Return to the first step and begin the next lean transformation, offering a product which is ever more nearly what the customer wants.