Skip everything that doesn't add value

How does one increase a company's efficiency and profitability?

That is something Hans Cramnert thinks a great deal about as a business consultant at Jaxbird. One answer could be to introduce LEAN as a strategy for developing the operation, which is exactly what Hans is helping POJI to do now.

But what does it mean and how is it done?

Hans Cramnert has introduced LEAN's philosophy, methods and tools in many organisations. Everywhere – from school kitchens to industries and engineering firms – it reduces production time and increases employee engagement.

"LEAN is about letting EVERYONE take part in removing activities from work processes that don't create value. It could be that we search, wait, fetch, or redo things. By removing such activities we free up time to do the RIGHT things. The result is a faster production flow, more involved staff and more satisfied customers. It should be easy to do the right thing and hard to do the wrong thing," says Hans.

What is LEAN?

After the Second World War Toyota began manufacturing cars. Since Japan had a shortage of capital and resources Toyota chose to develop a production that focuses on flow efficiency.

The goal was to shorten the time from order to invoice and payment by removing activities that did not create value.

Stopped the production line

The employees at Toyota were given the task of stopping the production line and calling for a supervisor if they found faults. In this way faults and deficiencies in manufacturing were continuously identified and rectified. This led to faster production and increased quality.

The methodology later got the name LEAN, which means "lean" or "resource-efficient". For those who want to read more about LEAN, Hans recommends the book "This is LEAN", by Niklas Modig and Pär Åhlström.

"When Scania implemented LEAN they could produce significantly more trucks than before. Moreover quality costs went down and both staff turnover and sick leave decreased."

Identifies faults – increases production and quality

"During the 1990s LEAN spread across the world. When Scania implemented the methodology, they could produce significantly more trucks than before. Moreover quality costs went down and both staff turnover and sick leave decreased," says Hans.

Helping POJI make continuous improvements

For the past few months Hans has been working with POJI to help us develop our work processes and streamline our operation.

Hans has introduced weekly improvement meetings, where he coaches us in the methodology, so that we learn to make continuous improvements.

"POJI wants to spend more time doing calculations, and remove steps that are unprofitable. We have inventoried what work steps there are from order to invoice. I teach POJI the thinking, but what they find and how they develop their work processes they manage best themselves," says Hans.

Everything in the right place simplifies

Take a workshop for example. It's always the people who work in the workshop who know what things need improving. If you put all things in the right place no one needs to search for tools. And if everyone helps to polish and develop the work processes the operation's flow will increase.

"It is particularly fun to work with small companies, because there you often see it with increased turnover and more satisfied employees," says Hans.

Everyone in the company knows what's going on

According to Linus Ekhagen, calculation engineer at POJI, it has made a difference.

"Previously we were doing sporadic improvements, but Hans has helped us create a structure. Now we allocate time and prioritise development work. Everyone in the company knows what has been done and is more alert to things that can be developed," says Linus.

Works better than expected

"The idea is that step by step we should trim away all the small unnecessary things to become better and faster at what we do. So far it works better than expected, thanks to Hans's wise guidance," says Per-Olof Hulthe, CEO of POJI.