5 tips to increase your teams productivity thanks to Lean

To implement a Lean Management approach, you have to consider a long-term strategy, which can last several years, and apply it in the same way on all hierarchical levels of the company: from the employee to the boss.

In this article, you will find some tips to improve the productivity of your employees through Lean Manufacturing.

1. Focus on the non-value added

When trying to adopt a Lean approach, it is essential to focus on the non-value added of the process, i.e. the tasks that the customer would not want to have to pay for.

In a less modern approach, we would have tried to optimize the production of added value.

However, this represents only a very small proportion of the process, about 5%, which is why it is much more interesting to focus on the non-value added to improve productivity.

More concretely, since waste concerns production as well as shipping and administration, the aim is to reduce the process time as much as possible, i.e. from the time the order is placed to the time the customer pays.

2. Set clear goals

To eliminate this non-value added, you need to set clear objectives for your employees to motivate them.

To do this, set an ambitious but achievable action plan that will let your employees know what is expected of them.

3. Use visual management

In a continuous improvement process, it is essential to maintain healthy and effective communication.

To do so, it can be interesting to transform the sharing of information within your team.

Visual management allows you to improve the investment of your employees. It can take the form of board papers with post-its or whiteboards with magnets. This tool, dedicated to the team, allows an ideal participation and an easier understanding.

4. Operational excellence at every stage

To ensure that each step of the process is carried out as planned, it is essential to implement performance indicators in production.

You can use KPIs, for example, to measure the performance of ongoing projects.

Using a management platform, such as Zozio, allows you to simply define KPIs and track their progress.

By comparing the defined objectives and the actual value of the chosen indicators, it is possible to assess the situation in a relevant way.

At this stage, it is also advisable to check how your employees are progressing by communicating with them regularly.

Above all, make sure you know the skills of your employees and adapt them to the tasks at hand.

5. Decisive tips

In addition to the tips already mentioned, you can also prioritize your tasks or invest in the right technology.

Applied correctly, they can be decisive in improving the productivity of your company.

Written by Emma Guignard