Employees lean concepts

Applying lean concepts to eliminate waste, improve efficiency, and lower production costs has become popular with senior-level managements. Minimizing waste is the foundation on which the lean concept is built. In a lean endeavor, activities or processes that consume resources, add cost, or require unproductive time without creating value are eliminated. The lean concept can be described as striving for excellence in operations in which each employee seeks to eliminate waste and participates in the smooth flow of value to the customer. 

The first main challenge is to prevent persistent and harmful employee conflicts - that is, the balance between diversity and similarity (or organizational norms ) can in some cases lean too far toward diversity. This implies that the differences in perspectives, behaviours and work concepts become dysfunctional and lead to culture clashes (Loden and Rosener, 1991). The manifestation of these involves misunderstandings, feelings of threat... 

Anyone who has been involved in the implementation of lean understands the concept and importance of visual methods of communication, which are often referred to as visual factory methods. Visuals make knowledge that previously resided with individuals and in computer systems public knowledge. Visual communication methods include signage, charts, signaling cards and containers, lights, and process maps. All of these methods support the lean goal of employee engagement in continual improvement. Let s briefly explore each of these to understand their relevance to lean safety. 

Many companies undertake training of employees in the concepts and tools shown in Table 24.1. Much of this time is wasted without application to a process improvement effort. Supply chain improvement efforts are a good way to introduce Design Team members to process documentation as part of lean. Six Sigma, Total Quality initiatives, or unlabeled efforts. Process documentation and analysis skill is the core competency for these initiatives. 

Lean is a business model emphasizing the ehmination of waste while delivering quahty products or services at the least cost. When engineers must practice lean in the course of daily business, doors open for safety professionals to weigh in on issues related to risks to employees and the environment during concept and design of new products or process. 

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