Lean enterprise goes beyond manufacturing

Going lean builds on the idea that by re-examining the way a company collects information and creates products, a company can eliminate procedures that don’t add value for the customer.

The process works: In fiscal year 2005, clients of St. Louis-based Missouri Enterprise, a private not-for-profit, saw a 33-to-1 return on investment on projects reported to a third-party research firm.

However, the organization – founded with the intent of helping small- and medium-size businesses improve efficiency and profitability – wants people to recognize that the techniques that manufacturers have used since the days of Henry Ford are being applied to all aspects of business.

It’s one reason Missouri Enterprise Vice President Harold Zinn said the process is now referred to as lean enterprise.

“Lean has implications in the front office,” Zinn said. “Lean office does similar things – seeing how many times a piece of paper is touched and how many times it adds value for the customers. It can be put into distribution. It looks at, if you have to move an item between three different trucks, is that added value?”

See SBJ’s Aug. 7 issue for more on lean enterprise, including local companies using the technique, and other manufacturing news.