ABSTRACT
What Is the Virtual Lean Enterprise? The Virtual Lean Enterprise is an enterprise where a holistic application of kaizen, lean, Six Sigma, and various IT enablers have been implemented in all lean processes, including cross-functional and cross-enterprise processes. This enables the enterprise to link with other Lean Commerce practitioners to utilize lean practices to collaborate in processes including new product development, material planning and order fulfillment, supplier management, and sales force automation. A Virtual Lean Enterprise is enabled by a myriad of technologies, including:
ERP (Enterprise Requirements Planning) CRM (Customer Relationship Management) SCM (Supply-Chain Management) SRM (Supplier Relationship Management) PLM (Product Life Cycle Management) CAD/CAM Interchange Quality Documentation Interchange
A Virtual Lean Enterprise recognizes that 70 percent or more of an organization’s product cost, design, lead-time, supply-chain planning, and manufacturing is outside of its own facilities. A Virtual Lean Enterprise has discarded the old
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paradigm of commerce in the mass industrial era (“Give the customer any color that he wants, as long as it’s black”) and has incorporated the Virtual Lean Enterprise paradigm (“Give the customer any color, size, shape, etc., she wants, where she wants it, when she wants it. And do it without holding inventory of any type”).
