ABSTRACT
Reducing the time spent on non-value-added, or wasteful, activities will have a positive effect on customer satisfaction. Various approaches are used to remove or reduce the number of wasteful activities. Business process managers and workers should be cognizant of the presence of wasteful activities, even when they appear to be a normal aspect of their jobs. The root cause of a problem should be found using methods, such as the Five Whys, so that improvements are not focused on visible symptoms of problems. Achieving better, cheaper, faster (BCF) should be considered one goal, rather than three separate goals. Improving BCF is accomplished by being smarter. The ability to make improvements in a business process by identifying similar processes (even those in dissimilar firms) is helpful because others may have already solved the problem at hand. Lean methods can be used to reduce wasteful activities in a business process, including standard work, 5S, poka-yoke, and visual controls. When applying Lean methods, the intent should be to guarantee that the process provides effective solutions for customers in as short a time as possible.
